20 COVERSTORY
RETAIL
specialist providers offering real value-added services to the retail sector, including data networking, telephony and a payment service, is new ground for retailers. An example of a recent entrant to the
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market that is making good ground providing such a service is Iconnyx. The company has partnered with major specialist providers to deliver a new converged internet protocol (IP) communications solution for retailers. The service combines hosted IP telephony from TeleWare with an IP payment transaction gateway from Transaction Network Services (TNS), all of which is delivered through the robust multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network provided by Iconnyx. The combined solution is delivered for one monthly fee, which is signifi cantly more cost effective than traditional standalone systems. This simplifi ed approach also makes the roll out of new retail outlets very straightforward and easy to manage. Tim Walker, managing director of Iconnyx, commented: “Iconnyx has experience of working with retailers such as Thomas Sabo, Micro Anvika and IN’n’OUT, running a number of different services for them, which puts us in a strong position to understand the retail sector’s communication needs and to provide a feature-rich solution.”
genuinely unique set of managed services for the retail sector is often hard to fi nd. A combination of
COMMUNICATIONS IS IN THE BAG
As Iconnyx looks ahead into 2011, the UK managed services operator is advocating a joined-up view of retail networking, telephony and payment services
Understanding the importance of the underlying infrastructure for retailers
MPLS versus IPSEC networks The vast majority of retailers use a data network to connect their stores and headquarters together. Usually this is formed by a broadband internet circuit at each store and a larger leased line circuit at head offi ce. Such networks are typically used for internet access, email and for synchronising fi nancial and logistical information. Typically, retailers will use a traditional tunnel-based virtual private network (VPN) using internet protocol-based security (IPSec) or another encrypted protocol to prevent unauthorised access to their network. This requires expensive specialist routers with fi rewalls and VPN capability. Each site usually has to have a static IP address and the initial confi guration of the network is quite complex. Ongoing moves
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
and changes need to be carefully managed as they affect every user on the network. Router costs and management overhead are often four or fi ve times the cost of the broadband circuit itself. Another drawback of using IPSec VPNs is that they do not easily support quality of service (QoS). Therefore Iconnyx pointed out that these networks cannot reliably be used for any real-time services such as voice, video or payment processing. In order to also support telephony and
fi nancial transactions, a more robust IP network is required to underpin the service. An MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) network is a type of virtual private network offering a simple and very secure method of connecting multiple sites together, which are usually much quicker to deploy. A key benefi t of an MPLS network is that it does not require expensive routers, because the service provider builds the network and manages the routing on its own core switches, without needing any special confi guration on the customer site. MPLS easily supports QoS, meaning that the prioritisation, quality and delivery of voice calls, video playback and payment transactions can be guaranteed.
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