Brembo brakes with tradition: goes for WiFi IP

Reduced costs, improved flexibility and better employee productivity have convinced Italian high performance brakes manufacturer Brembo to go for a complete IP communications infrastructure from Cisco. Brembo – which makes brake systems for cars, motorbikes, commercial vehicles and racing, and is favoured by Mercedes, Ferrari and Porsche – is to get IP telephony, unified messaging, wireless IP phones and network security at its new Kilometro Rosso factory in Bergamo. The first phase, which began in February, has seen Brembo install 200 IP phones for its offices. Cisco wireless IP phones will also be used by roving factory floor operators, eliminating mobile phones that were proving expensive and couldn’t guarantee data and voice integration. Cisco is also providing 170 Unity unified messaging seats, delivering e-mail, voice and fax messages to a single inbox. Brembo workers will be able to listen to e-mails over the phone and check voice messages from the Internet or from their PDAs. Pierpaolo Crovetti, Brembo’s director of ICT, says: “Cisco has provided us with a complete solution for all of our ICT requirements. Transferring to an IP-based communications solution makes perfect sense. “Not only are we saving money by using the wireless phones but we are also experiencing real benefits in convenience, flexibility and mobility. At last we have a WiFi solution that is not just for storehouse or plant, but is at the focal point of voice and data integration.”