The challenge

Setec embarked on its digital transformation strategy to support a more efficient IT infrastructure, which is required across all of its global sites in order to be a world leader.

The company needed guaranteed access to internal business applications from any department anywhere in the world. However, the mainstay of setec’s legacy IT infrastructure relied on individual servers processing data at each of its 20 sites in France. Although the local servers were initially introduced to make it quick to work on large data files at each location, the architecture made it very difficult to move data at scalable speeds. Files moving between sites could take several minutes to download and open, change and retransmit. The situation caused reduced efficiency, delays in projects, and increasing frustration for the engineers who had deadlines and KPIs to meet on behalf of clients.

Further, the unique legacy infrastructure configuration at each site required dedicated IT resources to manage the network. It was also challenging to achieve a unified approach to managing security vulnerabilities across all its locations.

To deliver enhanced communication options to its engineers, subcontractors and clients, setec also looked to modernize its voice and virtual meeting services, including seamless telephony integration with Microsoft Teams.

“Collaboration is at the heart of our success in the engineering and construction projects we undertake. Working with GTT as our trusted partner, we’ve greatly enriched the quality and speed of communication and cooperation between our engineers, staff and customers around the world, supporting all of us in better realizing our passion for engineering excellence.”

Laurent Cuny – Group CIO at setec

The solution

“Faster delivery, cost savings and guaranteed network availability is a reality for setec, thanks to GTT,” said Laurent Cuny, Group CIO at setec. “The resilience and low latency of our improved connectivity with GTT has allowed us to migrate workloads from 20 local servers to just five central data center locations — making us more productive, saving money and helping reduce our carbon footprint.”

The engineering firm partnered with GTT to implement a faster, more resilient network solution for data and voice that helps connect its people across France. Through GTT’s consultative approach, setec was provided with a solution designed to address its mission-critical objective with the implementation of a reliable, flexible, high-speed networking and connectivity solution.

Each location features a primary MPLS link to support all critical internal data flows, complemented by a secondary Dedicated Internet or broadband link for resiliency and disaster recovery. This has allowed the company to move to a centralized data processing structure, consolidating servers from across its 20 sites in France to just five data centers in major French cities.

By integrating setec’s business-critical communications with GTT SIP Trunking, the company’s voice traffic is now routed directly to Microsoft Teams. The solution replaced traditional telephony installations. With this implementation, setec has further improved its collaboration and infrastructure efficiency by moving its voice services to run over Internet Protocol, providing clear, reliable communication.

Throughout, GTT has supported the company’s ongoing digital transformation projects, as well as day-to-day operations, with dedicated Professional Services. GTT Service Management ensures setec receives proactive analysis and network performance reporting, supporting its team with the insights to drive continuous improvement and adapt to evolving business goals.

“The resilience and low latency of our improved connectivity with GTT has allowed us to migrate workloads from 20 local servers to just five central data center locations — making us more productive, saving money and helping reduce our carbon footprint.”

Laurent Cuny – Group CIO at setec

The results

More bandwidth for greater collaboration and technology adoption

The solution from GTT has helped setec increase the available bandwidth at each of its French sites from 8 Mbps to up to 1 Gbps. Its engineers can now deliver and receive architectural plans and other large documents in a matter of seconds, supporting their collaboration and productivity.

Setec’s increased network capacity allows it to pursue cutting-edge, data-rich technologies like Building Information Modeling (BIM), geographic information systems (GIS) and digital twins — real-time digital representations of physical assets in operation that can help optimize maintenance schedules to prevent equipment failure — along with leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning in its projects.

Centralized IT for increased security and efficiency

Higher network throughput, greater resilience and uptime guarantees have enabled the company to remove local servers from individual sites and centralize its data and applications in five data centers. The simplified infrastructure has helped setec improve its security posture, including rationalizing and streamlining its use of defensive technologies for fast and efficient ongoing threat management. Removing hardware from premises has also cut maintenance costs while freeing up IT teams for higher-value business priorities.

Seamless telephony for Microsoft Teams collaboration

Setec employees now benefit from high-quality IP telephony from GTT with direct routing to Microsoft Teams. This has enabled the company to change out its traditional telephone receivers with headsets connected to computers, providing a seamless collaboration experience regardless of location and how users are accessing Microsoft Teams call and conferences.

Easy management

GTT has simplified all functional areas within setec including procurement, legal, finance, project management and operations. Further, GTT offers setec’s IT team a single point of contact for questions and access through the EtherVision customer portal for submission, monitoring and resolution of any trouble tickets. The financial management of its connectivity services is also streamlined for the global engineering company, with just a single bill from GTT to process, instead of multiple invoices from multiple vendors due on different dates.

Compliance and continuous improvement

Dedicated, expert, on-demand GTT Service Management supports setec in maximizing improvements to its operational environment following industry-accredited principles, including Information Technology Infrastructure Library.

“Setec has a decade-long relationship with GTT, and we rely heavily on the expertise we gain from our GTT account team to help guide our continuing digital transformation supporting our global projects and business growth around the world,” said Cuny

“GTT provides us with a reliable, high-performance and secure network wherever we needed connectivity to open a new office. From the 12 sites we started with to the 20 we operate today, GTT’s support has been invaluable to us for every new site opening or reorganization.”

Laurent Cuny – Group CIO at setec