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Retailer Runs Voice-Data WAN for Better Service April 3, 2000 By Kelly Jackson Higgins Even with all their marketing flash and savvy, retailers typically are a conservative bunch when it comes to technology--dial-up polling is still the norm in many stores. But not so for Wilsons Leather. The leather retailer runs an integrated voice-and-data frame relay WAN that links its 550 stores nationwide. The 128-Kbps PVC frame relay network replaced the company's separate voice network and multiple analog phone lines it used for plucking data from its stores after-hours. With the consolidated pipe, Wilsons Leather uses a single long-distance carrier over the backbone so all its stores get the best voice rates, too. And voice, of course, gets priority over data traffic. Still, the quality of the voice calls was a bit shaky over frame relay at first. "Originally, there were some areas in the network where voice quality sounded like a cell phone," says Terry Weyandt, director of technical and network services for Wilsons Leather. Weyandt and his staff installed an upgrade to Cisco Systems' IOS software in the Cisco MC3810 frame relay routers to remedy the voice-grade problem, which mostly involved some delay in the routing software, Weyandt says. Another hurdle was dealing with local telcos. Wilsons had to coordinate installation of the network among AT&T, its long distance and frame relay provider, and the local and CLEC carriers across the country. "We were dealing with 38 different local carriers throughout the United States," Weyandt says. Among other things, Wilsons had to get service-level agreements from each. Today, all the stores' applications--including POS (point-of-sale), time and attendance and employee management--run on Wilsons' main Internet Information Server in Minneapolis, so old-fashioned dial-up polling is history. "For the store application, except POS, the data never leaves the home office," Weyandt says. Each store is outfitted with an MC3810 router, which shoots the voice and data traffic over frame relay to headquarters, where the voice traffic gets sent to the central PBX, and the data gets sent to the corporate IP network. The stores themselves run IP-based Ethernet LANs, and Weyandt says he plans to test-run Web-based kiosks in the stores so customers can order online. The retailer also is launching online interviewing for job applicants over the Web and via these kiosks. The newest piece of the network is a next-generation POS system, which Wilsons Leather is currently installing on the LANs in its stores. The new system will let corporate check inventory throughout the day, and check sales stats at any time. "That way we can manage and replenish the stores more quickly with the right products at the right time," Weyandt says. The leather retailer chose frame relay over IP for security reasons, and at the time, going to IP was more expensive. "That's not to say we wouldn't go IP in the future--we are set up for it," Weyandt says. Wilsons Leather also is considering video-based training over its frame relay network for broadcasting educational content to the stores, as well as videoconferences with management. "The network has opened up a lot of 'out of the box' thinking for us," Weyandt says.

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