(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Invacare (www.invacare.com), which manufactures wheelchairs and home medical equipment, has chosen Verizon Business (www.verizonbusiness.com) to provide its European operations a secure, cost-effective way to provide its employees with immediately available applications and the flexibility to accommodate fluctuations in bandwidth demand.
According to Verizon’s Thursday announcement, Invacare’s new European communications network is fully managed by Verizon’s Private IP solution, which effectively quadruples the bandwidth available to employees at the company’s 20 sales and production locations in Europe. Its business-critical applications will be colocated at Verizon Business’ data center in France.
“The move toward a fully IP-based environment will bring tremendous benefits to our European business, such as increased flexibility and lower operational costs,” Invacare EMEA IT group manager Christophe Masquet said in a statement. “Verizon Business’ professional services team has delivered a fully managed, secure infrastructure that is flexible enough to handle our present requirements, bring a good return on investment, and also provide firm foundations on which we can build our future IP-enabled communications capabilities. Essentially, we’re planning for the future of our business, and in Verizon Business have found a strong partner to help us achieve our goals.”
Verizon’s fully managed Private IP solution provides a secure foundation for Invacare’s VoIP communications. In addition, Invacare’s data is securely hosted by Verizon, which monitors the network’s security and performance around the clock. Its European network migration is the first stage of a strategic communications reassessment program designed to enable the company to consolidate infrastructure, reduce costs and enhance capabilities to support its future growth.
Verizon Business continental Europe regional sales vice president Jeff Rallet said that outsourcing network management for companies like Invacare is merely one element of a strategic communications partnership. “The Verizon Business team has worked hard to understand Invacare’s overall communications requirements, and put in place solutions that will make a real difference to the company’s operations today and enable it to plan for the future,” Rallet said in a statement.
Invacare plans to roll out Verizon VoIP solutions across its 20 European sites in the near future, and also enhance its use of Verizon Audio Conferencing solutions, as an initial move towards a fully unified communications environment.
Improving another aspect of its business, Verizon Business (www.verizonbusiness.com) added a new, dynamic bandwidth solution, which lets its Ethernet Virtual Private Line and Private IP customers have broader control over network speed and capacity.
