Cisco Partners: Digital Systems Integrators Modernizing Industrial Networks

Strategy, Technology and Operations

Delivering business outcomes for enterprise and IT buyers requires a new approach, new capabilities, and new relationships. An entirely new business solutions practice. Digital Systems Integrators (DSI) represent that new business practice as follows:

These DSI’s integrators have deep vertical knowledge and processes that facilitate executive buy-in.

With the shift in the sales ecosystem away from IT, DSI’s help sales teams add value to engaging people using the technology — Lines of Business, the C-Suite, Operations Tech. These are the new decision makers.

When we bring Digital Systems Integrators into our sales conversations, our power to deliver real value increases exponentially.

They can break IT infrastructure into easily identified layers, allowing executives to easily determine costs and implementation timeframes, while permitting IT technical staff to evaluate their “Why Cisco” recommendation.

Polytron, Inc. is a holistic Smart Manufacturing provider – a Consulting and Engineering firm for manufacturers coming alongside its customers with full manufacturing systems and solutions. Supporting the digital transformation journey and leveraging the IIoT – plant-floor machinery, sensors and controllers – Cisco and partner solutions.

Polytron Use Case:

Polytron, Inc. owns the long-term relationship with the client and was engaged to upgrade its 15-year old aging industrial network infrastructure. The company asked Polytron, Inc., Cisco’s Digital System Integrator and Solution Provider, to evaluate and design a network architecture that focused on improving overall bandwidth utilization and efficiency across all manufacturing areas. The new network requirements were to configure and install a reliable, expandable and robust infrastructure, and to maximize the benefits of plant-to-business data collection and reporting systems. It was going to take the installation and configuration of a high-performance Ethernet and fiber-optic network to meet and exceed the client’s networking standards requirements for the industrial network.

Following the Polytron “Roadmap to Network Solutions,” a network audit was conducted using diagnostics;  a design plan was developed; and a schedule was created for implementation. The Digital System Integrator’s team reviewed the design plan with the manufacturer’s stakeholders for alignment. Alignment with all stakeholder groups was crucial because the network project touched every area of the plant. Support was needed from: manufacturer’s IT support group; all department managers; plant engineering; and control support technicians.  The project required minimal disruptions to plant operations. To accomplish this, the installation and network migration schedules had to be adjusted constantly to align with the plant’s schedule and this DSI made a big difference in achieving the desired outcomes.

ZAG Technical Services is an award winning IT consulting firm specializing in network infrastructure, data center, security, disaster recovery and remote access.

ZAG Technical Services Use Case:

ZAG Technical Services, a Digital Solutions Integrator pilot program participant, leveraged their existing trusted advisor relationship with the client to secure a 360 Degree Workshop. The first phase of the workshop was to understand and gain agreement with all business stakeholders regarding the expected digital business outcome and what it means to them. With this client, the outcome of that phase was the definition of the Manufacturing Floor of the Future.

Unique Solution – Competitive Advantage – It’s important to point out that ZAG developed the requirements, so it was very easy for them to point out to the client why the incumbent was not able to achieve the same outcome with their solution. Cisco’s account manager John Murnane said, “From an overall perspective it would be difficult to find a partner who does what ZAG does, and this deal wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for ZAG.”

Xentaurs is a next-generation consulting agency and systems integrator specializing in making digital business transformations a reality. They are a market leader in Cloud, DevOps, Big Data/Analytics, and Machine Learning – a Cisco Gold Certified Partner with existing client relationships.

Xentaurs Use Case:

Network Modernization to Enhance Operations  – When serving millions of customers in different regions,  even small improvements in processes and operations  can make a substantial financial impact. One approach is to  leverage the Internet of Things, such as putting sensors on waste collection trucks to increase work productivity.

Underutilization Turns into Faster Time to Value – Though Cisco ACI had been implemented, the Cisco Gold Partner recognized that the client was not taking full advantage of it. Production workloads had yet to run in the environment.

The partner recommended that the client speak to Xentaurs, a veteran Cisco Digital Systems Integrator (Cisco DSI) partner. Xentaurs uses a proven engagement methodology that drives adoption and utilization of existing Cisco products. They helped outline how the client could save significant operating costs and realize other goals such as application segmentation, faster. By adding Cisco Tetration Analytics, the client could achieve business objectives in 4-6 months versus 18 months. The collaboration and cooperation between the Cisco Gold Partner, Xentaurs, and Cisco were key components to why this deal came together and closed in less than 5 months so that the customer could more quickly begin to achieve the positive impacts of the solution faster.

Consider contacting your Cisco DSI ecosystem partner to help expand the opportunity with customers looking for comprehensive business solutions here.

To learn more about Cisco’s Manufacturing solutions for digital transformation and IoT please contact your Cisco partner.