ITSupervision and NETGEAR Business – partnering together to deliver outstanding networks

SUMMARY

ITSupervision B.V. excels in offering excellent technical services and products to its customers throughout the Netherlands and has added NETGEAR Business as a partner, thanks to the quality of equipment and personal service that the local NETGEAR team provides.

The first customer project the two companies collaborated on was for ITSupervision’s parent organization, Terberg Verendigde Bedrijven, which is now called TVB (am abbreviation of Technische Verenigde Bedrijven). The project was to replace an existing WiFi network that had reached end-of-life and consequently, almost 600 users are now experiencing reliable, high-speed, and secure connectivity based on the NETGEAR Total Network Solution.

BACKGROUND

Based in IJsselstein, specialist ITSupervision B.V. provides complete technical installation and maintenance to businesses across the Netherlands. It became a separate company in 2010 when its parent organization, TVB, could see the value of its technical services. Today, ITSupervision sells its services to internal customers within the TVB and also externally, supporting approximately 1200 users nationwide.

Integral to ITSupervision’s success is its dedicated focus on delivering superior technical expertise and experience through its team of six people, augmented by a commitment to offering customers high-quality, business-grade equipment from reputable, industry-leading vendors.

CHALLENGE

One of ITSupervision’s recent projects was to help TVB improve the WiFi network in their IJsselstein location. The existing network switches had reached end of life and so could no longer receive software security patches, presenting a potential cyber risk. Plus, the approximately 600 users at TVB regularly reported that they were experiencing connectivity issues with the ageing WiFi 5-based wireless network.

Dennis van Wankum, IT Manager at ITSupervision, says: “The networks we all use today are more important than they were five years ago. No network means no data, web access, email, nothing.” So, the decision was taken to replace the existing network with a more modern approach, including robust redundancy. Explains Dennis, “Downtime has to be minimalized , so building redundancy into the new network was important: it just has to work.”

SOLUTION

Around the time ITSupervision was looking at options for TVB, Dennis met Thomas Verheul, VAR IT & DMR Account Manager Benelux, NETGEAR, at the Rout-IT congres (a local IT industry event). Dennis takes up the story, “I got talking to Thomas, and he really sold the products to us. NETGEAR has all the network features we need and is value-for-money, but it was also Thomas’ enthusiasm that made a difference, and that is what made us decide to partner with NETGEAR.”

The final solution primarily comprises a combination of NETGEAR Business multi-gig switches, 1Gb switches to support users’ workspaces, two redundant backup core switches to give Terberg the resilience that ITSupervision wanted to create, and switch transceivers. In addition, there are 24 NETGEAR Business WiFi 6e access points, able to provide the speed and capacity that the WiFi 6e standard makes possible.

The installation had to happen fast, so ITSupervision only had a little time to become familiar with NETGEAR products. This meant a learning curve for ITSupervision, but any issues were resolved with the help of Thomas and his colleagues, as well as the NETGEAR Pro WiFi team.

“With NETGEAR, you can pick up the phone and get immediate help,” says Dennis.

RESULTS

The network was installed in late 2023 and, consequently, TVB can be confident that it has stable, high-speed connectivity, able to accommodate users’ needs today and in the future.

ITSupervision and NETGEAR are now collaborating on other projects, with ITSupervision also receiving hands-on training from the NETGEAR Pro WiFi team. The company will also use NETGEAR Insight, a cloud-based network management solution which will enable ITSupervision to monitor, troubleshoot, update, and maintain customers’ networks remotely.

In the meantime, the true measure of any network project’s success is what customers think. Dennis reports,” The only feedback I have had is the sound of silence because users no longer experience connectivity problems. For me, the absence of feedback is the feedback.”

EQUIPMENT

• 24 WAX638E WiFi 6e wireless access points (APs)
• 4 MS324TXUP multi-gig switches for the APs
• 5 AXM765 switch modules
• 14 GS752TPP 1GB switches
• 2 XSM4328FV redundant core switches