Automating the management freight

A railway's network overhaul begins with automation and saves $600,000.

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Network Management Enterprise All Stars

Guide to the '06 All-Stars Winners alphabetical listing WINNERS BY TECHNOLOGY Applications | LANs & Routers | Network Management | OS, Servers & Data Center | Security | Storage | WAN, VoIP & Convergence | Wireless & Mobility WINNERS BY INDUSTRY Construction | Education | Financial Services | Government | Healthcare | Manufacturing | Media | Retail | Travel/Transportation | Utilities Vendors to the All-Stars

BNSF Railway prides itself on its 150-year history. That a historic transportation company has become a modern, agile shipping giant has much to do with its sophisticated use of network-management technology.

BNSF Railway has embraced automated management processes to handle changes across thousands of network devices. Without such automation, the company's efforts to revamp both its wireless and wired infrastructures would derail, says Greg Britz, manager, Technology Services, for the Fort Worth, Texas-based railway.

"Engineering needs a consistent way of configuring and managing devices systemwide. Up to this point, configuration had been a manual process. We had manuals and guidelines, but any error could occur," he says. "An automated tool helps keep configurations consistent across platforms."

BNSF Railway earns distinction as a 2006 Enterprise All-Star for its adoption of automated change and configuration management, using Opsware's Network Automation System, and for applying the technology in massive network upgrades. BNSF Railway reports an expected $600,000 in cost savings over three years, on its Opsware investment of $295,000.