A complete network rebuild around a working plant.
Manufacturing & Industrial
Quokka designed and delivered the wired and wireless network, routing and security, and guided the physical works needed to support them.
- Complete programme
- Under 1 year
- Production cutover
- 2 weeks
- Within budget, without surprises
- On time
The constraint
A brownfield change reaches beyond a network diagram. Cabling, facility access, shutdown windows and operational dependencies shape when each part can move. The new network also needed identity and device context to inform access.
Our work
Quokka and a delivery partner designed and delivered the network, security and brownfields migration. We scoped and guided the supporting cabinets, power distribution and cabling, aligning the physical works with the network design. The client’s team and specialist contractors carried out those installations.
Cabinet requirements · power distribution · fibre and copper routes
Wired and wireless · routing · security segregation · network access control
Migration sequencing · operational checks · records and handover
- Plant switches
- 30
- Active access points
- 90
- Certified copper links
- 6.25 km
- Tested fibre runs
- ≈1.2 km
What changed
Design the whole network
Design wired and wireless connectivity, routing, security segregation and network access control as one system. Scope the supporting physical works and use the facility model to plan around the plant.
Build and migrate around production
Deploy 30 plant switches and 90 access points. Coordinate cabinet, cabling and power readiness with the client and the contractors, then complete the cutover over two weeks around agreed production windows.
Verify the operation and hand it over
Check network paths, device access, failure behaviour and coverage alongside the plant’s applications. Close defects and hand over the configuration, records and knowledge the operating team needs.
The result
Quokka and a delivery partner completed the network programme in under a year, with the cutover carried out over two weeks. We delivered on time, within budget and without surprises, with no unplanned production outages during delivery.
Quokka and a delivery partner designed and delivered the network and migration. The client and specialist contractors carried out the physical works.
The engineering decisions.
We worked through the facility constraints, network design and migration sequence together, so the plant team could keep operating through the change.
Define boundaries around the work being done
The network design separates manufacturing, corporate users and facility services through routing domains and controlled communications. Cameras, access control, printing and guest access have different requirements from plant systems. The staged design accommodates legacy machinery and contractor access while making those boundaries explicit.
Align the physical works with the network design
The plant schedule covered 12 cabinet locations, including 11 new cabinets and one existing cabinet. Quokka scoped the requirements and guided the cabling and power arrangements. the client and the physical works contractors installed the infrastructure; we coordinated its readiness with switch deployment, wireless commissioning and the migration sequence.
Validate switch and link behaviour under failure
The acceptance plan checks Aruba VSX peer synchronisation, inter-switch links, VLAN consistency and link aggregation. It includes disabling individual links and routing interfaces, taking a switch out of service and checking the remaining path. Application access and traffic behaviour form part of those checks, alongside the switch configuration.
Check identity and wireless where people use them
The validation plan includes ClearPass authentication, critical application access and large data transfers. The team verified wireless coverage across operational and safety-critical areas, including areas without dependable mobile coverage. Test results and defects fed into commissioning and handover so the operating team received an environment checked against plant use.
What needs to work better?
Talk to us about the environment, the constraint and the change.