Expand Networks, a leader in application acceleration over the wide area
network (WAN) and recently positioned in the Gartner´s
Leaders Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers 2007, has
announced that Darlington Building Society, a leading mutual provider of
housing finance, savings products and financial services, has deployed
the Expand Compass platform to accelerate various applications over the
WAN and enhance the investment in its MPLS network.
Darlington Building Society has 13 branches across County Durham, the
Tees Valley and North Yorkshire and made a significant investment in a
new MPLS network to provide more control over resources and form the
basis of its disaster recovery strategy. However, the migration to MPLS
didn´t run as smoothly as expected as specific
financial and mortgage applications such as Tietoenator´s
Summit and Activate, and other applications including Microsoft Excel
and Word underperformed in the new MPLS environment.
After evaluating products from Expand and Packeteer in the MPLS
environment, Darlington Building Society selected the Expand Compass
platform for its superior ability to accelerate all applications and
safeguard the investment in MPLS.
"With the introduction of the MPLS network, we
discovered that applications were running slower than with our previous
256k kilostream links and business efficiency was being affected," said Paul Gillson, Computer Development Manager, Darlington Building
Society.
With the deployment of the Expand Compass platform, the integrated WAN
Optimisation capabilities of compression and acceleration has
significantly improved the reliability and response times of all the
applications for Darlington Building Society. Byte level caching
features have increased network capacity by 350% and the average
acceleration rate is 250% with peaks of up to 2000%. As a result, full
system and network back up is now concluded 20 hours faster than
previously, greatly easing the disaster recovery process. ExpandView
management tools were used for effective and simple deployment and in
addition, Expand´s transparency mode enables
QoS to remain in place to allow the Society full use of its MPLS provider´s
services.
"Expand has allowed us to protect the
investment in MPLS and control the network more effectively," continued Paul Gillson. "The Expand Compass
platform has helped us to cope with network demands and conduct our
business more professionally."
"MPLS help organisations simplify the network
by providing a more efficient way to manage applications and
transfer information between locations but attention must be paid to the
effects of application performance for remote users," said Adam Davison, VP Sales EMEA, Expand Networks. "The
Expand Compass ensures MPLS reaches its potential and sets the standard
for the performance of applications over the WAN."
Note About the Magic Quadrant
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted December 2007 by Gartner, Inc. and is
reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation
of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner´s
analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that
marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor
product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise
technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and
is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all
warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including
any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About Darlington Building Society
Darlington Building Society (www.darlington.co.uk)
was formed one hundred and fifty two years ago in 1856. Today it is a
thriving, diversified provider of personal financial services with 13
full branches, a mortgage shop and 3 community branches. The Society
offers more full service branches in its operating area than any other
mutual financial firm.
Darlington Building Society employs 150 staff, has total assets under
management exceeding £700m, administers over
120,000 accounts on behalf of members and customers and in the last
financial year, gross mortgage lending reached a record £158m.
About Expand Networks
Expand Networks is the pioneer and leader in helping organizations
simplify their IT infrastructure while delivering remote offices fast
reliable and secure access to networked applications. This results in
improved user productivity and cost-effective IT management. Expand
offers a multi-service integrated platform that ensures superior
performance for any application over any network. From its headquarters
in Roseland, NJ and its global locations, Expand Networks (www.expand.com)
serves more than 3,000 enterprise customers and over 36,000 units
installed including: American Express, Bacardi USA, BMW, Continental
Airlines, Carr America, Colgate, Elizabeth Arden, Reed Exhibitions
Target and United States Department of Defense.
Expand Networks, Accelerator, Expand Compass, ExpandView are
trademarks of Expand Networks. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners
