Berlin-based banking association, Bundesverband deutscher Banken (BdB) is to upgrade its network infrastructure with 3Com's Gigabit Ethernet solution and switching technology.
The network is used by BdB's 145 employees to transfer financial data to member financial institutions.
BdB is to install 3Com's Switch 4007 to provide a network backbone, the 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 4924 to provide server distribution facilities and the SuperStack 3 Switch 4400 SE to distribute information on individual floors.
The firm says it decided to overhaul its network as capacity constraints and bottlenecks slowed performance.
Achim Nowak, BdB's head of IT, says comprehensive CoS/QoS and traffic prioritisation functions provided by the switch-based 3Com solution will control dataflow and ensure priority information gets to internal users and the association's authorised users without delay.
3Com says it won the BdB contract following a tender process which included Cisco Systems.
According to Christian Loebsack, spokesman for 3Com channel partner XCOM, total cost of ownership was a key factor in the final selection. "The overall difference between the cost of a 3Com system compared to a similar offering from Cisco Systems amounted to around EUR25,000," he claims.