Sierra Trading Post Scales Business with ... - Extreme Networks

Extreme Networks Case Study: Sierra Trading Post
Sierra Trading Post Scales
Business with Converged
Network to Support
Thousands of Daily Users and
‘round-the-Clock Transactions
Top 100 Online Retailer’s New
High-Performance Data Center and
LAN Eliminates Abandoned Shopping
Carts and Reduces Costs
Founded in 1986, Sierra Trading Post® passes savings on name-brand
overstocks and closeouts to its customers, selling dress, casual and
outdoor clothing, footwear, home furnishings, accessories, and gear at
savings of 35 to 70 percent. With four retail stores and a 500,000
square-foot corporate facility, the company currently works with more
than 1,000 vendors that turn to Sierra Trading Post first when they have
closeouts to sell, including Columbia, The North Face, Kelty, Merrell,
Rockport, Carhartt, ExOfficio, Sportif USA, Patagonia, Timberland, Ecco,
Dr. Martens, Mountain Hardwear, and Birkenstock. Due to its momentum
in online sales and a globally trusted brand, the company has built more
than 500,000 square feet of facilities at its headquarters in Cheyenne,
Wyoming, allowing it to expand.
Looking for a Network Partner
With its previous network needing to be replaced in order to meet
anticipated growth requirements, Sierra Trading Post sought out a
new vendor. The high volume online retailer wanted to build in more
redundancy, and the organization wanted more than a vendor-
customer relationship, according to Cedric Fairweather, IT Operations
Manager at Sierra Trading Post. “We deserved better attention from our
network vendor so it was time to take a look at other options,” he said.
The company’s anticipated growth, the lack of personalized attention
from its current vendor, and its desire for a more knowledgeable and
forward-thinking staff for its future network switch vendor led Sierra
Trading Post to take action. After hearing positive feedback about
Extreme Networks high performance Ethernet solutions, Sierra
Trading Post reviewed one in its test lab. Its top priorities were performance,
failover, reliability, and availability, because the top application
for its network was 24x7 website support, in addition to internal
application support.
“Sierra Trading Post is one of the top 100 Internet retailers,” said Cedric
Fairweather. “Our network needs to support many types of graphics
and it needs to be really fast. The internal network is also busy with
database traffic and image transfers so the same performance,
reliability and availability are necessary there, too.”
Make Your Network Mobile
The Challenge
Sierra Trading Post, a globally known Top 100 Internet
retailer, not only needed to replace aging Catalyst switches
to improve performance and reliability for its website,
data center and LAN; the organization desired more
personalized attention from its networking partner.
The Solution
Sierra Trading Post deployed a complete solution from
Extreme Networks® due to its performance, failover,
reliability, and availability. Summit® X650 switches
are deployed at the core of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet network
and a mix of various Summit switches are deployed at
the edge.
The Benefits
• Customers visiting Sierra Trading Post’s site don’t
experience lag time, which could cause transaction
delays or virtual shopping cart abandonment. The
risk of lost business due to network slowdowns
is eliminated.
• Extreme Networks switches provide the intelligence
and Quality of Service necessary to support
convergence.
• The network design, based on ExtremeXOS®, is simple
and efficient, with critical features, automation
capabilities and management stacking performed
across all Summit switches.

Extreme Networks Case Study: Sierra Trading Post
A Data Center Built to Scale and Store
After putting the Extreme Networks switch through the rigors of
internal and external website testing, the decision was made to
replace the Catalyst switches with an end-to-end Extreme Networks
edge and data center solution resulting in a flatter network that
has performance to burn.
Sierra Trading Post implemented a high performance 10 Gigabit
Ethernet network to boost capacity and speed, simplify operations
through advanced stacking capabilities, and build a foundation for
communications and converged storage based on iSCSI.
“Transitioning away from a large vendor solution meant that we
were raising our expectations to gain more from our investment,
including a more individualized level of service and a solid and
flexible network at the edge and our data center,” said Cedric
Fairweather, IT operations manager for Sierra Trading Post.
“Extreme Networks really came through on all aspects of our new
network, from providing cutting-edge design recommendations,
to delivering high-caliber network implementation, testing
and services.”
The Sierra Trading Post network has been built with a combination
of Summit X460 and Summit X650 fixed switches that deliver
impressive performance, resiliency and availability. The 10 Gigabit
Ethernet connections outfit the data center core connecting rack
switches in the aggregation layer and feature Extreme Networks
ExtremeXOS modular operating system. The data center provides
highly flexible design options and has been easy to set up and
configure for the organization’s staff. The bottom line is a boost in
performance and simplicity that saves money due to robust and
consistent features and functionality.
Flexibility by Design
Combining exceptional Quality of Service (QoS) and advanced
traffic management with resiliency, comprehensive security and
non-blocking performance, the Summit X450e switch is designed
to be the cornerstone of a high-performance converged network.
Extreme Networks Summit X650 switch is a Top-of-Rack switch
designed for 10 Gigabit Ethernet-enabled servers deployed in
enterprise data centers, providing high density in a small form
factor. The new deployment provides the organization with a
redundant 10 gigabit core for more reliable access to its internal
applications, wireless LANs, and website. Extreme Networks
“We’ve been very happy with our experience
with Extreme Networks, and we value the
expertise of every person we deal with. They
know every product very well, are highly
responsive, and provide personalized
experience.”
Make Your Network Mobile
– Jeff Axtell, Network Administrator,
Sierra Trading Post
Corporate
and North America
Extreme Networks, Inc.
3585 Monroe Street
Santa Clara, CA 95051 USA
Phone +1 408 579 2800
Ridgeline management suite is used to manage the entire
solution and simplify switch configuration and troubleshooting,
while adding valuable and intuitive features that help save time by
streamlining common tasks.
“The Extreme Networks switches are very flexible and they’re
easier and faster to manage,” said Jeff Axtell, Network
Administrator for Sierra Trading Post. “Faster performance with
advanced management means savings—savings in terms of both
time and costs.”
All in the OS
Extreme Networks ExtremeXOS is a highly available and extensible
software foundation for its Ethernet switches that raises the
bar for availability, which is critical when offering carrier-grade
voice and video over IP and for supporting mission-critical
business applications, including online sales. When performance is
degraded, it is easy for online shoppers to take their business
elsewhere. With the Extreme Networks solution in place, the
performance remains consistent.
“When sales spikes happen, the new network is always ready,” said
Axtell. “Traffic can go up and down smoothly, even with constant
transactions happening at any time of the year. It’s nice to know
we can depend on the Extreme Networks solution to keep us up
and running.”
Sierra Trading Post utilizes Extreme Networks SummitStack
technology to simplify its converged network. SummitStack
stacking technology allows the company to physically connect up
to eight individual Summit switches together as a single logical
unit, thereby reducing management overhead of fixed configuration
switches by behaving as a single switch with a single IP
address and a single point of authentication.
Partnership Achieved
As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest reasons for its pursuit of a
new switch solution was that Sierra Trading Post wanted a close
partnership with its network vendor where it could receive
expertise and proven solutions. With Extreme Networks, its
wish has been fulfilled. “We appreciate that we deal with
Extreme Networks directly and not through several levels of
support compared to other approaches,” said Fairweather. “We’ve
been very happy with our experience with Extreme Networks, and
we value the expertise of every person we deal with. They know
every product very well, are highly responsive, and provide
personalized experience.”
With Extreme Networks, Sierra Trading Post benefits from a
high-performance, reliable, robust and scalable network that can
support clear and consistent IP voice calls, provides simplified
management, and comes with availability and failover features for
business continuity. The organization complemented its network
with an easy-to-manage VoIP system from Cisco, one that
seamlessly integrates with the Extreme Networks solution.
Europe, Middle East, Africa
and South America
Phone +31 30 800 5100
Asia Pacific
Phone +65 6836 5437
Japan
Phone +81 3 5842 4011
extremenetworks.com
© 2011 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Extreme Networks, the Extreme Networks logo, ExtremeXOS, Ridgeline, Summit and SummitStack are either registered trademarks
or trademarks of Extreme Networks, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other names and marks are the property of their respective owners. Specifications are subject
to change without notice. 1826_01 12/11