Abstract
The China Academy of Railway Sciences is a leading technology enterprise, responsible for the scientific progress of China's railway systems. Its important functions include the construction of new high-speed rail lines, research into heavy load rail transportation, advanced information systems to support the efficient management and modernization of China's railways.
In 1998, the China Academy of Railway Sciences installed a local area network incorporating the most advanced 155Mb ATM technology available at that time. The original network was a great help to research and office automation, and improved the overall efficiency of the organization, but in 2005, the 155Mb backbone network was struggling to cope with demand and the academy decided to invest in a new high-speed network provided by ProCurve Networking.
The new infrastructure is built around a ProCurve 6400 10-Gigabit Ethernet backbone and four ProCurve 3400-24G convergence switches, using 10-Gigabit single-mode optical fiber and 10-Gigabit multi-mode optical fiber,with 1Gbps access at the desktop. The new highperformance network provides dramatic productivity gains, better protection from virus attacks and greatly improved price-performance.
The Challenge
After several years of analyzing throughput, the Academy had a clear understanding of network demand, and knew that it needed a high-speed, intelligent network with an emphasis on price-performance, simple management and reliability. The old network also faced regular virus attacks, which slowed down performance and added to costs. Based on this experience, the Academy drew up a "wish list" with the following specifications for the new network solution.
- High Speed: A 10-Gigabit Ethernet backbone with 1Gbps access for desktops
- Intelligence: Layer 3 managed switches for access control and to block the spread of viruses
- Simplicity: Routers and intelligent processing to be handled at the convergence layer, with the core layer only responsible for switching
- Reliability: All components must have comprehensive guarantees, supported by convenient after-sales service and maintenance
- High cost-performance: Chosen solution should demonstrate costcompetitiveness and guarantee good return on investment
The Solution
The new network is built on a threelayer structure, including the core layer, the convergence layer and the access layer, with a 10-Gigabit Ethernet backbone and 1Gbps access for desktops. The core layer has a ProCurve 6400 10-Gigabit switch, connected to four ProCurve 3400-24G convergence switches via 10-Gigabit single-mode optical fiber and 10-Gigabit multi-mode optical fiber which also enables the servers to guarantee 1Gbps access to desktops.
The convergence switches are connected via 1Gigabit switches at the access layer using 1Gigabit single-mode optical fiber, 1Gb multi-mode optical fiber and twisted-pair cables.
All equipment supports three-layer router switching. Such a design reduces the load on switches at the core layer and speeds up communications between different nodes. The 1000M twisted-pair cables provide 1Gbps access to desktops.
Business Benefits
By implementing ProCurve's Adaptive Edge Architecture (AEA) architecture, with intelligent access at the edge, the 6400 switch does not need to process all the data from routers and access control lists, enabling faster switching at the core layer.
After one year in operation, the network has performed extremely well. While the old network failed to defend the organization against virus attacks, the Academy of Railway Sciences has had no need to deal with virus attacks since the new network is in place.
With network speed greatly improved, the Academy has been able to deploy more than 10 new management information systems, various scientific research data inquiry systems and a new 10-Gigabit iSCSI network storage solution, all of which have greatly enhanced work productivity and organizational efficiency.
The ProCurve AEA architecture provides intelligence at the network edge that enables the Academy to balance the load and protect the network from viruses, significantly improving overall network performance. Although this means the need for more access switches, it reduces total investment because the new single-function core switch replaces the previous, more costly multi-business core switch.
The Academy also found that ProCurve's lifetime warranty is a good guarantee of return on investment by eliminating concerns about hardware failure and replacement. The lifetime warranty is an important factor when considering the cost-competitiveness of the ProCurve solution against rival solutions.
What makes it work
Hardware
- ProCurve Core Switch 6400
- ProCurve Switch 3400cl
Software, Services & Support
- Lifetime product warranty on most products ♦
- Software updates, telephone and email technical support*
- Comprehensive network design and configuration services*
*For the most up-to-date information, go to
www.procurve.com
About HP ProCurve
HP ProCurve is the leading global provider of intelligent wireless networks (WLANs) for enterprises and service providers. Based on the industry’s first optimized WLAN switch architecture, HP ProCurve systems combine centralized management with intelligent access points to deliver superior performance, bandwidth efficiency, seamless mobility, and secure, easy user access.
More than 40 million users and 1,500 organizations across the healthcare, manufacturing, education, hospitality, service provider, and transportation sectors rely on HP ProCurve solutions. HP ProCurve provides mobile access to business-critical applications, guest/public Internet access, VoWLAN and FMC services, and video surveillance, delivering premier performance, scalability, and price to organizations worldwide.
♦
For as long as you own the product, with next-business-day advance replacement (available in most countries). The following hardware products and their related series modules have a one-year hardware warranty with extensions available: HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9300m series, HP ProCurve Switch 8100fl series, HP ProCurve Network Access Controller 800, and HP ProCurve DCM Controller. The following hardware mobility products have a one-year hardware warranty with extensions available: HP ProCurve M111 Client Bridge, HP ProCurve MSM3xx-R Access Points, HP ProCurve MSM7xx Mobility and Access Controllers, HP ProCurve RF Manager IDS/IPS Systems, HP ProCurve MSM Power Supplies, HP ProCurve 1 Port Power Injector, HP ProCurve CNMS Appliances, and HP ProCurve MSM317 Access Device. Disk drives in the HP ProCurve ONE Services zl modules, HP ProCurve Threat Mgmt Services zl module, and HP ProCurve MSM765zl Mobility Controller have a five year hardware warranty. Standalone software, upgrades, or licenses may have a different warranty duration. For details, refer to the ProCurve Software License, Warranty, and Support booklet at
www.procurve.com/warranty.
