A little GOOD news......
<Canada's Largest Department Store Retailer Deploys Next-Generation 3Com Network to Support Rapid Growth; 3Com Gigabit Ethernet Solution Helps Ease Acquisition of Kmart Canada Stores
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS), a leader in providing innovative networking solutions for retail environments, today announced that Hudson's Bay, Canada's largest department store retailer, has deployed a next-generation Gigabit and Fast Ethernet switched network at the company's Toronto headquarters to support new network requirements resulting from the recent acquisition of Kmart Canada.
On February 6, 1998, Hudson's Bay Company announced plans to acquire Kmart Canada and combine it with the Zellers division. In addition to the 112 Kmart Canada stores, Hudson's Bay acquired the Kmart Canada headquarters building in Brampton that will now become the new Zellers head office. Quickly moving 350 people from the existing Zellers headquarters facilities in downtown Toronto to Brampton, as well as relocating within the building most of the former Kmart staff who were now to become Zellers employees, all with little loss of productivity, was a challenge with major network implications.
"The outstanding success of the relocation project certainly confirmed our selection of 3Com(R) Gigabit technology," said Jim Lambert, an IT director for Hudson's Bay. "We found the new product line to be compatible with our existing infrastructure as well as reliable, completely transparent during implementation and surprisingly affordable. We are now in the process of rolling out a similar Gigabit backbone to our downtown corporate head office and the I.S. campus environment."
Completion of the plans for the 220,000 square foot building required a major upgrade to the existing technology infrastructure. For the Zellers application suite, which includes a variety of client/server and intranet-based applications all with high availability requirements and accessed by 650 workstations throughout the building, the network had to deliver the reliability, performance, and scalability that could meet both the immediate and longer term requirements. The combination of Gigabit and Fast Ethernet switching offered the best value as well as the greatest bandwidth scalability.
"As the retail industry continues its course of rapid consolidation, there is more demand for faster switching technologies capable of supporting larger-scale application and network deployments," said Jeff Siegel, 3Com group director for retail, distribution, and lodging. "In particular, the need to support a multitude of client/server and intranet based applications, all with high availability requirements, is driving demand for layer 3 switching, switched and segmented 10/100 Ethernet to the desktop, and Gigabit Ethernet for the network backbone."
The Hudson's Bay network architecture consists of 3Com SuperStack(R) II PS40 segmented hubs connecting to 3Com SuperStack II Switch 3000 10/100s, connecting at Gigabit speed to a SuperStack II Switch 9000 SX, which serves as the network backbone.
"Looking to the future, we're well positioned to handle continued growth as new applications and users demand additional bandwidth," said Lambert. "Having SuperStack II 3000 switches together with fiber backbone wiring will enable us to deliver greater bandwidth to the desktop for network-intensive applications, as well as the possibility of implementing layer 3 switching supported by the SuperStack II 9000 switches."
Retail organizations throughout the world depend on 3Com enabled networks for their point-of-sale and back-office in-store networks, enterprise intranets, and very large-scale distribution center and headquarters networks. 3Com is a founder of the Retail Network Innovation Awards; a program designed to recognize retailer innovation in the use of networked applications. Additional information on 3Com's innovative solutions for retailers is available at 3com.com.
About Hudson's Bay
Hudson's Bay Company, established in 1670 is Canada's oldest corporation and its largest department store retailer. The Company operates 100 Bay department stores and 340 Zellers stores across the nation, and 99 Fields stores in Alberta and British Columbia.
About 3Com
3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to stay more connected by communicating and sharing information and resources anytime, anywhere. As one of the world's preeminent suppliers of data, voice and video communications technology, 3Com has delivered networking solutions to more than 200 million customers worldwide. The company provides large enterprise, small and medium enterprise, carriers and network service providers, and consumers comprehensive, innovative information access products and system solutions for building intelligent, reliable and high performance local and wide area networks. For further information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at 3com.com or the press site at 3com.com.
Note to Editors: 3Com and SuperStack are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
CONTACT: 3Com Corporate Communications
Peter Ruzicka, 408/326-5853
Peter_Ruzicka@3Com.com
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