Expand Helps Burns & Roe

ROSELAND, N.J. -- Expand Networks www.expand.com, a leading provider of application acceleration solutions over the Wide Area Network (WAN), today announced that Burns and Roe Services Corporation (BRSC) www.roe.com has successfully implemented Expands Compass Platform across their network for server/network centralization and consolidation, server-based computing and satellite communications. Burns and Roe, a global infrastructure services company, provides expert operations, maintenance, repair, and construction services by mobilizing and managing workforces for projects and facilities, large or small, simple or complex, in urban or remote locations.

“We were challenged with our existing network prior to bringing Expand into the picture,” said Kenn Devine, Project Team Leader and Manager of Information Systems, BRSC. “Over the years, we had built a decentralized network with servers and workstations located at each of the project sites. These sites had no links to the corporate network (the BRNet) except through Burns and Roe web services provided on the public Internet. One of our project sites is in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where we encounter many communications inefficiencies. Our workforce there supports several functions housed in numerous buildings and the only way to link the local network back to the States is by using a VPN link over satellite.”

As the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is in a remote location with no access to outside infrastructure, communication options are limited, prohibitively expensive, and not always reliable. The infrastructure that was linking the dispersed buildings and over 200 workstations together was an antiquated ADSL over a plain old telephone system (POTS) WAN. To top it off, the speed of these DSL connections is capped at the 512 kbps over-satellite link.

IT Managers wanted to modernize the company’s aging infrastructure in order to manage operations more efficiently. But even outside consultants could not deliver a viable long-term solution. Devine reevaluated all of their options and concluded that satellite architecture might be able to deliver the performance required to run their business.

“We looked at a product evaluation from Network Computing and considered several vendors including Packeteer (Mentat), Juniper (Peribit), Swan Labs and Expand,” said Devine. “All were good, but Expand had better functionality with the ExpandView software and we got more for our dollar. Quality won out.”Expand Networks Inc.