Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ (Liquid) implementation of a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) helped improve Goldrush Group’s network management, speed, redundancy, and flexibility.
Challenge
- Slow network speeds, which led to packet loss, poor performance and high level of frustration during peak times when the Goldrush retail stores were busy
- Management of multiple services, devices, and functionalities, making troubleshooting and end to end administration cumbersome
- No management visibility across all sites
- Risk of severe data losses and reduced uptime due to no failover/ redundancy at a site level
- High costs from VPN topology and numerous contracts with different service providers
Solution
- Converted the network to a fully Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), which allowed the customer to control the network from a central location while simultaneously providing them both visibility and flexibility
- The implementation of SD-WAN meant all services with multiple supplier identities could be aggregated into a single service and be managed centrally
Result
- Unifying secure connectivity approaches through the integration of security, policy, and orchestration. SD-WAN architecture enabled Goldrush to benefit from end-to-end encryption across the entire network.
- Reduced overall cost of business through SDWAN
- Improved network performance with added functionality
- Improved security and uptime
In 2015, Goldrush had rolled out a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) solution to connect its SA and African operations, however in the last few years, they have realised the need for an upgrade.
Liquid successfully implemented SD-WAN across the customer’s business, and immediately Goldrush saw a significant reduction in costs, increased bandwidth, and capacity. Most importantly, they can now manage the service from a central portal and have complete visibility of their entire operations.
