BRISBANE, Australia, December 20, 2004 - G. James Glass & Aluminium (G. James) has deployed a Cisco Systems® storage area networking (SAN) solution to reduce costs and improve the management of surging levels of corporate information. The solution, provided with Cisco SAN partner EMC and Dimension Data, will also help G. James to better manage the complexity of its corporate information.

As Australia's most comprehensive integrated glass and aluminium manufacturer and contractor, and the employer of 2100 people in 20 locations in Asia, G. James has been growing strongly during the past few years, putting greater strain on its traditional data management and storage systems.

David Moy, technical services manager at G. James, said the growth in the business during the past two years had made the storage of data using legacy storage systems "unmanageable."

"There was too much storage, attached to too many systems, which was a strain on resources. We also had a challenge in terms of the growing complexity of the business and the impact that was having on the storage systems," Mr Moy said.

He said the solution to the challenge of managing increasing amounts and complex levels of data was to work with its systems integrator, Dimension Data, to deploy a SAN using Fibre Channel and Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) for ad-hoc access to the SAN. The SAN technology is based on the Cisco MDS 9216 Multilayer Fabric Switch, which controls the flow of data among the servers and storage devices within the data centers at G. James.

The SAN solution helps G. James centrally manage storage allocation across the network by taking advantage of virtualization features to create virtual SANs (VSANs). VSANs create secured, isolated environments, allowing customers to consolidate storage networks in a resilient and scalable manner. The SAN solution also provides for increased speed of access to the data on the EMC hard disks, further reducing operational costs, as well as providing full data replication between Brisbane and Sydney sites, providing significant improvements for data recovery.

The Cisco SAN solution is one of many elements of an overall networking strategy employed by G. James to reduce overall total cost of ownership and network efficiency.

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. James also optimizes its core Cisco switched data network by provisioning it to carry voice traffic, reducing operational costs and allowing the organization to centrally manage communications. The network, deployed and managed by Dimension Data, is used by 700 users across four countries and four Australian states.

G. James also makes use of Cisco virtual private network (VPN) technology to allow some staff to access corporate information through the Internet with a high level of security. The VPN allows for increased productivity for staff while they are working away from their offices, in places such as hotels and at home. G. James further increases productivity by providing partners and suppliers with appropriate access to G. James information.

The Cisco network, based on Cisco Catalyst® 6500, Catalyst 2900 and Catalyst 3500 series switches, is also utilized within the G. James organization to provide wireless local-area networking (WLAN) connectivity to help increase workforce productivity. The WLAN allows staff to work away from their desks by connecting to company information through high-speed networking through the Cisco Aironet® 1200 and Aironet 1100 series access points, located throughout the G. James factories and offices. The WLAN is also increasingly being used by G. James to carry telephony, further reducing operational costs at office and factory sites.

G. James also takes further advantage of its investment in the Cisco network to provide content switching capabilities for the company. Content networking allows bandwidth-intensive resources, such as industrial site-design documents, to be accessed more efficiently by staff in branch offices.

About G. James Glass & Aluminum

Based in Brisbane, G. James is Australia's most comprehensive and leading integrated glass and aluminium manufacturer and contractor. The company employs more than 2100 people in 20 locations across the Asia Pacific region.