Since its founding, IPNexia has established itself as a pioneering “Integroperator” that combines the expertise of a telecom operator with the agility of an ICT integrator. Based in Diegem (Brussels region), they work passionately every day to deliver more than just connectivity—they provide comprehensive unified communication solutions for the Belgian B2B market, specializing in VoIP, enterprise connectivity, and cloud services.
Customers are the heart of their business. From initial telecom audit to implementation, from network design to ongoing support—IPNexia guarantees open communication, transparency, and customized service tailored to each client’s unique requirements.
For this innovative company—where cutting-edge technology and customer focus are the standard—the replacement of their backbone infrastructure was the ideal opportunity to upgrade to a solution that is as reliable, scalable, and future-proof as the communication services they deliver to over 3,000 enterprise customers across Belgium.
The Challenge
When preparing for the next phase of growth, IPNexia’s existing datacenter infrastructure presented several critical challenges:
- End-of-life hardware reaching end of support, creating security vulnerabilities and limiting access to critical updates
- Vendor lock-in restricting flexibility in hardware choices and creating dependency on single-vendor roadmaps and pricing
- Absence of modern spine-leaf architecture limiting horizontal scalability and creating potential bottlenecks in eastwest traffic flows
- Insufficient 100G port density constraining high-bandwidth applications and future capacity expansion
- Lack of programmability preventing integration with modern orchestration platforms and Infrastructure-as-Code workflows
- Zero-downtime requirement demanding careful planning to migrate production workloads and customer services during the transition
The Solution
Together with Deca Consulting, IPNexia opted for a modern, open, and fully automated datacenter infrastructure, built around Edgecore Enterprise SONiC equipment:
- Spine-leaf VxLAN EVPN architecture with multiple 100G interconnects providing nonblocking, scalable east-west traffic flows and eliminating traditional aggregation bottlenecks
- Edgecore Enterprise Switches and Enterprise SONiC distribution from Broadcom selected for their open networking approach, enterprise-grade stability, and freedom from vendor lock-in :
Spine Layer – AS7726-32X (DCS204)
Leaf Layer – AS7326-56X (DCS203) - Day-0 automation with Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) enabling automatic software selection and initial device onboarding without manual intervention
- Day-1 automated configuration using NetBox as the single source of truth, with Ansible playbooks translating intended network state into running configurations
- Infrastructure-as-Code workflows enabling version-controlled network changes, rapid rollbacks, and consistent deployments across the infrastructure
Result
- Modern spine-leaf topology: Non-blocking 100G fabric delivering predictable low-latency performance and eliminating legacy bottlenecks across the datacenter infrastructure
- Zero-touch provisioning: New switches automatically download correct software versions and base configurations, reducing deployment time from hours to minutes
- Automation-driven operations: NetBox-driven Ansible playbooks enable consistent, repeatable configuration changes with full audit trails and version control
- Scalable architecture: Spine-leaf design supports seamless horizontal expansion by adding leaf switches without fabric redesign or service disruption
- Strategic partnership foundation: Strong vendor relationships with Edgecore established ongoing support, knowledge transfer, and early access to platform innovations
“With Deca Consulting and Edgecore Networks, we transformed our datacenter from end-of-lifehardware into a modern EVPN-VXLAN fabric with 100G spine-leaf architecture. Zero-touchprovisioning and NetBox-driven automation replaced manual configurations, dramaticallyreducing deployment times and eliminating vendor lock-in. The open SONiC platform deliversenterprise-grade stability while giving us the flexibility to rapidly deploy multi-tenant servicessupporting our full portfolio of VoIP UC, mobile services, cloud connectivity, and securitysolutions. We now have a scalable, future-ready infrastructure that matches the operational agilityexpected from a competitive modern ISP.“
— Michel Coric, CEO for IPNexia
“The transformation achieved by IPNexia and Deca Consulting exemplifies the true promise of open networking—delivering a high-performance, automated data center fabric that provides freedom, scalability, and enterprise-grade stability without vendor lock-in. Edgecore Networks is proud that our Enterprise Switches and SONiC distribution from Broadcom serve as the foundation enabling their future-ready growth.”
— Nanda Ravindran, VP of Product Management and Planning, Edgecore Networks
“From the start, we focused on IPNexia’s critical challenges—end-of-life hardware, vendor lockin, and manual operations limiting growth. We designed and deployed a modern spine-leaf fabric with Enterprise SONiC from Broadcom running on Edgecore Enterprise Switches, implementing automation-first workflows using NetBox and Ansible. Our open networking approach eliminated vendor dependency while delivering enterprise-grade stability and scalability.”
— Alexander Deca, Chief Network Engineer for Deca Consulting
