Bytes Technology Networks, a division of Bytes Technology Group, migrated the Johannesburg office of HSBC to a full Cisco local area network (LAN) solution. This implementation formed the basis of a further network-attached storage (NAS) and server implementation that resulted in a combined investment of R4 million.
The foundation of the IT upgrade was the implementation of 13 Catalyst 3548 and two Catalyst 6006 Switches as well as CiscoWorks 2000, a network management tool. The Johannesburg campus, which is made up of three separate buildings and over 250 users, enjoyed a transparent and smooth transition onto the new network, which now offers a 2GB Ethernet connection between server rooms and 100 meg to the end-user.
Gustaf Cilliers, head of information technology services at HSBC in SA, says: "HSBC is a company that relies heavily on technology to provide it with up-to-the-minute access to information from our clients and the markets. Gartner has predicted that within a brokerage environment, such as HSBC`s, an hour`s worth of downtime can cost millions of dollars. This statistic reveals the fundamental business importance of a reliable and predictable IT infrastructure."
The implementation was successful and HSBC has already experienced no down time in the six months since it was completed. In addition to addressing the current challenges, the scalable infrastructure is ready for added functionality such as IP Telephony and video streaming.
HSBC in SA is now operating on a complete Cisco network with both the LAN and wide area network (WAN) being built on Cisco products and solutions. Cilliers believes that this is because Cisco is the best-supported solution range in SA and HSBC is investing not only in the present but also in the future. This required that the company select a long-term technology provider that is committed to the South African market.
Johan Mouton, business unit manager at Bytes Technology Networks, says: "HSBC required that we offer them the most intelligent technology solution available in the market. HSBC needed a highly available, high performance, manageable network at the most reasonable cost and that is exactly what we have been able to deliver. The success of the implementation proves that this configuration of solutions met all HSBC`s needs."
The success of the implementation relied on the layer three functionality present on the Cisco switches. Jessica Robinson, account manager at Cisco Systems, says: "The Cisco Internet Operating System (IOS) enables quality of service (QoS) as the ability to prioritise traffic is central to the implementation. This enabled Bytes Technology Networks to propose a network configuration that had an economical NAS element rather than a more expensive storage area network solution."
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