Family business Schmitz-Werke uses technology to keep its leading edge on the market

When it comes to awnings, whether that's awning fabrics, outdoor fabrics, decorative fabrics or curtains for construction projects, Schmitz-Werke in Emsdetten, Germany, is usually the company behind it. Today it operates with around 800 employees and nine subsidiaries on the international market and sells its products under the brand names Markilux, Swela and Drapilux – as well as developing an advanced polyester awning fabric that combines the functional properties of a polyester with the haptic and visual properties of an acrylic fabric.

IT plays an important role at Schmitz-Werke. First an extensive expansion of the company's IT network storage systems, together with huge amounts of data to deal with. Then after extensive innovation in 2006, 2011 saw another major IT project – the transition to a new ERP system which first required the development of storage systems, then expansion of the IT network.

Thanks to the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise OmniSwitch 10K, Schmitz-Werke mastered the exponentially increased data volume while supporting important new performance and security functions for smooth day to day operation.

The OmniSwitch 10K – indispensible for the core of the network
At the core of the Schmitz-Werke IT network, Alcatel-Lucent’s IT service partner OSMO set up two Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 10K. The switches previously used could not be upgraded to 10Gbyte but due to the immense amount of data that had to be transported by the new ERP system as well as complex 3D CAD applications between storage and IT network, 10Gbytes was indispensable.

An application Fluent Network
The 10K switches are provided within a chassis of 256 10-GbE ports, with a transmission rate of 5.12 terra-bits per second and form the basis for the Application Fluent Network. This infrastructure must be able to automatically detect which type of application is being transported.

"Through this application sensitivity, Schmitz-Werke now benefits from a network that dynamically adapts to users, applications, devices and locations and therefore brings better service, operational excellence and lower IT management costs," says graduate physicist Klaus Wirl, who is responsible for the care of networks at Schmitz-Werke.

Two data centres operate virtually as one for complete reliability
Reliability is a top priority at Schmitz-Werke, and for this reason, the company operates two separate data centres in two different buildings that can take over each other's tasks. The 10K switch forms the central control of the network in the data centre and in the two independent data centers the interconnected core switches provide 4x10-Gbit / s.

The infrastructure of the IT network also includes around 60 24-port and 48-port switches, which are in distribution racks. Marketing is connected via OS6850E switches with 10Gb / s, and all access switches are the type with 2x1Gbit OS6400 / s and dual HomeLink (DHL) connected to the core switches.

The biggest challenge the IT manager faced was the construction of the new infrastructure, which included the implementation of numerous innovations such as the growing demands for performance and capacity in a highly virtualised environment, including around 55 virtual servers and 100 virtualised desktops.

"The support from both Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and their partner OSMO was very knowledgeable and extremely timely, so we could easily master this challenge," says Jochen Plugge.

BYOD is managed as well
There are still around an additional 200 mobile devices which will connect locally to the network via Wi-Fi. Smartphones and tablets used by salespeople within the company are administered by the central IT department and are allowed partial use, as are personal devices.

Convergent Voice-Data network
The new IT network infrastructure to support AFN plays to the company's strengths, not least in connection with real-time applications such as voice and video. At Schmitz-Werke, the data and voice traffic run alongside each other on the IT network. The Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX PBX implemented as a server on the network serves not only the company's headquarters in Emsdetten, but over WAN it also links eight other subsidiaries.

"We are pleased with our installation and we're very satisfied so far," was the conclusion of Jochen Plugge. "Everything is very efficient and – most importantly for us – without issues."

For the next project, Alcatel-Lucent is at the top of the favorites list: It has already run the first tests with OpenTouch, its latest multimedia conversation platform.