17 June 2003 London--Extreme Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR), a leader in Ethernet networking, has been selected by Siemens Dematic AG, the world's leading supplier of logistics and factory automation equipment, for its new Voice over IP (VOIP) network.
The voice and data network supports data-intensive CAD applications, exchange design and production data, creating the foundation to support data and VoIP delivered with Siemens HiPath 4000 IP telephone system.
Siemens Dematic is working with Extreme Networks to achieve uninterrupted, high-quality voice and data transmissions to serve its staff of 1,100 workers. Extreme's family of switching solutions delivers wire-speed Ethernet switching performance resulting in increased scalability and higher availability with redundant mechanisms and integrated bandwidth management and prioritisation.
"We were very impressed with the levels of integration between Extreme's switching solutions and our HiPath 4000 telephone system," said Karl Sperlich, head of IT at Siemens Dematic. "In addition to the attractive cost/benefit ratio, Extreme's EPICenter software delivers a uniform management platform that helps us to set-up the network to reserve bandwidth that we need."
Siemens Dematic's decision to select innovative Voice over IP (VoIP) technology hinged on finding network infrastructure that was reliable, flexible and easy to manage. Should an employee move to a different office location, they can be set-up with voice and data services in a short time, with less effort required to establish their regular phone number and IP address.
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) links the HiPath 4000 to PCs and notebook computers. Bandwidth is prioritised and individual services are managed with EPICenter software suite. Extreme's EPICenter management software provides a uniform network management platform for Extreme Networks' switching devices. With Quality of Service (QoS) managed by EPICenter, the quality for voice calls remains consistent even as the volume of other network traffic proliferates.
The Siemens Dematic network consists of a ring-shaped, routed Gigabit Ethernet core network from which individual switches branch out on each floor. A total of 2,400 switch ports are installed. Extreme Networks has developed Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching (EAPS) capability specifically to enable high-performance Ethernet technology to be deployed effectively in ring-based network topologies.
EAPS technology delivers fast failover of services, with recovery in less than 50 milliseconds. This higher level of availability for Ethernet is on par with Sonet/SDH networks deployed by service providers.
"In the past, data networks were designed to provide connectivity between desktops and servers and other devices, but not the level of availability that is required for running voice applications," said Duncan Potter, VP Marketing for Extreme Networks.
"Extreme, however, has always delivered switching technology with the non-stop performance needed for running voice applications. All of the eight million ports we have installed to date can truly support voice."