Smart Meter and Smart Grid Solution Provider Implements Enterprise-Class Stackable Switching Solutions
Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD), the leader in fabric-based data center networking solutions, today announced that it is deploying a unified campus networking solution for Landis+Gyr, the world's leading provider of energy management and advanced metering solutions, across its Asia Pacific footprint.
Landis+Gyr is at the forefront of smart meter deployments in Asia Pacific and is positioning for further growth with extensive local presence including customized product offering, strong focus on R&D, strategic business partnerships and a continued focus on providing value for money to its customers.
To support its growth plans, Brocade is deploying a unified campus networking solution to increase performance and simplify device management. The company is now rolling out the new family of Brocade® ICX™ switches to provide a high-performance, easy-to-manage and low total-cost-of-ownership solution for LAN access at more than 20 Landis+Gyr sites across the Asia Pacific region.
“Meeting the needs of dynamic companies like Landis+Gyr is what we mean by the Brocade vision for The Effortless Network™,” said Graham Schultz, Regional Director, Australia and New Zealand, at Brocade. “It’s all about delivering dramatically simplified and automated access layer networks, unmatched scalability and upgradeability to accommodate emerging applications, and enterprise-class functionality and availability at a tremendous business value.”
Robert Hudson, Asia Pacific Infrastructure Manager, Landis+Gyr commented “We’re very focused on capturing growth opportunities, and for this, IT needs to fit the specific purpose,” he said. “Within our network, here in Sydney and elsewhere, LAN access speed and performance is critical. Server virtualization, our extensive use of video conferencing across the region and the convergence of storage onto the LAN place heavy demands on our access ports. We were certainly not achieving wire-speed performance from our existing network edge switches.”
The Brocade ICX switches provide chassis-like switch capabilities in an economical stackable form factor. Leveraging Brocade HyperEdgeTM technology[1], the Brocade ICX switches enable organizations such as Landis+Gyr to mix and match premium and entry-level switches within a single stack, so that entry-level devices inherit the feature richness of the premium switches, with the whole stack operating as a single virtual switch. In addition to providing better investment protection, this approach greatly simplifies network management.
Equipped with redundant power supplies, high-end Brocade ICX 6610 Switches have a non-blocking architecture, providing up to 48 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports and eight 10 GbE fiber ports, all of which operate at full speed. The Brocade ICX 6610 also features four dedicated 40 GbE stacking ports, enabling up to eight switches to be combined into a single stack with 320 Mbps of stacking bandwidth. The entry-level Brocade ICX 6430 Switches also provide up to 48 wire-speed 1 GbE ports and have four 1 GbE fiber ports for network uplinks or for stacking up to four switches into a single virtual device.
All Brocade ICX switches and stacks are managed in exactly the same way through an easy-to-use Web interface. To maximize flexibility and minimize IT support requirements, Landis+Gyr has chosen to configure the switches with Power over Ethernet (PoE) capabilities on all access ports, enabling self-service moves around the office with staff taking their IP phones from their old desks to their new ones without any need to reconfigure the network.
Graham Schultz, Regional Director, Australia and New Zealand, at Brocade continued “With the Brocade ICX switches we essentially have a ‘set and forget’ LAN access environment. This means that clients like Landis+Gyr are able to expand their infrastructure simply by stacking more switches, which is a big step forward in the simplification and standardization of networks.”
The switches have been rolled out to Landis+Gyr’s Australian and New Zealand sites, and are expected to be in the rest of their Asia Pacific offices by the end of the year.
Robert Hudson, Asia Pacific Infrastructure Manager, Landis+Gyr added “This is a cost effective, technologically superior solution. Brocade is now our preferred networking supplier for the Asia Pacific region, and all of our networking equipment will be standardized to Ethernet switching.”
The Brocade ICX 6610 and ICX 6430 stackable switches were implemented by Brocade reseller, ASI Solutions.
About Landis+Gyr
Landis+Gyr is the leading global provider of integrated energy management products tailored to energy company needs and unique in its ability to deliver true end-to-end advanced metering solutions. Today, the Company offers the broadest portfolio of products and services in the electricity metering industry, and is paving the way for the next generation of smart grid. With annualized sales of US$1.6 billion, Landis+Gyr, an independent growth platform of the Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502) and 40% owned by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, operates in 30 countries across five continents, and employs 5,000 people with the sole mission of helping the world manage energy better. More information is available at www.landisgyr.com
About Brocade
Brocade(Nasdaq:BRCD)networking solutions help the world’s leading organizations transition smoothly to a world where applications and information reside anywhere.(www.brocade.com)
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