Tamer Group finds in Aruba an ideal tech partner

As the industry leader in Saudi Arabia’s healthcare and pharmaceutical sector, Tamer Group was going great guns in terms of modernisation and expansion but had often felt the need to have the cutting-edge technology in enterprise mobility and automation of its manufacturing processes.

The company has 13 operations centres across Saudi Arabia, and operates two of the country’s largest healthcare manufacturing and warehousing facilities.

The business growth of Tamer Group as a hyper-scale distributor relies on regular engagements with partners and suppliers.

“Our operations are heavily dependent on engagements with third-party vendors and contractors who regularly visit our branches, and so is the efficiency with which we can manufacture the healthcare products we supply to the market,” said Qutaybah Ghunaim, IT Operations Manager at Tamer Group. 

In addition to being the official distributor for several global leading healthcare, beauty, and fast-moving consumer goods in the region, Tamer Group manufactures its own line of pharmaceutical products.

“We have numerous business partners visiting our branches on a daily basis, and providing them with world-class Wi-Fi connectivity is imperative to empowering them to work remotely,” said Ghunaim.

“We needed a robust, high-performance network that could deliver secure connectivity for guests, employees, and IoT devices,” he added.

As business grew rapidly the company felt the need to find a better way to provide connectivity, which is safe and secure. With the aim of modernising its warehouses to world-class levels, Tamer Group was keen to implement wireless handheld devices in its warehouses. 

In order to keep the pace of business, wise decisions on partners are crucial. That’s why, Tamer Group chose Aruba.

The company decided to upgrade its wired and wireless networks, choosing Aruba for its unified infrastructure and zero-trust security with consistent management and role-based policy automation across both LAN and WLAN infrastructure.

And, it made all the difference.

According to Ghunaim, Aruba’s network architecture offers the ‘best of all worlds’ as it combines market-leading security features, with proven reliability to offer an ‘unmatched value proposition’.

“When comparing to two other major global providers, we found that Aruba offered the best architecture and resulting experiences, while enabling a 25 percent lower total cost of ownership. This value was simply mind-blowing,” he said.

“Our assessment of Aruba’s capabilities has been affirmed, as in the two years since we deployed Aruba’s switches and wireless access points, we have never had to raise a single support ticket! In fact, we’ve never had a single instance of a device breaking down,” said Ghunaim.

With its 10G backbone and high-speed wireless access points, Aruba has enabled Tamer Group to effectively double the wifi speed for endusers. “The experience has been so impressive that it resulted in a surge in network utilisation, to the point where we had to increase the amount of bandwidth we purchase,” said Ghunaim. “At the same time, we have experienced a significant reduction in support calls related to connectivity.”

Seamless, centralised control

Using Aruba’s controllers, Ghunaim and his team have been able to easily segment network access and enforce policies based on user profiles. “We broadcast different SSIDs from the same access point and in this way, offer isolated network access for contractors, employees, and our management,” he explained.

The controllers have also simplified management of the vast number of Aruba APs that are spread across the company’s expansive network of 13 sites across the Kingdom. “We are now empowered to proactively monitor the network, easily apply patches, and troubleshoot potential issues – all from a single pane of glass,” said Ghunaim.

Tamer Group owns and operates one of the largest and most advanced warehouses in the region. Aruba ensured that this multi-million-dollar complex has a network that is up to the mark. “Aruba’s local team created a detailed RF coverage heatmap and provided an exceptional design that now enables over 2,000 devices to connect simultaneously. Since going live, we’ve never faced an issue,” said Ghunaim.

“We have been able to provide our warehouse staff with handheld devices for a completely wireless experience. In this way, the network enables them to have instant access to the information they need, no matter where they are in this expansive facility,” he added.

Close tracking of the average handling time for both inbound and outbound products revealed that shortly after the Aruba architecture was implemented, Tamer Group was able to achieve marked reductions in both these KPIs. Similarly, by helping reduce processing times, Aruba has contributed to the recent decrease in damaged and returned stocks that the Group has seen. This has been thanks to increased efficiencies in operation which lead to faster turnaround times, and therefore, minimising the impact on the products and goods.

Flexibility, support stand out

Offering an example of the flexibility that the new network provides, and the world-class support that the local team offers, Ghunaim said, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, our primary VPN provider was not very supportive in meeting new demands. So, Aruba’s team stepped in and in just three days, offered a solution wherein we could utilise our core switches as VPN hosts.”

“While ultimately we were able to come to an agreement with our VPN provider, this stood as proof of the incredible commitment of Aruba’s team, and the capabilities of their architecture,” he said.

A Robust Network

Tamer Group’s network is comprised of a combination of 10 Aruba core and distribution switches, and 117 Aruba access switches.

The Group has implemented Aruba 7205 mobility controllers and AirWave to unify the management of the wired LAN and the large number of Aruba AP-310 and AP-510 series access points that are deployed across its branches and warehouses.

With network security being a key factor for Tamer Group, Ghunaim and his team are keen to implement Aruba ClearPass to enhance access control and policy definition and enforcement automation. “We’re especially keen to restrict personal devices from being connected to our network and believe that ClearPass is the perfect solution to achieve the best NAC and onboarding process,” he said.

Technology drives businesses and we as Aruba bring newfound agility to every industry with our ESP (Edge Services Platform) portfolio. Tamer Group is one of our very important customers and our objective was to align ourselves with their expansion plans while we drive outcomes with Aruba’s cutting-edge technology. 

Says Jamil Ahmad, Country Manager – Saudi Arabia, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

Tamer Group’s experience not only vouch for Aruba’s capabilities but how a key decision on tech partners makes all the difference.

(This report is based on a case study by Aruba.)