High-Performance Switches from Brocade Enable Enterprise-wide Standardization
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- Asia
- Europe
Country
- Germany
Product
- Brocade MLX Series
- Brocade FastIron SX Series
- Brocade TurboIron 24X Switch
Tech Stack
- MultiChassis Trunking (MCT)
- 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE)
- Power over Ethernet (PoE)
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Networks & Connectivity - Ethernet
- Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software
Applicable Industries
- Electronics
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Infrastructure Inspection
- Manufacturing System Automation
Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
WAGO Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co. KG is a 60-year-old company headquartered in Minden, Germany. The company is a global leader in the electrical interconnections and automation markets. WAGO first developed spring clamp terminal blocks, a technology that is now the worldwide standard for electrical connecting systems. With nearly 6000 employees throughout Europe, Asia, and North America, WAGO relies increasingly on its IT systems to manage production processes for its terminal blocks, connectors, and automation components.
The Challenge
WAGO Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co. KG, a global leader in the electrical interconnections and automation markets, was facing challenges with its IT systems. The company's network lacked high availability, scalability, and standardization. The company was experiencing capacity bottlenecks due to continuous growth and the need for more ports. The creation of a new administration building at its headquarters in Minden provided the catalyst for upgrading the infrastructure. The IT team needed to connect a large number of Ethernet ports to the network and ensure that the newly expanded network could keep pace with current and future performance needs. The network required an overhaul to handle the growing bandwidth demands. In addition to increased bandwidth, WAGO required a solution that could support 10 GbE interfaces via MultiChassis Trunking (MCT).
The Solution
WAGO decided to standardize on Brocade solutions across the company. As part of the project, legacy switches from Cisco and other vendors were replaced with Brocade switches. The latest project at WAGO involved replacing switches at the administration building in Minden. The core had 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) connections; however, WAGO’s IT specialists began to realize that the number of 10 GbE devices was growing, particularly in blade servers, in virtualization hosts, and in backup. Brocade MCT technology would enable WAGO to build a resilient, highly scalable network infrastructure that could scale to support future performance requirements. With Brocade, WAGO can further standardize its network and potentially save on administrative costs. In the individual buildings, patches can now be loaded centrally onto the distribution layer, simplifying administration across the different buildings.
Operational Impact
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