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“One converged network is more cost effective than running a separate data and ISDN
voice network as we fully utilise available bandwidth"
Michael Lacy, Australian IT Manager
Mainfreight Holdings Pty Ltd.
Overview
Today, freight transport is arguably as much about keeping customers informed, as it is
about delivering a consignment on time.
For Stock Exchange listed Mainfreight, technology solutions such as Web-based consignment
tracking are what differentiates their services from fierce global competitors and keeps customers
happy.
But with more than 3,000 staff and a few thousand customers located around the world, demands
on its Wide Area Network (WAN) were increasing as the company experienced explosive growth.
Already a Macquarie Telecom customer for voice, mobile and data, Mainfreight turned to
Macquarie Telecom to address its growing data needs.
The solution - a converged network to carry voice and data traffic, combined with Voice
Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and unified messaging solutions – has increased bandwidth and
staff productivity.
In addition, Mainfreight has avoided costly upgrades to its old ISDN service, and put in
place redundant infrastructure to protect against network outages and data centre down time.
The Opportunity
Mainfreight is a fully integrated freight and supply chain company operating throughout
Australia, New Zealand and the US with partners worldwide.
Its activities range from door-to-door domestic and international transportation to managed
warehousing and supply chain management.
As Mainfreight grew, its mobile workforce increased and Macquarie Telecom’s brief expanded
to include PCMCIA mobile data cards which could be used in scanners and lap tops.
Armed with PDA’s, drivers would scan consignment information, which was then synced via
GPRS in real time with head office applications that track consignments across Australia and
overseas.
Using Mainfreight Web services, customers could view the progress of orders from dispatch
to warehousing of the product, and final delivery even if it was in another country.
“We have Web-enabled the entire business,” said Michael Lacy, Australian IT Manager, Mainfreight
Holdings Pty Ltd.
“Not only can our customers track their consignments, they can also use our systems to
produce freight documentation and generate reports for analysis. And with our EDI interface,
data can be transferred via the Web directly into our systems – saving time for our customers
and our team. But as the company continued to expand, there were more people, sending more
data, between more offices.
To link all Mainfreight offices in Australia (16 in total) the company needed a data network
solution to deliver more bandwidth without blowing its budget.
On top of this, Mainfreight’s aging ISDN voice network was also struggling with new demands
and bills were increasing without warning.
“We needed to remove the ISDN network, but we did not want to increase costs beyond what
we were already paying for ISDN services,” said Lacy.
Mainfreight commenced gathering prices from a range of providers as it looked to upgrade
both its voice and data services
“In choosing a service provider, we wanted a company who could develop a good working partnership
on a day to day basis,” Lacy said.
“Previous service providers have had poor communication and taken longer to resolve issues
than we considered necessary,” he said.
The Solution
Initially, Mainfreight looked at having two separate networks: one for voice and one for
data.
After closer analysis in conjunction with Macquarie Telecom, however, a converged solution
was chosen in 2006 and plans put in place for a national roll out.
“We needed to upgrade our PABXs which made it opportune to move to Voice over Internet
Protocol,” Lacy said.
Macquarie Telecom proposed a Wide Area Network comprising a range of access link technologies.
In metropolitan areas, Macquarie Telecom’s Metro Access network was used to provide high speed
access to the data backbone. In more remote areas, Ethernet and ADSL links were used. Fibre
was installed at Mainfreight’s main site at Tullamarine, Victoria because it would scale quickly
to meet ongoing growth.
A key challenge was to guarantee appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) across the network
to support mission critical applications such as voice, and customer-facing Web Services.
As the only Australian carrier with a pure MPLS network dedicated to business users, Macquarie
Telecom was able to shape data across the IP network to regulate how much of a link each application
used at one time.
For example, it was possible to use Class of Service (CoS) controls to specify that 30
per cent of bandwidth was reserved for critical applications. In this way, voice traffic was
prioritised so that conversations were clear and no packets lost.
In addition to the main data network, Macquarie Telecom also provided a complete back up
network with alternate access links.
This, combined with colocation hosting services out of Macquarie Telecom’s secure data
centre, meant that Mainfreight had a failover solution to protect against both network downtime
and server failures.
“When we started out with Macquarie Telecom, a reliable and secure network foundation was
the first thing we were after. With the right foundation we knew we could support the unexpected
as well as efficiently deliver on our planned growth,” Lacy said
Mainfreight uses Macquarie Telecom’s web-based tools to monitor and manage traffic activity
and ensure consumption is appropriate to their business needs.
“We use the Macquarie Telecom portal to access dialup accounts, data and phone accounts.
These tools help us with our billing and usage queries. Often our queries are resolved without
having to put in a call to Macquarie Telecom,” Lacy said.
The Results
Equipped with a new converged network, VoIP, unified messaging, mobile data, hosting and
a back-up network, Mainfreight’s efficiency is up and its risk profile down.
“The move to VOIP meant we could derive a greater return on the heavy investments we were
making in data networks and bandwidth,” Lacy said.
“One converged network is more cost effective than running a separate data and ISDN voice
network as we fully utilise available bandwidth.
“But what is most important, however, is that we have a reliable network that can scale
to support growth,” he said.
With Unified Messaging, workplace efficiency and collaboration has improved. For example,
using unified messaging, employees can dial out directly from their Outlook address book,
and it is possible to access voice, email and faxes using their IP phones, rather than switching
between systems.
“Pricing is without doubt important,” Lacy said. “However having confidence in a provider
is crucial.
“They know who we are when we call and proactively keep us informed about the status of
issues.
“They are sympathetic to the fact that all maintenance requires as little disruption to
our business as possible.
“Macquarie Telecom started out by delivering a secure, reliable network and then showed
us how we could build on that foundation. Rather than talking about technology alone, they
bring value to our business in the form of new ideas and approaches,” he said.
Longer-term Mainfreight plans to move its back-up network to a wireless solution and roll
out, 3G wireless, Ethernet and Fibre at other key locations across Australia.
“Macquarie Telecom has become a trusted partner, one we hope to work with for the long-term,”
Lacy said.
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