Skoda Auto transforms network infrastructure to accelerate business growth

Volkswagen Group car manufacturer Skoda Auto has upgraded its infrastructure with campus networking systems from Extreme Networks. It aims to advance its digital transformation efforts with a secure, agile and resilient network that can help maximise business growth and application performance.

Based in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic, Skoda Auto was founded in 1895. Today, it employs over 42,000 people globally and is one of the world’s largest car manufacturers. The company operates across three locations in the Czech Republic, manufactures in China, Russia, Slovakia and India mainly through group partnerships, as well as in Ukraine and Kazakhstan with local partners.

With its deliveries increasing and its product portfolio expanding, and to improve its capacity and connect its distributed locations, Skoda Auto needed a reliable network infrastructure. It has implemented Extreme’s wired networking solutions and software, such as Extreme Fabric Connect and Extreme Management Centre which includes Extreme Analytics, upgrading its backbone network at headquarters, and simultaneously migrating to a virtual infrastructure to connect its manufacturing base and assembly plants over a single system. 

Extreme’s management and analytics software has been deployed to allow Skoda to monitor and manage centrally the performance of the network and applications across the entire infrastructure. It can automate to upgrade and implement new network devices and services without any maintenance windows.

This has allowed the manufacturer’s IT staff to make changes rapidly and, most importantly, focus on innovation-driven projects aimed towards growing the company thanks to continuous uptime for vehicle manufacturing. This automated provisioning is also said to have helped reduce the risk of human error.

Skoda Auto can now merge multiple disparate networks into one group network with the logical separation of services. Combined with Extreme network management software, the company now has real-time, end-to-end visibility and control of its network. Extreme Fabric Connect offers Skoda hyper-segmentation to isolate different traffic types, applications or users, as well as stealth capabilities that limit the visibility of the network, reducing cyber attack opportunities.

The bottom line is that Skoda Auto has increased its infrastructure’s stability and capacity, as well as staff productivity, helping to maximise business growth and application performance. The new network infrastructure has enabled it to use automation to quickly upgrade and implement new network devices and services without any maintenance windows.

With the deployment of the new network, the company can merge multiple disparate networks into one group network. It can also securely monitor network and application performance across its entire infrastructure, improving the experience for staff and customers.

“With our deliveries increasing substantially and our product portfolio expanding, we wanted to find an innovative way to better meet such demands and grow faster,” said Martin Polak, co-ordinator for network planning at Skoda Auto. “With our 2025 strategy in mind, we therefore looked towards deploying a more stable and resilient infrastructure to consolidate our network, reduce costs and increase efficiencies for our entire team.

“Thanks to Extreme Networks, we have achieved this as we can manage everything online, and the performance and morale of our IT staff has been boosted. Working with Extreme means we now have the infrastructure in place to optimise performance across all areas of our business, readying us for further future growth.”