The Forbach conurbation deploys NETGEAR 10 Gigabit PoE solutions to rebuild its core network and remote sites

BACKGROUND

The conurbation of Forbach, established in 2002 and located in the department of Moselle, carries out numerous missions ranging from the development of economic, social, cultural, touristic, and sports projects to the development of the territory. Comprising twenty-one municipalities, the conurbation of Forbach wanted to operate a global overhaul of thier network core and their remote sites. The objective was to merge the solutions used to optimize the entire network and thus facilitate its management.

Their systems teams also wanted to improve performance in order to decongest the network. Moreover, the installation of these equipments had to be as simple as possible in order to avoid further work and to stay within budget.

To meet this goal, the Forbach conurbation hired an integrator, System Solutions, which recommended the installation of NETGEAR 10 Gigabit PoE+ switches. System Solutions is an ICT partner that has been accompanying its customers in the implementation and management of infrastructure since 1996.

THE SOLUTION

In its desire to standardize and utlize their network park, the conurbation of Forbach has decided to replace all their installed appliances. In short, 55 NETGEAR switches were configured between 2018 and 2019 before being dispatched to the various city councils.

The advantage of moving to a 10 Gigabit network.

The Chief Information Officer of the conurbation, Pascal Licata, was convinced by the high level of reliability and high transfer speeds achieved with the 10 Gigabit switches.

Designed to keep up with changing requirements, NETGEAR 10 Gigabit Switches help bring data to users’ fingertips, from everyday tasks to background maintenance (backup, restore data, etc.). In addition to avoiding bottlenecks, the installation of 10 Gigabit switches allows hundreds of people in the urban area to have increased bandwidth.

Moving from 1 to 10 Gigabit represents a significant upgrade that translates into increased efficiency in getting data available: this allows the staff of the various city councils to get immediate benefits for all tasks involving heavy data transfers. Also, the 10 Gigabit network is an obvious asset in the daily use of cloud tools.

The advantage of PoE+ for the conurbation

This network environment redesign has been achieved with NETGEAR PoE+ switches, which offers another advantage to the conurbation with the ability to power compatible equipment without the need for additional cable pull. In this context, only one RJ45 network cable provides data and electricity.

More commonly known as PoE+ (Power over Ethernet Plus), the IEEE 802.3at standard provides greater flexibility to city halls by delivering up to 30 watts per port, while providing backward compatibility with 802.3af (PoE). They now power IP Telephony, Video Surveillance, Conference Equipment, and Wi-Fi Access Points, from a centralized switch.

Sites can also enable and disable power to devices as needed to keep energy costs at their lowest.

Furthermore, PoE+ makes it easy to deploy or extend the network, and is also an effective way to save money. With PoE switches, it becomes possible to position devices where the installation of an electrical power supply would have been impractical (ceilings, walls, etc.). A benefit for the various city councils is not having to increase costs for this project, such as installation of new electrical outlets.

THE RESULTS

Once the installation by System Solutions was completed, the conurbation of Forbach was quickly able to see results. The most obvious result is the simplicity of implementation that saves complicated installation costs. The conurbation of Forbach was also satisfied with the optimization of its network installation and convinced by the resulting speeds. The shift to more costeffective 10 Gigabit switching solution allows the conurbation to meet its high-speed network needs, including access to its network core, virtual servers, and various stored data. A gain in productivity, and thus more time for the teams in the municipalities. Finally the easy to use monitoring interface was particularly appreciated and adopted by the conurbation teams, and increased the effectiveness of customer support to ensure the monitoring of the installations.