Ocado uses Juniper Networks infrastructure to deliver reliable and secure online retail service

(09/07/2009)

Launched in 2002, Ocado was conceived as a new shopping experience providing dedicated, convenient home delivery with live Webshop inventory and grocery orders fulfilled via a unique central warehouse system. The service, offering an extensive range of major UK-brand goods as well as the own-label goods of UK supermarket Waitrose chain, continues to use the very latest web and business technologies, and is now available to more than 13.5 million households.

Juniper Networks, Inc. has announced that Ocado is building a hosting environment for its online retail operation with Juniper Networks EX Series Ethernet Switches, M Series Multiservice Edge Routers and ISG Series Integrated Security Gateways with IPS. The Juniper solution provides a secure, high-performance link between Ocado’s data center and the Internet. Ocado expects the Juniper solution is expected to deliver significant cost savings via simplified infrastructure and decreased operational overhead, optimized performance and long-term investment protection through scalability.

“Our customers expect fast, reliable and secure service from our website when placing online orders, so the network infrastructure is critical to our business model,” said Andy Howard, network manager at Ocado. “We were looking for an innovative, robust hosting environment, and Juniper’s high-performance network infrastructure with open and scalable solutions has helped us achieve that objective. The decision to bring the Internet hosting function in-house was made easier by Juniper Networks JUNOS® Software, a single network operating system integrating routing, switching and security services, which streamlines our operational overhead significantly.”

Ocado is deploying Juniper Networks M Series Multiservice Edge Routers together with EX Series Ethernet Switches and ISG1000 Integrated Security Gateways with IPS. Fundamental to the connection of the data center to the Internet, the M7i Multiservice Edge Routers will be deployed at the network edge to control application paths, provide Quality of Service (QoS) functionality, and identify and discard Denial of Service (DoS) traffic, while the EX 4200 line of switches will deliver DMZ switching. The EX Series switches provide carrier-class reliability, security risk management, and the scalability to meet Ocado’s future web traffic requirements.

To ensure the highest level of data security, the ISG1000s are also being deployed. These purpose-built, high-performance security gateways integrate intrusion prevention with proven firewall and IPSec VPN technology to facilitate application-level security at up to 1 Gbps of IDP throughput. IDP protects critical high-speed networks against the penetration and proliferation of existing and emerging application level threats such as worms, Trojans, Spyware and Malware.

“Juniper’s approach significantly reduces network complexity and total cost of ownership for businesses such as Ocado, who need to provision services quickly and cost-effectively to meet escalating demands,” said Gert-Jan Schenk, senior vice president of operations, EMEA, Juniper Networks. “The network foundation we are building for Ocado provides the operational simplicity, agility and efficiency they need to remain competitive and meet their business objectives of satisfied customers, streamlined operations and reduced costs.”

Related topics:  Application and software security   Firewall   Internet and Web security 

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