With SD-WAN, Siemens has created the basis for greater business agility and supports its innovation capability in the long term. At the same time, the T-Systems solution also offers improved security functionalities – an essential criterion, as Siemens views the Internet as a new corporate network. With higher bandwidth, not only cloud solutions and technologies can now be widely used, but also forward-thinking AR/VR technologies. At the same time, SD-WAN allows Siemens to realize significant cost advantages compared to the previous WAN solution.
When it comes to innovations, competition is intensifying. New competitors and new opportunities as a result of digitalization create a volatile and dynamic market environment. Siemens has recognized this trend and is turning to digitalization to increase its competitiveness and innovativeness. Business agility is its central maxim. The intention is to increasingly provide IT services from the cloud and turn the Internet into its new corporate network. For one thing, Siemens expects the new structure to contribute to growth, e.g. through improved lead time (time-to-market); it also sees potential for improved efficiency through automation and reduced management costs.
One essential component for the implementation of this new IT aegis is a solid and modern network that offers advanced management functionalities and higher bandwidths to absorb the additional network traffic. T-Systems is providing the backbone for the Siemens strategy with a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN).
The digitalization approach requires additional bandwidths, but also modern network functions such as application performance management. This allows Siemens to use applications very flexibly in all networks and from various sources. This also means that the network can be used much more flexibly and can be expanded with new components (including IoT devices and virtual reality/augmented reality (AR/VR) devices). A self-service console gives Siemens full control of the WAN. At the same time, SD-WAN provides the company with much greater transparency and raises the level of security. One advantage of the SD-WAN that stands out in particular is the reduction in complexity of WAN management.
As a leading international technology group, Siemens AG is active in the areas of power generation and distribution, intelligent infrastructure for buildings and decentralized energy systems as well as automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries across the globe. With the independently-managed company Siemens Mobility, one of the leading providers of intelligent mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is also shaping the world market for passenger and freight transport. As a majority shareholder in the listed companies Siemens Healthineers and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Siemens is also one of the world's leading providers of medical technology and digital health services as well as environmentally-friendly solutions for onshore and offshore wind power generation. In the 2018 fiscal year, Siemens generated revenue of EUR 83 billion and net income of EUR 6.1 billion. At the end of September 2018, the company had around 379,000 employees worldwide.
