Nausicaá: an emblematic site with high digital standards
Located in Boulogne-sur-Mer (62), Nausicaá - Centre National de la Mer is Europe's largest aquarium. Its mission is clear: to bring the marine environment to the general public through immersive, interactive exhibits and technically demanding exhibition spaces. Behind this experience lies an obvious fact: a high-performance, reliable and observable network infrastructure is essential to absorb flows, support business uses and guarantee a fluid visitor experience - from film projections to simulators, interactive terminals and multimedia services.
The project is managed by Equans Digital, and mobilises complementary expertise covering the entire network chain:
- Critical infrastructures: renewal of network cores and distribution/end switches to deal with obsolescence and reinforce resilience.
- Supervision: implementation of a PRTG (Paessler Router Traffic Grapher) tool to provide real-time application visibility, clear dashboards and proactive alerting.
- Telephony & related services: support for ancillary systems, including corporate telephony, to ensure continuity of service to teams.
The Equans Digital approach favors a robust, secure and scalable architecture, designed for Nausicaá's operational needs as much as for the requirements of welcoming the public.
Strategic challenges: Performance, reliability and application visibility
The aim of the project is to modernise Nausicaá's digital infrastructure to meet three imperatives:
- Address the obsolescence of critical equipment (network cores and switches) to secure operations and ensure service continuity.
- Improve the performance of the wired network to support immersive uses (projections, simulators, video flows, interaction with exhibits) and enhance the visitor experience.
- Provide application visibility thanks to PRTG, to supervise the smooth operation of essential services (exhibits, filtration systems, telephony, external streaming, interactive terminals) and anticipate incidents.
In the background, the project also prepares Nausicaá for new developments and new Wi-Fi standards, so as to offer standard-compliant WI-FI to staff and visitors alike.
Aging network cores and distribution switches represented a major risk to service continuity and data security.
In an environment like Nausicaá's, where system availability is essential to ensure that visitors are welcomed and exhibits run smoothly, a breakdown or failure could have immediate consequences: interruption of multimedia services, impact on interactive terminals, even disruption of aquarium filtration systems.
The priority was to replace this critical equipment with modern, reliable solutions to ensure network resilience and stability.
The Nausicaá experience is based on immersive digital devices: film projections, simulators, interactive video streams. These uses require a high-performance wired network capable of handling high data volumes without latency or interruption.
An undersised or unstable network would have compromised the quality of the visitor experience, which is central to Nausicaá's mission.
The key challenge was to guarantee high data rates, optimum stability and prioritisation of business flows to deliver a fluid, immersive experience.
Digital uses are evolving rapidly, and Wi-Fi standards are being tightened to meet the expectations of visitors and staff alike.
Nausicaá had to prepare for these changes by offering a secure, high-performance Wi-Fi system that complied with standards, while integrating business needs such as IP (Internet Protocol) telephony, supervision of critical systems, video streaming to the outside world, and connectivity for interactive kiosks.
Strategic challenge: design a scalable infrastructure capable of integrating future protocols and supporting the digital services essential to site management.
Why choose Equans Digital: our key differentiators for Nausicaá
Equans Digital stands out for its ability to intervene in complex and strategic environments, where service continuity and data security are imperative.
Our multi-technical expertise covers all network layers: core networks, distribution switches, application supervision, and ancillary systems such as IP telephony.
This versatility enables us to offer integrated solutions tailored to the business needs and operational constraints of critical sites like Nausicaá.
A strong partnership with CISCO and mastery of advanced supervision tools
Equans Digital benefits from a strategic partnership with CISCO, world leader in network technologies, guaranteeing access to the most reliable, high-performance solutions on the market.
We also master advanced supervision tools, such as PRTG, which provide real-time visibility of infrastructure status and enable proactive incident management.
This technological combination ensures our customers a robust, secure and fully observable infrastructure, ready to evolve with new standards and connected uses.
A secure project approach and long-term support
Beyond technology, Equans Digital brings a proven methodology to guarantee the success of complex projects:
- Rigorous planning to minimise the impact on operations and visitor reception.
- 3-year phasing to secure migrations and ensure service continuity.
- End-to-end support: audit, design, deployment, testing, commissioning and skills transfer.
This approach guarantees Nausicaá a controlled modernisation, in line with the quality standards and regulatory requirements of the public contract.
Implementing the network project at Nausicaá: modernisation in 3 phases
In order to modernise the infrastructure while ensuring business continuity for a very busy public site, the implementation was phased over 3 years. The Equans Digital approach is based on robust network engineering, rigorous project management and planned interventions to limit the impact on visitor reception and business operations.
The project covered all critical network components and associated services. Equans Digital's teams were involved in the core network, end switches, the implementation of an advanced supervision tool and support for IP telephony. This all-encompassing approach strengthened the reliability of the infrastructures, while providing the application visibility essential for anticipating incidents.
Prior to any intervention, a complete audit was carried out to analyse the existing system and define the target architecture. The teams then designed the migration plans, configurations and fallback scenarios to secure operations. Deployment was carried out progressively, with testing and acceptance at each stage to validate service performance and stability. Finally, commissioning was accompanied by the configuration of PRTG dashboards and the transfer of skills to in-house teams.
The project was divided into three distinct phases:
- Phase 1: Core network renewal - replacement of critical equipment to ensure service continuity and reinforce resilience.
- Phase 2: Replacement of end switches - optimising wired performance for immersive uses such as simulators and video projections.
- Phase 3: Implementation of PRTG supervision - deployment of an advanced monitoring solution to provide complete application visibility and anticipate anomalies.
Thanks to this structured implementation, Nausicaá now benefits from a modernised network infrastructure, capable of meeting the demands of immersive uses and critical services. Real-time supervision enables us to anticipate incidents and optimise resources, while Equans Digital's comprehensive support guarantees secure, standards-compliant operation.