11 Sep

Top 100 Furniture Retailer Chooses FatPipe SD-WAN to Ensure Business Continuity

SALT LAKE CITY, UT– One of America’s top 100 furniture retailers* has chosen FatPipe SD-WAN technology for multi-line network redundancy and fail-over. Processing orders and general office communications are supported by a site-to-site VPN infrastructure directly connected to its headquarters. “Computer automation is a key element to our overall business process,” said the Network Engineer. A stable VPN is essential to the furniture outlet’s ability to conduct business.

The company realized how mission critical its VPN was when communications to one of its warehouses was cut off for one entire business day due to a downed line. The line was physically cut, accidentally, on account of construction in the area. The data stream was stopped and productivity was significantly affected. They experienced delays in putting through orders because they had to revert to manual processes. Their inventory control was difficult to maintain and had to be reconciled from paper records once the data line was available again.

“Our entire business process for that location was affected when our VPN went down,” said the Network Engineer. Other applications, including email, accounting, inventory software, and warehouse management software all were run over the VPN. “We hit the point where downtime is unacceptable,” said the Network Engineer.

He and his team researched ways to mitigate the effects of WAN downtime. They first considered BGP. According to the Network Engineer, it was a hassle. “We started the ball rolling on implementing BGP and the more we got into it, the more difficult it was becoming, so we looked for an easier solution that was just as effective, but less expensive and time consuming. We chose FatPipe SD-WAN.”

Not only can FatPipe’s SD-WAN conduct line failover automatically, it is dynamic and works with the company’s diverse combination of data lines including DSL – something BGP simply cannot do. The company uses FatPipe to aggregate a mixed breed of DSL, T1, wireless, and Metro-Ethernet rings at the various sites. Data is automatically failed over to available lines if a connection, component, or service fails.

The company also enjoys the added benefit of FatPipe’s patented security overlay technology, MPSec, which provides an additional layer of security.

The Network Engineering teams are implementing other mission critical applications, including VoIP, over its VPN, where IP data route control and QoS will come into play. These features are integrated into FatPipe’s SD-WAN solution.

ABOUT FATPIPE

FatPipe® Networks founders Dr. Ragula Bhaskar and Sanchaita Datta invented the concept of software defined wide area networking and hybrid WANs that eliminate the need for hardware and software, or cooperation from ISPs and allows companies to control WAN traffic. FatPipe currently has 11 U.S. patents and over 180 technology claims related to multipath, software defined networking. FatPipe technology provides the world’s best intra-corporate wide area network solutions that transcend Internet and other network failures to maintain business continuity and high transmission security. FatPipe, with several thousand customers, has offices in the United States, and around the world, with over 700 resellers worldwide including almost all national resellers in the US.

*FatPipe does not release the names of its customers as a general policy of confidentiality.

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Hayley Doehler

(801)281-3434 ext. 2221

E-mail hayley@fatpipeinc.com

25 Aug

Disaster Strike Anytime – Be Prepared

World events in the last few years teach us that at any moment a disaster could strike.  A smart IT Systems Manager would have built a business continuity plan into his scheme of operations, by providing for a sound, tested disaster recovery plan.  What are the essential features of a sound Disaster Recovery Plan?

 Preserve Data:

 For any reason if the business network fails, then the data it contains as well as continuity of data is of paramount importance to restore normality of operations.

 Data Backup:

 For businesses which handle a large volume of data, hourly, daily, weekly or monthly backups may not be enough for effective disaster recovery.  Ideally, data backup should be on a continual, real time basis.

 Detection of Disasters:

 The disaster may affect only one part of business operations but could have a domino effect.   Therefore, quick detection and recovery is important.  In-built diagnostic tools will alert the Systems Manager immediately.

Offsite Location:

 Having a back-up site at a different geographical location will help in disaster recovery in case the damage to the primary site is too extensive for immediate recovery.  The offsite location will give time to re-locate with minimal loss of business continuity.

 WAN Redundancy:

 More important than physical locations is the redundancy available in communication lines.  This is vital for business continuity and disaster recovery.  Seamless redundancy will ensure that business operations are not affected.

 Employee Training:

 Every employee should be given adequate training on the disaster recovery plan.  In the event of a crucial employee being incapacitated, there should be backups in the chain of command to take over.

 Disaster Recovery – Awareness and Attention:

 Complacency is the weakest link in disaster recovery and business continuity.  Employees should be constantly reinforced about the disaster recovery plan and its importance.  Regular drills should be a part of employee training.

 A disaster could strike any time.  A smart organization is prepared for the worst and will recover in the shortest possible time.