Cosentino Group Optimizes Its Technological Platform With Solutions by Cisco

Madrid, 12th December 2013. – The Cosentino Group has selected the technology of the Cisco® Enterprise Networks, Data Center and Collaboration architectures to simplify its management and support its growing international presence. These comprehensive solutions meet its requirements, enabling it to reduce operating costs, standardize communications, improve productivity and run the business in global style.

The Cosentino Group is family-owned but its multinational organization is present in more than 70 countries with more than 2,300 employees. It manufactures and distributes architectural and design solutions based on natural stone -granite and quartz- being Silestone, its best known brand. May 2013 saw the world-wide launch of its Dekton brand, an ultra-compact surface for the world of architecture and design, after an investment of 128 million euros.

As a consequence of its rapid growth and international expansion, Cosentino was confronted by an extremely complex management task and by new standardization requirements, so Cisco’s proposal to offer an end-to-end solution with global support and a network of highly qualified partners was selected.

Key points of the announcement

• The growth of the Cosentino Group is supported on three pillars: internationalization, innovation and a commitment to new technologies. To optimize this strategy, the company has carried out a complete renewal of its technological platform in the areas of networks, data centers and collaboration, relying on Cisco to provide a complete and homogeneous solution, capable of giving global coverage of its factories, offices and teleworkers.

• The new network architecture is based on a multi-platform wireless system, deployed across factories and offices to standardize and improve communications and provide ease of connection to the network, controlled and highly secure, for any device, anytime, anywhere. The Group’s hardware solution is managed through this standardized platform which enables Cosentino to set up an office in any part of the world within less than a month.

• Cosentino also decided to construct a second data center in Houston to supplement the one in Madrid, in order to be able to serve all of its offices. After consolidating and virtualizing its servers by adopting Cisco Unified Computing System™ as its computation platform, VMware virtualization software and EMC storage solutions, the applications were migrated, and, in just three months, the company was able to meet its objectives of greater security, easier management and high availability in its data centers.

• Cisco’s collaboration architecture has enabled the Group to deploy 2,000 IP telephones globally, as well as videoconferencing and Cisco TelePresence® systems in its principal offices. This is a multi-platform and multi-channel solution that enables Consentino employees to collaborate with voice and video on any device, such as PCs, portables, smart phones, tablets etc. This has helped facilitate significant saving in costs, simple, economic and faster communications between working teams, and a reduction in the need for travel. In addition, by deploying Cisco’s contact center solution Cosentino is now able to measure the quality of calls from all the Group’s clients. New applications such as automatic telephone enquiry systems and integration with the Group’s customer relationship management system are also being developed.

• Aryse, a Cisco Premier Partner, has performed the complete cycle of services, including consultancy, engineering, implementation, testing, support and complete improvement of the solution.

Statements in support:

•  Pilar Cosentino, Planning and Strategy Director for the Cosentino Group:

“Ever since the founding of Cosentino Marbles in 1979, the Cosentino Group has relied on such values as perseverance, capacity to overcome challenges, a focus on the long term and a commitment to the future. Cisco solutions have made it possible for us to reinforce these values and succeed in putting all our centers distributed around the world in the technological vanguard”.

•  Gemma Hernández, CIO of the Cosentino Group:

“When we initiated the project of technological renewal, we were confronted by a great challenge: as the Group’s international presence was constantly growing, management became ever more complex. From the Systems Department we sought a comprehensive, homogeneous solution with global support, something Cisco has provided us with, thanks to its architectures of networks, data centers and teamwork”.

• Jose Petisco, General Manager Cisco Spain:

“We want to thank the Cosentino Group for its confidence in selecting Cisco technology to solve its business challenges while promoting innovation and its international expansion. Likewise, thanks to its ample knowledge of Cisco architectures and solutions, the participation of Aryse was decisive in the design, installation and maintenance of the whole platform, converting the project into a success at world level”.

Additional resources

• More information about Cisco Enterprise Networks architecture.
• More information about Cisco Data Center architecture.
• More information about Cisco Collaboration architecture.
• Watch this video to discover the details of the project, with comments by its protagonists.
• News RSS Feed from Cisco.

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