Juniper Networks, the industry network innovation service provider, has been selected by Muthoot Group, the global gold loan firm, as its strategic network partner. Muthoot Group has deployed Juniper Networks SRX Series Services Gateways and EX Series Ethernet Switches at its datacentres and branch offices across India. Muthoot Group, a large gold loan corporation with 4,200+ branches has been facing stiff competition within its market segment. To address the dual challenge of maintaining profitable growth while remaining competitive, the company has developed a customised core banking application to streamline the delivery of standardised service offerings across thousands of branch offices via a robust and secure IP network.
The new network enables Muthoot Group to guarantee its 20 million customers that their loan applications will be processed in a matter of minutes, delivering a level of service competitors find hard to match. Muthoot Group’s robust network infrastructure enables it to achieve high uptime, security and scalability needed to meet its business objectives.
Juniper Networks set up a virtual Muthoot Group branch at its Bangalore R&D centre to simulate use of an SRX100 Services Gateway within a typical branch environment. The SRX100 supports a rich set of features, including redundant MPLS links over fixed and wireless networks, application- and policy-based routing control, and a complete suite of a Unified Threat Management services.
At Muthoot Group’s main datacentre and disaster recovery site, high-availability SRX3600 clusters have been deployed to provide high-performance firewall and virtual private network services capable of supporting up to 7,500 secure connections simultaneously. In larger Muthoot Group branches, EX2200 Ethernet Switches provide more network access ports, giving the company the flexibility to deploy cost-effective, secure and reliable branch business environments.
The company has also deployed EX8208 Ethernet Switches as the high-performance, high-availability core of its datacentre networks, helping to deliver rapid application response at Muthoot Group branch offices.
All Juniper Networks SRX Series Services Gateways and EX Series Switches run the Junos operating system, providing a common platform and robust foundation of network operations. With the help of the Juniper Networks Network and Security Manager software, Junos OS enables administrators to orchestrate policy enforcement and streamline configuration management across the network.
“To maintain the number one position in the market and future-proof our rapidly growing branch network, we required a mission-critical, robust and scalable network. Juniper Networks branch and datacentre network solutions were clearly the best to address our business and technical challenges. As ssecurity is extremely important; we need to be able to secure transactions across branches and deploy IP-based camera surveillance to prevent fraud. With Juniper’s solutions in place, we are now well positioned to deliver customer service excellence while continuing on our rapid growth path,” said George Alexander, Managing Director, The Muthoot Group.
Ravi Chauhan, Managing Director India and SAARC, Juniper Networks, said, “The new Muthoot Group branch network is a showcase for Juniper Networks SRX Series and EX Series, which integrate essential capabilities that connect, secure and manage workforce locations from branch offices to the datacentre. With high-performance routing, switching, wireless and security applications and capabilities consolidated into a single device, Muthoot Group will be able to deliver streamlined services to millions of its customers economically and securely.”