Credit: Dreamstime
New Zealand's second largest gas and electricity distributor, Powerco, has selected Juniper Networks and NEC to deploy a new nationwide wi-fi network.
Powerco delivers electricity and gas to over 1.1 million customers. Given the mission-critical and essential services it provides, the company needed to ensure strong connectivity as well as the health, safety and security of its employees when operating across its grid.
After experiencing issues with its legacy wi-fi network, Powerco began looking to replace their incumbent vendor, which would also support a wi-fi 6 upgrade.
Powerco already had a long term partnership with Juniper Networks and strategic global partner NEC. Juniper has been Powerco’s networking backbone provider while NEC provided consultancy and design for the company's multi-domain networks.
Through solution trials, Juniper and NEC demonstrated how their AI-driven wireless networks could optimise Powerco’s wi-fi experience nationwide.
As a result, Powerco opted for the complete replacement of its current solution with Juniper’s wireless access points and Juniper Mist wi-fi assurance alongside NEC's consultancy and implementation services.
“Our technology has been built to fundamentally leverage the operational and user benefits of the cloud and AI, and we look forward to providing Powerco with superior user experiences based on network assurance, insights and visibility into the future," said Ken Lord, country manager of Juniper Networks NZ.
The utility is now exploring further upgrades across its wider networking infrastructure.
These would allow it to potentially deliver even more AI-driven insights into the performance and health of its network while streamlining efficiencies and minimising operational burdens the distributor's IT staff.
Nelson Gomes, head of networks at NEC New Zealand, said the company looked forward delivering state-of-the-art solutions that provided significant customer-centric value was a goal shared with partner Juniper.
The win comes as Juniper sharpened its value proposition within the local channel and focused on transparency and communication with partners.
“We are starting to see a comeback in the market in terms of adoption and implementation of technology, especially with organisations embracing flexible working and investing in campus networks, especially in the last 12 months or so”, Lord told Reseller News last August.
For the year ended 31 December 2021, Juniper Networks A/NZ reported US$121.2 million in revenue, up from US$107.7 million in 2020.
While switch and services sales were relatively flat year-on-year, security delivered strong growth, from US$19.7 million to US$27.3 million.
Revenue from the sale of routers, Juniper A/NZ's biggest category, lifted from US$56.6 million to US$62 million.
