2. Customer stories

Flowserve improves network operations

Issues and challenges

Flowserve is the award-winning world leader in the supply of pumps, valves, seals, automation and related services to the power, oil, gas and chemical industries all over the world. The company helps its customers transport the most volatile gases and liquids safely and securely. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Flowserve employs 15,000 people at 250 sites in over 50 countries and has customers in more than 70 countries.

Flowserve set out to source a new telecom provider, having been disappointed with the quality of service delivered by its previous supplier. The company cited a congested network, which created poor application performance, slow response to problems and delayed reporting, as its chief complaint. Flowserve had multiple duplicate systems due to its federated organization and a need to reduce network costs and increase performance of applications, such as SAP ERP and Oracle. The new provider would need to deliver and manage a high-quality MPLS WAN backed by high-standard customer service.

Inter-company communications were also important, and the network would need to be robust enough to support Flowserve's expansion objectives for emerging markets over the next 3-5 years.

"We asked each of the vendors to talk us through a monthly report. Orange sat down on a monthly basis with a complete top-down review of the hot points, the cold points, over-utilized, under-utilized – the parameters you would expect of a highly customer-focused organization."

Mike Wald, Vice President of Operations & IT, Flow Control Division, Flowserve

The objective

Implement a cutting-edge WAN delivering enterprise voice, data and wireless services to more than 250 locations around the world with high-quality customer service.

Solutions
  • Global MPLS IP VPN managed WAN
  • More than 250 network connections across 56 countries
  • Voice over IP for 5,000 handsets
  • Remote device management and access for 500 users
  • Managed WAN optimization and LAN management for 1,000 network switches
  • Managed wireless network
  • Program management
Benefits

Orange Business delivered enhanced network operations and high-standard customer service while helping cut back on costs, backed by strong service level agreements to guarantee performance.

  • Increased bandwidth for substantially less cost
  • Inter-cluster dialing, which reduced communications costs
  • Markedly lower total cost of network ownership
  • Enhanced performance of SAP ERP and Oracle applications
  • Increased security
  • Pro-active customer service, rapid issue resolution and timely reporting
  • Strong SLAs, ensuring performance and commitment to quality
  • Centralized, simplified management with one sole provider
Results
  • Reduced network expenses from $10 million to $6 million
  • Security on 11,000 mailboxes plus firewall and secured gateway
  • Reduced communications costs with voice over IP on 5,000 handsets around the world
  • Network adaptability and scalability, permitting easy roll out of services to new locations and sites

 

Flowserve is the award-winning world leader in the supply of pumps, valves, seals, automation and related services to the power, oil, gas and chemical industries all over the world

  • Headquarters in Irving, TX
  • Employs 15,000 people at 250 sites in over 50 countries
  • Customers in more than 70 countries