Ahlstrom streamlines communications on global managed service

The company went for Verizon’s fully managed Private IP service, with a secure, high-speed network, linking 25 locations worldwide and providing backup connections. It now runs business applications ranging from SAP to production planning, supply-chain management, logistics and its email systems. Markku Kuronen, Ahlstrom’s IT development manager, says that growth by acquisition had led to a proliferation of different networks and systems around the globe, all of which needed to access these centrally hosted applications. He also says the firm wanted to consolidate its global network infrastructure with a single service provider, with traffic prioritisation and QoS to optimise performance, minimise downtime and cut costs. And he adds that Ahlstrom wanted to increase its collaborative capabilities both internally between sales offices and production facilities, and externally with key suppliers and customers. “Both the Verizon Business proposition and the team were right for us,” says Kuronen. “The resilience offered exactly matched our requirements, and the service levels and pricing were excellent. What was especially pleasing was how flexible the team was, and how well they listened, and responded to our needs. “We also found the migration experience extremely and unexpectedly positive. We migrated each site during working hours, but both users and the IT department agree that there was minimal disruption to everyday operations.” Vesa Hämäläinen, director of corporate information technology at Ahlstrom, adds: “As well as providing top-end performance, the total cost of ownership of the Verizon Business solution, even with migration cost included, will be less than that of the service it replaced.”