3Com Corporation has announced that U.S. Xpress Enterprises, Inc., the fifth largest publicly held truckload carrier in the U.S., is standardising a new nationwide enterprise network on reliable, high-speed 3Com e-Network systems. E-Networks provide all the application support, secure access and high availability required for today`s e-commerce. Using 3Com systems, the $725 million trucking company is significantly accelerating the delivery of a suite of customised e-commerce applications that ensure prompt customer service with a superior record of on-time deliveries in the industry.
The $1.2 million, 6,000-user e-Network is anchored to a Gigabit Ethernet local area network (LAN) at the company`s Chattanooga, Tenn., headquarters, powered by a trio of 3Com`s CoreBuilder 9000 enterprise switch - 3Com`s flagship enterprise product. 3Com is also providing wide area network (WAN) connectivity to U.S. Xpress`s seven nationwide terminal stations and 30 smaller remote truck maintenance stations, plus remote access to the Internet for employees.
"Although we looked at other vendors, 3Com was the obvious choice for both its proven performance and its Gigabit Ethernet solution," says Norman Thomas, Vice President of Information Systems for U.S. Xpress. "With the CoreBuilder 9000 switch at the heart of the network, it`s now easier and exponentially faster for our employees, from top managers to data entry clerks, to communicate with each other, our drivers, our customers and eventually all our vendors."
Launched in 1986 with 48 trucks, U.S. Xpress now operates 4,800 trucks nationwide and has 7,800 employees, including 6,000 drivers. The trucking company today is a recognised industry leader in providing high-quality service by applying technologies that add value to customers. This expertise, coupled with strategic acquisitions and strong internal development, has fueled a growth rate of up to 30 percent since 1986. U.S. Xpress`s list of notable customers include FedEX, JCPenney, Sears and Airborne Express.
Driven by its 3Com network, U.S. Xpress today is expediting a suite of integrated e-commerce applications. Using a proprietary application called Xpress Connect, for instance, customers instantly track their shipments by logging on to a password-protected section of the U.S. Xpress Web site.
Xpress Connect is part of an electronic community that extends to the cab of the company`s technology-savvy trucks. Using a Qualcomm system, U.S. Xpress drivers receive satellite-transmitted, up-to-the-minute information. Utilizing the new network, the company can now communicate with drivers in less than a second.
Another custom application, Xpress EDI, allows customers to initiate shipping orders via the U.S. Xpress web site by requesting on-line what they have to ship and where it needs to go. U.S. Xpress can then accept or reject the order based on a network-driven search of its trucks` locations and schedules. Customers typically receive a response to their requests within 15 minutes -- a major service advantage for U.S. Xpress over its competitors who often use slow, manual systems to fulfill their orders.
Customers can also easily access bills of lading, manifests and invoices through the company`s network-based Lanier Worldwide document imaging system. By calling up electronic images on their PCs via the Internet, customers can instantly determine who signed for their delivery, where and when it was made, what was on a particular truck and the amount of their final bill. Using 3Com systems, the time it takes to access these scanned documents has been cut from almost a minute to less than 10 seconds.
The 3Com network also supports several business-critical services that sustain U.S. Xpress`s daily operations. Using Saber Technologies` QDSS load optimization, for instance, the company identifies the exact location of every truck, including those available to take on new assignments. A fuel optimization application from ISDC indicates the best routes and sources of fuel for most efficient and cost-effective driving. The network also supports email as well as an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software package from Infinium, which manages the firm`s human resources, general ledger, accounts payable, purchasing, fixed assets and payroll.
U.S. Xpress is currently beta testing a customised automated fuel dispensing application, which will identify trucks at the fuel pump using a short-range radio frequency signal supplied by Symbol Technologies. With this application, a driver can arrive at a fuel stop and dispense the exact amount and type of fuel the truck is pre-authorised to use based on data transmitted from a networked database in Chattanooga.
Along with creating another source for paperless transactions, this e-based fuel system will significantly reduce the amount of time drivers must spend at fuel stops, and thus improve the quality of the drivers` lives on the road.
In other future uses of technology, U.S. Xpress plans to deploy streaming video and voice-over IP across a new SONET ring to recruit and train drivers and to improve communications among its nationwide operations managers.
"U.S. Xpress has always prided itself on its ability to use technology to better serve its customers, but now we`re taking it to an entirely new level," observes Thomas, who has seen the company`s use of technology grow from the ground floor to today`s heights. "Using 3Com`s Gigabit Ethernet solution and wide area technologies, we now have a powerful, reliable architecture that gives us the speed to fulfill our customers` orders much more rapidly and faster than any service provider in our industry."
Fast, fully redundant network pulls its weight
After two years of explosive growth, U.S. Xpress needed a new network to handle both the increased number of trucks it was operating and the increasing demand from customers. Having used a switched and shared Ethernet LAN based on older generation 3Com systems at its Chattanooga headquarters for several years, the company needed a more bandwidth-rich infrastructure to support its e-commerce strategy. The trucking company also wanted to deploy a WAN to replace dial-up links to its terminal locations and remote sites.
Deployed in December, the LAN at U.S. Xpress headquarters in Chattanooga is based on three fully redundant CoreBuilder 9000 switches with Gigabit Ethernet connections to 25 CoreBuilder II 3500 Layer 3 switches. The CoreBuilder 3500 systems have completely redundant dual fiber Fast Ethernet links to 50 SuperStack II 3300 switches located in wiring closets throughout the building. The SuperStack II 3300 switches provide 10/100 megabits per second (Mbps) links to 500 desktop systems. They also deliver Switched Fast Ethernet links to 42 Compaq Proliant and Hewlett Packard HP LH Pro servers running Microsoft Windows NT and an IBM AS 400, which functions as a large database server.
The WAN connecting the company`s seven major truck terminals is based on nine NETBuilder II routers, two in Chattanooga and one at each truck terminal, with point-to-point T1 connections providing 10 and 100 Mbps Ethernet links to 50 to 100 users at each location.
In addition, frame relay connections to Office Connect NETBuilder II routers extend the WAN to 30 small remote offices with up to five users. The company is presently evaluating 3Com`s PathBuilder WAN access device to provide voice and data connections between Chattanooga and the main terminals.
U.S. Xpress is also using 3Com`s Total Control multiservices access platform for remote access by executives, sales people and truckers on the road. The Total Control system ensures maximum uptime. The company also uses 3Com`s Transcend (Enterprise Manager network management software with Traffix Manager to control, configure and manage the network from a single management console.
"Thanks to 3Com, we have a scalable architecture that allows us to support all we`re doing today as well as provide sophisticated voice, video and data services in the future to our headquarters and remote site users," says U.S. Xpress system services manager Sean Gallagher. "We wanted a network to handle all the demands of a growing nationwide business, and that`s precisely what 3Com provided."
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