Customer Success Story
RICHARDSON ELECTRONICS
Richardson Electronics Selects BT Infonet for Its Worldwide Communications Network
Richardson Electronics, Ltd. (NASDAQ: RELL) is a specialised international distributor of electronic components, equipment and assemblies for a wide variety of "niche" industrial, medical, communications and scientific applications. The company has a presence in 50 countries through more than 65 sales offices and 36 stocking locations, as well as an expansive authorised distributor and representative network. Its distribution centres in the U.S. and Europe are ISO 9002 certified.
Products supplied by Richardson include electron tubes, microwave generators, radio frequency (RF) and microwave components, power semiconductors, data display monitors and electronic security products and systems. The company adds value to almost half of what it sells either by utilising its own brand names or by providing "engineered solutions" for its customers through product manufacturing, systems integration, component assembly, prototype design and manufacture, testing, kitting and/or logistics.
Richardson serves a worldwide customer base of 80,000 from its corporate headquarters in LaFox, Illinois. Its customers include industrial users, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), repair service organisations and other distributors.
Kevin Reilly is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer responsible for all telecommunications, data communications, security and information services worldwide - from the Americas to Europe, as well as the Pacific Rim.
Managing and Supporting a Worldwide Network
With Richardson's revenues more than doubling since the early 1990s, the company needed to provide communications into more countries; handle relationships with more local phone companies; deliver more applications, hardware and help desk training; and deal with the inevitable challenges that different languages present. Reilly's first challenge was connectivity (installing a network); the second was to select a vendor that would evolve and absorb the changes imposed by rapid growth. Thirdly, Reilly needed to control Richardson's network costs, while providing better service.
Reilly established three primary criteria: 1) the network had to be reliable, 2) the cost of communication needed to be reduced and 3) network security could not be compromised. After evaluating competitive responses, Reilly selected BT Infonet to provide a network (including their intranet, extranet and specialised connections between customers and sales offices) for Richardson world-wide.
Richardson began with an X.25 network, moving quickly to IP to meet their evolving needs, then upgraded to a Global Frame Relay (GFR) network. "Each implementation has been progressively better," Reilly commented. And he does not see the company's growth slowing in the future. Reilly knew Richardson would continue to add more countries and personnel - as well as new franchises and markets - and that would mean the use of additional BT Infonet services.
Improving Speed and Facilitating Communication
With users ranging from mobile sales representatives to warehousing and inventory personnel, Reilly wanted to prioritise the speed at which applications ran over the network. He liked BT Infonet's Customised Networking Options (CNOs). "We break up our applications by protocol and host," said Reilly. "Web traffic goes inexpensively and slowly because it has a lower priority, while telenet applications more quickly. Our users like the speed of the GFR network, and we like the cost savings."
While Richardson was organising its resources, it decided to begin installation of a new site in Rio de Janeiro to support its regional sales office. Installation also began at the Shanghai office, which is seen as Richardson's first step into China and a distribution point for all products to the region. Reilly's staff initially decided to use the Internet in Shanghai to keep costs low - but soon discovered that the trade-offs were not worth it. According to Reilly, "We tried the least expensive route first, the Internet. However, the lines had no response time or Richardson staff had to re-transmit constantly, which was a problem." Reilly concluded that the Internet was not quite ready for serious computing, at least not in China. He turned to BT Infonet for the solution and the company added the Shanghai node, improving speed and facilitating enhanced communication.
Despite doubling its infrastructure and revenue, Reilly has not doubled Richardson's network expenses - and his network staff remains the same size as it was in 1993. "My network is larger, more complicated and supports a larger population - yet my network expense with BT Infonet has been consistently flat," he commented. As he looks at the challenges of running an enterprise, Reilly is convinced that, "BT Infonet is a company that should be looked at by any enterprise that wants to outsource and manage a network. I have found BT Infonet to be a quality institution; they prefer to do things right."