Logistics firm maximizes T-1 lines

Expand Networks recently announced it is helping global logistics firm Kuehne & Nagel get more out its T-1 links for data backup.

Kuehne & Nagel has more than 18,000 employees at 600 locations in 96 countries. It provides supply chain management services to clients worldwide and so it has a big need for reliable data mirroring to ensure that it never loses critical information on tracking, production, warehousing and order and inventory management.

Norman Berger, director of IT at Kuehne & Nagel, says the company had two dedicated T-1 lines to handle data backup and make sure the data mirror was always up to date. The costly lines couldn’t be used for anything else, Berger says.

Then Berger deployed Expand’s Accelerator 4000 appliances on the T-1 lines. Expand’s appliances cache all traffic types, caching repeated data patterns to reduce the load on network links. The appliances also use compression and other technologies to improve throughput, which Expand executives say can be boosted by as much as 400%.

Berger says the results he has seen since hooking up the Accelerator 4000 appliances have exceeded his expectations. He says data throughput has been accelerated by 500%, and he’s now able to use the T-1 links for more than just the data mirroring.