Cisco Partner Align Communications Deploys Converged Data Network and Wireless IP Telephony System for New Innovene Headquarters

June 22, 2006

As the petrochemical company Innovene was preparing to be spun off from its parent company British Petroleum (BP), company officials faced many decisions, not least of which was deploying a network and a telephony solution. Innovene had separated several offices from BP, but was faced with the challenge of relocating its largest number of employees from a BP facility in Naperville, IL to a new office in Lisle, IL. This new facility also needed to include Innovene's North American Data Center. Innovene had deployed IP telephony in several other offices, and was now faced with the challenge of doing their largest IP Telephony deployment in a short period of time. The network had to meet new mobility requirements and tie into the existing BP operating environment, while at the same time allowing for Innovene's eventual transition to a separate company.

"We wanted to have leading-edge technology in our new building," says Jerry Krieg, area operations manager, North America, for Innovene. "We envisioned using technology to boost the bottom line, both from an IT perspective and from a business perspective." Employees needed mobility within the new structure so they could move around and confer with colleagues without missing a call. Since two of the three existing Innovene buildings used Cisco IP Communications that had performed very well, Krieg was leaning toward a converged network solution with IP telephony.

"We looked at the costs of IP versus a standard PBX phone solution and saw it was an opportunity to save money while delivering more features," adds Johnny Fontenot, area operations manager for Innovene.

The challenge for this site was that it would larger and more complex than any of Innovene's existing sites, primarily due to the fact the new facility was also going to function as Innovene's primary North American Data Center. To help ensure successful delivery of this solution, Innovene turned to Align Communications, a Cisco Premier Certified Partner with many Cisco specializations including VPN/Security and IP Communications. Align had worked with BP on several previous network projects, including the design of a fully redundant network for its trading operations group.

To successfully design and deploy this solution required a wide array of skill-sets. According to Abraham Jamero, lead network engineer, "The key to our success with this project was our team, our broad areas of expertise and our continuous collaboration throughout this deployment." Aside from Cisco experts in wireless, security, routing and switching and IP Communications, Align's team brought with them extensive knowledge and skills in Project Management, Data Center Design and Build, and Cable Plant planning and deployment.

In addition to their people, Align, with local personnel in nearby Chicago, also presented the greatest value as a partner. Moreover, Align had the ability to stage the new network in a separate lab facility, troubleshooting it there, before deployment. This was an important factor in making the network project fit into the tight construction schedule of the new building.

"The Innovene team had great ideas about what they wanted to do," says Scott Mayers, director of network solutions for Align Communications. "Security and manageability were very important to them. We helped develop their ideas into technology solutions and showed them the products they should consider for a real-world solution that would be scalable, reliable and redundant."

Align recommended a fully redundant high-availability network running Cisco 6500 Series Switches in the core and Cisco 6500 and 4500 Series Switches in the distribution closets. They also recommended Cisco IP telephony utilizing wireless Cisco 7920 IP Phones for more than 250 employees. In addition, a basic network of Internet access separate from the production network would deliver wireless access for network guests and contractors; with authorized access they could also log on to the BP/Innovene network.

"This was a complex installation because we used just about every routing, switching and security device that Cisco makes," says Mayers. "Our engineers are highly trained and provided a smooth deployment of the data and telephony networks. Certain challenges are inherent to just about any IP and wireless deployment-you need to tweak it so you don't get dropped calls or dead zones."

The wireless implementation challenges included antenna placement and signal interference with other buildings and other external forces, as well as ensuring that the system had E911 capabilities as dictated by state law.

"The wireless solution is very scalable and provides for high availability," says Mayers.

Krieg reports that the weekend deployment was very smooth.

"There was some extra attention and fine tuning of the VoIP system the first few weeks," he says. "But we recognized the enormous amount of change happening in the building and all the people moving in. The challenges that did come up were not totally unexpected, and Align addressed them all very quickly."

Align created a leave-behind sheet to help users with the new phones and conducted classes for those who wanted more hands-on training, mainly administrative and call center employees.

Now that the new building is occupied, Krieg and his team see their technology visions realized. The open-office concept is thriving, and the wireless capabilities allow workers to easily huddle and confer with each other, and remain connected to their phone. And the powerful new voice and data network is maintained by a single person.

With companies like Innovene pushing for high-quality solutions, Align Communications engineers rise to the challenge by providing advanced technology and communications with security, mobility, availability and high performance.

"We're definitely pushing the envelope on several sides of our business," says Mayers. "Our reputation is what grows our business, so we take it very seriously. We look to Cisco because our customers are demanding leading-edge technology, and Cisco understands what today's businesses are looking for and delivers it."