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Sohonet selects Foundry(Total Telecom Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sohonet selects Foundrys NetIron MLX metro routers to meet the global media and entertainment industrys demand for faster network services as film production moves towards all digital workflow Sohonet scales operation installing the NetIron MLX distributed metro routers to cater for network traffic tripling year on year Sohonet invests in creating a 10 gigabit Ethernet ring in London Cost effective NetIron and FastIron routing and switching solutions offer Sohonet capacity for growth which is easily scalable over time Big name blockbuster films such as James Bond, Harry Potter, The Bourne Ultimatum and The Lord of the Rings all made by shifting images around the Sohonet network LONDON (September 21, 2007) - Foundry Networks, Inc., a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced that Sohonet, a specialist network and services provider for the global media and entertainment business, has selected its NetIron MLX metro routers and FastIron Edge switch X (FESX) series switches to provide enhanced network performance, based on 10 gigabit Ethernet, to cater to increasing customer demand for high speed bandwidth. Founded in 1995, Sohonets customers comprise over 300 of the worlds best known film studios, television broadcasters, post production and special effects and media companies including Pinewood Studios Group[1], Universal Studios, Warner Bros., HBO, Channel 4, The Mill, Weta Digital, Double Negative, The Moving Picture Company, Cinesite, Framestore CFC, Cutting Edge, MTV, Animal Logic and IMD. Sohonet is unique in the entertainment industry having created an ultra secure, global high speed private IP network, while providing a complete range of end-to-end managed services, so that all parties in the production process are interconnected. This means they can collaborate quickly, efficiently and cost effectively to make films, television programmes and adverts by being able to send large media files around the world. Dino Ciminiello, Sohonets chief operating officer, says: The making of TV programmes and films has always been hugely collaborative and weve been moving digital material around for years between the various post production facilities and studios. A sea change in the industry is happening at the moment as images are now being captured straight from camera onto disc at the very start of the film production process and were supporting this trend through our existing high speed secure content delivery network and digital workflow consulting. When clients join, they are connecting to the whole community and can send material to anyone else which clearly streamlines the whole production process. Sohonet offers much more value than just access to bandwidth, although this is a crucial part of its business. The company will tailor network services based on customer need and guarantee end-to-end performance of the network in terms of file transfer time, offer access to the Internet and provide clients a range of consultancy services. This includes guidance about network design so they can set up their internal digital workflows correctly, along with advice about applications and security. Twelve months ago, Sohonets existing Riverstone Networks router infrastructure started to reach its capacity limits in terms of the quantity of gigabit ports which could be offered to clients, as well as the number of sessions the network could handle. Jon Ferguy, Sohonets chief technology officer, explains: In the past 100 Mbit/s was the normal connectivity speed, but more and more people now need gigabit connections. To meet this demand, we needed to upscale and install a high speed backbone infrastructure which could cope with this; otherwise capacity would have been seriously tested. Sohonet has invested in creating points of presence (PoPs) in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Frankfurt, New York, Los Angeles, Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Customers are linked directly to these hub points and charged a flat monthly service fee with no additional charges for the amount of data transferred. Today, Foundry Networks backbone NetIron MLX metro routers have been deployed in various Sohonet London PoPs, with the company investing in upgrading to a resilient 10 gigabit Ethernet fibre ring in the capital. The FESX switches are being used to connect individual customers to the network and aggregate traffic to the core. Sohonet has an ongoing infrastructure upgrade project to install MLX metro routers throughout its global network over the next 12 months. Sohonets service is compelling given the company was started by people in the industry. Its expertise, knowledge and services are incredibly well aligned with the needs of its customers. Ciminiello, says, Weve achieved critical mass in terms of the number of companies connected such that new clients joining know they can easily work with a specific studio or a post production facility around the world safe in the knowledge that their most precious assets are secure and being handled by a partner they can trust. The alternative would be shipping external drives around which is time consuming and disastrous if lost, stolen or held up by Customs. Ferguy adds: Frankly with such demand for our services, I was paranoid about our network not being able to grow and cater for customer demand. With traffic effectively tripling year on year, weve breathed a huge sigh of relief with the deployment of the NetIron MLX metro routers which will support us without forklift upgrades over time. We havent had to make technical compromises with Foundry and the NetIron MLXs do everything we hoped they would. Sohonet was particularly attracted by the NetIron MLX platform because of the available 10 gigabit Ethernet port density and the overall cost of the system. Ferguy says: Price per 10 gigabit port is industry leading, and the chassis can support higher Ethernet speeds expected in the future, Equally, the new router technology had to be intelligent enough to work alongside Sohonets own in-house built systems which enable the company to rate shape network traffic to offer customers maximum flexibility in how they use its bandwidth. Ferguy concludes: With the NetIron MLX, Foundry has come up with a cracking product which Id have absolutely no problem recommending based on our experience. Network performance has dramatically improved, the platform is easy to manage and even with the 10 gigabit port density, we dont lose key features we want like MPLS. Above all, we have been able to offer customers gigabit and above services easily, in a smooth upgrade where no one has seen any change or drop in performance of the network, even given the high volume of new clients currently joining our service. Sohonet is also making thorough use of the sFlow traffic flow monitoring technology, included in the Foundry equipment, to enhance security. Scaling easily without impacting the performance of the network, sFlow provides monitoring right down to a byte level and means Sohonet can identify and take action against suspicious hosts on the network. Ken Cheng, Foundrys vice president and general manager, high-end and service provider systems business unit, says: Sohonet has been involved in supporting the production of various blockbuster films like James Bond, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Harry Potter and The Bourne Ultimatum. From an operational perspective, the critical thing is providing a high performance, feature rich and highly reliable network to enable filmmakers and studios to deliver their creative product on time and within their budget constraints. Were proud to be involved in this exciting industry and play our part in the production process. [1] The Group owns Pinewood, Shepperton and Teddington studios Copyright 2007 Terrapinn Ltd |