Networking
Designing and implementing architectures to improve network performance
Outcomex assisted Red Energy in modernising and refreshing their SD-WAN infrastructure to help support their business needs and improve performance. With the hardware refresh, including network change and optimisation and by transitioning from a vEdge device to a more agile and efficient cEdge solution, Red Energy gained greater operational control over their data centres, maintained carrier diversity for future flexibility, simplified network management for faster changes, and reduced operational costs while enhancing their security.
Client
Red Energy is an Australian electricity and gas retailer, owned by Snowy Hydro – a major Australian integrated energy business. Since 2004, Red Energy has provided services to ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria.
As a 100% Australian owned business, they have a strong focus on renewable energy, offering GreenPower and Offset Gas products. Red Energy is renowned for their customer service – being the only energy retailer to win the Canstar Blue Most Satisfied Customers award 15 years in a row (from 2010 to 2024).
Opportunity
Red Energy required a SD-WAN modernisation, specifically to their data centres and Melbourne office (where their customer service office is based), to improve business performance and needs. Anticipating significant future growth in bandwidth requirements, they required an upgrade to ensure continuity and streamlining of business operations. Their existing SD-WAN had begun experiencing limited flexibility and performance issues, struggling to adapt to changing business needs and lacking the required security protocols, hence the need for an upgrade and refresh.
Solution
Red Energy engaged Outcomex to implement the upgrade to their SD-WAN infrastructure, and to support their unique business goals. Their data centres and Melbourne office rely on vEdge 2000 devices for SD-WAN connectivity – to enhance performance and accommodate future network demands, two data centres and their main office needed an upgrade, specifically to the Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms, with another three remote sites upgraded to the C8200.
To enhance performance and accommodate future network demands, we upgraded these locations to the Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms, which are purpose-built for high-performance SD-WAN, offering integrated security and networking services delivered from the cloud or on-premises. The advantages of this include:
- High Performance: Provides significantly higher throughput compared to the existing vEdge 2000s, ensuring optimal SD-WAN performance.
- Flexible Deployment: Catering to medium and large-scale deployments.
- Modular Design: Allows for customisation and expansion to support various data, voice, compute, storage, and high-speed cellular WAN connectivity needs.
- Future-Ready: Designed to adapt to emerging technologies and evolving network requirements.
By providing a secure, cloud-scale SD-WAN solution tailored for their business needs, Red Energy will experience high performance and integrated SD-WAN services, with the flexibility to deliver security and networking services either from the cloud or on-premises.
During the refresh, we monitored network performance and client connectivity throughout the migration process to proactively identify and address any potential issues, and to deliver an optimised SD-WAN solution
By leveraging cutting-edge technology, we were able to optimise Red Energy’s network for high-speed, low-latency connectivity across all locations. This ensures their operations run smoothly and efficiently, supporting their goal to deliver exceptional service to customers.
“Our engagement with Outcomex was very positive,” notes the Red Energy team. “We found them easy to work with and focused on delivering the best outcome for Red Energy.”
Technologies used
- Cisco Network Solutions
Impact
Through this refresh, Red Energy has a modern, cost-effective, and high-performing SD-WAN solution that supports their current and future business needs.
We have also offered recommendations to address Red Energy’s additional concerns, such as video call quality issues during peak hours and suboptimal network traffic flow between WAN sites that also support advanced security features across 10 locations.
