Burgo Group

“Cartiere Burgo”: a name we’ve all heard of that became Burgo Group SpA in 2007. Today, it has become a state-of-the-art multinational giant in the paper industry. After all, every paper “thing” that comes into our hands talks to us about the Burgo Group: from daily papers to glossy magazines, bottles of mineral water with their label, children’s books, shopping bags, posters and more.

Twelve production sites, a number of subsidiaries and sales offices all over the world are integrated in the new homogeneous communications infrastructure.

 

Founded as “Cartiera di Verzuolo ing. Burgo & C” in 1905 thanks to the insight of engineer Luigi Burgo, by 1918 it had already developed into Italy’s leading paper producer. Over the decades, the company specialised in eco-sustainable production ideas, a key part of its corporate philosophy. It started to produce new kinds of paper (such as packaging paper and food-grade paper) and opened new businesses developing power stations for its factories and reinforcing its commitment to produce raw materials. In the Nineties, the opening of the Burgo Ardennes factory in Belgium, one of the largest outside Italy, combining paper and cellulose production while minimising water consumption, marked the transition to strong internationalisation.

In 2007, it became Burgo Group SpA and today it is one of Europe’s leading producers of coated paper, a true “system” revolving around the world of paper: production, distribution, paper recycling and the workmanship of forest products, the study, design, implementation and engineering of papermaking plants, but also factoring and energy.

The Burgo Group, headquartered in Altavilla Vicentina, runs 12 production plants in Italy and abroad, operates various subsidiaries such as Mosaico Srl, Burgo Distribuzione Srl, Burgo Factor SpA and Burgo Energia SpA, and has many commercial headquarters around the world. The production plants in Italy are located in Avezzano (AQ), Chiampo (VI), Duino (TS), Lugo (VI), Sarego (VI), Sora (FR), Tolmezzo (UD), Treviso (TV), Verzuolo (CN) and Villorba (TV). Outside Italy, the Burgo Group is present in Belgium, France, Spain, Germany and Poland.

In numbers: approximately 4,500 employees and a turnover of approximately 2.5 billion euros/year (2012 data).

 

A diversified infrastructure, very specific needs

Burgo Group

“We had reached a situation that was hard to sustain by this time,” begins Ivan Nodari, Head of IT for the Burgo Group. “The company’s ongoing growth had forced us to manage an extremely diversified ICT infrastructure in general and a telephone infrastructure in particular in which the digital and analogue solutions of many different producers had to coexist, with all the difficulties this entails.”

In fact, Meridian systems were flanked by products from Aastra, Ericson, Siemens and Ascom. In any case, this diversity was not the only problem to solve: as a company with numerous offices and plants in Italy and abroad, it wanted to be able to lower communication costs by tackling transformation of the infrastructure without jeopardising the investments that had already been made.

To design and implement the new infrastructure, the Burgo Group chose IPway Srl, an innovaphone retailer based in Vicenza, which offers customers VoIP services and systems, unified communications, software and Internet applications, wireless networks, networking, data-centre infrastructures, security and monitoring of IT networks, audio and video communication, IP video surveillance and structured cabling.

The project, for which IPway was able to rely on the support of EDSlan, an innovaphone distributor, started from a very complex telephone infrastructure developed on many sites (approximately 15) differing in type (managerial, commercial, production) and thus in needs (fixed terminals, mobile phones, tablets and other mobile devices, fax, DECT equipment, directories, numbering plans, alarm systems).

 

 

The “smooth migration” of innovaphone: a winning solution

Paper manufacturing at Burgo Group

“The challenge we were facing was by no means simple,” continues Simone Frison, CEO of IPway. The main criticality to overcome involved dealing with an installed set of equipment that was varied but also obsolete, in contrast with the needs the Group had developed: being able to rely on uniform service, increased performance, the integration of landlines and mobile phones, maintenance of certain services such as those related to alarms, high availability and reliability of the system, gradual migration of the infrastructure, and keeping telephone and service costs down. We knew that the innovaphone solution was the right one: open, compliant with standards, secure, powerful and offering excellent value for money.”

Once again, innovaphone’s concept of “smooth migration” proved to be a winning one. This gradual migration made it possible to incorporate all the devices already present into the infrastructure and use them up to the last minute. As a result, investments in the new IP telephone system were spread out over time and it was possible to exploit existing contracts – such as those for maintenance – to their fullest.

 

 

Implementation

The proposed solution uses VoIP gateways that are then converted into phone systems (innovaphone PBX), making it possible for all the existing systems to communicate with each other and transform a traditional system into a VoIP system, with all the advantages this can offer in terms of both costs and services. Subsequently, work was done at each individual site and, without interrupting service, the existing devices were replaced with new VoIP devices. Where possible, the existing analogue equipment was maintained. At some of the plants, new IP DECT systems were installed, while at others the existing DECT systems were interfaced with the new VoIP phone system through the use of IP gateways.

The platform, designed for master/slave PBX – Standby PBX operation, guarantees excellent security, system stability and the possibility to communicate even if telephone lines or the PBX are down.

Today, the Burgo Group communicates entirely through a VoIP platform constituted by over 2,000 licences (users). It utilises fixed and mobile VoIP, DECT, WiFi and analogue terminals, and exploits a common platform offering advantages such as the centralised directory, IVR, communication security, and integration with the most common company work instruments such as laptops, desktop computers and smartphones.

To fully satisfy the varied needs of such a sweeping and complex solution, the innovaphone VoIP gateway determined to be ideal for the individual situation was implemented according to the location. Therefore, this ranges from the IP6010 and IP6000 models to the IP0010, IP3010, IP1060, IP800, IP810 and IP305 models. The same holds true for the analogue telephone adapters, for the DECT terminals with the innovaphone IP1202 gateways, which guarantee extension of the functions of the innovaphone PBX to the DECT system, and for the telephone devices where, alongside the IP441, IP200 and IP110 telephones, we find the IP222 and IP232 models of the latest generation, distinguished by their appealing design.

Essentially every device in the innovaphone range was used in the Burgo Group’s telephone infrastructure, but we can add it all up with a few numbers: over 2,000 licences, 19 PRI and 33 BRI for a total of 626 channels, 20 innovaphone PBX systems, 5 innovaphone VoIP gateways, just under 120 analogue telephone adapters and about 160 IP DECT systems, 9 innovaphone IP-DECT gateways, approximately 850 IP phones, 230 DECT phones and 20 WiFi phones.

 

 

Conclusions and future developments

Storage room

“Being up to the task of meeting the often complex needs of such a structured and important Group was a source of great satisfaction for us. The key to our success was the possibility and ability to offer reliable, stable and fast technologies that can be integrated and are scalable,” Frison concludes. “From this standpoint, innovaphone’s VoIP solutions have allowed us to offer the best answer to a decidedly complex initial situation.”

Nodari concludes, “Flexibility, performance, communication security and lower costs in an infrastructure that can now be managed centrally. Our employees also agree that we have taken a huge step forward regarding function, practicality and security. I would say that we couldn’t have hoped for anything better! What we are now assessing is the implementation of unified communications applications, which would complete what has been done so far and further improve internal communications.”

   
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