34 CASESTUDY
RESILIENT UK COMMS HELPS BENETTON DELIVER WITH STYLE
The Italian fashion giant Benetton has deployed the latest in converged communications technology across its UK network
Using
broadband and a VPN is very cost effective, but network failures can cause real operational problems… but with the Funkwerk equipment used, the switchover is automatic.
B
enetton’s continued investment in the latest technology enables it to provide its customers with an unrivalled degree of service while keeping
its administration costs under tight control. Benetton is an established customer of Activator
UK, a specialist European provider of managed, resilient networks. It was recently called on in the latest phase in Benetton’s communications development, which called for high availability at its head offi ce and fl agship Regent Street store, as well as resilience across its network in the UK. Benetton also required a complete managed service with full remote management. The company also wanted the capability to gradually introduce new applications and services, such as greater back-offi ce integration between the UK and the Group’s Italian headquarters, and the roll out of digital signage, which is set to become an increasing feature in United Colors of Benetton stores.
At the beginning of this latest project, Activator UK updated Benetton’s head offi ce with a combination of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and Single- Pair High-speed Digital Subscriber Line (SHDSL) routers installed to prove the Bintec Router Redundancy Protocol (BRRP) capability. BRRP allows two devices to be operated “redundantly” and act as one device within the network. If the network connection drops out or the router should malfunction, data is automatically switched to a back up device. Activator used a pair of Funkwerk routers to completely mask any SHDSL or ADSL failures. They are the R3400 and R3000 models added to Funkwerk’s router family during the last year or so and recently updated and extended at the CeBIT trade show.
The R3400 was designed by Funkwerk specifi cally for high-speed internet access and for virtual private network (VPN) connection for medium sized companies with remote sites or branch offi ces. It is an SHDSL router that provides users with the same high-transmission speed in both directions making it suitable for hosting services such as the provision of web and email servers or for virtual workplaces.
The R3000 router is a multi-protocol router equipped with an integrated ADSL(2+) modem and supports redundant router protocol, which means a pair of routers can automatically handle circuit or hardware/power failure. Phase two of the programme brought the Regent Street store onto the new network to both prove the BRRP capability and to confi rm the resilient features of the VPN, where the routers automatically switch to a back up site and reroute the VPN. “Using broadband and a VPN is very cost effective,
but network failures can cause real operational problems,” said Mark Bishop, IT manager at Benetton. “But with the Funkwerk equipment used, the switchover is automatic, as is the switch back once the problem is resolved. In fact, it works so well at our key sites, that we hardly noticed we’ve had a problem.” The fi nal phase involved completing the network with the introduction of Funkwerk R230a routers to the remote locations. These routers are replacements for the Funkwerk X2301 devices and feature the same level of remote management as the more expensive routers used at Benetton’s head offi ce and the Regent Street store. They can also automatically switch to the backup VPN if there is a network problem. According to Paul Moss, Activator UK director of
sales, using Funkwerk’s routers and its XAdmin network provisioning and management platform throughout the Benetton network allows Activator to provide a full managed service, “even down to tracing IP packets at any site remotely”. He added: “Funkwerk helped us identify and resolve some ISP [internet service provider] negotiation issues, which were diagnosed remotely via the internet and they also worked with us to enhance their BRRP capability so that we could migrate a tried and tested ISDN solution to DSL.”
Benetton now has a highly available resilient VPN that can be enhanced with new internet protocol (IP) applications with inherent IP quality of service, providing the ability to manage and prioritise mission-critical applications, such as card processing.
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY MARCH/APRIL 2010
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