AddOn Networks’ fiber optic solutions, essential to the operations of the Customer Innovation Center (CIC) at Stratascale, an SHI company
AddOn transceivers and network cabling are trusted in the operations of the CIC where customers plan, design, explore and validate technology solutions.
About the Customer Innovation Center within Stratascale’s Innovation Labs
SHI developed the Customer Innovation Center (CIC) in 2016 to help customers embrace innovation while minimizing risk in their networking environments. In 2020, Stratascale, an SHI Company, was formed as a consultative arm, with the purpose of helping customers realize the benefits of Digital Agility without the high costs, prolonged timescales, and operational disruptions.
As part of Stratascale’s Innovation Labs, the CIC, which is located at SHI’s corporate headquarters in Somerset, New Jersey, is part of a ‘bigger ecosystem’ that includes a research team that provides client-focused industry analysis and briefings, and a technical advisory group that test-fits SHI/Stratascale solutions against clients’ current business and technical requirements, future needs, budgets, and timelines. The CIC provides an experience and is the nucleus for helping clients put innovation to work. Through Innovation Labs and the CIC, SHI and Stratascale clients are able to:
- Accelerate their adoption of emerging technologies.
- Build capabilities that facilitate their strategic transformation.
- Discover their path towards market and industry domination.
- Empower themselves and thrive in this ever-changing digital world.
Technical integration takes place within the CIC in three distinct labs. The first is the main showcase lab used for demonstrations and proof of concepts (POCs) which help customers verify certain features that have the potential for real-world applications. The second is an end-user lab with industry focused applications for education, healthcare, retail, industrial, eSports, and the office of the future. The third lab consists of open rack spaces for customers to fully vet new technologies while minimizing risk in their environments. The CIC provides empty rack space, power, cooling, and VPN access, so customers can bring their own gear or work with a manufacturer to procure the resources required for their project.
Jim Middleton, Managing Director of Stratascale’s Innovation Labs tells the story best, “What drives enterprise customers crazy is the lack of ownership when a project isn’t going according to plan. Give us your hardest problem, we’ll figure it out. We will bring everything together, from consulting, to research, to integration and adoption, with one team, one organization, and one owner – backed by an $11B organization with 31 years of experience. This is our ‘secret sauce.’”
AddOn Networks’ collaboration with Stratascale
SHI and AddOn Networks share the same goal in ensuring that customers can embrace innovation, simplify technological advancements, and trust in the products and solutions they bring into their environment.
AddOn’s partnership with SHI began in 2015, and in 2018, AddOn products were deployed in the CIC network to enable product comparisons, design validation, and multi-vendor solution evaluations to ultimately help customers reduce risks, costs, and time to market when rolling out new technology applications. These products included transceivers, DACs (Direct Attach Cables), AOCs (Active Optical Cables), patch cables, and accessories. According to Ken Ciolek, Senior Solution Architect, “AddOn provides us with quick responses and delivery of products needed in the CIC. They are easy to work with and the products are reliable.”
The CIC, like most organizations, operates by using equipment from many vendors. AddOn products are ideal for multi-vendor environments because they support more than 100 Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). As stated by Tim Henning, Director of Engineering and Architecture, “In the Customer Innovation Center, we have a wide array of networking equipment. AddOn makes it easy for us to get everything connected. When connecting an HPE server to Dell and Cisco switches, you need to make sure the SFPs are compatible and will give you the expected performance levels. With AddOn, we know it will work the first time with no troubleshooting or intermittent problems.”
The pace of technological advancements is rapid and increasingly complex so organizations must find ways to harness digital agility to keep their businesses in stride with progress. Stratascale, along with leading manufacturers like AddOn, provides the infrastructure and expertise to do so. The ease of use and dependability of AddOn optics within the CIC frees up time for the team to focus on the core activities of research, consulting, and integration efforts – all for the benefit of customers. AddOn Networks is fundamental in helping Stratascale develop and deliver cost-effective network solutions for clients. Both businesses are jointly committed to ensuring clients have everything they need to scale, innovate, and build their network environments for years to come.
About AddOn Networks
AddOn Networks is the global leader in optical connectivity solutions serving data center, enterprise, government, education, and healthcare provider networks. It operates in over 25 countries through its long-standing commercial channels to provide continuity of supply and world-class service. AddOn offers a full network catalog of optical transceivers and high-speed cabling which are 100% compatible in form and functionality across 100 OEM manufacturers, covering more than 20,000 systems
and platforms. Its certified solutions are backed by a lifetime warranty and 24/7/365 global field engineering support.
About Stratascale
Stratascale brings a consultancy first approach to helping organizations rapidly adapt in response to business changes and challenges through technology innovation. We call this digital agility. As a wholly owned subsidiary of $11B SHI International, Stratascale’s researchers, technical advisors, consultants, and field service professionals seamlessly integrate with SHI’s world-class procurement, implementation, and managed services capabilities, giving customers access to a truly integrated end-to-end partner for enabling their business to technology transformative journey.
For more information, visit www.stratascale.com.
About SHI
Founded in 1989, SHI International Corp. is an $11 billion global provider of technology products and services. Driven by the industry’s most experienced and stable sales force and backed by software volume licensing experts, hardware procurement specialists, and certified IT services professionals, SHI delivers custom IT solutions to Corporate, Enterprise, Public Sector, and Academic customers. With over 5,000 employees worldwide, SHI is the largest Minority and Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) in the U.S. For more information, visit www.SHI.com.
