MacTel partner Aurilo Communications overhauls gas supplier Supagas' network

Sydney-based Aurilo Communications has been tapped by industrial gas supplier Supagas to overhaul its network to Macquarie Telecom.

Aurilo ripped out Supagas’ multi-provider network and replaced it with MacTel’s VoIP, SD-WAN, NBN, mobile and data centre services to aid the gas company’s migration to the cloud.

Aurilo and MacTel deployed SD-WAN and SIP services in all 41 of Supagas’ sites, transitioning from 20 independent phone systems and five different providers into one company-wide VoIP service.

Supagas national IT manager Peter Sudiro said, “Our customers’ ability to contact our branches directly is the most essential part of our business and supply chain, and it was time to transition from traditional voice to a cloud-based VoIP system.”

“We needed solid connectivity and couldn’t rely on our overly-complex network to navigate this transition without disruption to our communications.”

Supagas is a major supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), industrial, medical, specialty and helium gas bottles in Australia. The company saw its IT network become a complicated setup following several acquisitions and its recent sale to Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation, mixing pieces of fibre, wireless, nbn and ADSL services.

MacTel is also managing Supagas’ NBN migration with most of the sites already on the network. Some premises have also been upgraded to business-grade fibre.

Aurilo and MacTel hosted Supagas’ VoIP system and its FortiGate VPN to allow staff to transition to working from home and keep the business fully operational during the COVID-19 restrictions.

Most of Supagas’ mobile services have also transitioned from a mixture of tier one providers to MacTel, allowing increased control and visibility over its team’s shared data pool and gaining access to a management tool.

“We’re looking towards more online services leveraging Macquarie’s cloud services and data centre businesses following the success so far,” Sudiro said.

“Ultimately, we’re moving to hybrid cloud with infrastructure hosted where possible and our team managing software in-house, with emerging technologies such as the internet of things (IoT) being part of that.”

MacTel group executive Luke Clifton said, “This pandemic has forced businesses across Australia to focus and rely more and more on their telco and cloud services, and many are getting a wake-up call to the inefficiencies that exist.”

“Supagas realised ahead of this that multiple providers, networks links, and systems became untenable over time. As we continue to rely on these services more post-pandemic, and we enter an uncertain economic climate, it’s important that businesses demand more from their telcos and hold them to account over unnecessary complication and cost.”