Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches

Reuters is a global information company, providing indispensable information tailored for professionals in the financial services, media, and corporate markets. Its worldwide reputation for reporting speed, accuracy, and independence drives decision making across the globe. Approximately 15,300 staff work in 89 countries, making Reuters one of the world's largest international multimedia news agencies.

In 2005, Reuters, the last remaining media giant to leave London's historic Fleet Street, moved its headquarters to a new 280,000-square-foot, 10-story office building in the Canary Wharf, Docklands. Viewed as a key milestone of the company's three-year transformation program, the move freed up working capital by closing surplus sites. Approximately 5000 people who were previously scattered in 12 to 14 office locations across London were brought under one roof, enabling employees in different business units and departments to interact more effectively.

The consolidation also presented a rare opportunity for Chris Birch and Alan Hughes who work in the Solutions Delivery group in Information Services and Technology (I, S&T). "We were faced with the challenge of reducing technology and operation costs," says Birch, head of service delivery for EMEA. "The move offered the perfect chance to refresh technology and install a converged infrastructure that would support advanced data, voice, and video services."

Planning, design, and implementation took approximately three years. Hughes and Birch spent a month just researching IP telephony solutions offered by the market's major players: British Telecom, Siemens, Avaya, Nortel, and Cisco®. The pair brought in Reuters experts from many different departments to work on the plans. "Because we were moving to a completely new converged environment for the first time, we recognized that we needed cooperation and commitment from all Reuters networking staff, including private branch exchange (PBX) telephone and data people," says Hughes, infrastructure analyst.

The I, S&T group developed a weighted point system that captured hundreds of prioritized capabilities. "Five-nines" availability, high performance, tough security, and compatibility with Reuters Cisco IP infrastructure were considered among the most critical decision factors.

Reuters new showcase network is built on Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series switches, chosen for their converged network capabilities and high performance. Power over Ethernet and Cisco Intelligent Power Management capabilities in the switches manage the power consumption of IP phones, Cisco Aironet® access points, and IP video cameras. Using power more efficiently reduces the number of switches required and saves on electricity costs. System resiliency built into the core Catalyst 6500 switches at every logical and physical layer of the network helps to meet the 99.999 percent network uptime requirement. Catalyst 6500 Supervisor Engine 720 switch engines create a 720 Gbps backplane to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth down to the wiring closets.

Reuters newsroom is one of the largest in Europe; hundreds of journalists rely on the telephone to communicate, so a solid IP communications solution was vital. To help ensure that optimal bandwidth levels are always available for voice and video regardless of network traffic volumes, Network Analysis Modules (NAM) in the Catalyst 6500 switches to monitor latency thresholds and manage quality of service levels required for effective voice support.

Employees have a choice of network access methods. They can connect to the network from their desktops through a single jack, plugging their laptops into their Cisco IP phones through a 100-Mb pass-through port. The serial connection halves the number of floor ports and reduces power needs. Employees can also connect wirelessly from anywhere in the 10-floor building via Cisco Aironet access points connected to Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series switches with integrated wireless service modules for secure, real-time, wireless connectivity.

Proactive security is built into all aspects of the network, from edge to core devices, through the Cisco Self-Defending Network architecture. In the wiring closets, Catalyst switch integrated security features-such as man-in-middle attack mitigation, 802.1x with extensions, and Control Plane Policing-reinforce voice and data integrity by protecting against phone call interceptions. These safeguards prevent rogue users from accessing the network and protect switches from internal Denial-of-Service attacks.

Cisco Security Agents on laptops guard against noncompliant end devices and enforce companywide security policies. Wireless devices are authenticated using Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS). Within the network, virtual LAN segmentation separates editorial and financial traffic from less sensitive or time-critical transmissions. To help ensure that only healthy clients log onto the network, Reuters is planning to deploy Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC) in the future.

Although detailed return-on-investment results are still being calculated, the company has already experienced tangible cost-saving and productivity benefits as Reuters employees work faster and smarter.

Reduced telephone, mobile, and cellular costs-Launching in Europe, Reuters has begun to implement a fully converged global IP environment based on the Cisco Unified Communications architecture, in which all calling costs are carried over the wide area network, not just at office locations. Cisco IP Communicator software installed on laptops enables employees who travel or who work from home to connect over virtual private network channels. They can access network resources and make phone calls from their computers over the Internet, avoiding long-distance toll charges. "A savings of 50 percent in telephone costs would not be an unreasonable estimate, and the more global we can go, the more benefits we get," says Birch.

Reduced adds, moves and changes expenses-The converged voice and data network and extension mobility provided by the Cisco Discovery Protocol enables employees to move offices within the building and log in on their telephone or laptop-via the wired or wireless network without rewiring or reconfiguration. Hughes notes that 3500 annual helpdesk requests for individual moves, adds, and changes have been almost completely eliminated, significantly reducing administration costs.

Ease of deployment-To educate employees on the advantages of their new office location and converged network, a test network was built with IP phones and IPTVs that employees could try out. "When we moved our first group of 300 people over a weekend, we expected high helpdesk call volumes. Instead, the IT group received the highest satisfaction ratings for the entire move compared to property, facilities, catering, and other operational groups," Hughes says.

Increased productivity-1-Gbps bandwidth to the desktop easily supports large, frequent file transfers as well as real-time voice and video and even live television broadcasts. Integrated directory and interactive voice response call-processing features enable employees to quickly locate and call individuals or service departments from their computer screens.

Cisco Unified Messaging lets employees view, send, and receive phone, fax, and e-mail messages to their IP phone or laptop and stay informed no matter where they are. IP Communicator extends the flexibility to remote workers. Birch says, "At the Turin Olympics, our journalists took calls on their laptops as though they were in the office."

With Cisco Catalyst 6500's innovative and scalable capabilities, advanced applications can be securely and affordably implemented to keep pace with Reuters aggressive technology plans. For example, Hughes and Birch are looking at supporting desktop videoconferencing simply by upgrading or adding specialized service modules.

Reuters converged Cisco network foundation has helped to make the company more competitive, focused, and service driven. Birch says, "Feedback from employees and key stakeholders indicates that our efforts are headed in the right direction. The capabilities that we have now will help Reuters make big strides in the future, and support its plans for growth."

Cisco has helped enterprises improve the quality and scope of services to their employees while holding down operating costs. To learn more about how Cisco Network Foundation, Wireless solutions, or Unified Communications/Voice solutions can help your organization, contact your local account representative or visit http://www.cisco.com.

This customer story is based on information provided by Reuters and describes how the company benefits from the deployment of Cisco products. Many factors may have contributed to the results and benefits described. Cisco does not guarantee comparable results elsewhere.

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