Organization: Defence Procurement Agency, Ministry of Defence, UK
Location: Abbey Wood, UK
Employees: 10,000
Market segment: Military
Applications: Unspecified ('classified')
The Challenge
Keeping up with the latest technology can mean the difference between success and failure for many enterprises, but for the UK Defence Procurement Agency (DPA), it's a mission-critical undertaking that literally affects an entire nation. As the executive agency of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), DPA is charged with buying weapons systems and platforms, and managing major weapons upgrades for the UK's Army, Air Force, and Navy.
With an annual budget of £6 billion, DPA manages procurements for roughly 700 projects, including the Typhoon combat aircraft, the Skynet satellite communications, and the Future Carrier – a new, larger class of aircraft carrier. The organization administers all of its responsibilities from Abbey Wood, a 98-acre site near Bristol, 120 miles west of London. The complex was built in 1995 as the central facility for the then MoD Procurement Executive and now employs 10,000 people—most of whom depend on network technologies to do their jobs.
Presently, DPA relies on three data networks—unclassified, restricted high, and secret high. Although DPA must protect the privacy of each network, the decade-old secret high LAN is the most exclusive, with only 10 percent of the DPA workforce authorized to use it. Based on legacy 3Com® Ethernet switches, hubs and routers, the network provides half duplex Ethernet connections to desktops, and offers high resilience with duplicate switches and cabling that ensure the 'single point of failure' in the system is the workstation itself.
The secret high network also operates as a thick client with application programs on the workstation and system data is stored centrally. This ensures the highest security and makes it possible for users to operate from any workstation. The network uses fiber rather than copper cabling to meet NATO emission security (TEMPEST) standards, and operates as an 'island' with no external connections.
Although this original 3Com configuration served DPA well for many years, the secret high network was not built for the high bandwidth programs the agency has deployed in recent times. Users struggled with slower response times and productivity suffered. As a result, DPA needed a powerful new network with the speed and scalability to deliver secret high applications over the next decade.
Why 3Com
The new network had to be able to run at Gigabit speeds, providing Fast Ethernet desktop links to process applications more quickly. It also had to be easy to deploy so the agency could implement it within its tight schedule. "We needed to replace the whole system quickly; equipment had to be available within three months and installed in two months," said David Beer, corporate connectivity & messaging manager for UK Defence Communication Services Agency, Bristol, that provides the networking support for the DPA at Abbey Wood.
DPA wanted a single vendor for core and edge switching to ensure uniformity across its campus. In view of the short time scale, there was no time to test equipment. "I surveyed the market and saw three viable options: 3Com, Cisco, and Extreme," said Mr. Beer. "We contacted all three suppliers in December 2004, but only 3Com, through its powerful standards-based Switch 8800 terabit platform, offered us a complete solution within our time frame and budget."
The 3Com solution consists of the following products:
The new network will be driven by two 10-Gigabit ready, 3Com Switch 8807 switches, which provide a Gigabit core. The seven-slot modular LAN switches will ensure Gigabit connections between two duplicate server farms at opposite ends of the site and 12 identical office buildings.
The Switch 8800s support 10/100/1000BaseT and 1000BaseLX fiber connections as well as a copper connection to a local communication management terminal. 3Com Network Director network management software will be used for configuration and monitoring. Features include bulk configuration backup and restore and software agent update for 3Com LAN products—simplifying network administration and enhancing performance and reliability. The copper connection will also connect via a router to the remote MoD UK sites. The server farms will be equipped with 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 4924 switches using Gigabit copper wiring locally as the server areas are TEMPEST-blocked.
Individual office buildings will have two separate 3Com Switch 4060 switches, each with independent Gigabit fiber links to both 3Com Switch 8807 core switches. Two separate network risers provide Gigabit fiber links to feed wiring closets on each floor. These will provide independent Fast Ethernet fiber connectivity from individual workstations to the core through intelligent, 3Com Switch 4400 FX switches that serve the floor plates and printers.
Each wiring closet will offer an average of 48 Fast Ethernet ports. Lack of fiber capacity in the risers means it is not possible to dual home the switches, but they can be re-patched within seconds to restore performance if needed.
The Benefits
The new network will meet the needs of the Abbey Wood site for many years to come. "It is future proof and scalable, allowing us to upgrade our current operating system, operate virtual LANs (VLANs), and deliver IP communications," Mr. Beer noted. "The 3Com configuration also provides intelligent resilience to allow automatic switching if a link fails, and ensure Fast Ethernet, Mbps Layer 1, 2, 3 and 4 LAN switching to the desktop."
The easy-to-deploy, standards-based 3Com solution also makes it practical for DPA to upgrade its network to satisfy the new UK Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) standard, as required by MoD. DII makes it possible for DPA and other MoD agencies to exchange and share electronic information with all military forces, including battlefield locations and stores depots. The first phase of D11 is due for completion in 2007.
"3Com solved a major problem for the Ministry of Defence," said Mr. Beer. "They not only met our performance and delivery requirements, their Switch 8800 and edge systems were so reasonably priced, we were able to deliver a 33 percent savings to the MoD, which enabled investment in other areas originally outside the scope of the project. The cost of the 3Com equipment, including some technical support, is £600,000—leaving over £300,000 for other technology purchases."
