SASE enables augmented reality for glass manufacturer - Network World

O-I Glass, Inc., is simply a $4.6B shaper of distinctive solid bottles and jars; its lawsuit roster includes producers of Scotch whiskey, French wine, German cola, Spanish olive oil, Caribbean rum, New Zealand airy ale, smoothie shots, juices, mineral water, milk, and yogurt.

Headquartered successful Ohio, O-I had been moving an MPLS web to link its 25,000 employees dispersed crossed 70 plants successful 19 countries. But alteration was needed, says CIO Rodney Masney, to support gait with the migration of applications to the cloud, the displacement of workers to location offices, and the company’s efforts to re-imagine the solid manufacturing process.

“The needs of the concern changed materially successful presumption of speed, performance, connectivity and flexibility into our plants, and each of our locations astir the world,” says Masney.

O-I decided to regenerate the MPLS web from AT&T with unafraid entree work borderline (SASE) from Cato Networks. Masney reports that the modulation has been fast, creaseless and outgo effective—he estimates the savings astatine 20% to 30%.

The power to SASE enabled O-I to summation WAN bandwidth by a origin of three, which has translated into “better enactment with unreality applications, a amended idiosyncratic experience, and amended collaboration crossed the organization.”

It besides created the accidental for O-I to deploy HoloLens, the Microsoft augmented reality/mixed world system, for distant engineering connected the mill floor.

Drivers for utilizing SASE

Covid was a contributing factor, but not the main operator for the determination distant from MPLS. When the pandemic hit, the institution rapidly ramped up what it calls “connected work” for bureau employees, who present person the enactment to enactment from the bureau oregon from home. “We similar to accidental that radical person a choice. They tin enactment from wherever they bash their champion each day,” says Masney.

Building a hybrid enactment situation connected a planetary standard required a antithetic mode of reasoning astir the network, security, and show for employees wherever they are located, says Masney.

But an adjacent much important operator was integer transformation. The extremity was to present accrued show astatine reduced costs, portion maintaining precocious standards for security. “Any IT nonrecreational who isn’t lying awake astatine nighttime worrying astir cybersecurity astir apt isn’t paying attention,” Masney adds.

He describes the O-I attack this way: “We’re not a cloud-first company. We’re a cloud-where-it-makes-sense company. That means fiscal consciousness and consciousness for our business. We usage Azure services wherever it makes sense, and SaaS wherever it makes sense, and on-premises wherever it makes sense.”

The largest unreality workload is Office 365, says Masney, with 25,000 employees connected Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc. The institution is an SAP store for its halfway ERP systems, and uses a assortment of different SaaS applications, specified arsenic SAP Success Factors for HR-related functions.

He adds, “That leads adjacent much to a SASE solution similar Cato wherever we tin leverage their capabilities whether things are connected oregon disconnected premise, oregon your radical are connected oregon disconnected premise.”

While solid making is an past art, modern solid instrumentality manufacturing is simply a highly sophisticated, automated process. Glass is uncovering renewed popularity arsenic a sustainable, recyclable alternate to plastic, and O-I’s strategy is to thrust maturation by transitioning to a modular solid accumulation enactment that provides the flexibility and agility needed to rapidly capable customized orders.

How O-I Glass chose a SASE vendor

Masney said his squad conducted impervious of concepts with respective SASE providers. He was looking for 1 that could present the work quickly, that could guarantee information astatine the web edge, and that could bring astir outgo savings. He was besides looking for a vendor whose strategy and imaginativeness matched O-I’s semipermanent goals.

SASE is simply a work that encompasses respective technologies, specified as SD-WAN, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS), cloud-access information broker (CASB), and unafraid web gateway (SWG). Masney says the Cato offering checks each of those boxes.

His archetypal estimation was that the planetary rollout would instrumentality 12 to 18 months, but O-I was capable to deploy astatine astir sites wrong six months. His squad started transitioning from AT&T’s VPN work successful July and completed that portion of the task by September. “I’m a go-fast benignant of guy. This exertion truly helps you accelerate deployment,” says Masney.

Masney hired a third-party work supplier to instal Cato SD-WAN hardware (which Cato refers to arsenic sockets) astatine O-I locations astir the world. Masney said helium ordered 2 appliances per tract for redundancy. That work supplier worked with Masney’s interior squad and Cato to marque definite everything was decently acceptable up and documented.

As portion of the modulation from MPLS to SASE, O-I needed to find an ISP to present last-mile connectivity betwixt its plants and Cato’s cloud. Interestingly, Masney was capable to proceed to enactment with AT&T, which present provides that high-bandwidth net transport successful astir locations, but wherever O-I had pre-existing contracts with section ISPs.

“We’ve maintained a bully narration with AT&T,” says Masney. “SASE solutions are the aboriginal of however companies are going to work, whether it’s Cato oregon their competitors. But we managed it precise professionally with AT&T and they inactive person the accidental to gain concern due to the fact that determination are different things successful their portfolio that we tin leverage.” O-I uses AT&T for fixed enactment voice, mobile and different services.

Masney adds that his wide strategy is to person beardown relationships with a constricted fig of strategical vendors. And helium hasn’t unplugged each of his MPLS links. In immoderate cardinal locations, MPLS is being utilized to supply redundancy for mission-critical traffic.

The migration is present “90-plus percent” completed. And successful the remaining cases, helium is conscionable waiting for the high-bandwidth net nexus to beryllium acceptable up. “It’s not a Cato limitation, it’s bandwidth availability,” helium explains.

SASE enables augmented-reality headsets

Masney explored augmented world respective years agone erstwhile Google Glass archetypal came retired but says O-I didn’t person the infrastructure to enactment it. “With the assistance of Cato, we’ve enabled ourselves to bash things we couldn’t person done successful the past.”

Currently, O-I is utilizing HoloLens headsets to link engineers who mightiness beryllium located astatine antithetic plants oregon connected antithetic continents. “You mightiness person an technologist successful Toledo, Ohio, helping idiosyncratic successful Europe successful a manufacturing facility,” helium says.

Each technologist would beryllium wearing a headset and the on-site technologist successful Europe would deploy the HoloLens front-facing camera to nonstop real-time video to the technologist successful Ohio. The supporting technologist is past capable spot what the different technologist is seeing and provide real-time guidance.

“In the past determination would person been telephone calls oregon question to the location, which is clip consuming and expensive.  This helps to debar delays successful clip to resolution, says Masney.

Masney adds, “We’re utilizing Wi-Fi successful our plants, past allowing video streams to spell crossed the WAN to usage connected the different end. It’s precise important that they tin spot things successful existent time. Based connected our erstwhile exertion it was hard to do. [SASE] helps alteration america successful a mode we wouldn’t person been capable to bash precise readily oregon outgo efficaciously done accepted telecom.”

The adjacent measurement is to grow the usage of HoloLens for applications similar works maintenance, simulations, and training. One important origin that comes successful play successful a manufacturing script is the information of the idiosyncratic wearing a headset. “We privation to marque definite we don’t obstruct the presumption of an worker successful a manufacturing works wherever tons of things are moving each astatine once,” explains Masney. But beyond that, “I spot astir limitless imaginable of that technology,” helium says.

SASE benefits

Masney cites respective benefits associated with the determination to SASE. By shifting his WAN expenditures from MPLS to net bandwidth, helium was capable not lone to boost wide bandwidth, but besides make redundancy and flexibility. The Cato SD-WAN appliance tin link to the internet, to MPLS, and to cellular networks. Plus, helium tin much readily boost bandwidth, if needed.

Masney adds, “I spot this arsenic enabling different things we request to bash connected the cybersecurity beforehand to thrust detection, identification, effect and remediation successful the lawsuit of a cybersecurity event. It liberates you to deliberation astir things that you tin bash that were historically a barrier.”

In summation to basal SASE, O-I besides bought a last-mile work from Cato successful which the vendor assumes work for monitoring and troubleshooting show hiccups connected the ISP’s end. For example, if there’s a problem, Cato volition beryllium the 1 opening occupation tickets with the bearer and pursuing done to marque definite the contented is resolved.

The SASE deployment is conscionable finishing up, truthful Masney doesn’t person immoderate metrics yet connected however the work volition escaped up his interior staffers to tackle different projects, but helium says, “I judge we volition spot an accidental to liberate capableness to bash different important projects that request our attention.”

All successful all, “It’s a beauteous exceptional result astatine the extremity of the day,” says Masney.

Neal Weinberg is simply a freelance exertion writer and editor.