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Customer Success Story
Committed to keeping its mission-critical network at maximum performance, FedEx Ground regularly upgrades its network to allow the company to take full advantage of the latest capabilities. As existing routing equipment reached its end of life, FedEx Ground chose a Cisco solution based on the Cisco Catalyst 6509 switches and the Cisco 3845 Integrated Services Router to maximize routing performance and enable the addition of future capabilities.
Business Challenge
FedEx Ground provides cost-effective, small-package shipping within one to five days to any address - business or residential - in the United States. More than 2.6 million packages are delivered daily, traveling through FedEx Ground's network of 500 pick-up and delivery terminals and 28 hub locations. FedEx Ground Services is the division's IT group, charged with supporting headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 520 remote locations, and approximately 50,000 employees.
FedEx Ground Services' primary objective is to ensure that all data and telecommunications services required for mission-critical, 24-hour-a-day operations are up and available. The group's strategy is to ensure that each field site - whether a hub, pick-up and delivery terminal, or other facility - has the most current networking and productivity technology available and that the environment is as homogenous as possible. According to Michael Mullen, senior technical analyst for FedEx Ground, uniformity breeds success.
"By installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting everything ourselves, we know exactly which equipment is in each site, its service level, and resources required to troubleshoot it - down to the wiring level," he says.
FedEx Ground facilities are classified according to their size and daily package volume, and their data networks reflect those characteristics, becoming increasingly complex as the size of the facility increases. "A" sites are the smallest; "E" sites are the largest. A new type of site - the Trident hub - is currently being deployed to provide massive, aggregated package-handling capabilities. The first three Trident hubs are located in Dallas, Texas; Independence, Kentucky; and Hagerstown, Maryland and seven more are scheduled for deployment in other locations by 2009.
The company's existing routing equipment was approaching end of life and in keeping with its commitment to assuring the most current technology, FedEx Ground decided to upgrade its "D" and "E" sites, as well as deploy new networking equipment into its new Trident hubs. Redundancy features were essential. In addition, FedEx Ground wanted high processing power for maximum performance and the ability to connect satellite and ISDN backup networks. The company chose the Cisco® Catalyst® 6509 Switch and Cisco 3845 Integrated Services Router as its deployment platform.
Network Solution
The standard configuration for smaller "A," "B," and "C" sites includes three separate network segments, the first of which is a Cisco 2811 Integrated Services Router with maximum CPU power, used to perform straight routing functions. The second segment includes a Cisco Catalyst Switch, such as a Catalyst 2950 Switch, which forms the main Ethernet network in the facility. The third segment includes a Catalyst 3560 or 3750 switch with Power over Ethernet (PoE) for powering radio frequency (RF) wireless access points. FedEx Ground likes the ability to stack several Cisco Catalyst 3750 switches together for adding redundancy, simplifying manageability, and reducing the number of IP addresses required. All equipment runs on the latest version of Cisco IOS® Software.
The larger "D", "E," and Trident sites were upgraded with dual redundant Cisco Catalyst 6509 switches as a network core and dual Cisco 3845 integrated services routers with data and voice features implemented. Some locations may also have ISDN, satellite, or cellular backup networks for emergency use.
The dual Cisco Catalyst 6509 switches are configured with high-density, 10-Gigabit Ethernet modules for high scalability and intelligent multilayer switching performance. Redundant Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 720s are configured with Cisco nonstop forwarding (NSF) and stateful switchover (SSO) to provide maximum uptime with redundancy and rapid two-to-three-second failover.
Cisco 3845 integrated services routers deliver wire-speed performance for concurrent services such as data and voice. FedEx Ground deployed dual Cisco 3845 integrated services routers at each large site configured with Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP) for redundancy.
"The Cisco 3845 integrated services routers are a good investment to protect our network," says Mullen. "Our management requests that we deliver 99.9 percent uptime, with .10 percent downtime scheduled, and the new Cisco 3845 routers help us meet that goal. With the new network implementation, we won't have to change infrastructure of the large facilities for the next five years."
The Cisco 3845 Integrated Service Router also supports up to 2500 virtual private network (VPN) tunnels with an AIM-HPII-PLIS Module. FedEx Ground deploys few VPNs, which are used only for remote workers who require a connection to corporate headquarters. Employees who must connect remotely to a data center for troubleshooting purposes are connected using Cisco IP Security (IPSec) VPN features. FedEx Ground also uses some traffic-prioritization capabilities of the routers to prioritize package and signature data as well as video security monitoring traffic.
Every FedEx Ground facility - including unmanned substations - has deployed a wireless RF package-tracking application that runs over a system that employs 802.11b-standard access ports and is managed by a third-party computer system. These systems receive power from Cisco Catalyst 3560 switches. The Catalyst 3560 Switch combines 10/100/1000 and PoE configurations for maximum productivity and investment protection while enabling the deployment of new applications such as IP telephony, wireless access, video surveillance, building management systems, and remote video kiosks. FedEx's package-tracking system runs handheld barcode scanners and on-van computing capabilities. When a FedEx driver pulls into a FedEx facility, an on-van computing application sends delivery, package, and signature information - together with barcode, zip code, and weight data captured by package handlers, sort managers, and other process managers - to the main package-tracking system through access ports which are powered by Cisco Catalyst 3560 switches.
The Pittsburgh headquarters is also completely wireless, using Cisco Aironet® 1100 Series access points and Cisco Aironet 350 Series Wireless LAN (WLAN) products. The Cisco Aironet 1100 Series offers an affordable, easy-to-install, single-band access point that delivers enterprise-class management, security, and scalability. FedEx Ground's Cisco wireless solution serves 1500 people in headquarters, providing connectivity to everybody with a wireless laptop, PDA, or data-enabled cell phone.
FedEx Ground uses CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution for upgrading versions of Cisco IOS Software, inventory and serial number control, version control, and as an occasional troubleshooting tool.
Business Value
"We suggested the Cisco Catalyst 3560 Switch to the group in charge of the RF system at our facilities," says Mullen. "They had a different product in mind to provide the inline power capability. However, because the switch is our responsibility on the network, we wanted to easily configure, maintain, and monitor it. We knew the Cisco product had the right capabilities and could scale while remaining easily manageable. It met all of our expectations." The Cisco Catalyst 6509 switches have met FedEx's requirements, delivering high performance, scalability, and easy-to-configure redundancy features, which simplified the company's upgrade process.
"The Cisco 3845 integrated services routers have also met our expectations," says Mullen. "We expect to enjoy exceptional longevity from the hardware, especially since we have built our deployments with high levels of redundancy. Our goal is to protect the integrity of every package shipped and to keep the process as easy and seamless as possible."
Next Steps
Mullen notes that the FedEx Ground Services group is presently testing Cisco IP telephony solutions in a pilot project and they expect to fully deploy a solution by 2009.
For More Information
To learn more about Cisco routing solutions, visit: www.cisco.com/go/routing.
To learn more about Cisco switching solutions, visit: http://www.cisco.com/go/switching.
To learn more about Cisco wireless solutions, visit: www.cisco.com/go/wireless.
To learn more about FedEx Ground, visit: http://www.fedex.com.
This customer story is based on information provided by FedEx Ground and describes how that particular organization benefits from the deployment of Cisco products. Many factors may have contributed to the results and benefits described; Cisco does not guarantee comparable results elsewhere.
CISCO PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties, therefore this disclaimer may not apply to you.