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Digital blueprints

Edge ServicesOur point of view

Today’s world is driven by data. The exponential growth in devices and applications means experiences have become increasingly important as a measure of the ability to do business. They’re now more connected, digitised and distributed. They’re always-on. At the edge of your network – which could be your branch, factory, shop, or home – you need consistent, performant and secure experiences from all your chosen network resources.

As your people bring their own devices to work and you connect more automatic sensors and cameras to your network, having a technology-agnostic solution to manage and protect your infrastructure becomes increasingly important.

How effectively people can connect with each other and use corporate resources - on and off your network - can play a key part in the development of your business. For example, improved collaboration experiences for LAN users with remote users will help your team improve decision-making and provide better service to your customers, while driving down your costs.

But with the increased demand of video and collaborative content, how is your current LAN infrastructure coping?

Digital blueprints

Edge Services2

Solving the puzzle with Edge ServicesOur point of view:

Our Edge Services offer a managed service environment that securely connects corporate end users to voice, data and Internet of Things (IoT) applications – giving you complete visibility and persona-based performances. And total control of your domain. This even extends into Operational Technology (OT), used in industrial environments which were never designed to be connected to IT and are often decades old.

With the advent of Industry 4.0, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimise industrial processes, OT and IT now need to talk to each other. Security must be considered at the start of these programs. Many Industry 4.0 projects never get beyond the pilot stage because the supporting infrastructure simply isn’t there. But our Digital Manufacturing propositions address these challenges.

Recent research shows a growing trend towards using a managed service partner to put the parts together and integrate new technology like 5G and Software Defined Access (SDA). An experienced partner can get new and improved capabilities up and running faster, helping you to reap the benefits sooner. If you find a partner that can integrate your products securely, you’re also likely to see more opportunity for cost savings.

You also need a partner with the expertise and portfolio to join up your LAN environment with the rest of your organisation. It makes things less complex and more seamless. Having a trusted partner that can tie together and secure your LAN, WAN and cloud could also create competitive advantages.

Digital blueprints

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We offer:

• customer outcome-based contracts• long run total cost of ownership (TCO) reduction• PAYG consumption aligned to business

appetite and scale• evergreen technology strategy with

flexible integrations• integrated automated learning and

intelligence to save time and money • security by design.

It’s important that your chosen partner: • has strong ties with hardware vendors

• can ensure security is at the centre of your transformation

• can offer global service assurance

• is experienced with software and product innovation.

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Digital blueprints

Our blueprints span network topology from branch and Industry 4.0 sites right into the cloud. Use them together with our experience to better align to business outcomes.

Digital blueprints

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The objectives of Edge ServicesEdge Services can help improve your business performance, optimise costs and build better collaboration experiences while meeting increased demand. They also offer more support and care for your onsite employees.

They can also:

• readily support Industry 4.0 principles with multi-technology devices, IoT sensors and cameras

• reduce IT support overheads across the management and change process

• securely join up IT and OT processes in manufacturing - to support AI-based decision-making

• protect data at the Edge and as it moves into the WAN, cloud and data centre

• help you scale and move into growth markets faster• stop the spread of shadow IT and non-approved

devices and applications • apply flexible and automated micro-segmentation of

data and applications for personas • provide better reporting, understanding and insight• offer ongoing and predictable

OpEx-based budgeting• create more flexible working in offices

with extended and denser wi-fi • resolve problems more quickly, improving availability

and SLAs.

Digital blueprints

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Why implement Edge Services?There are lots of potential benefits. You can align your wireless network to today’s requirements while making sure it’s agile enough to adapt to any flexible office needs you may have in the future. Both wi-fi 6 and private 5G provide good capability across a range of user needs.

Edge Services improve the connectivity experience of workers in the office or onsite, reflecting the experience they get at home.

They also:

• deal with the increased demand for video applications• offer single hardware devices with multi-software

VNFs to reduce complexity and cost• manage traffic policy and priority over the LAN• increase visibility and provide more insight around

performance and effectiveness, as well as security• scale your LAN estate more readily with consistent

and tried technology.

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Digital blueprints

Our typical site level reference architecture provides high level solution designs which can be replicated across a range of use cases and customer objectives. Our capability to define and design LAN with WAN transformation architectures is proven.

Digital blueprints

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Why now?As we begin to move back into the workplace, the experience you provide in the LAN will be key in motivating and driving your employees to optimise their performance.

• Collaborative experiences will become the norm, largely replacing face-to-face meetings. This increased demand for immersive traffic will need to be managed effectively and consistently to ensure stable experiences.

• It’ll help you avoid LAN and data centre equipment refresh, and move CapEx into OpEx.

• Offering good collaborative engagements between office and remote or home locations will keep your employees connected and motivated for new hybrid working cultures.

• Using digital collaboration will help you get ahead of your competitors on service.

• Security is critical – as threats grow exponentially, you need a strategy to protect your critical assets and detect threats. Many CISOs understand the value in securing their pool of growing data before a breach occurs.

• Renewed insight about traffic and data patterns will open new opportunities for you in the evolving digital world.

Digital blueprints

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Although software has a key role to play in the future LAN via SDN, LANs are still grounded in physical infrastructure. For many, the LAN is still “plumbing” — cables and boxes that must extend through the premises. Even with wi-fi, there are still physical devices and infrastructure to purchase, support and manage, making hardware innovation similar to software innovation.

With hardware providers and maintainers still being important, it’s important to pick your partner wisely. They need to give you support and coverage for your organisation (now and in the future) and also have solid experience in technology and innovation.

Key considerations It’s worth considering:

• using refreshed meeting rooms to drive better quality collaboration experiences will drive growth and confidence in your business

• to align your wireless network to meet your current needs, while also making sure it’s agile enough to enable future flexible working environments

• to improve the experience of your workers in the office or branch to reflect their experience at home

• both private 5G and wi-fi 6 options can support the growing bandwidth needs of connected devices, IoT sensors, cameras, and other peripheral equipment

• you independently monitor application performance and quality scoring - i.e. MOS scoring for voice services.

Digital blueprints

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Security can be bought as a service in the cloud, at the edge, as a gateway, or on-premises. But combining and building the right protection for your operation is key. You need to consider your overarching security policy to identify critical controls and where best to place them.

Security It’s worth considering:

• the impact on your business if data is intercepted or seen by others

• what additional security you’ll need, if any, to protect your data in-transit, as well as at rest

• if the CISO is responsible for OT security, and if your security team has sufficient knowledge of the OT environment to manage this?

• how migration of IoT or OT data into the cloud will affect your overall security posture and if you can re-use what you have

• how you’ll prevent IT threats from crossing the boundary into the OT environment, and what costs your business would incur if your OT environment went down

• if you can deploy cameras to help your workers’ physical security, and if this will help manage the distribution and demands of people across buildings.

Digital blueprints

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Digital manufacturing environments can embrace IoT to offer benefits around security for SCADA systems, stock and supply chain accuracy, and AI and robotics.

It’s worth considering:

• if you’ll continue to manage OT data at the Edge, or if you’ll securely move it into the cloud

• the cost of moving and analysing that data in the cloud or at the Edge

• what data you’d need to be instantly available• what can move to free space, power, and management overheads• how you’ll you join up OT and IT and all the various parts of the

LAN and manage performance / SLAs across all suppliers.

Digital manufacturing

Key actions:

• increase the security on OT systems (use of proprietary systems, old versions of Windows, device authentication, security logs and lack of password management).

• clarify your objectives and involve your peers. Developing a joint and phased LAN, SD-WAN, cloud and security strategy makes sense and will help focus teams to the same objectives.

• choose a trusted network partner with a strong portfolio and pedigree for customer transformations.

Digital blueprints

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Why us?We bring workspaces together for our customers, using our global partners and worldwide organisation. We use APIs to integrate with vendors and service tools so we can provide a seamless managed experience – one that performs for your users, as well as your customers.

Our expertise and experience working with organisations across the world mean we have the relationships to deliver service at scale and pace. Our own capabilities, and those of our partners, combine to offer best-in-class global services to put you back in control.

Our integrated security approach makes sure you can leverage your existing investments in endpoint, Edge and network security technologies, as well as identity and access control solutions. You can do all this while optimising and unifying your management approach and without having to start from scratch.

We have 100 years of networking heritage and our range of cost-effective offers with considered value can accelerate your business into the digital world.

Digital blueprints

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Our methodologyWe have a unique approach to supporting our customers through their digital transformation journeys, developed through our experience of delivering successful transformations for multiple global organisations.

Our approach includes help to:

• define blueprints - using artifacts to design and steer customers to the right solutions

• build transition plans which reduce risk and increase speed to outcomes

• develop service models to automate and orchestrate change.

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Digital blueprints

Our manufacturing blueprint builds on 4 core levels

Cell area zone L0-2

Refreshed wired and wireless LAN, upgrading to Ethernet and IP addressing where appropriate. Full vulnerability assessment of site, use of tools to monitor abnormal network behaviours and support segmentation to limit blast radius.

Industrial zone L0-3

Secure gateways and connectors to collect proprietary data, integration with PI (e.g. OSI Soft), support for tools like MS First Line. 5G in a box solution to support VR training, AR remote assistance, and UHD camera monitoring of equipment.

Industrial demilitarised zone

Use AI for predictive maintenance, process and energy optimisation, and supply chain risk management. It supports seamless processing at the Edge for real-time analytics and the cloud for training algorithms

Enterprise zone L4-5

Use closed loop analytics to optimise processes in real time (self-healing networks)

High availability infrastructure ultra- secure systems with real-time monitoring for security threats.

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Digital blueprints

In this option, the guest and corporate traffic are bridged to different VLANs. The corporate traffic breaks out onto a VLAN on the your LAN or managed LAN. The guest traffic is bridged to a separate VLAN which typically would connect the Meraki device to the LAN interface of your managed or BT managed firewall as the default gateway. The firewall must allow the wireless access point to communicate with the Meraki dashboard. You need to provide a DHCP server for the client authentication on the guest SSID.

Digital blueprints

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The 5 key factors driving LAN strategy today

Connecting DP World Antwerp’s operations with smarter wireless technology

BT to support transformation of Walgreens Boots Alliance’s customer experience in the UK and Ireland

Essential insight into how the pandemic is driving LAN development

How the pandemic is creating a LAN puzzle

BT for global business

BT for global business

BT for global business BT for global business

BT for global business BT for global business

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Customer references

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Digital blueprints

Would you like to talk to our experts?

We’re ready and waiting to help you take the next step in solving your infrastructure puzzle. To find out more, get in touch with your account manager.

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The services described in this publication are subject to availability and may be modified from time to time. Services and equipment are providedsubject to British Telecommunications plc’s respective standard conditions of contract. Nothing in this publication forms any part of any contract.© British Telecommunications plc 2020. Registered office: 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ. Registered in England No: 1800000.

July 2021