ENGIE IT Now Achieves Full Network Traffic Visibility with AWS Traffic Mirroring, NETSCOUT, and Simac BMS
ENGIE IT recently enhanced its existing network monitoring strategy to cover all cloud traffic. To achieve this, ENGIE IT tasked Simac BMS with deploying AWS Traffic Mirroring alongside its NETSCOUT monitoring tools. ENGIE IT is now one of the first companies to implement this cutting-edge AWS solution on a large scale.
ENGIE IT, a business unit of the ENGIE Group, provides IT services across the group and its other business units. Currently, ENGIE follows a dual data center strategy: maintaining physical data centers in France (Paris) and Belgium (Gembloux) while hosting most new applications in private clouds on Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. ENGIE IT manages all interconnections between the Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) of the business units and the global infrastructure. Given the critical nature of its operations, ensuring the availability of data and applications is essential.
“We must provide continuous service to our business users. Over the years, the cloud has become central to hosting our infrastructure and services,” explains Geoffrey LAMBELIN, Network Monitoring Expert at ENGIE IT. “We cannot afford availability issues.”
Monitoring is crucial for ensuring network performance at ENGIE. It not only alerts the company to any abnormal network traffic but also verifies the consistency of network flows. Three years ago, ENGIE IT established a global infrastructure dedicated to capturing and analyzing network traffic for its two physical data centers. For this, ENGIE IT combined expert solutions from NETSCOUT and GIGAMON with integration services from Simac ICT Belgium's Business Management Solutions (BMS) division.
For physical data centers, ENGIE IT uses a standard network traffic capture infrastructure with a physical probe connected to the fiber optic link. “We generally capture everything going in and out of the data center, covering both internal and external traffic,” says Geoffrey LAMBELIN. “This allows us to have a comprehensive, 24/7 view of what’s happening on our data center network.”
As more applications and services migrated to the cloud, traditional capture systems with physical probes were no longer feasible. When AWS launched its new Traffic Mirroring tool, ENGIE IT immediately set to work on its implementation. AWS Traffic Mirroring provides ENGIE IT with the same capabilities that were available with the NETSCOUT/GIGAMON implementation in physical data centers. ENGIE IT entrusted Simac BMS with implementing AWS Traffic Mirroring. ENGIE IT has been working closely with Simac BMS for over ten years, both for application monitoring and network monitoring. The current Cloud Computing project was a natural extension of the network monitoring contract ENGIE IT and Simac signed five years ago. “We have a positive and healthy relationship with Simac BMS,” says Geoffrey LAMBELIN. “I’ve never had a single issue with Simac, either technically or commercially. There’s mutual openness, respect, and honesty, which creates a true partnership.”
“ENGIE IT is an important client for Simac BMS,” says Joël THYS, Director of Simac BMS. “We are honoured that ENGIE IT entrusted us with implementing the innovative AWS Traffic Mirroring solution. We love working at the cutting edge of technology, and ENGIE IT constantly challenges us to be as innovative as possible.”
