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The Redeeming Qualities Of Val-Pak's Network
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Everyone has received an envelope of coupons in the mail, offering everything from free pizzas to dry cleaner discounts. Behind these money-saving offers is a high-volume, high-speed network that pumps out billions of coupons every year. "Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, huge images are floated onto the network," says Alan Robson, Val-Pak director of IS. Val-Pak Direct Marketing Systems, a cooperative, direct mail advertising company based in Largo, Fla., has franchises across the U.S. and Canada. Churning out countless coupons requires two facilities in Largo--one for administration and one for production--which are linked by redundant T1s to a graphics facility in Las Vegas. Val-Pak's network connects 750 system components on an AppleTalk and IP network. The underlying infrastructure is switched Ethernet, FDDI and 10BASE-T. Remote users can dial in via Shiva's LanRover from home or on the road, into 3Com ONcore concentrators and Cisco routers. An Internet Web site, (http://www.valpak.com), provides information about Val-Pak and posts test coupons for market research. Val-Pak uses CE Software's QuickMail for internal communications. A project to install Windows NT servers and Windows95 on desktops is being evaluated, which also would provide Netscape on Macs or PCs for e-mail and internal services. "Our network goal is achieved when our customers are able to take access to information for granted," says Robson. To create a coupon, a sales rep takes an order from a vendor, then decides what materials are required, some of which may be images stored on graphics servers or need to be scanned into the system. The artist designs the ad using Quark on a Mac. The dummy ad rests on SPARC or Apple Workgroup servers while a four-color proof is printed. Then it is sent to the sales rep via modem or FedEx. The ad is then taken off the Rasterizing Image Processing Server (RIPS) and is transferred to a film plate for printing. Supporting this process are Sun SPARC 1000E servers that handle 120 GB of graphics applications and photo research databases. Artists use a graphics application built around a Sybase database running on a Sun SPARC. Apple Workgroup Servers contain multiple 80 GB of files of various graphics and data: order numbers, reference fi les, past artwork, clip art, logos. Others included are reference applications and Primac's Unidata business database application. Val-Pak plans to set up individual Web sites for database access. "Managing fluctuations in network data traffic is a challenge," says Robson. "There are rush periods and low-volume periods. Production is cyclical. There are short windows to gauge usage or plan growth when traffic peaks at different times." Val-Pak is ready to integrate two RISC 6000 servers to store 30 GB of business applications and data, which will supplement a Tandem system.
January 15, 1996
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