AudioCodes Case Study

Bosch Group

Global Migration to Reliable Microsoft Teams
Voice Calling with Direct Routing and Local
Media Optimization
Customer
Bosch GroupWebsite
www.bosch.com
Location
EMEA
Industry
Technology and services

Customer Profile

To maximize productivity and collaboration among its
global workforce, Bosch took the decision to migrate
its communications infrastructure to a single unified
communications platform, Microsoft Teams. Boschturned to AudioCodes to ensure a smooth migrationfrom its legacy voice solutions and deliver reliable andhigh-quality Teams calling for all its employees.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier oftechnology and services. Its operations are divided
into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions,
Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, andEnergy and Building Technology.

Challenges• Avoiding user disruption during the migration toMicrosoft Teams• Ensuring reliable local PSTN and SIP trunkconnectivity• Integration of legacy analog devices, including
fax machines• Simplified, central device and call routing
management

AudioCodes Solutions• Mediant Direct Routing SBCs

• MediaPack Analog Gateways• One Voice Operations Center management
solutionBenefits:• Smooth global migration to Microsoft Teams• Unified enterprise telecom infrastructure boosts
productivity and collaboration• Reliable, high quality Teams voice calling withDirect Routing and Local Media Optimization• Centralized management and monitoring

reduces operational efforts and maintenancecosts• Highly experienced professional services teamassist from design and planning, throughimplementation and support• Direct Routing as a Service plus optional

applications and devicesMinimization of theoverall total cost of ownership• Highly responsive and experienced global
professional services team

1Background
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology andservices. It employs roughly 395,000 associates worldwide (as ofDecember 31, 2020). Its operations are divided into four businesssectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer
Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. The Bosch Group
comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and roughly 440 subsidiary andregional companies in 60 countries.

Challenges
Bosch needed a solution that would
ensure that its Teams migration
could be achieved smoothly and at acontrolled pace

Like many major multinational companies, Bosch’s voice
network infrastructure had over the years become a collectionof communications silos, with a variety of vendor solutionsin use. With efficient and reliable internal and external
communications of paramount importance to the success of thecompany’s activities, Bosch’s management took the decision tostandardize its communications infrastructure on a single unified
communications solution.
The desire to maximize productivity and collaboration among its
global workforce, coupled with a policy of adopting cost-effective
and easy-to-manage cloud-based solutions, led Bosch to decideto migrate its communications infrastructure to a single unified
communications platform, Microsoft Teams. The implementationof Teams on a global basis for the company was not a trivial
matter and posed several challenges:•Coexistence of platforms and avoiding user disruption during
the migration•

Ensuring reliable local PSTN and SIP trunk connectivity at its
global offices•

Integration of legacy analog devices, including fax machines•

Simplified, central device and call routing management

Bosch needed a solution that would ensure that its Teams
migration could be achieved smoothly and at a controlled
pace. The solution needed to unify the existing multi-vendor
infrastructure into a global voice communications network thatwould reduce operational effort and maintenance costs, while atthe same time enhancing the overall communications experience
for its users.

Solution

Bosch’s positive experience withAudioCodes, along with the fact thatAudioCodes’ solutions were certified
for interoperability with MicrosoftTeams, were central factors in Bosch’s
decision to select AudioCodes for thisproject2

Even before this project, Bosch and AudioCodes had enjoyed along history of collaboration. For several years AudioCodes had
been providing voice connectivity solutions for Bosch’s existing
IP-PBXs and, more recently, Skype for Business. Bosch’s positive
experience with AudioCodes, along with the fact that AudioCodes’
solutions were certified for interoperability with Microsoft Teams,
were central factors in Bosch’s decision to select AudioCodes forthis project. The broad range of Microsoft-certified voice products
offered by AudioCodes meant that Bosch had all possible
scenarios covered and it could be confident that the migration toTeams would be a success.

The flexibility offered by the Mediantfamily of SBCs ensured a cost-effective
solution for all of Bosch’s locations
whatever thedemanded

local

requirements

OVOC enables network administrators
to configure and troubleshoot devices
remotely, as well as monitor voice
quality in the network in real time

The main component of the AudioCodes solution was its Mediantsession border controllers (SBCs) which would facilitate seamlessvoice connectivity between Microsoft Teams, the existing Skypefor Business platform, Bosch’s legacy IP-PBXs, the PSTN and SIP
trunking networks. The flexibility offered by the Mediant family ofSBCs ensured a cost-effective solution for all of Bosch’s locations
whatever the local requirements demanded:•Hybrid SBCs with IP and traditional TDM-based telephonyinterfaces for locations where PSTN connections were stillbased on ISDN technology•

Scalable platforms ensured Bosch could deploy a suitable
SBC model to meet local capacity requirements•

Comprehensive SIP interoperability ensured smoothconnectivity between Teams, Skype for Business, legacy
IP-PBXs and SIP trunks from a wide range of global service
providers•

Bosch could continue using Skype for Business and its legacy
IP-PBXs in coexistence with Teams as users were moved to
the new platform, eliminating the potential disruption of a
rip-and-replace style migration•

Most of Bosch’s SBCs were deployed in a redundant, activeactive configuration to ensure enterprise-class service highavailability.

With the introduction of Microsoft Teams, Bosch added a pair ofMediant 4000 SBCs in AudioCodes high availability mode at three
regional datacenters across the world to provide Direct Routing
connectivity between Teams, SIP trunks, the PSTN and the existing
AudioCodes SBCs already deployed at its branch offices. Thanks
to AudioCodes SBCs’ support for Teams Local Media Optimization,
voice traffic from local calls (e.g. from a Teams client in theStuttgart office to a local PSTN number in Stuttgart) is kept within
the branch office, thereby improving reliability, maintaining highvoice quality and ensuring data security.
Bosch was still using a variety of legacy analog devices such asphones and fax machines in its offices around the world. Boschdeployed AudioCodes’ Teams-certified MediaPack analog
gateways to integrate these devices into the new Teams UC
environment simply and seamlessly.

The global nature of this project raisedsome particularly complex scenarios
and requirements which Bosch wasable to overcome thanks to theAudioCodes team3The benefits of a unified global communications solution could
not be fully realized without the ability to manage and monitor
the entire network simply and effectively. Fortunately, AudioCodes
was able to solve this challenge as well through its One Voice
Operations Center (OVOC) management solution. OVOC
enables network administrators to configure and troubleshootdevices remotely, as well as monitor voice quality in the networkin real time so that potentially service-affecting issues can bedetected and resolved promptly. In addition, Bosch is evaluating
the AudioCodes Routing Manager (ARM) solution to centrally
manage call routing and policy across the entire global network.

Along with the technological solutions that AudioCodes provided,
Bosch also benefitted from AudioCodes’ extensive professional
services and technical support offerings. The AudioCodes teamassisted in tasks such as designing reference implementations
and carrying out a successful security audit with an independent,
third-party vendor. The global nature of this project raisedsome particularly complex scenarios and requirements which
Bosch was able to overcome thanks to the AudioCodes team.
Furthermore, AudioCodes trained Bosch’s own internal technicalteams to install, manage and support the voice equipment. As
a result of this, Bosch is now more or less self-sufficient as far
as day-to-day operations and most technical support issues areconcerned.

Results“Byproviding
seamlessvoiceconnectivity
betweenMicrosoftTeams, our legacy systems andpublic networks, AudioCodes has
enabled us to attain our goal ofachieving a reliable, state-of theart voice calling experience for all
our employees whether in the office,working remotely or on the go.”Frank Borchardt,Senior IT Consultant at Bosch

1 Hayarden Street, Airport City, Lod, 7019900, Israel
Tel: +972-3-976-4000
80 Kingsbridge Rd - Piscataway, NJ 08854
Tel: +1-732-469-0880
www.audiocodes.com

4Thanks to the AudioCodes One Voice portfolio of voice networking
products and solutions, Bosch was able to unify its complex
global voice network and standardize communications for all
its employees based on Microsoft Teams. AudioCodes SBCs,
analog gateways and management solutions enabled a smoothmigration for Bosch’s usesr to the new platform, while offering
simplified, centralized management to reduce operational effortsand maintenance costs.
“AudioCodes has proved to be the perfect partner to help us
along the journey to a global unified communications solution,”commented Frank Borchardt, Senior IT Consultant at Bosch.
“By providing seamless voice connectivity between MicrosoftTeams, our legacy systems and public networks, AudioCodes has
enabled us to attain our goal of achieving a reliable, state-of theart voice calling experience for all our employees whether in theoffice, working remotely or on the go.”©2023 AudioCodes Ltd. All rights reserved. AudioCodes, AC, HD VoIP, HD VoIP Sounds Better, IPmedia, Mediant,MediaPack, What’s Inside Matters, OSN, SmartTAP, User Management Pack, VMAS, VoIPerfect, VoIPerfectHD,Your Gateway To VoIP, 3GX, VocaNom and AudioCodes One Voice are trademarks or registered trademarksof AudioCodes Limited. All other products or trademarks are property of their respective owners. Productspecifications are subject to change without notice.
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