RHI AG networks global locations with phion

Rapidly developing economic regions promise the production industry enormous location advantages. However, in addition to their business appeal the boom nations also show other characteristics too, which confront IT specialists with other significant challenges. The availability and quality of the required line types do not always correspond with the standards needed – and yet, despite this, the accessibility of critical applications still has to be guaranteed. Installing, maintaining and configuring local connectivity solutions can also quickly turn into major cost factors for globally distributed locations if management infrastructures are not coordinated correctly.

The reliable inclusion of non-European locations was, however, only one aspect of the task facing the IT team at RHI from 1998 onwards. RHI is based in Vienna and is an international technology leader for fireproof materials with annual revenues of some 1.1 billion euros under the umbrella brand RHI Refractories in its core fireproof business with 6,000 employees worldwide. The main customers for RHI products, systems and services are key industries such as iron and steel, cement, quick lime, glass, non-iron metals, environment, energy and chemicals. The number of locations has climbed rapidly following a number of acquisitions and mergers: Back in 1998, the data network at RHI AG totalled 15 subsidiaries in Germany and Austria which were connected with each other via Frame Relay and MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) technology. Since then, this number has grown to over 80 IT and network related locations, distributed across four continents. In view of this situation, RHI was looking for a new solution approach to allow them to move away Frame Relay and MAN, to guarantee the efficient management of the complex infrastructure and at the same time to ensure reliable communications connections.

Moving on from Frame Relay
“The decision to introduce a new infrastructure was largely driven by costs,” recalls Gottfried Hofreiter, Director Group Information Technology at RHI. “Instead of expensive Frame Relay connections, we wanted to start using internet and MPLS technologies, without - of course - having to make cuts in terms of either security or availability. At the same time it was clear that we would not be able to operate cost-effectively with the hardware routers we had in place at that point.”

So RHI evaluated a range of gateway products from leading suppliers, including the solutions offered by solutions of phion AG based in Innsbruck. Subsequent to exhaustive tests and a productive pilot implementation, which is still in use today, the decision was made in favour of the phion netfence connectivity gateways. The decisive factors here were, on the one hand, the range of features and on the other, also the management. Graduate engineer Dr. Clemens Chizzali-Bonfadin, Manager Competence Center Network Management and Communication at RHI AG comments: “The phion solutions already included the functions we required for failover and traffic intelligence, which meant that additional products no longer needed to be purchased. The management and rollout concept also addressed the particular requirements set by a globally distributed infrastructure.”

The phion gateways were then introduced successively at almost all locations and smaller subsidiaries were migrated to internet connections and the production sites to MPLS by Telekom Austria. By moving away from Frame Relay, savings of up to 80 percent and refinancing rates of two months per location were achieved, with simultaneous bandwidth multiplication.

Traffic intelligence protects SAP traffic
From the outset it was clear for Gottfried Hofreiter’s team that connecting the production facilities and sales subsidiaries in China would place particular demands on the connectivity solution. “Prioritising the data traffic and redundant failover of the lines were the basic requirements to ensure the smooth process operation in the global RHI network,” recalls Gottfried Hofreiter. “In our estimation phion netfence gateways provide an unrivalled functionality here which no other product achieves.”

RHI has implemented a highly flexible communications infrastructure - which is exemplary worldwide - based on the integrated multi-provider and multi-link function in the phion solutions. The Chinese subsidiaries are connected to a main location via leased lines, point-to-point or internet VPN, which in turn has an MPLS connection to Europe (SLA via Telekom Austria). All RHI subsidiaries also have backup internet connections. The phion Gateways detect faults automatically if a line breaks down and conduct a transparent failover to alternative connections (generally possible; MPLS, Frame Relay, DSL, ISDN, leased lines, satellite-uplink or even dial-up). So if one location has no network access the connection can be restored via any other location.

All measures to protect the connectivity at the link level are, however, only effective to a certain extent if they are not completed using traffic intelligence systems. If these components are lacking then scenarios can easily arise in which critical applications are inaccessible as long as bulk and mail traffic block the lines. So, even with the old infrastructure, RHI used to prioritise the SAP data traffic because the international business transactions, both business, logistics and also for the production are conducted mainly using a centralised SAP system. With the integrated traffic intelligence function in the netfence gateways this process could be expanded so that, for example, SAP traffic is given priority on the best lines (MPLS) and the bulk and mail is limited to internet VPN.
“Our experience with networking international locations means that we are very pleased about the traffic intelligence, multi-provider and multi-link functions in the phion Gateways,” comments Clemens Chizzali-Bonfadin. “We achieve the highest levels of availability and service quality without having to purchase numerous service level agreements for other products.”

Centralised management from Vienna
The definition of global security regulations and also the configuration of all local gateways is controlled centrally from Vienna. This is made possible by the netfence Management Centre which administrators use to control the status of the remote gateways, to make settings, manage licences and collate information about individual or multiple gateways. So RHI only needs three employees worldwide for the entire network including operating the firewall - although the number of network nodes has multiplied in recent years from 15 to over 85.

The solution rollout proved to be equally efficient: The netfence Gateways are installed locally as software applicances on standard hardware. By integrating an operating system developed by the company itself, the phionOS, this process can also be run in a matter of minutes even by staff with no technical training.

“We have actually already experienced a case where a local employee had to reinstall the gateway. The configuration was then easily completed from Vienna,” recalls Gottfried Hofreiter. “This total access to all important configurations on the remote gateways has resulted in considerable efficiency increases and cost reductions. For example, we hardly have any additional travel expenses now for network installations of configuration activities – a major factor with a global infrastructure like ours.”

RHI and phion – partners for the future
Gottfried Hofreither and Clemens Chizzali-Bonfadin have already surprised ISPs and outsourcing service providers on several occasions with their detailed improvement suggestions for their technical infrastructures. A know-how basis has been built up during the close cooperation between RHI AG and phion which today allows the company to track down and deploy optimisation potentials.

“We were convinced not only by the pure technical benefits of the solutions, but also by the flexibility and commitment shown by phion,” confirms Gottfried Hofreiter. “If one is responsible for a highly critical infrastructure then the technology supplier’s customer orientation and market proximity are of major significance. Our decision to go with phion has been confirmed in this regard too, so the future partnership is beyond question. In our opinion, the phion path is the right one.”