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TMCNet: University of London Computer Center Upgrades with Brocade Solutions

[February 09, 2010]

University of London Computer Center Upgrades with Brocade Solutions

Feb 09, 2010 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- Brocade announced the University of London Computer Center has upgraded its network infrastructure as part of a move to its new GBP3 million data centre facility in central London.

A Brocade BigIron RX-16 series 10 Gbps backbone switch platform has been installed along with a Brocade ServerIron 4Gbps switch to provide application delivery and traffic management switch solution. This will improve network performance and availability while 'future proofing' ULCC's network for the next five years. The equipment was purchased through Brocade partner, Vanix, along with a comprehensive maintenance contract.

With around 70 staff and a turnover of GBP5 million, ULCC works for around 200 organisations including City University, Kings College, The National Archives, The European Library and The British Library, with its main customer the University of London. ULCC supports 1,200 staff using 1,500 desktops, delivers Internet connectivity for over 3,000 students in London, and hosts all the IT infrastructure used by a further 50,000 students across the globe (accessing virtual learning environments). ULCC offers a range of services primarily to academic institutions and the public sector from simple co-location hosting from its own datacentre to fully managed services including Moodle1 hosting, document digitisation and preservation, as well as the provision of connectivity to JANET, the UK's education and research network.

ULCC moved to Stewart House, a new state-of-the art facility in Russell Square, after 41 years at its Guildford Street datacentre site. The process took 18 months, ensuring no disruption of service to customers. The University of London's drive to consolidate buildings in the heart of London was the catalyst for the project. The new 750 m2 datacentre is far more resilient offering dual UPS2, standby generators, fail-safe air conditioning along with environmental friendly argonite fire suppression equipment.

Colin Love, ULCC's data centre manager, says: "Given the new datacentre was built from scratch, we took the move as an opportunity to upgrade our core switch platform to the latest 10 Gbps-based technology especially as our existing equipment was effectively end-of-life. Chassis-based Brocade BigIron RX-16 series switch technology was chosen because of a mix of price, performance, reliability and expandability." With 24/7 hardware support provided by VANIX, the BigIron RX-16 series switch platform offers ULCC the resilience required, with more than enough port capacity available in a single chassis to cater for ULCC's extensive customer base. Brocade's ServerIron 4Gbps switch has been installed to ensure high availability of web servers delivering student record information to administrative staff at the University of London.

Today, ULCC's network runs at speeds of 10/100/1000 Mb, but the university installed10 Gbps interfaces to provide room for growth. Love says: "Given our funding cycle, our core backbone networking equipment has to last for at least five years. While we don't need 10 Gbps capacity quite yet, we didn't want to buy a switch for Stewart House now which doesn't support it, only to have to replace it when the faster speed is required in two or three years' time. The Brocade solution gives us this performance headroom, along with IPv6 capability." Brocade: www.brocade.com University of London Computer Center: www.ulcc.ac.uk ((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

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