The basic solution of SCM Network construction in supply chain management

Http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/14310.html "> Supply chain Management (SCM) application is developed on the basis of enterprise resource planning (ERP), which makes the company's manufacturing process, Inventory systems and vendor-generated data are combined to showcase the various impact factors of the product construction process from a unified perspective. With its flexibility and Time-to-market, SCM helps managers allocate resources efficiently, maximizing efficiency and reducing work cycles. Maintaining continuous communication and tight integration is the key to success, starting with a reliable network infrastructure. The following is an overview of the business value of deploying SCM, while the SCM backend requirements, front-end requirements, network management and reporting, and the Web Interface section more detail the technical considerations for implementation.

In the basic relationship between manufacturer-consumer-supplier, each participant plays a variety of roles in the supply/value/demand chain. The interaction between them is accelerating, becoming a matter of great importance, and providing additional performance requirements for the supported network infrastructure. With the globalization of the supply chain, the complexity of the network has also increased. Therefore, the network infrastructure must ensure the data integrity and performance required by the supply chain.

Successful SCM implementations require the network to have the following key characteristics:

* Interoperability: SCM must be able to support many different networks, application software, and database resources.

* Reliability: Timely event routing requires partial network and server fault tolerance and redundancy.

* Scalability: The successful implementation of the SCM will increase sales, order and volume, so the infrastructure must provide flexibility and scalability.

* Performance: Because SCM needs to make decisions that are close to real-time, the network must be guided by advanced quality of service (QoS) mechanisms.

* Manageability: The network must regularly monitor QoS and application performance, and must also support various profiling tools and manage the flow of information.

* Security: More and more the Internet is used by SCM capabilities. This requires the addition of comprehensive encryption measures and audit measures.

The backend requires a 3Com network with sufficient bandwidth and very short latency to avoid performance degradation and real-time transaction processing. 3Com solutions include Internet access solutions for traditional narrowband (isdn,v.90) Access and broadband (DSL) access. Connectivity products include OfficeConnect LAN modems for v.90 or ISDN access, RAS 1500 for Midsize enterprise remote access servers and Internet connections, and OfficeConnect products for DSL connections.

Front-End requirements since strategic planning is carried out within a very small scope in most enterprises, SCM applications typically have very few clients. However, these clients must access the SCM system at close to real-time speed. The best way to provide such access in a park or building environment is to upgrade a competing shared LAN topology to a dedicated connection by deploying a switched topology structure. In addition, upgrading to a dedicated Full-duplex Ethernet or Fast Ethernet desktop Connection and upgrading to a corresponding vertical/trunk link significantly increases the available bandwidth of the SCM client (and the entire campus). 3Com's superstack switch and a full range of High-performance network adapters are ideal for this application.

Network management and reporting enterprises must have the means to ensure that the services provided reach a defined level. For SCM, this requires very careful measurement of network behavior. Almost all 3Com products have embedded Rmon agents, and other products have RMON2 agents, which can very carefully identify the application information. The 3Com company also provides rmon/rmon2 hardware detectors. Using TRANSCEND Traffix Manager to examine this data, network experts can monitor the SCM flow of traffic across different protocols. Such feedback allows network experts to constantly adjust their network policies and decide when and where they might need to increase bandwidth.

Web interface Many SCM vendors are adding web interfaces to their applications. There are many kinds of interfaces, from the client screen to the basic HTML (Hypertext Identification Language) interface of the report, to the next generation of Advanced Client interfaces based on Java or ActiveX. For users, from a training and evolution standpoint, a more consistent set of browser interfaces is much more appealing than a dedicated interface. As SCM applications increasingly involve the web, new security and service-level challenges arise. The 3COM network enables SCM implementations to combine the right variety of products. In order to meet these challenges, but also to achieve the value of supply chain planning and management.