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Background
Sabre (NYSE: TSG) is the leading provider of technology for the travel industry.
They provide innovative products that enable travel commerce and services,
and enhance airline/supplier operations. Sabre owns 70 percent of Travelocity.com
(Nasdaq: TVLY), the world's leading online B2C travel site; and owns GetThere, the
world's leading provider of Web-based B2B travel reservation systems. Sabre,
an S&P 500 company, is the leader in every distribution channel of the
travel industry.
Being an early innovator in IT, Sabre have invested heavily in IBM Token Ring
for what at the time represented fantastic advances in networked communications.
Like so many companies of this size have found, the performance of Token Ring has
not kept pace with Ethernet. As the development of Token Ring peters out and
speed of Ethernet continues to grow ten fold every three years the decision was
made to migrate their 500 + users in their EMEA and APAC HQ to Ethernet.
Solution
Vital to the success of this change in network topology, the following criteria were
identified:
- No loss of network connectivity for any user.
- Cabling to be installed out of normal hours.
- Backbone installed and certified prior to any migration.
- Ethernet infrastructure to run along side Token Ring.
- Ability to utilise cabling for Data and Voice.
- Each departmental area needed to be completed before the next
was begun.
- The Type 1 cable needed to be stripped out as the job progressed.
ESP assisted Sabre’s IT professionals to design and plan the installation of two
distributed wiring closets on each floor which were to be connected via a fibre
optic backbone back to the central wiring closet in the computer centre.
These wiring closets were installed along side the existing token ring patching
frames. A triple CAT5e outlet was then installed at each desk and terminated at its
nearest wiring closet. The existing phone system up to this point had utilised its
own cabling and was serviced via distributed patching centres (D.P.’s).
These D.P.’s were relocated onto a patching panel within the new closets thus
enabling the new triple outlets to distribute voice as well as data. Network cards
were changed and equipment was repatched to the new system by area or
department. The cabling and equipment migration work was completed outside
of normal working hours which resulted in zero downtime to the end user.
The Ethernet hardware was based on Cisco’s award winning Catalyst Enterprise
range, which delivers industry leading performance, unmatched network
configuration, flexibility and scalability. All this equipment was supplied by ESP
through it’s partnership with Cisco.
Howard Landi, Director of Communications for Sabre commented, “I have issued
my thanks to ESP for their flexibility, professionalism and determination to make
this project a success. The new structured cabling system has not only aided the
migration to Ethernet but has also significantly reduced the man-power overhead
associated with our continuous desk relocations and departmental moves.”
To find out how you can benefit from the ESP experience call 0118 916 9300 now
or send an e-mail to sales@esp.co.uk
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