Case Study

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Air Products Network is a Pipeline to Success

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Industry Focus

Industrial gases and chemicals

Size

$10 billion in annual revenues

Networking Solution

Dynamic network converges data and voice applications on the same reliable, secure and scalable infrastructure

Business Value

15 to 20 percent return on network investment; increased control and flexibility

About Our Customer

Air Products serves customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets worldwide with a unique portfolio of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and services. Founded in 1940, Air Products has built leading positions in key growth markets such as semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, home healthcare services, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced coatings and adhesives. The company is recognized for its innovative culture, operational excellence and commitment to safety and the environment. Air Products has annual revenues of $10 billion, operations in over 40 countries and 22,000 employees around the globe.

Situation

Shrewd acquisitions and steady internal growth fueled Air Products' development from one small office over 65 years ago to a Fortune 500 leader and one of Fortune's America's Most Admired Companies. Air Products officials wisely understood the value of networking and needed a global provider to develop the systems and processes to support expansion throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Solution

AT&T networking solutions helped Air Products transform its business into a multinational conglomerate with a fully managed IP network that provides consistent features, improved performance and superior quality across the enterprise. AT&T Enhanced VPN Services gives Air Products a global, application-aware environment with the reliability, predictability and security the company needs to support critical network-based applications.

Fueling International Growth

Air Products was built on the strength of a simple but revolutionary idea: instead of compressing gases like oxygen in heavy cylinders and transporting them to customers, Air Products devised an efficient way to pipe the gases directly to the end users. Today the company uses the same principle to provide application connectivity for its locations worldwide. "We run a single instance of SAP at our corporate headquarters in Pennsylvania, so all our corporate assets worldwide are dependent on the network to provide connectivity," said Bill Folk, Director, Infrastructure Delivery Engineering and Operations.

Deploying a corporate network of this scope requires the expertise of a global provider. "As we move internationally, especially in Asia, the demand for services, processes and infrastructure continues to be one of our biggest challenges," Folk said. The company chose Enhanced VPN to connect Air Products' major Asian sites with its network.

"The network is the key. It's the lifeblood for all of us. If the network is not there, it doesn't matter how much you've invested in back office processing systems," he said. "If you can't communicate with them, it doesn't do you any good."

The worldwide AT&T presence makes it easy for Air Products to support its internal customers. "From the user perspective, one of the differentiators is the AT&T global account management process," Folk said. "I think that probably is the thing that is of the greatest value. It works very well."

A Single, Secure Pipeline

Enhanced VPN also facilitates network convergence for Air Products. Multinational CIOs surveyed recently cited the merging of voice and data on a single network as a high priority, a viewpoint Folk shares. "We see the convergence of IP, data and voice telephony finally starting to get some traction," he said. "For years there was a lot of press about VoIP (Voice over IP service) and what it was going to bring us, and I think we're starting to see the value."

Air Products has already seen a 15 to 20 percent return on the investment it has made in its network, Folk said. "Cost is a big factor that we're faced with day to day, to do more with less, so we're looking for every opportunity we can find to help manage that," he said. "When you start to look at the value from the customer all the way through the food chain, every entity is relying upon the network. Those are significant investments and I think the return there is pretty high."

The corporate VPN supports e-mail, which Folk says represents probably 70 percent of network traffic. "It continues to be the communications tool that the majority of people use when we're doing new business and acquisitions, so the service of the network and its availability to the end user is very critical," he said.

The network also provides connectivity for customers, partners and remote workers. But as companies open their networks to accommodate external users, they risk exposing highly valuable information. "Security is a big challenge for every corporation out there," Folk said. "The bad guys want to get in, and the more we spend to try to build bigger walls to keep them out, the smarter they become." As the company relies more its network, it counts on AT&T to manage network services, provide enhanced security to protect Internet and intranet environments and respond immediately to IP network attacks.

Increased Productivity Creates Business Value

Air Products' network improves staff productivity by enhancing the flow and accuracy of information for order processing and trouble resolution. Company engineers always have access to a true picture of network performance.

"Electronic bonding with our suppliers is increasingly important and a natural progression for our network," said Steve Luchko, Air Products manager of Operations Services. "Web-based tools enable us to scan and correlate data right on the screen, saving us an enormous amount of time and providing critical trending information. We have moved from a manual process to an automated one, increasing productivity and speed while reducing the occurrence of errors."

Previously, network reports "provided a bundle of information, but it took an enormous amount of time to review and correlate that data," Luchko said. The corporate network now enables staff to point and click to review and correlate information online and download it directly into a spreadsheet to show network trends. Air Products can electronically report network troubles and get quick and accurate status reports; it can also process service orders in as little as one business day - reducing by two-thirds the time it takes for new services to be installed and ensuring accuracy in order fulfillment.

Air Products has designed its network around four philosophies, Folk said: scale, simplicity, sameness and agility. "As we scale the network we have to make sure that we can reach locations that are off the beaten path. Because of the nature of our business a lot of what we do is not in metropolitan areas," he said. "You'll find us in more of the rural areas where some of the connectivity infrastructure is not as robust as it would be in a metropolitan area."

Simplicity is important to facilitate global network management, he said, and sameness ensures a consistent experience for Air Products employees, customers and partners whether they're in Scranton, Singapore, or South Africa.

The reliability of its network has been another crucial element of Air Products' success in the global market. "AT&T's stability and its ability to be the guiding light in this whole industry are really important to us," Folk said. "It's hard to plan strategically when you're not really sure if the supplier you're working with is going to be around in two years. AT&T has been the flagship. With AT&T, we are assured that they will be there when we need them."

Information technology and telecommunications are vital components in Air Products' success, he said. "We've had a long relationship with AT&T, and it's continued to be very, very strong. The products and services we buy from AT&T tend to be the right choice. They are highly available and meet our expectations," Folk said. "We're highly satisfied."

Voice of the Customer

"The network is the key. It's the lifeblood for all of us. If the network is not there, it doesn't matter how much you've invested in back office processing systems. If you can't communicate with them, it doesn't do you any good."

– Bill Folk, Director, Infrastructure Engineering and Operations, Air Products