| I recently attended a trade show aimed at owners and | | | | Private, Managed: This option eliminates the need to |
| operators of convenience stores. Dynamic speakers | | | | hire Remote Access Specialists or highly trained (and |
| at the show inspired many attendees to ask lots of | | | | expensive) engineers who have experience with |
| thoughtful questions. As I stood in our booth talking to | | | | WAN technology. A private, managed service provider |
| these business owners a theme developed: "Should | | | | will help you architect the WAN, provide project |
| we network our stores? And if so, what is the best | | | | management for the implementation, and proactively |
| solution for our business?"Wide Area Networks | | | | monitor the network 24/7/365 once it is turned up. This |
| (WANs) can often be the technology investment that | | | | results in a fast, secure network that will not require |
| doubles your revenue. ---okay, maybe not double. But | | | | encryption.2. VPN, Unmanaged: This is the |
| I've got your attention and a WAN is definitely a | | | | do-it-yourself network that can be self-managed until |
| "bottom line" builder.In fourteen years of network | | | | you hit about four or five stores. After that, it becomes |
| engineering I have orchestrated successful WAN | | | | unwieldy to manage and remember multiple broadband |
| implementations streamlining ordering, eliminating | | | | providers. You will need to have someone (or a team |
| overtime expenses and reducing shrink. But does | | | | of technicians) who can travel to the stores and install |
| every business need a WAN? Answering six key | | | | the equipment as well as (regularly) maintain the |
| questions ---Who, What, When, Where, Why and How | | | | firewall security and perform firmware updates.3. VPN, |
| (including How Much)--- is the start to finding out.Who: | | | | Managed: In this scenario mission critical data travels |
| Get support from all departments. Anyone who will be | | | | over the public Internet between the store and the |
| affected will need to be involved at some level. A | | | | corporate office. A hardware device (or software) at |
| WAN is a significant investment, and even if it will be | | | | each end goes through the process of building a |
| used only for Point-of-Sale (POS) traffic the project | | | | "tunnel" between the stores and the data center. Then |
| will go much smoother if there is buy-in from the CEO | | | | each device encrypts the data packets on one end, |
| on down. A new WAN will touch training, sales, | | | | and decrypts them on the other. Keeping the VPN |
| inventory, purchasing, accounts receivable, accounts | | | | Tunnel up is intensive enough. Add on to that the hard |
| payable, IT, and everyone in between. It's better to | | | | work of encryption and decryption and you will |
| bring them in than wish you had.What: Choosing a | | | | experience high latency and network outages when |
| hardware platform is an important decision. The wrong | | | | the tunnel drops.The marketplace is rife with WAN |
| decision now may cost tens of thousands of dollars | | | | providers. This has led to phenomenal competition. |
| two years from now when you want to roll out VoIP | | | | Competition leads to innovation (another reason to only |
| and your hardware won't handle it. Open your eyes to | | | | build for a five year period). Some of the newest |
| the BIG picture and prepare for the future. I | | | | players (2000 to present) bring the best value to their |
| recommend to my clients that they should think out no | | | | customers. The tier 1 providers are, of course, still |
| more than five years. The infrastructure will be ready | | | | there. Smaller, more agile companies may provide the |
| for a facelift at that time.When: Just as critical as | | | | flexibility you need. How much you invest needs to be |
| "Why". Time is a balancing act. Take as much time as | | | | in direct proportion to the service you receive. Find a |
| you can to design and implement your WAN properly. | | | | company that wants to help you be successful. Have |
| Moving too quickly will leave holes that someone | | | | at least two meetings with a company before you |
| (probably you) will fall into. One of my clients had tried | | | | start to discuss the "How Much" question. It is |
| the DIY approach before contacting me for help. He | | | | absolutely essential that you both understand what will |
| implemented his 32 point WAN too quickly and the | | | | be needed in terms of bandwidth, uptime, monitoring, |
| results were catastrophic. The stores didn't have | | | | redundancy, billing, and other services. Remember, this |
| enough bandwidth to work properly and the VPN | | | | is an investment to increase revenue. "But David, how |
| tunnels were not properly secured. He spent the | | | | can that be?", you ask. Consider this:Fraud, theft, |
| majority of his time just keeping the WAN running and | | | | Inventory shrink are all losses we would like to |
| was not able to keep up with his day-to-day work. But, | | | | eliminate. Your new WAN will allow for immediate |
| as I wrote earlier, time is a balancing act. If you take | | | | access to POS transactions, current inventory levels, |
| too long precious momentum is lost and it becomes | | | | and make catching the "till dipper" red-handed, adding |
| easy to overlook an element of the project, such as | | | | thousands to your bottom line. Video surveillance will |
| the IP addressing scheme. I have often said, "A WAN | | | | also help catch the nighttime burglar, not to mention the |
| is a living, breathing creature and sometimes it has | | | | rogue employee that has inventory going out the back |
| attitude"!Where: This is an interesting part of the design | | | | door. The entire world is quickly moving toward Voice |
| decisions. Certainly each store will be part of the WAN | | | | over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and for good reason. |
| but what about corporate HQ? Maybe now is the time | | | | Site-to-site calls are free! Site to Corporate calls are |
| to co-locate your data-center in a secure, professional | | | | free! Long distance charges can be eliminated! Sending |
| facility? You may benefit from inviting a choice vendor | | | | credit card and gift card transactions over the WAN |
| or two into the WAN (called an ExtraNet). If you have | | | | will reduce the processing time from 30 - 40 seconds |
| retail stores you may want to be connected to your | | | | down to 2 - 3 seconds. Customers move quickly |
| credit card processor for faster (and potentially less | | | | through the check out line and have a happier |
| expensive) transactions. The same is true for gift card | | | | experience, bringing them back more often. Additionally, |
| processors, VoIP providers, etc.Why: There are so | | | | processors may lower your per-transaction fees for |
| many reasons. The one I hear most often is, "We | | | | using a faster connection than dial-up. Creating a WAN |
| want to get access to the POS data for each of our | | | | will eliminate the need for costly phone lines. A |
| stores." or, "We want to start using e-mail". Other | | | | broadband connection can share your existing fax line |
| reasons may include to reviewing inventory levels, | | | | and you may be able to eliminate lines for ATM |
| implementing a new enterprise application, providing | | | | machines, credit card machines, and others. These add |
| online training to store staff, monitoring video | | | | up to very real dollars being pushed straight to your |
| surveillance, or adding VoIP. It is critical to explore all of | | | | bottom line.Making the decision to design and |
| the reasons well in advance. Identifying as many | | | | implement a WAN is a terrific first step. Don't |
| desired components at the front end will maximize | | | | underestimate the amount of effort and time that will |
| benefits and ROI. When the time comes to design the | | | | be required to make your project a success. Find a |
| network, each application will have its own network | | | | good partner in the marketplace that is like-minded and |
| requirements.How (or How Much): WANs come in | | | | will work with you flexibly to meet and exceed your |
| different colors and flavors. Private, hosted, VPN, | | | | needs.David Chambers helps clients design, build, and |
| software based, hardware based, broadband, layer 2, | | | | manage their network infrastructures. He lives in Dallas, |
| and layer 3 are just a few options available. To break | | | | TX with his lovely wife of four years and their two |
| it down more simply consider these three options:1. | | | | children. He may be reached at or 866-607-9468. |