Sega Corporation
Executive Summary
Customer Name: Sega Corporation
Industry: Corporate
Location:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Background
“When we started, we were sending engineers overseas, on site, to configure the network devices,” says Takeshi Utsumi, an Assistant Team Manager of Sega’s AM Sales Support Team. In deploying a network they call “ALL.Net” that connects all the amusement centers scattered in Asia, they were looking for a way to reduce administrator’s burden of installing and configuring network devices there.
Solution:
- Net LineDancer
- Automatic configuration distribution
- Zero-Touch*
What is Zero-Touch?
Zero-Touch* is a Net LineDancer feature that deploys configurations into remote devices by taking advantage of Cisco IOS AutoInstall and Cisco Networking Services (CNS). As soon as the device is plugged into the network, Net LineDancer will automatically configure it.
Outcome:
- Reduced network configuration management costs by automating configuration of devices overseas.
- Reduced configuration errors and improved standardization of configurations because they can now manage configurations remotely from their headquarters.
- Reduced engineer working hours to configure devices to one sixth.
Product:
Net LineDancer Enterprise For mode details, please see following document:
Sega Corporation Zero-Touch Case Study
Background
The team which consisted of 5 people managed network equipment in Tokyo and Osaka, but only two engineers were experienced enough to operate unsupervised. No one else could perform some of the troubleshooting if there were network issues in their absence. The two engineers were forced work through holidays incase problems occurred while they were out, especially Golden Week or New Year’s Holidays. They installed Net LineDancer and created an internal manual that walked through operations that were dependent on individual’s skills. This allowed less experienced staff to respond to unexpected problems.
Net LineDancer Enterprise version 500 nodes license
Main Functions Used
- Regularly configurations backup
- Input information of configurations and recover
- Inventory report（Export for configurations of managed devices）
Managed Devices
300 nodes mainly Cisco, Foundry（current：Brocade）equipment on their own network.
Product Purchased
Net LineDancer Enterprise version 500 nodes license.
Background
When introducing the network devices to their remote locations, their engineers used to go on business trips, after sending the devices on-site. They heard about Net LineDancer while looking for tools to save time and reduce cost. Zero-Touch1, which allowed them to configure devices from a remote location, was applied. However, they asked to take measures since they are required to unbox and power the devices on to confirm the IDs of managed devices by their MAC address. After the spec of Net LineDancer about the Zero-Touch1 feature changed to be able to confirm by serial numbers, instead of MAC addresses, they decided to install Net LineDancer, since it became unnecessary to unbox.
Main Functions Used
- Input intersectional configurations at the same time to network devices before shipping
- Compare Configurations after configured
- Zero-Touch1
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Zero-Touch feature netLD Zero-Touch is the ability to distribute configuration into remote multi devices by only connecting with the cable. As soon as devices are connected to network initially, the device will be configured automatically. Zero-touch allows engineers to skip the steps of distance business trips, called zero-trip.
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Zero-Touch has changed the name to Cisco Plug and Play from Net LineDancer ver.14.06.
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Managed Devices
300 nodes mainly Cisco, Foundry（current：Brocade）equipment on their own network.
Product Purchased
Net LineDancer Enterprise version for 500 nodes was licensed for the trial installation. It has possibilities to increase.
Background
They faced the technical challenge of configuration management of 1,200 various vendors’ devices, being managed at different locations using multiple tools through the CLI. Additionally their handlings took much time to discover by getting update information in case of troubles and the collection of log data required the engineers to work at out-of-hours and initial charge. The SI vendor who maintained their network devices designed a management solution using Net LineDancer to expand their channel allowing them to raise their unit price and differentiate themselves from other competing vendors which only sold equipment and support. Net LineDancer was adoted after the trial after resolving the problems discussed earlier.
Main Functions Used
- Compare Configurations
- Configuration change to multiple devices at the same time
- Hardware Inventory Manage
- Managed devices
- 1,200 nodes for trial installation, it will be increased to about 2,000 nodes
Product Purchased
Net LineDancer Enterprise version 3000 nodes license
