Infoblox > Case Studies > Ooredoo Enhances Network Stability and Scalability with Infoblox DDI Solution

Ooredoo Enhances Network Stability and Scalability with Infoblox DDI Solution

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Middle East
Asia
Africa

Country

Qatar

Product

Infoblox DDI solution
Infoblox Reporting
Infoblox Professional Services

Tech Stack

DNS
DHCP
IP address management

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Customer Satisfaction
Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software

Applicable Industries

Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Facility Management

Use Cases

Remote Asset Management

Services

System Integration
Training

About The Customer

Ooredoo is a leading international communications company delivering mobile, fixed, broadband Internet, and corporate managed services tailored to the needs of consumers and businesses across markets in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. Formerly known as Qtel Group, the company has a customer base of more than 93 million and reported revenues of USD 9.3 billion in 2012, making it one of the fastest-growing telecommunications companies in the world. In Qatar, Ooredoo is the preferred choice for world-class communications for consumers, businesses, residences, and organizations, serving approximately 300,000 customers.

The Challenge

As one of the fastest growing telecommunications companies in the world, and the premier provider in Qatar, Ooredoo was rapidly expanding its customer base. While this was great from a business perspective, the company’s IT division began to take note of the strain being placed on its fixed core network, which was essential to its fiber to the x (FTTx) offerings. In particular, the limitations of the telecommunications provider’s Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) solution were becoming more prominent with each addition to the customer base. Besides this, the vendor was simply unable to provide the level of support expected of a world-class telecom provider, and this only increased the challenges. Faced with the risk of customers being unable to connect due to system instability, Salem and his team began to evaluate new DHCP solutions that could meet their needs. Stability, security, scalability, and proactive local support were identified as the key criteria for the new solution. The company also recognized this as an opportunity to address consolidation. At the time, it was providing each of its enterprise customers with dedicated on-premises DHCP, which added to both the cost and complexity of the network. The new solution would therefore have to be able to centralize this in a reliable and efficient manner.

The Solution

Ooredoo made a thorough study of analyst reports and consulted with the IT teams of other telecommunications operators, which led it to select the DNS, DHCP, and IP address management (DDI) solution from Infoblox. 'Not only was the Infoblox solution carrier grade and fit for purpose; it promised a high degree of scalability, which meant it would aid our rapid growth,' says Salem. Under the guidance of Infoblox and Al-Falak, the vendor’s integration partner, Ooredoo began the rollout of Infoblox DHCP servers at two of its sites. In two weeks, these servers were deployed at the sites in load-balancing mode. As each of the Infoblox DHCP servers is capable of generating 1020 IP addresses per second, this gave the team a significant upgrade in performance over their previous non-carrier-grade solution. Furthermore, the use of two DHCP servers added a level of robustness and guaranteed high availability. After thorough testing verified that the implementation could successfully meet all project requirements, Infoblox delivered intensive training to Ooredoo’s next-generation network (NGN) team. This included in-depth hands-on sessions on the solution’s powerful management and reporting tools.

Operational Impact

The carrier-grade solution easily meets Ooredoo’s performance and scalability requirements, thus resolving previous stability challenges.
Customers no longer face connectivity issues related to DHCP instability, and this has increased customer satisfaction while driving down the number of helpdesk calls.
Having only two DHCP servers as opposed to a distributed set-up has effectively eliminated the maintenance challenges that Ooredoo’s operations team used to face.
Thanks to the comprehensive management and reporting tools that are now available, the team has ready access to a wealth of knowledge that aids compliance, troubleshooting, and future planning.
The telecom provider now plans to consolidate its DCHP infrastructure to eliminate the need for individual DHCP servers to be deployed on the premises of its enterprise customers.

Quantitative Benefit