KUALA LUMPUR, January 19: The Malaysia-based Hong Leong Financial Group has installed a complete data centre and office network infrastructure from Juniper Networks in its headquarters and data centre.

Following a series of mergers and acquisitions over the last decade the Hong Leong Financial Group, which comprises a conventional bank, Islamic bank, investment bank and an insurance company, has consolidated its IT operation into a purpose-built twin-tower office development, which includes the new data center, while its senior management took advantage of the opportunity to refresh significant elements of its IT infrastructure.

The Juniper Networks EX Series Ethernet Switches and the range of Juniper security devices installed in Hong Leong's purpose-built premise provides the group with high-capacity, low-latency network performance along with low operational costs thanks to the Junos operating system running across its switch infrastructure.

“Rather than move our legacy network switching equipment to the new site we wanted to employ the latest technology to improve performance, simplify both our network architecture and operations and position the network for growth,” said Hong Kean Yong, Group Chief Information Officer of Hong Leong Financial Group Berhad.

“The Juniper Networks solution enabled us to cut the network down to two layers, which has obvious CapEx benefits and is much easier to manage.” he said. “ Having a single network operating system running across our switching infrastructure also makes a big difference in our operational costs.”

By collapsing the multiple switching layers present in traditional network architectures, the Juniper Networks EX Series Ethernet Switches dramatically simplify network designs by requiring fewer devices and interconnections, leading to improved efficiencies in space, power, cooling and management.

Hong Leong deployed Juniper Networks EX8208 Ethernet Switches at its new data center, delivering the port densities, scalability and high availability needed to ensure low-latency response from mission-critical systems at all times. Juniper Networks EX4200 Ethernet Switches, deployed in a Virtual Chassis configuration, act as a combined core network and aggregation layer while EX3200 Switches, deployed in wiring closets, provide access for users and IP-enabled devices.

The EX Series is fully-compatible with Juniper Networks UAC solution, delivering an extra layer of security at the Hong Leong Financial Group by first authenticating users and performing virus checks, then enforcing precise, end-to-end security policies that determine who can access what network resources, as well as quality-of-service policies to ensure delivery of business processes.

“The Hong Leong Financial Group is the first major finnacial services industry enterprise in Malaysia and in ASEAN to embrace the full benefits of Juniper Networks’ high-performance network infrastructure, which provides fast, secure and reliable delivery of the applications that drive business processes,” said Wan Ahmad Kamal, Managing Director of Juniper Networks Malaysia. “We expect this deployment to be seen as benchmark for others in the financial services industry.”