Interactive deploys SD-WAN for UCC Coffee ANZ

Managed service provider Interactive has deployed a software defined wide area networking solution for UCC Cofffee, connecting eight sits include two production and distribution centres in Melbourne and Auckland.

Interactive replaced a network based on multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) technology at UCC Coffee, is home to brands such as Robert Harris, Toby's Estate, L'affare and Mocopoan and is part of Japan's Ueshima Coffee Company.

Running on NBN Co's business fibre, the new network gives customers such as UCC Coffee the benefit of wholesale pricing discounts and enables regional areas to receive the same metro pricing that typically favoured capital city centres, Interactive said.

“NBN and enterprise solutions are acting as a leveling force on the carriage market," Andrew Robson, Interactive's network expert, said.

"It’s no longer a race to the bottom of carriage pricing, it’s now a focus on the value managed services bring when wrapped across the entire technology stack," he added. 

The coffee maker's IT manager for ANZ, Greg Wratt, called Interactive's network service superior to provider he had experienced in his more than 25 years in IT.

"At one site we went from 30Mbps to 500Mps, and it costs us less," Wratt said.

"We saved 25 per cent off our overall network costs which enabled us to bring two more sites under the one network," he added.

"This is music to the ears of my boss and our CFO."

"Our people are also much happier to come into the office now that they have uninterrupted connection with each other,” he said.

Prior to the upgrade, Wratt said "Teams calls became the bane of our people's lives."

"Our staff would have to hotspot from their phones or choose to work from home just to avoid network congestion, and be able to do their jobs effectively," Wratt added.

In June last year, ASX-listed electrical distributor IPD tapped Interactive to replace its legacy hardware and systems with a managed Microsoft Azure environment and a security operations centre (SOC) backed by Azure Sentinel.