Lufthansa Group

The Lufthansa Group is a globally operating aviation group and consists of the business segments Passenger Airlines, Logistics, Technology, and other affiliated companies.

The Passenger Airlines segment includes the network airlines Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and ITA Airways, which offer their passengers an extensive range of flights via the hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, and Rome as part of the multi-hub strategy.

Also closely associated with Lufthansa Airlines are the regional airlines Lufthansa CityLine, Lufthansa City Airlines and Air Dolomiti as well as Discover Airlines, the Lufthansa Group's leisure airline. Edelweiss, the leading Swiss leisure airline, is closely linked to SWISS.

Eurowings is also part of the Passenger Airlines business segment. The airline provides a comprehensive range of point-to-point connections on short and medium-haul routes, particularly from German-speaking countries. The other companies include Lufthansa Aviation Training and Lufthansa Systems in particular. The Group functions are also allocated to this business segment.

The challenge

The main challenge was to migrate a complex global network with high resilience and demanding service level agreements, while at the same time implementing a technology change.

Over 350 locations in around 75 countries, including central nodes in the time-critical aviation and transportation industry, were to be converted from an outdated VPN solution to modern SD-WAN technology. The migration was planned to take place only during short maintenance windows in order to avoid disrupting operations and prevent delays.

Global migration projects such as the Lufthansa Group's require meticulous planning across different time zones and a high level of coordination. The new SD-WAN solution was implemented in parallel with the installation of new Internet lines with higher bandwidth by local and central providers.

The aim was to improve the user experience by switching Internet access from a classic central proxy solution to a modern, decentralized and cloud-based SASE approach. Standardization of the infrastructure for all locations and a transparent overview of their respective status were crucial for successful implementation and monitoring during operation.

The solution

By integrating Juniper SSR in combination with the nocware^® management and monitoring tool, a standardized, high-performance network solution was implemented for the Lufthansa Group’s global sites – regardless of the underlying access technology.

This innovative combination enables a ﬂexible and consistent network infrastructure that meets the highest requirements for performance, geo-redundant availability and transparency.

In addition, the user experience has been noticeably improved worldwide. In addition to the optimized VPN performance, decentralized SASE Internet breakouts were seamlessly combined with Juniper SSR technology to relieve the central firewalls.

The global service network of the partners Deutsche Telekom AG and nocware AG, supported by the integration of various service management tools and the implementation of intelligent processes, ensures a high level of service quality that maintains the highest standards during ongoing operations.

Maximum network transparency

By using the nocware^® management and monitoring tool, state-of-the-art technologies are leveraged to provide real-time transparency, enabling the status of all sites to be monitored at any time.

World-class service

With a highly available 24/7 service, both partners ensure continuous responsiveness in order to process inquiries and changes promptly and reliably worldwide.