IT'S SMOOTH SAILING AT FEDNAV WITH ALLSTREAM'S BUSINESS
IP SERVICE

COMPANY
The Fednav Group is a leader in international shipping.

CHALLENGE
With offices in Canada, the U.S. and globally, Fednav was having difficulty centrally managing its financial systems, cargo shipments and data traffic.

SOLUTION
By deploying a hybrid network consisting of Allstream's MPLS network and the public Internet, and opting for managed services, Fednav was able to seamlessly interconnect its eight global sites.

OUTCOMES

• Gave all its offices access to the company's financial system
• Improved compliance and customer service by enabling electronic cargo transactions
• Reduced the costs of travel by automating network support
• Maximized network uptime with Allstream's Managed Services

Although headquartered in Montreal, Fednav is a truly global company, with 11 offices in the U.S. and Canada, and locations in London, Tokyo, Antwerp, Hamburg, Brisbane and Rio de Janeiro. In the past, each office maintained a separate Internet line supported by different service providers. The challenge? One person was spending his full time monitoring the lines and fixes required a local team on the ground.

To complicate matters, this disconnected infrastructure made it impossible for the company to give all its offices access to its Oracle financial and cargo management systems. This was resulting in performance challenges and making it difficult to track international shipments.

SOLUTION

While Fednav initially relied on Allstream's frame relay network, three years ago it transitioned its North American locations to Allstream's Business IP service, which runs over a robust MPLS network. It extends its reach internationally by using a high speed Internet line to interconnect its global offices over a Virtual Private Network (VPN). To streamline administration and free its IT team from mundane network monitoring functions, Fednav also relies on Allstream's Managed Services solution.

Thanks to this configuration, Fednav can now give each of its remote sites access to the company's financial and cargo management systems. This is critical functionality for the company, which requires electronic cargo transaction processing to comply with U.S. regulations. Stéphane Sauvé, IT Manager at Fednav, explains: "If we lacked a centralized system, the need to maintain local offices and dispersed service provider relationships would have compromised our ability to stay in business. I don't think we would have survived."

BUSINESS OUTCOMES

Since transitioning to Allstream's Business IP service, Fednav has been able to:

• Increase performance by providing all its remote office with access to the company's Oracle financial system
• Strengthen security by streaming its global email through a central site
• Enhance regulatory compliance and customer service with the ability to electronically track shipments and inventory
• Reduce travel costs by automating network support and administration