Toyota Financial Services implements VLAN for resiliency

Toyota Financial Services is implementing an Ethernet VLAN solution to optimise the resiliency of its existing infrastructure.

The financier sought out a single vendor to offer an integrated solution to support its entire back-end suite of IT, Internet and VoIP technology.

As a result the company selected Uecomm rejecting multiple vendor deals which involved one for voice and one for IT infrastructure.

With net receivables exceeding $4.3 billion and responsibility for critical business information, Toyota Financial Services employs several hundred staff across multiple sites with headquarters in Sydney, Woolaware Bay, Townsville, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

The company's IT manager, Mark Gosling, said reliability is of critical importance to the business.

"Therefore complete confidence in the strength of the network was key when reviewing our network requirements, including finding an end-to-end solution that would eliminate potential business outages across our various sites and operations," he said.

Gosling said previously the company's back-end had single connections to and from the main IT site.

"The final result across the Toyota Financial Services Network was in fact quite unique, with Uecomm developing a comprehensive and watertight design which brings the business locations together securely, and at suitable capacity," he said.

To ensure 100 per cent resiliency and to minimise outages, Ethernet VLANs were set up across the network for normal day-to-day use, to back-up the main infrastructure site and to also provide seamless connectivity to the disaster recovery site.

Gosling said the Uecomm design has delivered an easy-to-use, cost-effective high-bandwidth solution which addresses the business' mandatory network needs.

"The new solution has really given us bang for our buck," Gosling said.

"And the simplicity of the outcome means we can confidently focus on internal IT matters and not be concerned about the network connectivity and it's day-to-day performance."

Uecomm's director of strategy, Brendan Park, said there is a growing demand from CIOs looking for flexibility in design to meet business needs, rather than just speed.

"Business in Australia is wanting a carrier who listens to a customer and provides a solution that matches what they need, not what a vendor wants to sell them," he said. Park said a recent 2007 survey of Australia's leading CIOs, found expectations of the financial, technological and other business benefits for network infrastructure are evolving as convergence technology matures in the marketplace. "CIOs now acknowledge that technology gains such as increased security, capacity or reliability do have economic benefits," he said.

"Companies are moving towards less traditional return-on-investment assessments of IT spending; now acknowledging that indirect technology improvements, such as network upgrades, do add financial value to the business." Toyota Finance Australia Limited commenced operations in 1982.

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