Oshkosh Truck spends $4.8 million on disaster-resistant network

Oshkosh, Wis. - To shield itself from natural and man-made disasters, a Wisconsin truck manufacturer is shelling out $4.8 million for a bolstered business network.

The purchase will outfit Oshkosh Truck Corp. with a portfolio of sophisticated networking solutions, including a single converged "self-healing" network to be phased in over five years.

The solutions, provided by AT&T, Inc., one of the world's largest telecommunications companies, are intended to help preserve "mission-critical applications" in the event of a disaster.

Oshkosh Truck manufactures specialty trucks and truck bodies for defense, fire, and emergency use, including an unmanned robotic truck for the military called the TerraMax. Founded in 1917, the company owns manufacturing operations in the U.S., Canada, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, the U.K., and Mexico. It employs more than 8,000 people worldwide.

As part of the agreement with AT&T, the telecom company will deliver connections between Oshkosh Truck's primary and secondary data centers for enhanced network reliability and redundancy, and to ensure a continuous flow of critical business data. In a statement released by Oshkosh Truck, information systems vice president Mike Guzowski expressed his confidence in the security provided by the multiprotocol solution. John Blossom, director of information technology for Oshkosh Truck, echoed those sentiments.

"No one is immune from disaster," Blossom said, but the solution "enhances our sense of security and gives us peace of mind."

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