Juniper Networks > Case Studies > Embracing Network Functions Virtualisation: A Competitive Edge for Datanet

Embracing Network Functions Virtualisation: A Competitive Edge for Datanet

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 Embracing Network Functions Virtualisation: A Competitive Edge for Datanet - IoT ONE Case Study
Technology Category
  • Networks & Connectivity - Ethernet
  • Networks & Connectivity - Routers & Bridges
Applicable Industries
  • Equipment & Machinery
  • National Security & Defense
Applicable Functions
  • Facility Management
Use Cases
  • Construction Management
  • Tamper Detection
Services
  • Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
  • Hardware Design & Engineering Services
The Customer
About The Customer
Datanet is a UK-based company that has been providing data hosting and connectivity services to businesses around London for 20 years, specialising in backup and recovery. The company was founded by Conleth McCallan, who recognised the need for hosted rack space that could provide a higher power allowance for customers. Many of Datanet's customers are specialist IT companies themselves, who select Datanet’s infrastructure to deliver their own services. Datanet is privately owned, with the head office and highly experienced staff operating from its own data centre in Fleet in the U.K., as well as two additional data centre facilities in London.
The Challenge
Datanet, a UK-based data hosting and connectivity services provider, was facing several challenges that necessitated a change in its data centre network. Firstly, the network equipment was nearing its end-of-life, raising concerns about its long-term viability. Given that Datanet's customers required highly reliable services with minimal downtime, a future-proofed and high availability network was essential. Secondly, as Datanet's services grew more successful and the volume of backup and recovery services increased, it needed to upgrade its network capacity from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps to keep pace with traffic volumes. Upgrading the existing equipment would have required a substantial investment, almost equivalent to replacing it completely, prompting Datanet to look for alternative solutions. Lastly, Datanet had experienced a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that its previous vendor had struggled to deal with satisfactorily. It was keen to deploy comprehensive security throughout its new infrastructure as a fundamental design feature, rather than an add-on.
The Solution
Datanet decided to upgrade its network and went out to tender to find the optimum solution. One of its large customers recommended Juniper Networks equipment, and after further investigation, Datanet decided to use Juniper's technology for the upgrade project. The new data centre network was built using Juniper Networks MX104 3D Universal Edge Router to provide a data centre core, Juniper Networks EX4300 Ethernet Switch for aggregation, and Juniper Networks vSRX virtual firewall for customer security, all in a fully redundant configuration. The MX104 router is a modular, highly redundant SDN-ready router that offers 80 Gbps of capacity and supports a redundant control plane for high availability. The vSRX virtual firewall allowed Datanet to avoid deploying new hardware every time a new customer was provisioned, making the process more efficient. The entire network was simulated inside Datanet’s own data centre facilities to provide a proof-of-concept environment before it was migrated into live production.
Operational Impact
  • The new network is now fully operational and Datanet is in the process of migrating its customers to the new platform, which is more resilient and secure, and provides a future-proofed upgrade path from 10 Gbps to 100 Gbps. The company is winning significant new business particularly in the areas of cloud, hosting, and backup and recovery, partly due to the increased bandwidth, reliability, and flexibility of its new network from Juniper. Datanet has also been able to increase its performance while using less space in its data centre facilities. The company plans to use the vSRX virtual firewall to offer additional advanced security services at Layers 4 through 7, and it also intends to extend its virtual environment by deploying Juniper Networks vMX, the virtual MX Series router.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Upgraded network capacity from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps
  • Future-proofed upgrade path from 10 Gbps to 100 Gbps
  • Increased bandwidth, reliability, and flexibility of the new network

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