Co-Authored by Alexandra Zagury
Vice President, Partner Managed Services and aaS Sales,
Global Partner Organization
This is a story about what happened when a cow farm was converted into a state-of-the-art server farm, enabling the farm to scale to udder success.
We begin with Braathe Gruppen (Braathe)— Cisco Norway 2020 Cloud Partner of the Year—and Braathe’s very modest beginnings. Having recognized in 1989 that companies needed help making their computer systems work as smoothly as possible, Braathe converted an existing cow farm that had been traditionally run since the 1700’s into a modern, state-of-the-art technology server farm, hosting more than 10,000 users and 3,000 servers. Today, Braathe is a leading-edge, engineering-led managed service provider in the Nordic region that offers worry-free IT solutions.
What Braathe understood back in 1989 holds even truer today: Organizations want to focus their limited resources on core competencies, whether in construction, healthcare or accounting. Increasingly, this means that they want to outsource their IT infrastructure to experts whose core expertise is in deploying and managing it. In other words, businesses want the infrastructure they rely on—such as their local network—to simply work.
The need for network delivered as a service that simply works
But businesses need even more than that. CFOs want predictable costs to simplify budgeting, while paying only for the infrastructure used. Management wants to scale network resources up and down to adapt to the fluid demands of the business. Everyone wants an “easy” button so that the next day the network is up and running or scaled up or down. Of course, the network must also be secure and continuously deliver the availability and latency required so the applications needed to run the business provide optimal user experiences.
In other words, companies would do well not to run their own networks, but rather move to a modern network-as-a-service model, delivered by a trusted managed service provider. This is where Braathe (partnered with Cisco and utilizing Cisco Meraki) comes in.
Braathe and network as-a-service
Braathe’s network-as-a-service offer provides a fully managed network that includes wireless access points, switches and firewalls. To get started, customers order what they want and access points and switches arrive the next day. Then, they simply unbox the devices, plug them in and forget about it. Braathe’s engineering specialists takes care of the rest. There is no contract and customers pay for what they will need on a monthly basis.
Standardizing on Cisco Meraki
To deliver network as-a-service with fixed pricing, it’s critical for Braathe to deploy networking technology that is highly reliable, easily scalable, and can be remotely managed and optimized according to an organization’s evolving needs. This is why Braathe has standardized on Cisco Meraki network products.
Standardization is key because it enables Braathe to, among other things, train its engineering and customer care specialists with laser focus. In fact, Braathe leverages Cisco certifications to help ensure that its staff is well-versed in Cisco technology.
In addition, the Cisco Meraki cloud management platform enables Braathe to manage its customers’ networks remotely through a single pane of glass. This capability helps Braathe configure customer networks in minutes.
Meanwhile, best-in-class security from Meraki is automatically updated, giving Braathe and its customers peace of mind that their networks include a powerful defense against cybercriminals.
A worry-free network
The combination of highly trained specialists, an “as-a-service” business model, and the use of Cisco Meraki enable Braathe to provide the ingredients for a worry-free network for companies of all sizes. For CFOs, this means predictable operational costs (paying only for networking resources used) without needing to budget for capital expenses to meet potential future growth. For LOBs, it means easily scaling resources up or down to more precisely meet the needs of the business. And for everyone, it means a secure and optimal experience running applications over the network.
As an example, law firm Svensson Nøkleby wanted to focus its resources on legally representing clients and not on being networking experts. That said, the firm has lawyers working at all hours of the day, so the network must function continuously. And it goes without saying that security is of utmost importance.
“When we planned and prepared the premises we moved into in 2018, Braathe Gruppen was part of the whole process. They participated in regular building meetings and collaborated on network cabling and placement of the necessary access points in the building. The whole project was completed seamlessly. There we no delays or downtime in the big project of building a new building.”
– Linda Marie Tanum, Head of Administration, Svensson Nokleby Advokatfirma
With Braathe’s network-as-a-service, Svensson Nøkleby lawyers can focus on their cases with the peace of mind that Braathe is taking care of their networking needs.
“Svensson Nøkleby is growing with a goal of being No. 1. We want to be a modern law firm with robust worry-free networking solutions. Braathe Gruppen has been a major contributor to this. If we had continued with several independent network providers, IT equipment, maintenance, and operations, we would not have been so confident that we always have the best solutions adapted to us at all times. We would most likely have wasted a lot of time due to downtime and lower productivity of our lawyers.”
Focusing on what we do best
Braathe has understood for over three decades that customers what to focus on what they do best, which for the most part doesn’t include being experts in deploying and managing wireless and WAN networks. Customers have learned that Braathe’s team of engineers are, in fact, specialists in delivering a worry-free, network-as-a-service that complements its full suite of IT services.
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Well articulated case study of partner benefiting from a Managed Services model