Retail Multiservice WAN Consortium Sees Network Convergence as
Delivering New Cost-effective Solutions for Retailers
02:35 p.m May 27, 1998 Eastern
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 27, 1998--Recent advances in
wide area network (WAN) technology are enabling retailers to deploy emerging
applications that will provide a new source of competitive advantage, according to a
consortium of retailers that met recently to review networking technology standards
and carrier provisioned WAN services.
Using new multiservice WAN solutions, retailers are able to converge voice, video
and data traffic on a single network infrastructure, resulting in expanded data
bandwidth capable of supporting new applications as well as dramatically improving
telecommunications cost efficiency.
"Major retailers collectively spend billions of dollars each year on
telecommunications, making this their number one information technology expense
after salaries," said Jeff Siegel, 3Com (NASDAQ: COMS) group manager for
retail, distribution and lodging. "As such, retailers are looking for new, innovative
solutions to support the growing network traffic brought on by emerging Java,
browser, multimedia, and video-based store applications."
The Retail Multiservice WAN Consortium recently held its first meeting at The
Home Depot's corporate headquarters in Atlanta to define evolving WAN
requirements and to discuss new solutions and standards most applicable to the
highly decentralized retail environment. During the two day session, the Consortium,
which includes The Home Depot, Marriott International, Kinko's, Service
Merchandise, Hannaford Bros., and CompUSA, together with 3Com Corporation,
began work on defining a set of specifications for the provisioning and
implementation of converged WANs for large-scale retail enterprise
infrastructures. The draft specifications describe the standards, services, and
equipment requirements for carriers and WAN switch vendors to adhere to, both in
the carriers' network and in-store. These include standards for voice compression,
equipment interoperability, and policy management.
Some leading retail chains, including Wegmans Food Markets and Shaw's
Supermarkets, are already realizing the cost benefits of network convergence by
running voice, video and data applications over a single T1 connection to the store.
This time division-based convergence represents a cost-effective solution for those
retailers with growing data bandwidth requirements, yet have limited on-net
(internal) long distance voice traffic.
"Convergence of voice and data holds the promise of cost-effectively scaling
bandwidth to support an ever growing amount of traffic resulting from the
deployment of new applications including those that involve video," said Dave Ellis,
The Home Depot's director of I.T. "We see the need to explore next-generation
WAN solutions that go beyond the limitations inherent in frame-based
convergence."
Looking ahead, retailers will benefit from new carrier multiservice offerings that
provide convergence to the stores over frame relay or ATM based networks.
Another alternative, particularly well suited for more intensive voice, data, and video
requirements is ATM based convergence. Many large retailers are now deploying
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) in the local area network (LAN), both at the
corporate office and in-store. ATM is the same technology that is being used by
many telecommunications service providers in their internal wide area networks,
including MCI. By using ATM to converge separate voice and data networks into a
single multiservice network, retailers with more intensive on-net voice and data
requirements are beginning to cost-effectively scale their data bandwidth to the
stores and support a new breed of multi-content applications.
"Marriott International has deployed Frame Relay to interconnect hotel and resort
properties over the past two years and we are pleased with the results. However,
flexible, cost effective network bandwidth will be even more critical for us in the
future," stated Barry Shuler, vice president, Information Resources Strategy and
Planning for Marriott International. "We are very interested in WAN supplier
approaches to the convergence of voice and data in networks of the future -- and
more specifically, supplier approaches that leverage existing network investments."
Others have skipped Frame Relay altogether, migrating directly from older VSAT
(very small aperture terminal) technology to converged ATM-based WAN
solutions. "In the state of Maine, where Hannaford Bros. is based, we have already
begun deployment of our converged ATM-based WAN out to our stores," stated
Bill Homa, CIO of Hannaford Bros. "We were fortunate to have Bell Atlantic as
our carrier because they listened and understood the large market opportunity this
offers for forward thinking carriers. A goal of the Consortium is to ensure that
these services are provisioned and tariffed appropriately on a national basis."
Regardless of technology approach, the aim of the Retail MultiService WAN
Consortium is to spur carriers to deliver convergence based solutions in ways that
cost-effectively map with the highly decentralized nature of the retail industry.
Retail organizations throughout the world use 3Com(R) enabled networks for their
point-of-sale and back-office in-store networks as well as for building retail
enterprise intranets which connect stores, distribution centers, and regional and
corporate offices. 3Com is a founder of the Retail Network Innovation Awards; a
program designed to recognize retailer innovation in the use of networked
applications. Additional information on 3Com's innovative solutions for retailers is
available at 3com.com. About 3Com
3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to communicate
and share information and resources at anytime from anywhere. As one of the
world's preeminent suppliers of data, voice and video communications technology,
3Com has delivered networking solutions to more than 100 million customers
worldwide. The company provides large enterprises, small and medium enterprises,
carriers and network service providers, and consumers with comprehensive,
innovative information access products and system solutions for building intelligent,
reliable and high performance local and wide area networks. For further
information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at 3com.com or the
press site at 3com.com .
Rally? Ignore it, maybe it will go away.
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