Unlike any other relief organisation, the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) brings together a variety of strengths in the areas of health, integration and rescue under one roof. The SRC comprises of 24 cantonal associations and four rescue organisations, two institutions and the SRC office. In some 30 countries, the SRC contributes to the development of health services and the fight against epidemics. After disasters, the SRC provides emergency aid and supports the population in reconstruction and disaster prevention.

Following the example of the Swiss Confederation, the SRC is organised on a federal and decentralised basis. This also applies to the IT organisation. The cantonal associations are autonomous, but have the option of obtaining ICT services from the SRK office in Bern. The central ICT services are affiliated with the Finance, Human Resources and Services departments.

The ICT Services Team sees itself as a business enabler for internal and external customers. The team management and UPC Business have been working closely together since 2005. The team supports the cantonal associations with ICT outsourcing, negotiates with suppliers and communicates their offers. Contracts are usually concluded directly between suppliers and customers.

As a relief organisation, the SRC is dependent on favourable conditions. ICT solutions must be of high quality and cost-efficient at the same time. This also applies in particular to telephony. The telephony infrastructure is needed, among other things, for arranging transport services, relieving the burden from caring relatives, childcare and other SRK services, thus helping people in need.

The SRK has been working with Voice over IP (VoIP) for many years. In its data centres in Wabern and Bern, the SRK office operates a VoIP platform that is managed by UPC Business. The platform is used by various cantonal associations, which can operate their own virtual telephone systems on it. To ensure that the calls are of the highest quality, some associations use an MPLS-VPN service from UPC Business for telephony. Others make calls using cheaper Internet services from UPC Business or third parties.

The data centres are georedundantly connected to the UPC Business fibre optic network and receive the Business VPN service with a bandwidth of 500 Mbps. Customers are provided with a bandwidth of 10 to 50 Mbit/s for this purpose.

The Account Management and Implementation Management teams at UPC Business are proactive and unbureaucratic in their efforts to ensure that orders are processed swiftly. For example, lengthy processes such as number porting are actively accelerated.

Correct as of: October 2019