Braineering IT Solutions

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of IT for one of the largest energy companies in Southeast Europe.

What challenge were you trying to address with Braineering IT Solutions?

We needed help with IT services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re helping us with IT projects and we’ve done several with them. We had an old system that wasn’t good for what we do, so we upgraded it and implemented a system for backup and archiving. 

For the first project, they implemented a difficult technical transfer and programming of the system. They also employed things for NetApp implementation. Over the years, we’ve done 7–8 different projects with them.

Since then, we have upgraded the system a few times and all of our product data is on this system. We use a graphical work station for our specialists and we bought some Cisco video servers from them a few times. They also upgrade the VDI infrastructure and upgrade the network infrastructure with some Cisco switches. 

We also use them for support — we use their service for all new projects like consultants. Right now, we’re working with them for some storage for HPC using NetApp. The servers were mainly Cisco. 

What is the team composition?

There were 3–4 people at the start and it’s grown to about 15 people on their team. I work with the CTO and the CEO.

How did you come to work with Braineering IT Solutions?

Another company that had used them recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €1.6 million (approximately $1.9 million USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2016 and the collaboration is ongoing. We have a contract for support with their team. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

All the projects have been successfully completed without any problems. All projects start and finish as planned.

How did Braineering IT Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We go to them with our whole project plan and our engineers work together with them. If we have any problems, we resolve them very quickly and successfully. There are no issues with project management. We use email or ticketing from our system to manage the work. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re brilliant engineers and they always find the right way to do things. They manage to find the solution that is best for the budget and overall project. They don’t give us the most expensive solution — they know how to find solutions with an adequate budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re one of the best engineer companies for IT support in Serbia. I’ve worked with a lot of companies and they are the best.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am networking and security engeener at Vojvodjanska banka a.d. Novi Sad

For what projects/services did your company hire Braineering IT Solutions?

We had Microsoft Forefront TMG as our proxy and reverse proxy. Since it was discontinued and there was no one solution on market that would replace it we hired Braineering as a consultant to redesign our users internet access and provide solution for online service protection. We had to choose for new proxy and reverse proxy solution.

What were your goals for this project?

Goal of procect was to replace Microsoft Forefront TMG with solution which will provide its unique capabilities as proxy and reverse proxy solution and add WAF capabilities to protect our online services.

How did you select Braineering IT Solutions?

We researched on our own possible solutions. But reading about some product is so much different from working with it. We had numerous companies presenting their solutions. Braineering arranged for us visits to other companies that they work for and had F5 in production.

After those live presentations they organized prof of concept on our premises specially designed for our purposes. After that poc it was easy to select F5 as solution for WAF and Braineering as partner.

Describe the project in detail.

During the proof of case period Braineering engineers had very good insight of our enviroment. Implementation of F5 WAF was easy and very smooth.

What was the team composition?

Team was composed of me and my colleague also networking and security engineer and 2 Braineering employees.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Most of banks online services included access to Microsoft Exchange services (OWA, Activesync...) which are heavily utilized by employees. They were very satisfied by its quality and functionalities and also easy of access. Also our website and other online services had much better performance and protection.

That was verified with multiple penetration tests cunducted after WAF implementation. We are now capable of publishing addition services in future and in very secure way.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication during this project between banks team and Braineering team was very easy and productive.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Braineering employees are very well educated about F5 WAF itself and networking since this project involved many networking redisign.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied by work Braineering has done for us. We currently have contract with Braineering for local partner support regarding F5.