Extreme Networks & Scalable Communications Provide Charles Russell With A Future Proofed Network

Published 28th July 2009

Extreme Networks and its Platinum Partner Scalable Communications have today announced that international law firm Charles Russell is using a selection of its BlackDiamond® and Summit® family switches to develop a flexible and resilient network infrastructure with the foundation to support future developments.

Charles Russell, a top 50-full service firm, is dedicated to developing business relationships and works with clients ranging from international organisations and FTSE and AIM listed businesses to private companies, governments, not-for-profit organisations and private individuals. Following its move to new offices in Fleet Place, Charles Russell required a new network that would offer the reliability and resiliency necessary to provide interoperability with 21st century networking solutions such as IP-Telephony. Charles Russell also needed a robust wireless infrastructure to support and seamlessly integrate both corporate employees and visitors to access the network.

“We were required to set up the new network in a very short timescale and there was no room for error,” said Charles Russell Director of IT Lee Hanley. “Our primary concern was to have a secure, resilient network that was fully compatible with all the applications and technologies we required to run alongside it.”

“In light of these requirements, we recommended Extreme Networks to Charles Russell, as we knew the company’s products would more than fulfil all its needs,” said Scalable Communications Senior Sales Manager, Matt Cross.

With increased network reliability and bandwidth, Charles Russell has been able to deploy a multitude of 3rd party IP Telephony and IPTV solutions that are wholly interoperable with the network. The firm has also been able to move vast amounts of information across the whole organisation in a secure and reliable manner.

Along with improved performance and reliability, Charles Russell is now able to set up a new building as a secondary data centre for disaster recovery purposes and to improve its business continuity to further reduce downtime and risk within the organisation. In addition, it has also deployed Extreme Networks’ EPICenter network management tool to further improve efficiency and operability.

“I have used other partners in the past who have recommended equipment, but in the long term, they were not experienced enough to deploy or support it,” explained Hanley. “Despite working within the short timescales, Scalable Communications were quick to understand our requirements and implemented a solution that will support the business now, and into the future. Extreme Networks has the depth of development and progression that some other solutions just do not have. Eventually, we’d like to convert all the switches in the entire organisation to Extreme Networks.”

“Organisations such as Charles Russell have presented us with diverse needs and require technologies that will improve operational efficiency and drive innovation within the organisation,” says Extreme Networks Regional Director for UK & Ireland Gary Newbold. “With the proliferation of IP Telephony and a resilient network to route the voice and video traffic, Charles Russell is ahead of many of its competitors in that it has taken the steps to adopt a solution that will not only improve its communications infrastructure, but will also ensure the network is performing to the maximum level, whilst lowering its total cost of ownership.”