Press Releases
KMART PICKS JUNIPER NETWORKS FOR NEW SWITCHING INFRASTRUCTURE
EX Series Ethernet Switches to go out into more than 190 Kmart locations
MELBOURNE, Australia, Dec. 6, 2011 – Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), the industry leader in network innovation, today announced that Kmart, one of Australia’s largest retailers, is replacing its local area network infrastructure with Juniper Networks® EX Series Ethernet Switches to support more than 180 stores across Australia and New Zealand, as well as Kmart’s distribution centers and head office in Melbourne. The new switches will enable the company to significantly reduce its projected total cost of ownership (TCO) for its network switching infrastructure over the next five years.
Kmart became a division of Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) as part of the A$22 billion acquisition of the Coles Group in 2007, following which it was mandated to establish an autonomous IT operation. Kmart will roll out the EX Series switches at all locations in Australia and New Zealand under a comprehensive IT life-cycle management program.
News Highlights
- The Juniper Networks solution employs EX4200 switches deployed in Virtual Chassis fabric configurations to provide high-capacity and high-performance networking at major Kmart sites, including its national office and distribution centers.
- EX2200 switches will be deployed at Kmart stores, while the Juniper Networks NSM3000 security-hardened appliance provides centralized management, enabling Kmart to effectively configure, monitor and control all Juniper Networks devices, including previously deployed firewalls.
- All Juniper switches and security devices run the same Junos® operating system, lowering operational expenses by reducing the learning curve and implementing common features across the infrastructure.
- New Juniper Networks EX Series switches have already been deployed at Kmart’s national office, new distribution centers as well as Asian offices. Kmart is looking to continue the rollout to stores over the next couple of years.
- To help Kmart realize the rapid business benefits of the Juniper infrastructure, a Juniper resident engineer has been assisting with installation and implementation, as well as providing knowledge transfer and Junos training to network engineers.
Supporting Quotes
Kmart
“In keeping with Kmart’s market position as a low-cost retailer, our IT strategy is aimed at driving down IT costs by focusing on solutions that meet functional requirements while delivering a low TCO. We need a network that can support a wide variety of applications while requiring limited management support. According to our net present value study, which included the cost of training our network engineers on the Junos network operating system, Juniper Networks EX Series switches would cost less than competing products over five years.”
-Gary Trotter, IT technical services manager, Kmart
Juniper Networks
“This is a really excellent example of the power of Junos. Kmart runs a lean IT operation without on-site IT support at its stores and distribution centers, so reliability and ease of management were key requirements. Junos provides a consistent and streamlined set of device management processes that enables Kmart’s network administrators in Melbourne to apply updates to switch configurations in all stores with just a few mouse clicks. This makes a considerable contribution to lowering network operational costs.”
-Mark Iles, vice president, Australia and New Zealand, Juniper Networks
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About Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks is in the business of network innovation. From devices to data centers, from consumers to cloud providers, Juniper Networks delivers the software, silicon and systems that transform the experience and economics of networking. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks (www.juniper.net).
