Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Customer name
Bennett, Coleman & Co. (The Times of India Group)
Industry
Publishing
Business Size
India's largest media conglomerate
Business Challenge
-- Upgrading the networking infrastructure (WAN, Datacentre LAN, User LAN, Internet)
-- Implement HA, virtualization (for an On Demand environment) and build-in security on the network
-- Build the network around the applications and therefore deliver an "Application Sensitive Network"
-- Integrate Application Delivery, IP Telephony, Real Time Collaboration tools like Instant Messaging, over this network
Network Solution
-- Cisco Service-oriented Network Architecture (SONA)
-- High speed Gigabit Ethernet LAN and E1 WAN. This is a highly-available network architecture with high capacity E1 redundant links.
-- Highly-available 3-tier hierarchical design for the Mumbai Campus Wide Network
-- Data Center network at Mumbai office enables high-speed data communication needed for running SAP applications and data storage solutions.
Business Value
A host of enterprise-wide ERP solutions can be deployed over the new network.
Customer Background
Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. or as its popularly known - The Times of India Group, is India's largest media conglomerate with business interests in Publishing, Radio, Internet, Music, Multimedia, and Retailing. The Times Group is a multi-edition, multi-product, multi-media organization, and has to its credit several leading publications including The Times of India, The Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Maharashtra Times, Femina and Filmfare. The Group also has interests in the entertainment and media industry in the form of Radio Mirchi, Planet M, Times Music and Times Multimedia.
Business Challenge
The Times Group wanted to deploy ERP applications across all branches and within the group companies. Their existing network did not extend to all offices and the bandwidth was inadequate for supporting these new applications.
The Times Group needed to adopt a Service-oriented architecture (SOA) approach to application design, integration, and delivery that supports application reuse and significantly reduces integration costs. So, the task at hand was to upgrade the entire network infrastructure to an "Application Sensitive Network" that was flexible, scalable, secure and complemented SOA. The solutions lay in Cisco's Service-Oriented Network Architecture (SONA).
Cisco SONA is the framework that guides an organization's evolution to an Intelligent Information Network to accelerate applications, business processes, and profitability. This comprehensive architecture provides guidelines to help organizations evolve their IT infrastructure and transform their business processes with network investments that increase business growth, agility, efficiency, and productivity.
Network Solution
To expand the present network capacity and leverage the latest technology, The Times Group network was designed with high speed Gigabit Ethernet LAN and E1 WAN technology. This is a highly-available network architecture with high capacity E1 redundant links.
Local Area Network
The Times Group LAN is categorized into two sections:
--Data center switching
-- Aggregation switching
Data Center Cisco 6509 Switch: The Data Center network at Mumbai office is designed with very high end Cisco Catalyst 6509-E series switches at the Core with single SUP engine and Dual power supplies for high-availability and redundancy. The primary function of the switch is to provide high speed data
communication layer for SAP application and data storage solutions.
Aggregation Cisco 6509 Switch: The core user layer at Mumbai is also designed with the powerful Cisco Catalyst 6509 - E switches which are Layer-3 capable. Catalysts 6509 - E at core layer are configured as VTP servers. Access Layer switches are further up-linked from these switches. Connectivity between core and Access layer are designed on 1 Gigabit Ethernet technology that provides end-to-end gigabit backbone. These aggregation switches provide high speed data communication to the LAN users for Intranet applications running on the network.
Wide Area Network: Prior to this deployment, Times Group had limited WAN network connectivity for non-production users. Cisco's WAN network connects 45 locations over redundant high-speed E1 links each providing a 2MBps or 128kbps data rates. These links are acquired from service provider viz. MTNL and BSNL.
Mumbai and Delhi being Corporate and Head offices with large user bases, the routers deployed are Cisco 7206 in high availability mode over E1 links. Hyderabad being disaster recovery site, the routers used are Cisco 3845 in high availability mode. Bangalore and Chennai is also using Cisco 3854 routers. All other branches / press locations have Cisco 2811 routers. ISDN is used as back up link for all leased lines across the network.
For better manageability and scalability, Cisco implemented a highly-available 3-tier hierarchical design for the Times Group Mumbai Campus Wide network backbone which has two levels of security checks for ensuring that authentic, virus and spam free data flows in the network.
A hierarchical network design has three layers:
-- The core layer provides optimal transport between sites
-- The distribution layer provides policy-based connectivity
-- The access layer provides workgroup/user access to the network Benefits of the Network Architecture
-- Cost savings
The modular nature of the architecture enables appropriate use of bandwidth within each layer of the hierarchy, reducing wasted capacity. Cisco IP Communications Solution has been deployed and is being currently used on the WAN, thereby saving additional communication cost.
-- Ease of understanding
Keeping each design element simple helps control training and staff costs. Management responsibility and network management systems can be mapped to the different layers of modular network architectures, which in turn helps control costs.
-- Scalability
A hierarchical design brings flexibility to the network. Modularity allows creating design elements that can be replicated as the network grows, facilitating easy scalability. As each element in the network design requires change, the cost and complexity of making the upgrade is contained to a small subset of the overall network.
-- Improved fault isolation
Structuring the network into small, easy-to-understand elements improves fault isolation. Network managers can easily understand the transition points in the network, which helps identify failure points.
Business Value
"We are implementing a host of enterprise-wide ERP solutions with the intention of transforming this into competitive advantage by enabling rapid, secure implementation of new business applications. Cisco SONA provides a powerful foundation that supports all our crucial application requirements. We are very pleased that this new network enables identity-based infrastructure access with geographic independence, while increasing security through centralized policy control and enforcement, "said Abhijit Dasgupta, Vice President Information Technology, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.
"Cisco architected an ingenious network design that was low on cost and complexity by applying changes to compartments rather than individual users or devices," he added.
"While evaluating Cisco's offerings over competitive solutions, the Times team had given due consideration to all aspects of the network architecture, including port density, virus protection methodology, redundancy capabilities and power consumption, and also the deployment cost, after sales support and implementation process. We can say with satisfaction that Cisco's solution met their business needs and matched all expectations, "said Jangoo Dalal, President & Country manager, Cisco Systems India.
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Case Study
Satchit Gayakwad, Text 100 Public Relations, +91 (022) 6659 5519 / 20 Extn. 110/ +91 9892579925 satchitg@text100.co.in
Source: Cisco Systems India Pvt. Ltd. (Business Wire India)
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