i2 Technologies: Future-proof Network

i2 Technologies is a supply chain solutions leader. Its supply
chain management tools and services are pervasive in a wide cross-section of
industries-automotive, consumer industries, retail, metals, and transportation
and logistics. Twenty of the AMR Research Top 25 Global Supply Chains are i2
customers. Solutions from i2 integrate with data, processes, and systems
belonging to suppliers, customers, distributors, carriers, partners, and
contract manufacturers. The company has more than 1,500 customers today.

What drove i2's structured cabling drive was the need to
consolidate and standardize its network infrastructure across locations in
Bangalore. The spread across locations posed a challenge and managing it became
difficult. The company was looking for a uniform up time across the locations.
For instance, some parts of the infrastructure which were situated in server
rooms for instance, were not at par with the data center standards. The key aim
of i2 was to bring in high availability of infrastructure for its developers, to
have a high-performance network which was future proof and adhered to data
center standards, and to be independent of co-location service providers to host
its network infrastructure.

As i2 operates with a variety of supply chain development
solutions, the developers need to transfer multi megabyte files across the
infrastructure. i2 relies on distributed computing that consumes large amounts
of bandwidth. The network thus had to be operational at peak efficiency at all
times because of the way it was designed, planned and executed.

Before deployment the company also evaluated various
technologies and finally opted for ADC Krone's CopperTen solution to be
implemented at its consolidated center. The process began with a CopperTen
solution with passive components from the KM8-RJ45 product family which included
CopperTen jacks, patch panels and patch cords. A CopperTen jack maintains the
pair twists and pair separation within itself, and can eliminate all possible
installations errors like excess untwist of pairs, separation between
conductors, etc. It also offers consistent performance across the network.

The installation of the CopperTen solution, which offers 10
Gigabit/s Ethernet transmission capabilities over copper cable, made i2 the
first company in India to implement this solution. ADC Krone, which was actively
involved with i2 in the design and planning of the proposed consolidated data
center, provided i2 with the option of different cabling solutions and
technologies for future proofing. ADC Krone's suggestions helped build in
redundancy into the infrastructure.

The immediate benefit of this implementation was investment
security, improved quality, performance and reliability. The elimination of
third party dependence assured the company against security risks. The installed
CopperTen solution offered high availability of the network to the company's
developers. The built in redundancy guaranteed high infrastructure availability
all the time to i2's product developers.

A year after the implementation, i2 continues to reap benefits.
The robust network infrastructure at the consolidated center assures the company
against any security risks while conforming to the required standards, namely
the Level 3 of global data standards. i2 upgraded some of its other
infrastructure at the backend such as servers and brought it up to the optimal
speed in order to leverage the advantages of the CopperTen solution. It was
possible to accommodate active ports of higher capacity since the infrastructure
was able to handle large bandwidth. The installation of the CopperTen Solution
has eliminated the need to re-cable in the future.

Shrikanth G

shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in