Mizuno Looks to Strike Out Its Competition with New Networking Solution from Brocade

The most fundamental need for any business is an ability to communicate effectively, which is only underscored during the current economic downturn, when businesses are forced to cut costs while maintaining some level of growth. For any company seriously looking to contend in its market, that necessarily means ensuring its network infrastructure is capable of delivering the applications and resources required to effectively sustain its business model.

 

The need is only heightened when a company expands its physical footprint, as Mizuno USA did, when it opened its new 300,000 square foot distribution center in Buford, Georgia. The new facility was built to support Mizuno’s growth in the sporting goods and equipment market, including driving higher service levels and improved turnaround times. 

 

Despite the recession, participation in sports doesn’t seem to be visibly diminishing, judging from a drive through town on any given day and seeing the golf courses and baseball and softball fields full of athletes of all ages. That also means the demand for high quality athletic gear will continue to grow.

 

So, to ensure its now even more dispersed network is prepared for that ongoing growth — Mizuno called upon networking solutions vendor Brocade (News - Alert) to deliver a network architecture that provides increased levels of performance, reliability, and scalability, but with simplified management.

 

“A key component of our new Distribution Center was the seamless network integration with our current facilities,” said Keith Neely, vice president of Customer Support, Mizuno USA.

 

The application layer — which has become the critical component of any enterprise or service provider network — is governed by Brocade’s ServerIron application delivery switches. The ServerIron not only distributes content and resources efficiently throughout the network, but also supports Mizuno’s business continuity efforts by helping reduce network interruptions during network maintenance operations. 

 

Mizuno also deployed Brocade’s FastIron GS, LS, and SuperX switches, which are capable of delivering 10Gb Ethernet connectivity to all of Mizuno’s global facilities.

 

“Brocade has delivered us carrier-class performance in our enterprise switches, something many vendors just cannot do,” noted Neely.  “Its standards-based features and a unified code base make interoperability and management a breeze, allowing us to focus on mission-critical business applications.”

 

According to Brocade, something else its key competitors cannot do is match its price point, as TMC President Rich Tehrani (News - Alert) pointed out after a recent interview with Brocade executives. In addition to delivering increasing the scalability and service delivery capabilities of its networks, the savings it gained over other solutions likely factored into the decision to buy from Brocade — along with their existing relationship. The combination of price and customer loyalty is tough to beat.

 

But, in addition to providing an enhanced data networking solution, Brocade’s switches also are positioned to support Mizuno’s migration to VoIP as it consolidates its entire communications solution onto a single converged network, again increasing business and network management efficiency and lowering operating costs. Network management is accomplished using intuitive Web-based tools in Brocade’s IronView Network Manager (INM).

 

The ability to deliver a single, cost-effective, converged networking solution is among the key benefits it touted when Brocade acquired Foundry Networks almost a year ago. The ServerIron line deployed in the Mizuno network is the first product set from Brocade since its acquisition of Foundry.

 

“The breadth and depth of this portfolio make Brocade a viable option for customers looking for complete networking solutions capable of addressing their constantly evolving and increasingly complex IT challenges,” noted Yankee Group (News - Alert) senior vice president Global Enterprise Research, Zeus Kerravala at the time.

 

Brocade expected its new, integrated product line would help it further its market presence by providing a complete converged networking solution, the value of which has been noticed by Mizuno. Business networking requirements are certainly not slowing down. In fact, with the development of 40- and 100Gb Ethernet solutions to meet ever growing application delivery and storage needs, the ability to deliver a scalable, cost effective solution is precisely how companies, like Brocade, will build their businesses for growth of their own.