Fujitsu Network Communications Revamps Headquarters Network With 3Com High-Function Layer 3 and Workgroup Switches
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--
Company Transitions from Router-based Network to Cost-effective 3Com(R) CoreBuilder(tm) 3500 Switches; Streamlines and Safeguards
Mission-critical Applications
3Com Corporation (Nasdaq:COMS) today announced that Fujitsu Network Communications (FNC), Inc., a Fujitsu operating company that manufactures telecommunications solutions for U.S. carriers, is standardizing its Richardson, TX, headquarters network on 3Com CoreBuilder(tm) 3500 Layer 3 switches and SuperStack(R) II switch 1100s. The redundant Fast Ethernet local area network (LAN) supports 800 users in FNC's new R&D and business building and its preexisting data center and administrative facility. FNC will extend the network over the next few years to an additional 1,000 campus users in a manufacturing site and an engineering building. The network is based on 3Com's Transcend(R) networking architecture, enabling FNC to scale, extend and manage the network to sustain rising numbers of users and applications resulting from the company's ongoing growth.
Powered by 20 CoreBuilder 3500 high-function switches, FNC's new network core is now providing faster, more reliable transmission of several business-critical services. Chief among these is a CAD/CAM (computer-aided-design/manufacture) system, which FNC uses to develop its SONET (synchronous optical network) solutions, ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) switches and network management products. The network is also driving FNC's enterprise resource planning system, which manages the telecommunications company's manufacturing, accounting, labor tracking, subcontracting and purchasing processes. Richardson users are also gaining swifter access to the Internet, which they use for everything from booking business flights to email. The network also supports FNC's growing intranet through which campus users access policies, procedures, work force development and time and attendance information.
"Networked applications are more essential than ever to Fujitsu Network Communications' product development, customer service and overall success," said Lance Shinall, FNC project manager and senior manager of information technology. "Using the CoreBuilder 3500 switches and supporting 3Com systems, we're deploying an infrastructure that gives us the speed and redundancy to effectively share information internally and with customers and suppliers."
A Dynamic, Less Costly Alternative to Campus Routing
FNC's 3Com network resulted from the firm's need for a faster,
more reliable architecture than its former router-based network could deliver. Having doubled its users since 1993, FNC recognized in 1997 that the shared Ethernet network would likely incur serious bottlenecks within one year. Moreover, the loss of a single network node could bring down an entire network segment -- a condition that became unacceptable as networked communications became mission-critical to FNC's business.
To remedy this, FNC approached leading networking vendors,
including 3Com, to obtain a scalable, fully redundant Fast Ethernet infrastructure able to provide Layer 3 switching. "We wanted to create a redundant backbone based on a proven second or third generation switch," said Jeff Meier, director of information technology. "With the CoreBuilder 3500 switches, we're achieving this using a scalable system within 3Com's CoreBuilder family that will let us migrate to Gigabit Ethernet, which may become necessary within two years."
The CoreBuilder 3500 Layer 3 switch provides non-blocking,
multi-protocol, wire-speed routing at 10 times the performance of a traditional backbone router for as low as one-tenth the cost. The switch also features advanced policy-based management and Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, FDDI and ATM interfaces. "The system's Layer 3 switching delivers all the benefits of a router in a switch, such as broadcast domain and protocol separation, without sacrificing performance," noted Meier. "It also gives us the ability to sustain and expand our IP address structures, to implement DHCP and to have redundancy at the Layer 3 level -- none of which we could do before."
Deployed this April, the CoreBuilder 3500 systems are enabling
FNC to move their pre-existing core routers to its wide area network (WAN). At the new R&D facility, two CoreBuilder 3500 switches form a redundant Fast Ethernet backbone with dual links to a pair of dual homed CoreBuilder 3500 systems in wiring closets. In wiring closets, Layer 3 switches have dual 100 megabit per second (Mbps) Fast Ethernet links to 3Com SuperStack II 1100 workgroup switches with redundant power supplies. The SuperStack II switch 1100s provide 10 Mbps switched Ethernet connections to users' desktops.
"Each SuperStack II 1100 has dual connections to two
CoreBuilder
3500s, so if a CoreBuilder 3500 or a link to one of the 3500 goes down, the network connection to the SuperStack II 1100 and to users will remain intact," said Meier.
FNC's data center network is based on four CoreBuilder 3500
switches with 100 Mbps links to the company's server farm and existing shared media hubs.
The telecommunications company is gaining added performance
using
3Com Fast EtherLink(R) 10/100 network interface cards (NICs) in PCs. FNC is bolstering network reliability via 3Com's Transcend(R) Enterprise Manager network management application, which, using remote monitoring (RMON) and RMON2, lets the firm configure, manage and control the network from a single desktop management console.
"From higher speed and functionality to 99.999 percent uptime,
we're getting what we want from our network," said Shinall. "It's a truly impressive architecture that we absolutely need to achieve our business goals now and in the years to come."
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.
3Com, Transcend, SuperStack and EtherLink are registered trademarks and CoreBuilder is a trademark of 3Com Corporation. All other brands and names are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT: 3Com Public Relations
David Hayward, 978/264-1773
david_hayward@3com.com
OR
The Brisson Group
David Brisson, 508/653-4091
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