DEKRA Expert Services NV

Overview

DEKRA Expert Services NV provides quality expert and claims services to their customers in a variety of fields, including vehicle, marine, fire, and liability valuations. DEKRA has locations in over 50 countries and is a leader in Expert and Claims services in Belgium due to their high calibre of independent evaluations and attention to customer satisfaction. To maintain that level of excellence, IT administrator Eddy Van der Linden deployed the complete Cisco Meraki solution throughout the country, giving employees reliable access to corporate resources, whether they’re in the office or at a remote location with a customer.

 

Original Networking Challenges

• The previous network solution was comprised of numerous different product types, each with a different management interface
• DEKRA was left with the unappealing options of dependency on an outsourced management provider, high cost due to hiring specialized networking staff or turning to Meraki

Total cost of ownership was very important to us in choosing a new solution. We purchased these Meraki devices based on their price and performance, plus the added benefits of ease of use, granularity, and reporting that’s built-in.

Eddy Van der Linden

IT Administrator

Why Cisco Meraki

• The unified dashboard allows the small IT team to manage the entire network deployment independently, without high costs or extra staff
• Built-in analytics and granular reporting provide visibility into users, devices, and application usage, as well as VPN connections and security settings
• Highly customizable features for each SSID permit fine-grained control over how users access the network to ensure appropriate usage and an improved user experience
• Live tools provide remote troubleshooting and insight into potential issues without having to go on-site

 

The Deployment

• Deployed Layer 2 and 3 access switches, security appliances for the branch, and 802.11ac wireless access points to 7 sites in just 2-3 weeks
• Each site has separate VLANs configured for file access, VoIP, management, wireless, and guest WiFi access
• Automatic, self-healing site-to-site VPN configured on the Meraki security appliances to connect sites and data centers for secure transfer of resources
• Corporate SSID can be configured securely using 802.1X with RADIUS authentication, while guest access can be passcode protected with bandwidth limitations

 

Results

• Employees can access the secure network either via office locations or remotely by utilizing the built-in client VPN capabilities
• The simplicity of the dashboard allows the IT team to be proactive with network management using features like remote packet capture and automatic alarms
• Even with remote workers and numerous sites, DEKRA can ensure the security of their network using features on the UTM security appliance like malware detection, content filtering, and IDS/IPS with Sourcefire Snort technology
• The DEKRA team can now maintain ownership and control over their network with the cloud-based dashboard even when they don’t have on-site IT at each location
• The inclusion of all future firmware upgrades and feature releases in the cost of the license lowers the overall TCO, management time, and employee labor for DEKRA
• As the company grows and expands, they can add new devices and integrate them seamlessly into the existing network