Application Optimisation case study

The client, a large Australian financial organisation, went to market for a new load balancing platform. After evaluating various vendors, they settled on F5 as the right platform for their needs.

However, their current outsourced telecommunications partner (a major player in the industry) didn't have the experience or skills to provide or support F5 solutions. They needed to find a partner who could fill these gaps in capability.

O2 Networks offers F5 design, procurement, implementation and support

O2 Networks is an Australian leader in F5 technology. We were engaged to fill the gaps in the other provider's capabilities in procurement, design, implementation and support.

Given our experience and expertise with F5, our contribution to the project went much further than merely supporting the other provider:

• We did all the design work in preparation for deploying F5 devices in the client's network environment;
• We deployed the system;
• We ran customised training courses for the other provider's support team, who were responsible for day-to-day support;
• We developed support and activation documentation;
• We continue to provide ad hoc design and break fix support.

The initial implementation at this organisation was successfully completed within 6 months and as a result, they now have over 50 devices, one of the largest deployments of F5 technology in Australia.

The results: a technical and business success

Since the successful deployment, O2 Networks have taken on higher level responsibility for maintaining the platform as a managed service. We have been engaged by the client to keep them abreast of new features of the platform.

O2 Networks' strength in this project has been our flexible engagement model. We've allowed a much larger outsourced provider to tool up rapidly in a technology that wasn't part of their toolkit.

Without our help, the other provider would never have been able to acquire capability in F5 technology in such a short period of time. The project would have gone to a competitor instead, effectively breaking a long-term partnership.

In other words, the engagement hasn't only been successful from a technical point of view: it also allowed a valuable business relationship to be preserved.