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