The challenge

In 2017, GTT delivered one of Europe’s first‑wave SD‑WAN deployments for Hansgrohe. Through collaboration and a strong partnership, the companies have been able to achieve continuous improvement in network performance and efficiency.

Hansgrohe extended its work with GTT early in 2021 to upgrade and streamline the network in support of the company’s digital transformation initiatives. Its objective was to embrace the capabilities of the cloud fully and securely while also expanding its network capacity to support business‑to‑consumer communication along with business‑to‑business activities.

“GTT Managed SD WAN gives us the additional flexibility and bandwidth we need and the ability to prioritize our most critical communication to ensure our people can collaborate efficiently.”

Matthias Goetz – Head of Infrastructure & Operations , Hansgrohe

The solution

Managed SD-WAN to unite a global enterprise

In addition to its headquarters in Germany, Hansgrohe operates seven manufacturing sites worldwide with 34 subsidiaries. It has a total of 40 locations connected via SD‑WAN across Europe, the Asia‑Pacific region and the Americas. To maintain its stature as the world’s leading provider of bathroom and kitchen fixtures, Hansgrohe analyzes massive amounts of data to monitor consumer trends, supply chain information and administrative operations.

Recognizing that its previous technology configuration could not keep pace with its growing business, Hansgrohe turned to longstanding partner GTT to provide a Managed SD‑WAN solution to transform the company’s network for future business growth. The service instantly accommodated the company’s growing need for bandwidth and faster access to data. The ability of the service to prioritize the network traffic ensures that Hansgrohe’s employees around the world have immediate, reliable and secure access to the information and applications they need, whether working remotely, in the office or on the road.

The GTT Managed SD‑WAN solution enables seamless global communication and has accelerated the modernization of legacy hardware, providing access to data lakes that support the development of new products and give employees the ability to obtain deeper insight into customer trends. By increasing access to data, Hansgrohe has boosted collaboration and encouraged the creation of crossfunctional teams.

To enable its network transformation Hansgrohe migrated from MPLS to an internet‑based underlay, leveraging GTT’s global Tier 1 IP network to provide greater network assurance, flexibility and speed. GTT Managed SD‑WAN was selected to automate the operation and management of Hansgrohe’s global network, improving visibility and control of the network and increasing efficiency and reliability.

Secure connectivity around the globe

The GTT Managed SD‑WAN solution also supported the company’s move to Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint and Teams. These cloud‑based tools proved even more valuable as Hansgrohe migrated to a remote work model following the emergence of COVID‑19. Hansgrohe completed its migration shortly before the pandemic struck, allowing the company to quickly adjust to the realities of the new remote work era.

The GTT solution provides safe and secure connectivity with enhanced end‑to‑end encryption and the ability to allow remote sites to connect directly to the company’s secure Microsoft Office 365 cloud, and to redirect traffic, when necessary, through a secure gateway when users attempt to access less trusted destinations on the global internet.

As Goetz observes, “As an early adopter of SD‑WAN starting in 2017, we have learned a lot. We saw the move to cloud coming and the need for more bandwidth and performance to handle all the data supporting the growth of our business. Now, the GTT Managed SD‑WAN gives us the additional flexibility and bandwidth we need and the ability to prioritize our most critical communication over other less critical connections to ensure our people can collaborate efficiently.”

As a result of the efficiencies achieved so far, the company is looking at moving even more of its applications into the cloud.

“GTT is a great partner that delivers a good product and service at an attractive price.”

Matthias Goetz – Head of Infrastructure & Operations , Hansgrohe

The results

• Increased bandwidth by 187%
• Decreased cost per MB by 10%
• Teamwork and continuous improvement

Despite the challenges of the COVID‑19 pandemic, GTT transitioned Hansgrohe to its new Managed SD‑WAN on time and with no technical issues, downtime or outages.

“We have evolved together, working hand in hand. Our companies have a similar focus on exploring new possibilities and adopting them into a living environment to make things easier and better.”

Matthias Goetz – Head of Infrastructure & Operations , Hansgrohe

The connected future

Hansgrohe is continuing to evaluate which additional applications and services to move to the cloud in the future – with an eye toward migrating a high percentage of its applications to the cloud within the next two years with GTT’s continued support. Hansgrohe is also planning the expansion of its SD‑WAN to its new facility in Serbia.

“When we first started working with GTT, we were just buying wire lines; now as our Managed SD‑WAN partner, GTT has taken on full responsibility for the service offering and not just delivering a piece of hardware,” Goetz said. “We have evolved together, working hand in hand. Our companies have a similar focus on exploring new possibilities and adopting them into a living environment to make things easier and better. GTT is a great partner that delivers a good product and service at an attractive price.”