Project Scope
Conducting a full technical and operational assessment for the network infrastructure of a main player in the financial sector to identify findings, propose recommendations and highlight the areas for improvement.
Customer Setup Overview
Our customer is one of the largest banks in the Middle East and North Africa with 100+ branches and a very strong financial statement. The customer is deploying a huge network infrastructure that includes an integrated solution based on Cisco’s state-of-the-art products and technologies. The customer data center is connected to the disaster recovery site using layer 2 transport technologies and the remote branches are connected to the data center via multiple service providers.
The deployed security solution consists of multitier Firewalls with Intrusion Detection Systems, IPSec VPN solution for Site-to-Site communication and Remote Access SSL AnyConnect VPN. Also, a lot of security features are deployed such as IOS-Firewall, Cisco NAC Solution for HQ & remote branches and Cisco ACS for identity management.
Customer Enterprise Solution contains Cisco Unified Communications manager integrated with Cisco Unity Connection as a Voice mail system and Unified Contact Center Express for Auto Attendant and card center Operations, a lot of UC Features deployed to adapt end-user requirements and speed up communications between the users with much lower costs.
On the other hand, the customer is deploying Cisco IP Contact Center Enterprise (IPCCE) solution which consists of Cisco Call manager integrated with Cisco Gatekeeper which is responsible for Call Center call routing for incoming PSTN calls through Cisco Access Servers, these calls are routed to Cisco CVP (Voice Portal) for Customer IVR Scripts and then the call is routed to agents through Cisco ICM (Intelligent Contact Management).
Business Challenge
- Assure that the current network infrastructure support the bank to respond agilely to the growth opportunities.
- Reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by maximizing the utilization of the current network resources.
- Achieve smooth network operation by validating that the design and deployment comply with the best practices.
How We Helped?
During the assessment project, our consultants utilized their extensive technical and business experience to:
- Work closely with our customer to understand the conceptual architecture of the deployed solution.
- Assess the network design and deployment aspects against the standard best practices.
- Highlight the points of strength and how they can be used to support the business objectives.
- Identify the current issues and their impact on business as well as the recommended resolution plans.
- Assess the methodologies and processes used for the network operation.
- Develop a technical report that contains the noticed findings, recommendations and areas for improvement.
Benefits for Business
Our team assisted the customer to gain the following benefits:
- Decrease the TCO by getting the most of the network infrastructure.
- Develop justifiable financial plans.
- Increase the network availability, reliability, scalability and security.
- Minimize network outages by complying with the design and implementation best practices.
- Apply new services with confidence.
- Develop a unified roadmap for the hardware and software network components.
Product List
Cisco Network Solution
- Cisco Catalyst 6500 series core switches
- Cisco Catalyst 4500 series distribution switches
- Cisco Catalyst 2900 and 3500 series access switches
- Cisco 7500 series WAN aggregators
- Cisco 2800 series WAN routers
- Cisco WAAS solution
Cisco Security Solution
- Cisco 6500 Firewall Service Module FWSM
- Cisco 6500 Intrusion Detection Module IDSM-2
- Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance ASA 5520
- Cisco PIX 515E, 525 Appliances
- Cisco IPSec VPN SPA-2G
- Cisco Network Admission Control NAC Solution
- Cisco Secure Access Control System ACS
Cisco Unified Communications Solution
- Cisco Communications Manager
- Cisco Unity Connections
- Cisco Unified Contact Center Express
- Cisco IP Phones
- Cisco AS5400XM
- Cisco Gatekeeper
- Cisco Voice Portal
- Cisco Callmanager
- Cisco IP Contact Center Enterprise
- Cisco Voice Gateways