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Reference Beurer GmbH

Beurer GmbH

Beurer supplies over 500 products in healthcare, well-being, medicine, beauty, 'active' and baby care.
Locations: Germany, Italy, France, England, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, USA, India and Hong Kong, as well as partners in over 100 countries.

Our mission:

 

  1. Optimization of existing WLAN architecture
  2. Extension of WLAN architecture with a new hall and Campus 2020
  3. Migration of the WLAN controller to a SaaS cloud solution
  4. Setup of a central network security solution with Cisco ISE

Beurer implements WLAN controlling from the cloud with Cisco and AWS

Beurer is a medium-sized company in the healthcare industry. For over 100 years, the traditional Ulm-based company has produced high-quality electrical appliances for health and wellbeing. In addition to its headquarters, Beurer operates a large logistics operation in Uttenweiler near Ulm and branches in nine EU countries, the USA, India and China.

To handle large volumes of daily orders, the Beurer logistics center in Uttenweiler uses a WLAN infrastructure for picking. The system had grown organically over the years while expanding the logistics operation and was mainly based on 40 Cisco access points managed by an on-premises Cisco wireless controller.

One challenge in daily operations was the areas without sufficient WLAN signal, which repeatedly led to disconnections of mobile devices on forklifts. As a result, the smooth and efficient processing of orders repeatedly came to a standstill.

In 2016, Inter Data Systems was commissioned to analyze and troubleshoot the existing WLAN solution in the high-bay warehouse in Uttenweiler.
 
Our specialists conducted a WLAN survey using industry-leading technology from Ekahau to identify the weak points of the WLAN network. The WLAN infrastructure was revised, redesigned and reconfigured based on the subsequent analysis. After completion, the connection problems with the mobile data collection devices on the forklifts and devices for manual operation were resolved, and the operation ran smoothly again.

A particular challenge in the cooperation between the Beurer Group and Inter Data Systems was to identify and eliminate a WLAN signal interference in the high-end printing environment that had existed for many years.

Many specialist companies were unable to present Beurer with a solution, as no provider could previously explain or eliminate the signal interference (no VoIP telephony possible) in the print center. We carried out an extended frequency and signal bandwidth measurement and reduced the problem to a component in the high-end print system. Since the component was not allowed to be switched off, the problem was solved by a special channel and frequency concept. Following these measures, the employees in the print center were also able to make calls via VoIP, just like the rest of the company.

 Beurer-Heatmaps

 

In 2017, the Beurer Group planned an expansion of the existing logistics capacity at the Uttenweiler site. A second hall was to be added directly to the existing high-bay warehouse, doubling the capacity of the logistics area. This hall also had a WLAN to transmit commission data to mobile end devices (forklift trucks).

Due to the positive previous experience with our services, Inter Data Systems was chosen early in the planning phase as a consultant for the WLAN–network. Based on architectural plans, Inter Data Systems created a new WLAN concept tailored to the special requirements of a high-bay warehouse for both sections of the hall.

In the past, the WLAN solutions deployed by Beurer throughout the group were based on local, on-premises architectures. Each location had a controller that managed the local access points and access to the WLAN. The devices could be managed via a network (remote connection) from the central office in Ulm. Potential failures were prevented by duplicate hardware (spare parts).

In 2019, the Beurer Group began planning a modern new building for the company headquarters in Ulm. The Campus 2020 project comprised a modern, five-story office building for 100 workplaces.

 

visualisierung-beurer

 


Inter Data Systems specialists were consulted to design WLAN in the offices in the early stages of the planning phase. A design based on the previous on-premises concept was chosen. The premise was to orientate on the existing networks and to rely on a Cisco controller with the corresponding access points. Toward the end of the project, the possibilities of a centralized cloud WLAN management solution were also discussed and reviewed regarding the requirements of Campus 2020.

Using controllers in the cloud as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) instead of physical devices on-site has many advantages. Instead of being dependent on hardware at each location, a cloud solution allows the controller to always be available. The system can be scaled in a very short period, enabling unprecedented flexibility to incorporate new endpoints.

Redundancy measures are unnecessary because the software can continue to run on another machine in the event of a hardware failure. Likewise, the performance limitations of hardware are not relevant since the system depends purely on the computing capacity of the cloud provider.

For several years, Beurer had already operated a small part of the WLAN network as a private cloud solution at the Ulm site.

However, this was mainly an experimental setup to test future possibilities. Based on the consistently positive experience, a cloud solution based on Cisco's new C9800 CL cloud controller for Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2 was selected. The C9800 CL enables provisioning services previously covered by local controllers from just a single virtual instance.

As the market leader in availability and performance, AWS was the ideal partner. The Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) allows for fluid customization of the cloud instance to meet the needs of the hosted applications. Our extensive experience with AWS and the excellent compatibility of the C9800 with the EC2 platform provided the ideal solution. The modularity of AWS EC2 allows the solution to be easily extended to global locations.

Inter Data Systems, in close cooperation with the IT team of the Beurer Group, carried out a pilot installation of the AWS cloud solution to assess the impact (data flows, performers, security, etc.) in real operation.

The WLAN management solution delivers the usual reliable services without expensive hardware. The virtually unlimited update capability of the software also eliminates any need for hardware maintenance and the limitations of hardware lifecycles.

 

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Network security was also discussed throughout the Campus 2020 project planning. In this context, a side project was started to implement Cisco's ISE (Identity Security Engine).

All users can be authenticated and managed independent of location, and a discrepancy due to incorrectly transferred configurations can not occur, no matter if the end device connects to the network in Ulm, India or Hong Kong.

The solution can also be easily extended during further rollouts to locations still operating with on-premises solutions. This project is already used on the new cloud architecture and will be extended to Beurer's other locations.

Inter Data Systems GmbH will secure the protection of the legacy hardware still in operation as a maintenance partner until the migration to the cloud solution.

 

Results

 

  1. WLAN interference suppressed
  2. New hall building integrated
  3. Campus 2020 WLAN established
  4. Cisco and AWS Cloud Controlling Pilot Project implemented
  5. Cisco ISE introduced
  6. Hardware maintenance taken over