January 10th 2007 – Expand Networks (www.expand.com), a leading provider of application acceleration solutions over the WAN, and positioned in the Gartner’s Leaders Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers 2007, has announced it has enabled the success of a server consolidation project at Kingspan Environmental. Deploying Expand’s Compass Platform, the environmental manufacturing company has ensured fast and secure access to centrally located data across its increasingly distributed WAN.
With over 35 remote locations scattered across Europe, Kingspan Environmental, a division of Kingspan Group Plc, embarked upon a server consolidation strategy to simplify its IT infrastructure and reduce costs across the organisation. However, as business critical applications moved further away from its users, WAN connectivity at remote offices struggled to cope with the increased demand the applications placed on the network; in particular, sensitive Citrix applications became dominated by more aggressive applications, causing congestion.
Richard Gray, IT Manager at Kingspan Environmental comments,“ The cost and inefficiency of users not being able to access accurate data when they most needed it became a serious concern. Rather than throwing unmanaged bandwidth at the problem, we turned to Expand and its Compass Platform to help manage the peaks in demand.
“The compression capabilities of the platform quickly delivered the bandwidth increase we required, significantly improving throughput on our WAN. In addition, the QoS technology prioritised the server-based applications, protecting our business critical Citrix applications from congestion, whilst the acceleration techniques overcame any latency.”
Having witnessed great success in addressing application performance issues, Kingspan then turned to the Wide Area File Services (WAFS) capability of the Compass platform.
“The server consolidation project was supported by the WAN Optimisation and management technologies of Expand, but we soon had to draw our attention to file sharing,” Gray continues. ”It transpired that not everyone could work in a server based computing environment –and increasingly large amounts of data were being pushed across remote sites using large email attachments as the vehicle. The increased traffic was causing WAN links to break down, decreasing productivity and exacerbating user frustration across the distributed offices.”
Expand’s multi-service capabilities were perfectly suited to meet Kingspan’s additional requirements. Having already experienced the benefits of the Expand platform, Kingspan knew the integrated multiple technologies would enable them to extend the Compass capability without disruption and without incurring costs for additional hardware. Switching on the additional WAFS functionality, according to Gray, employees at the numerous branch offices were able to collaborate with shared data as though they where on the same LAN.
Kingspan now operates in a stable environment with an uncompromised end user experience where fast, reliable and secure access to business critical data is guaranteed - significantly improving remote office user productivity.
“The key to a successful consolidation strategy is understanding and considering the effect it will have on the network and its users. As business applications move further apart from their users, the WAN often struggles to cope with the increased strain on the network,” comments Adam Davison, VP of Sales, EMEA at Expand. “For companies like Kingspan, Expand’s multi-service capabilities can provide all the functionality required, from WAN Optimisation to WAFS, to deliver the network performance needed to maintain productivity and increase efficiency.”
About Kingspan Environmental
The Environmental division of Kingspan (www.environmental-containers.com) sets the industry standard for the safe storage of domestic heating oil and diesel, and polyethylene containers for recycling of glass and paper. With 7 manufacturing plants in the UK, Ireland and Poland, the Environmental division is the single largest rotational moulder in Europe. Leading brands within the Environmental businesses include Titan, Ferham and MGB Waste Systems.
About Expand Networks
Expand Networks is the pioneer and leader in helping organisations simplify their IT infrastructure while delivering remote offices fast, reliable and secure access to networked applications. This results in improved user productivity and cost-effective IT management. Expand offers COMPASS, a multi-service integrated platform that ensures superior performance for any application over any network. From its headquarters in Roseland, NJ and its global locations, Expand Networks (www.expand.com) serves more than 1,450 enterprise and government customers including: American Express, Bacardi USA, BMW, Continental Airlines, Carr America, Colgate, Elizabeth Arden, Reed Exhibitions, Target and United States Department of Defense.
Expand Networks, Accelerator, Expand Compass, ExpandView are trademarks of Expand Networks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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Press Contact:
David Rowlands / Jennifer Manning
Cohesive Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 1291 626200
Email: expand@cohesive.uk.com
About Expand Networks
Expand Networks is the pioneer and leader in the WAN Optimization market and is positioned by Gartner Inc. in the ‘Leaders’ quadrant in its Magic Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers, 2009[i]. Expand helps organizations simplify their IT infrastructure while delivering remote offices fast, reliable and secure access to networked applications. This results in improved user productivity and cost-effective IT management. Expand offers a multi-service integrated platform that ensures superior performance for any application over any network. From its headquarters in Roseland, NJ and its global locations, Expand Networks serves more than 3,500 enterprise and public sector customers in over 100 countries including: American Express, Bacardi USA, BMW, Continental Airlines, Carr America, Colgate, Elizabeth Arden, Reed Exhibitions, Target and United States Department of Defense with over 40,000 units deployed and over 2,000 MS Terminal Services and Citrix customers. Expand is the largest supplier of WAN Optimization products to US Government and Military agencies (greater than 10,000 units) and also has the most units deployed at a single corporate location, (4,500).
Expand Networks, Accelerator, Expand Compass, ExpandView are trademarks of Expand Networks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.