3com® xrn™ technology delivers a new breed of network

A T H O U G H T L E A D E R S H I P P R O F I L E : 3 C O M
Advertising Supplement
Case Study:
COURTING A NEW TECHNOLOGY
Baton Rouge, La.’s 19th Judicial District Court finds
3Com’s XRN keeps justice moving swiftly along.
Warrants, motions, subpoenas, transcripts, dates and
detailed histories — the United States’ judicial system is
necessarily burdened with a proliferation of crucial data.
Lost or inaccurate information can mean more than just
the usual headaches associated with such inefficiency. In
the courts, mismanaged data can mean delays that disrupt
the legal process and jeopardized justice itself.
In Baton Rouge, La., the 19th Judicial District Court faced
continual challenges due to its outdated, shared Ethernet
network.The system — used by the court’s 485 administrators
and 20 judges — slowed the tracking and exchange of
critical case-related information.
And because the 19th District adjudicates more than
45,000 civil and criminal cases per year — including more
than 100 jury trials — the old-fashioned, error-ridden technology
wasted both time and money.
Swift Justice
To restore order to the court, 19th District officials needed
a powerful data network to support a new, centralized
Web-based judicial system database designed to streamline
communications and case management.
In particular, the court needed an affordable, ultra-fast,
redundant network backbone to reliably process the new
system’s voluminous records.
The flexibility, easy manageability and cost effectiveness of
3Com’s exclusive eXpandable Resilient Networking (XRN) technology
provided the perfect solution to the court’s demand.
3Com’s “pay as you grow” strategy allowed court officials
to purchase the exact XRN technology necessary to
complete the transformation from antiquated, unreliable
system to ultra-fast, resilient, cutting-edge network.
XRN technology also made it easy to deploy the court’s
new 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 4924, Switch 4900 and
Switch 4400 switches, XRN Interconnect Kit, and 3Com
Network Supervisor.
3Com’s 4000-series switches coupled with the XRN
Interconnect Kit reduced administration costs by creating a
distributed Gigabit switch fabric that behaves and is
managed as a single entity.
Always Ready
Performance is maximized because each switch in the
fabric is actively directing both Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic so
that no single unit bears the entire switching load. That
means network resilience is significantly increased.
Should a link or switch ever fail, “dual homing” of critical
devices such as servers to both switches ensures continued
network access to those critical devices.
The court’s comprehensive new XRN technology
supplies a 10-Gigabit Ethernet backbone with high-
performance Ethernet and ultra-fast access to the district’s
new Web-based judicial system, all for an exceptionally low
total cost of ownership.
Powered by 3Com’s XRN technology, four interconnected
SuperStack 3 Switch 4924s function as a 10-Gigabit core
providing network redundancy without the cost and
complexity of adding more switches.
Even if one port or an entire switch fails, XRN technology
sustains network operations with less than 10 seconds of
fail-over, ensuring the court’s judicial management system
is always available.
The court uses another 25 3Com Switch 4900s and
Switch 4924s to distribute gigabit Ethernet connections to
nearly 1,000 local users. And flexible XRN technology
means new users easily are supported and aggregated
bandwidth is easily increased with the simple deployment
of more XRN Interconnect Kits.
Effective Results
Now, 19th District judges use the network-based judicial
system to quickly investigate offenders’ histories, and they
will soon hold videoconferences with inmates awaiting
trial, saving significant travel time and its associated costs.
Administrators use the network to quickly open, crosscheck,
update, seal and exchange case files including court
dates, assigned judges and jury status.
“3Com’s XRN technology revolutionized our operations,”
said Freddie Manint, CJIS director/F.B.I — T.A.C. “Using 3Com
switches, we’re not only improving our own efficiencies,
we’re providing a blueprint for courts nationwide to resolve
legal issues more confidently, more securely and more
affordably.”
3Com Corporation, Corporate Headquarters, 350 Campus Drive, Marlborough, MA 01752-3064
To learn more about 3Com solutions, visit www.3com.com. 3Com Corporation is publicly traded on
Nasdaq under the symbol COMS.
3Com, the 3Com logo, SuperStack, and NBX are registered trademarks, and XRN is a trademark of
3Com Corporation.
This Government Technology Public CIO Thought Leadership Profile was sponsored by 3Com.
Copyright © 2003 Public CIO. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.
500300-001 08/03