Cisco Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3120 for HP Information Guide
Customer Case Study
Call Center Deploys Virtual Blade Technology to
Streamline Infrastructure
Streamline Infrastructure
LiveOps improves server management and availability with Cisco Catalyst Blade
Switches.
Switches.
Business Challenge
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
LIVEOPS, INC.
● Industry: Call Center Technology
● Location: Santa Clara, California
● Number of Employees: 275
● Location: Santa Clara, California
● Number of Employees: 275
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
● Network availability was reaching its limits
● Existing blade switching solution was complex
● Existing blade switching solution was complex
and required extensive training and re-training
● More space-effective environment was
needed to lower operating expenses
NETWORK SOLUTION
● Upgrade to centralize server management,
increase availability, and lower operating
expenses
expenses
BUSINESS RESULTS
● High server availability, with room for future
growth
● Hardware reduction, resulting in lower power
consumption bills
● Lower operating expenses and cost of
management by nearly half
Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, LiveOps
provides the leading on-demand call center platform
that provides greater flexibility, quality, scalability,
and control than traditional call center technology
providers. Used by Fortune 500 and major brand
marketing companies, the LiveOps on-demand call
center platform delivers enterprise-grade availability
and reliability with the security infrastructure required
in today’s mission-critical business environments.
The company also utilizes its on-demand call center
platform to operate the world’s largest virtual call
center which includes access to a network of more
than 20,000 independent home agents.
provides the leading on-demand call center platform
that provides greater flexibility, quality, scalability,
and control than traditional call center technology
providers. Used by Fortune 500 and major brand
marketing companies, the LiveOps on-demand call
center platform delivers enterprise-grade availability
and reliability with the security infrastructure required
in today’s mission-critical business environments.
The company also utilizes its on-demand call center
platform to operate the world’s largest virtual call
center which includes access to a network of more
than 20,000 independent home agents.
LiveOps currently has two data centers and is in the
progress of switching on a third one to support its
continued growth. Each data center houses
hundreds of services and are running several types
of applications as well as monitoring tools including
iNagios, MRGT and Splunk.
progress of switching on a third one to support its
continued growth. Each data center houses
hundreds of services and are running several types
of applications as well as monitoring tools including
iNagios, MRGT and Splunk.
According to Roy Youngs, network manager for LiveOps, senior management made the decision to
move to Cisco Switch Blade for better availability, ease of use and to reduce operating expenses
by having a more “space effective” IT environment.
move to Cisco Switch Blade for better availability, ease of use and to reduce operating expenses
by having a more “space effective” IT environment.
“Whether our customer is using our SaaS platform to run their own call center operations or they
are outsourcing to the LiveOps Virtual Call Center, they want 100% uptime,” says Youngs.
“LiveOps IT infrastructure plays a major part in the caliber of service customers experience with our
call center solution. SIP/RTP [Session Initiation Protocol/Routing Table Protocol] and NAT [Network
Address Translation] traffic is crucial to our business so it is vital for us to have a highly available
network with optimal performance. Better and faster performance is key for us too -- especially at
peak call volume times.”
are outsourcing to the LiveOps Virtual Call Center, they want 100% uptime,” says Youngs.
“LiveOps IT infrastructure plays a major part in the caliber of service customers experience with our
call center solution. SIP/RTP [Session Initiation Protocol/Routing Table Protocol] and NAT [Network
Address Translation] traffic is crucial to our business so it is vital for us to have a highly available
network with optimal performance. Better and faster performance is key for us too -- especially at
peak call volume times.”
Prior to adopting Cisco Blade Switch, the company was using a solution that was not achieving
their desired performance outcome. Additionally, the management of the IT environment posed
some challenges. Youngs reports, “It was complex and required an unduly amount of training and
support.”
their desired performance outcome. Additionally, the management of the IT environment posed
some challenges. Youngs reports, “It was complex and required an unduly amount of training and
support.”
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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