To support a Unified Communications (UC) environment across its sites, which can be extended to partners and contractors, and to facilitate the delivery of Building Information Modelling (BIM) across its construction projects, VINCI PLC selected a fabric-based, unified campus networking solution from Brocade.
VINCI PLC, part of the global VINCI conglomerate?a world leader in concessions and construction, is involved in a number of major construction programs with its partners, including the Kings Cross Station Re-development, Nottingham Tram system expansion, and some of the UK’s most familiar landmark projects in locations such as London. To extend network intelligence, scalability and resilience across its networks, and deliver a consistently high Quality of Experience (QoE) to staff, partners and contractors, VINCI PLC selected a Brocade Ethernet fabric and campus network solution. Presented by systems integrator CoolSpirit, the solution both met VINCI PLC’s immediate needs, while providing a blueprint for the future.
Brocade ICX 6450 Campus Network switches were selected to enable effortless networking; providing a high performance, yet simple to manage and scale, campus network. Brocade ICX stackable switches deliver unprecedented levels of availability and flexibility by combining the capabilities of a chassis with the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of a stackable switch. This unique approach helps ensure an optimal user experience for streaming video, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), UC and other mission-critical applications. Brocade ServerIron® ADX Series switches were also chosen to provide the high availability, security and scalability required to support Microsoft Lync in a virtualised environment.
Ben Paddick, Technical Design Architect, at VINCI PLC explains, “Time and again, VINCI PLC is praised for its ability to work in partnership and as part of a team to deliver a project. We wanted an end-to-end solution that enabled us to collaborate more effectively with partners, and supported BIM across projects so we can offer improved service to customers, project efficiency and risk management. The right network solution was key.”
Recognising how important it is to establish the right foundation, whether building a superstore or an IT infrastructure, they also selected Brocade VDX 6730 Data Center switches with Virtual Cluster Switching (VCS™) technology, to enable a high performance Ethernet fabric that provides the low-latency, auto-healing resilience required to support VINCI PLC’s virtualised data centre environment.
“We needed 10 Gigabit Ethernet performance as capacity was strained, but we weren’t ready for a full refresh and wanted to deploy Microsoft Lync campus-wide, with a plan to offer this as a hosted solution to other divisions and partners. The Brocade solution offered a perfect fit for our demands,” Paddick concluded.
Marcus Jewell, Country Manager UK and Ireland, at Brocade said, “Enterprises are increasingly looking to their campus networks to deliver better efficiencies and services to improve business functionality. UC and virtualised environments can provide significant business benefits, but are very latency-sensitive and so require Ethernet fabric and Application Delivery solutions to be deployed effectively. VINCI PLC understands the importance of clear and open communications, and developing a strong, dependable infrastructure to serve as the foundation. They have reflected those values clearly in their choice of Brocade as their network infrastructure provider.”