NETWORKS

Brocade has announced that the Saudi Economic and Development Holding Company (SEDCO)  has selected Brocade to develop a high performance IP network for its new facility in Red Sea Mall, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Featuring Brocade FastIron Super X and Brocade FastIron GS Series switches, the network allows SEDCO to converge voice and data traffic over a single architecture while providing the scalability to grow with the company’s demands.

SEDCO is a leading private wealth management organization that conducts its business according to Islamic guidelines widely known as Shari'ah. It manages a wide and diversified spectrum of real estate investments, investments in equities, and other businesses in Saudi Arabia and around the world. The organization is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and has more than 1,500 employees.

In 2006, SEDCO took the decision to move to a new headquarters. As part of the re-location process, the organization made the decision to design and deploy a new network architecture, one that could scale with the company’s business demands and offer the performance and reliability it needed. Due to the nature of SEDCO’s business, performance and data integrity is key as the network supports clients and subsidiaries across different geographies and acts as the platform for key business applications such as ERP, email, DMS, Voice over IP (VoIP) and collaboration tools. VoIP, in particular, was a key driver for deploying the new network as the current architecture did not have the capacity to support voice and data traffic. Following a competitive tender that lasted six months, SEDCO selected Brocade (delivered through local partner, AGIS).

“The decision to upgrade the network was not taken lightly,” commented Mamdouh Khawaji, Vice President Information Technology at SEDCO. “Our existing infrastructure delivered the performance we required, but as we looked to the future we wanted the security of deploying a network that could meet our demands for years to come. The Brocade solution was technically superior to any of the others we reviewed, and based on our experience with the company [we have had Brocade in the SAN for over seven years] we knew that we were making the right decision.”

SEDCO implemented Brocade FastIron SuperX 800 and Brocade FastIron GS 648P-POE switches to deliver the desired performance and scalability. The Brocade FastIron SX Series of PoE-ready Layer 2/ 3 switches provides a superior scalable foundation for better operational efficiency and faster response to business opportunities today and into the future. It has an extensive feature set, making it well suited for real-time collaborative applications, IP telephony, IP video, e-learning, wireless LANs, and raising the organization's productivity. The FastIron GS Series access switch family provides enterprise organizations with a flexible and feature-rich solution for building a secure and converged network edge. Upgradeable with 10 Gigabit Ethernet, PoE, and IronStack stacking technology, the FastIron GS Series provides enterprises with the cost and operational benefits of a “pay-as-you-grow” architecture.

Since the network has gone live, SEDCO and its subsidiaries have seen a significant increase in performance. For example, subsidiaries that upload critical data to the network, such as HR of financial records, can do so quicker and more effectively. Khawaji added: “The deployment was seamless. Brocade and AGIS worked closely with our IT team to make sure that service disruption was minimised and the performance we’ve seen thus far has been impressive. With this new infrastructure, SEDCO has a solid and reliable platform for future growth.”