Cisco Cisco Nexus 2224TP GE Fabric Extender Merkblatt
Challenge
Suttons Group is a global transport and logistics company. It is headquartered in
Cheshire, United Kingdom, and has operations in Europe, the United States, the
United Kingdom, and Asia working predominately in the chemical, fuel, gas, and
food industries. As a 60-year-old family business, the Group is one of Britain’s most
successful privately-owned logistics providers, with a worldwide reputation in bulk
chemical logistics solutions. Its turnover increased by a third from 2010 to 2012.
Cheshire, United Kingdom, and has operations in Europe, the United States, the
United Kingdom, and Asia working predominately in the chemical, fuel, gas, and
food industries. As a 60-year-old family business, the Group is one of Britain’s most
successful privately-owned logistics providers, with a worldwide reputation in bulk
chemical logistics solutions. Its turnover increased by a third from 2010 to 2012.
As befits a rapidly growing company in a highly competitive market, Suttons is
increasingly dependent on advanced IT systems to maintain its services and
operations. Robert Sutton, IT director at Suttons Group, says: “One of the biggest
challenges we have is in communicating across the globe. Our business never stops.
We need information and systems to be available 24-seven-365 in any location.”
increasingly dependent on advanced IT systems to maintain its services and
operations. Robert Sutton, IT director at Suttons Group, says: “One of the biggest
challenges we have is in communicating across the globe. Our business never stops.
We need information and systems to be available 24-seven-365 in any location.”
However, the nine-person IT team was struggling to deliver that level of IT support.
The logistics sector has not historically been very progressive in adopting IT and,
in the case of Suttons, a growing need for computing technology had been met
by buying increasing numbers of physical servers, housed in a server room at the
company’s head office.
The logistics sector has not historically been very progressive in adopting IT and,
in the case of Suttons, a growing need for computing technology had been met
by buying increasing numbers of physical servers, housed in a server room at the
company’s head office.
By 2008, the company had more than 60 servers in this one location, all equipped
with local storage and linked via a 1Gbps network. Virtualization had been introduced,
using Citrix, but it was stretched with just a single 1Mbps line to serve around 100
head office users.
with local storage and linked via a 1Gbps network. Virtualization had been introduced,
using Citrix, but it was stretched with just a single 1Mbps line to serve around 100
head office users.
Customer Case Study
FlexPod technology gives Suttons Group confidence to invest in long-distance systems management
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Customer Name:
Suttons Group
Industry:
Logistics
Location:
United Kingdom
Number of Employees:
800
Challenge
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Increase operational resilience
• Enhance efficiency
• Increase operational resilience
• Enhance efficiency
Solution
• FlexPod smart solution with Cisco
Unified Computing System and Nexus
switching, and NetApp FAS 2240
storage system
switching, and NetApp FAS 2240
storage system
Results
• Downtime incidents reduced from once
a week to practically zero
• Server deployment time reduced from
minimum one day to 20 minutes
• Energy consumption reduced by
55 percent
© 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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