Iron Mountain uses Allot NetEnforcers to control traffic and improve customer satisfaction on UK network

Published on: 01 December 2006

Traffic management devices used to free-up capacity and prioritise key applications for over 3,000 customers eliminating the need for investment in further bandwidth.

Allot Communications, a leading provider of intelligent IP service optimisation solutions based on deep packet inspection (DPI), has announced that Iron Mountain is using the NetEnforcer traffic management device to prevent congestion and provide a responsive, tailored customer service. Iron Mountain has four NetEnforcers on its UK network which are being used to prioritise key applications such as Citrix and main system traffic, carry email and other office applications on a best effort basis, and demote bandwidth hungry traffic like Patchlink and Dameware.

Over 3,000 users in the UK and Europe use the Iron Mountain network to access the internet or stored data. The complex network supports over 140 sites comprising 60 VPN connections and 80 point-to-point connections over MPLS, direct-frame and self-frame. Yet the company calculated that demand would outstrip its level of available bandwidth within a few years unless it took action.

The Allot NetEnforcer was recommended by a managerial colleague at Iron Mountain who had found its ability to shape and prioritise traffic helped free-up capacity and enabled improved customer servicing. Two NetEnforcer AC302s have been deployed either side of the Iron Mountain datacentre to handle inbound and outbound traffic, while two lone NetEnforcers, the AC201 and AC202, are being used to monitor internet traffic and activity on the Irish leg of the network, respectively.

The Allot NetEnforcer uses deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to identify and analyse traffic as it traverses the network. Traffic can be grouped according to application, port, server exchange or end-user and is awarded bandwidth according to a traffic management policy. This enables key traffic to be prioritised while less essential traffic is allowed to travel when capacity is available, ensuring bandwidth is used to optimum effect.

The Net Enforcer AC302, aimed at network operators, can handle network traffic at up to speeds of 45 Mbps, while the NetEnforcer AC201, designed for medium-size architectures and POPs and the AC202 entry-level offering both support bi-directional throughput speeds of up to 10Mbps. All of the models carry an additional Ethernet port that allows access to the NetEnforcer unit via a sub-network used only for management traffic. As a result, Iron Mountain can physically isolate network users from the management functions of the NetEnforcer if required, ensuring enhanced network security and performance.

Teneo, a value-added reseller (VAR), supplied the Allot NetEnforcers to Iron Mountain and helped to build the traffic management policy database to identify and allocate bandwidth to key applications. Both datacentre boxes were also configured to allow changes made on one to be automatically replicated on the other. In addition, Teneo also demonstrated how the NetEnforcer could be used to network troubleshoot. Iron Mountain now carries this out as a daily procedure enabling it to respond to issues as they occur.

“The real benefit came when we grew the database which enabled us to listen to activity related to customer queries for specific applications. We could then adjust the priorities up or down and enhance the end user experience of our internal customers,” said Dave Sloggett, IT Support Consultant at Iron Mountain. “If we had not invested in the NetEnforcer then we would have had to increase our bandwidth; that would have been a costly undertaking given that our monthly costs for the network are £75-80K. Increasing the bandwidth would also have put the cost up for our customers.”

“Iron Mountain first came to us in 2004 and the NetEnforcer has performed so successfully for them that they have been able to avoid the need to increase their bandwidth. In addition, the granularity of the reports generated by NetEnforcer has enabled them to correlate application activity with end user enquiries, improving the perception of their services. This demonstrates that NetEnforcer can really deliver network business intelligence,” said Rami Hadar, CEO, Allot Communications.