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Lifetime Products is deploying a complete ProCurve networking infrastructure worldwide, transitioning its network from a large LAN to a global WAN. Its Utah headquarters are connected to facilities in Missouri, Arkansas, China and Hong Kong, and Lifetime products may be purchased around the globe from retailers in more than 50 countries. Lifetime turned to ProCurve with the goal of reducing overall cost of technology ownership and standardizing its computing equipment.
"Lifetime chose to standardize its network using ProCurve devices because ProCurve invests in the customer experience, focusing on service and process, as well as great hardware," said John Bowden, chief information officer, Lifetime Products. "Our ProCurve network is the crucial bridge that unites us all, so we needed a network we could count on. We appreciate the reliability, performance, wireless capabilities and centralized network management that ProCurve products provide."
From enterprise resource planning to finance to sales forecasting, collaboration among Lifetime's worldwide facilities is conducted over the network. The integration, standardization, and teamwork enabled by the ProCurve network infrastructure facilitate company-wide efficiencies.
"The ProCurve Adaptive EDGE Architecture provides a solid network infrastructure for customers who demand more from their networks. ProCurve offers the intelligence and control at the network's edge that is necessary to support changing requirements and the needs of Lifetime's growing business," said Darla Sommerville, vice president and general manager - Americas, ProCurve Networking by HP. "ProCurve is working with Lifetime Products to deploy a secure, mobile, convergence-ready network infrastructure that can meet their needs today and in the future."
The ProCurve Networking Switch 5300xl series acts as a primary switch connecting more than 20 buildings at Lifetime's company headquarters. The layer 2/3/4 chassis switches offer scalable, layer 3 wire-speed switching in a compact 4- or 8-slot modular form factor. The convergence-ready switches are easy to configure and manage, and offer high port density and valuable network flexibility.
At the network edge, Lifetime is using the ProCurve Networking Switch 4100gl series. Combined with ProCurve's Fast Path Technology, these switches offer high performance and reliable connectivity for Lifetime's growing network.
Lifetime is also taking advantage of ProCurve's mobility solutions by using the ProCurve Networking Wireless Access Point 520wl to facilitate its inventory management process. The Access Point 520wl is a full-featured IEEE 802.11g, dual-radio access point ideally suited for large or extended Wireless LAN deployments, such as Lifetime's Metals Division. It is a high-performance bridge that features roaming, automatic channel selection, and Web-based configuration and management.
ProCurve Manager, a Windows®-based network management solution that is included with all controllable ProCurve products, provides Lifetime with easy, centralized global network management from a Web-based browser. Network activity in China and other parts of the world can be monitored remotely from the US, a critical feature in global networks requiring 24x7 uptime. ProCurve Manager provides mapping and polling capabilities, device auto-discovery and topology mapping, device configuration and management, and troubleshooting data and alerts for Lifetime's entire network.
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