®

Next-Generation Retail Networks

3 C o m T e c h n i c a l P a p e r s

Future-Proofing and

Bullet-Proofing the

Store Network

11

Next-Generation Retail NetworksFuture-Proofing and Bullet-Proofing the Store Network

Contents

The Business Opportunity: A New Retail Paradigm 2

Today’s Retail Network Profile 3

Business Requirements for the Next-Generation Retail Network 4

Challenge #1: Future-Proofing the Store LAN 5

Two Views of Scaling Store Network Performance: Near-Term vs. Long-Term 6

Strategy 1: Shared Network Architecture 7

American Stores’ Shared Segmented LAN (box) 8

Strategy 2: Switched Network Architecture 9

Carnival Cruise Lines’ Integrated Switched “Store” LAN (box) 10

Challenge #2: Future-Proofing the Store WAN 12

ATM-Based WANs Scale to Meet Capacity Demands 12

Kinko’s High-Performance Switched Store Network (box) 12

Station Casinos’ Future-Proofed ATM LAN/WAN (box) 13

ATM Features Suit Retail Network Needs 14

Challenge #3: Bullet-Proofing the LAN and WAN 14

Fault Tolerance at the LAN Edge 15

Marks & Spencer’s Fault-Tolerant LAN Network (box) 16

Fault Tolerance at the Heart of the Store LAN 16

Fault Tolerance at the WAN Interface 17

Wal-Mart’s Fault-Tolerant Wide Area Network (box) 17

Challenge #4: Reducing Cost of Ownership While Improving Network Support 17

VLANs Simplify Network Management 18

RMON and RMON2 Deliver Next-Generation Management 18

The Case for a Single-Vendor Networked Store Solution (box) 19

Web-Based Management Extends Access and Control 20

Remote Management Reduces Management Complexity 20

Conclusion 20

Next-Generation Retail Networks

Future-Proofing and Bullet-Proofing the

Store Network

In today’s highly competitive retail environment,real-time information access is fast becoming theretailer’s most critical asset. Market and technol-ogy changes are transforming the retail enterpriseinto an information-rich, networked system thatis differentiated on the basis of personalized ser-vices and products. Legacy “first-generation” storenetworks and proprietary POS systems cannothandle the challenges of this new environment.Today’s retail IT organization must support newtechnology initiatives that achieve both costreduction and revenue enhancement, and theseinitiatives are increasingly network dependent.

To meet the business needs of retailers, thenext-generation enterprise store network architec-ture must meet the following challenges:• Future-proof the LAN and WAN by dynami-

cally delivering the right amount of band-width performance to individual applicationsor users, and by cost-effectively scaling (eitherincrementally or by order of magnitude) whenneeded

• Bullet-proof the LAN and WAN by offeringunprecedented levels of fault tolerance andnetwork availability, particularly for mission-critical POS, pharmacy, and property manage-ment (lodging) applications

• Reduce the cost of network ownership whiledelivering comprehensive network management

This white paper examines the driving forcesbehind the need for change in retail enterprise/store network architectures. It describes recentinnovations in enterprise network technology—innovations that offer exciting new solutions forretail networks. It includes examples of retailersthat have deployed next-generation networksusing 3Com products. The paper will be of inter-est to retail IT professionals planning the replace-ment of a legacy POS system or the deployment ofnew multimedia kiosk systems, wireless applica-tions, or bandwidth-hungry, WAN-basedintranet, video, and voice applications.

The Business Opportunity: A New

Retail Paradigm

In the past, value creation and profitability forlarge retail organizations has depended onhow well the business was organized aroundmerchandise and real estate. Information wascentrally controlled, suppliers were driven inwin/lose adversarial relationships, and retailerscompeted largely on the basis of price. Butpervasive network infrastructure is nowenabling the breakdown of traditional bound-aries in the value chain between manufactur-ers, distributors, retailers, and customers.These changes let retail organizations createcustomer-focused interactions in ways thatwere never before possible.

In today’s hyper-competitive world, theretailer’s most critical assets are shifting frominventory and real estate to real-time informa-tion access. It no longer matters where theinformation or the applications reside. Theretail enterprise is becoming an information-rich, networked system that delivers personal-ized services and products on an individualcustomer basis. Customer information isbeing leveraged to reveal new and overlookedbusiness opportunities, define target marketsegments, support marketplace alliances, andturn customer service into a competitiveadvantage.

Historically, most large-format storeretailers have invested heavily in distributedin-store systems for both point-of-sale (POS)and back-office functions. But the IT organi-zation’s ability to fully leverage these invest-ments has been impeded by the cost andcomplexity of deploying and managing a dis-tributed, multivendor, multiplatform storeenvironment. Faced with relentless competi-tive pressures and shifting consumer lifestylesand preferences, today’s retail IT organizationmust respond with initiatives that achieveboth cost reduction and revenue enhancement.

Recent advances in software and net-working technologies, together with the wide-spread use of the public Internet, have led to afundamental shift in thinking about howretailers can best implement new businessprocesses and applications. Retailers are nowbeginning to strategically leverage their

22

Acronyms andAbbreviations

ATM

Asynchronous Transfer

Mode

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital

Network

FDDI

Fiber Distributed Data

Interface

IMA

inverse multiplexing over

ATM

JPOS

Java-based point of sale

NIC

network interface card

OLE

Object Linking and

Embedding

OPOS

OLE for point of sale

PBX

private branch exchange

POS

point of sale

network infrastructure, shifting from a com-plex, costly, and difficult-to-manage distrib-uted database/application architecture to onethat reduces complexity and cost by centraliz-ing information resources and delivering real-time information access to the store.

In this new, network-centric paradigm,Java-based applications, together with a ubiq-uitous, browser-based interface, enable real-time access to data whether it resides in thestore, in the corporate or regional office, oreven in suppliers’ systems. By deploying newapplications together with more intelligentand robust networks, forward-thinking retail-ers are finding that they can reap substantialbenefits, including:• Enhanced business opportunities from new

revenue-producing services• Tighter integration between in-store and

enterprise applications and data• Reduced systems development time and

maintenance costs• Faster response time in a continuously

changing market• Stronger customer loyalty as a result of more

consistently meeting customer needsBut yesterday’s proprietary POS systems,

legacy back-office applications, and aging net-work infrastructures won’t support the appli-cations being developed today. And the signif-icant growth in traffic over the networkinfrastructure presents serious challenges tothe retail IT organization. To achieve the ben-efits of real-time information access, storenetworks must deliver unprecedented perfor-mance, scalability, and reliability. Becauseinvestments in networked store systems repre-sent the single largest network capital expendi-ture for retailers, the next-generation storenetwork architecture must future-proof theenterprise against tomorrow’s high-bandwidthLAN and WAN applications, bullet-proof itfor maximum uptime and reliability, andequip it with effective, proactive systemsmanagement.

In this new retail world, applicationdevelopment cannot be effectively plannedand budgeted without first understanding thenetwork implications and requirements. Thisunderstanding will allow non-network IT

professionals to assess the performance, relia-bility, and scalability factors so important toapplication success.

Today’s Retail Network Profile

Most large-format stores today run on first-generation back-office LANs that connect PCsand terminals to an in-store server runningUNIX, OS/2, or increasingly, Windows NT.These back-office networks typically have lessthan 30 nodes and are characterized by sharedtechnologies, low bandwidth, and little or nomanageability. Applications run on shared 10Mbps Ethernet or 4/16 Mbps Token Ringhub-based workgroups. A typical store associ-ate’s edge device (POS terminal, PC worksta-tion, or wireless handheld device) realizes atmost 3 Mbps of actual bandwidth. This lim-ited bandwidth has been sufficient to supportpredominantly character-mode, operations-driven applications such as inventory andlabor management, and line-of-trade specificapplications such as pharmacy. Customer-critical applications like POS and pharmacytypically run on dedicated servers supportinga small number of PCs or terminals to ensureadequate application performance andreliability.

Back-office LANs typically coexist with,but are distinct from, proprietary POS systemsthat frequently date back 8 to 12 years ormore. The self-contained, legacy POS systemsare limited by smaller screens, 286- or 386-based processors, and a closed architecturethat limits integration of new technologiesand applications and results in highermaintenance costs. POS servers are typicallydeployed in a redundant configuration thatoffers a very high degree of system availability.Both the back-office applications and the POSsystem use isolated data applications andrepositories that make information exchangedifficult at both the inter-store and intra-storelevels.

Ironically, the network is often the weak-est link in the legacy POS system. Given thecustomer-critical nature of the POS system,retailers have historically paid a premium forthird-party solutions that attempt to overcomesome of the inherent weaknesses in proprietary

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Acronyms andAbbreviations

PSTN

public switched telephone

network

RMON

Remote Monitoring

RSL

Resilient Server Link

SNA

Systems Network

Architecture

SNMP

Simple Network

Management Protocol

TCP/IP

Transmission Control

Protocol/Internet Protocol

VLAN

virtual LAN

VLT

Virtual LAN Tagging

VOIP

voice over IP

VSAT

very small aperture terminal

POS network implementations. In addition totheir reliability and cost problems, these sys-tems often lack any real traffic monitoring ordata collection capabilities for proactive man-agement and network planning.

In the WAN, many large-format storeretailers have migrated from leased lines andX.25 to VSAT and/or Frame Relay networks.But the number of client/server and browser/server applications continues to grow, drawingthe retailer ever closer to the bandwidth limi-tations of the existing WAN infrastructure.What’s worse, today’s Frame Relay and VSATnetworks don’t dynamically allocate band-

width among applications, soexpensive voice bandwidth is

generally unusable for

data and video applications. This expensive“idle bandwidth” problem is becoming a keyissue for those retailers that are beginning torequire more data bandwidth than their framenetwork currently offers. Ideally, they shouldhave the flexibility to utilize their total voice/data WAN bandwidth in the manner that bestmeets their overall business objectives.

Business Requirements for the Next-

Generation Retail Network

The growing number and diversity of storeapplications being deployed today, both in thein-store LAN and the enterprise WAN, aredriving the need for greater network perfor-mance, scalability, reliability, and management(Figure 1). The need to integrate both the in-store LAN and the enterprise WAN into a

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Fault-tolerant POS segments

Dual NICs with resilient server link capability

provide bullet-proof fault tolerance for POS servers

Frame Relay connection

for channelized

voice and data

PBX

PBXVoice

Voice

Data

Data

ATM connection for fully

converged voice

and data

Redundant core

means no single point

of failure

WAN access

switch with integrated

inverse multiplexing

over ATM (IMA) capability

PBX in the stackable

store architecture provides

network management

of voice

Inverse

multiplexer

Back-office segment

Pharmacy segment

Customer-critical, higher bandwidth

applications run on dedicated segments

to ensure reliable performance

Kiosk segment

Wireless

access point

Frame Relay

or ATM WAN

Figure 1. Next-Generation Enterprise Store Network

single, cohesive enterprise architecture capableof supporting this diverse set of applications isdriving the re-engineering of the retail infor-mation infrastructure. In the process, thenature of the store network itself is being fun-damentally redefined. Four basic changes pre-sent dramatic new challenges to the retail ITorganization:• The shift to a database/application architec-

ture that centralizes information resourceswhile delivering real-time informationaccess to the store creates completely newtraffic flows over the corporate backboneand enterprise WAN. With the use of abrowser interface, enterprise applicationssuch as human resources, data warehouse/decision support, and e-mail are now avail-able online to store associates. Legacy back-office and POS workgroup traffic flowswere predictable and mostly confinedwithin the workgroup segment. The opennetworked computing model gives usersimmediate, browser-based access to datalocated anywhere on the enterprise network,making traffic patterns highly unpredictable.

• New bandwidth-hungry applications arebeginning to be deployed, including voice-over-IP (VOIP)–enabled telephones andmultimedia kiosks in the LAN, and video-based security, training, and collaborativeapplications over the WAN. To handle theseapplications, the WAN and LAN infrastruc-tures must be capable of giving appropriatepriority to diverse traffic types—includingdata, voice, and video—in order to makethe most cost-effective use of bandwidthresources.

• The massive growth in network scale aslegacy POS systems residing on a separate,proprietary network are replaced with Eth-ernet-based, open POS systems and com-bined with multimedia kiosks and the back-office store LAN. For example, a departmentstore Ethernet network can easily grow from30 nodes in the back office to more than200 nodes when POS terminals and serversare included. Even a typical supermarket ordiscount store with a back-office LAN con-sisting of one server and ten PCs or termi-nal workstations can quickly expand to

three servers and 40 nodes with a integratednetwork.The next-generation store networkmust be capable of scaling to support anincreasing number of interconnections aswell as increased bandwidth demands.

• Supporting an ever-growing number ofstores and applications brings complexityand an increased workload that can over-whelm an IT organization. A next-genera-tion network solution must provide a wayto centralize network management of bothvoice and data while curtailing telecommu-nication costs.

Yesterday’s first-generation shared Ether-net/Token Ring LANs and channelized VSAT/Frame Relay WANs cannot effectively addresstomorrow’s emerging application requirements.More intelligent networks—capable of sup-porting this more diverse set of store applica-tions and network traffic and designed withscalability, application performance, and avail-ability in mind—are critical for this new storeenvironment.

To meet the business needs of retailers,the next-generation enterprise store networkarchitecture must meet the following chal-lenges:• Future-proof the LAN and WAN by dyna-

mically delivering the right amount ofbandwidth performance to individual appli-cations or users, and by cost-effectively scal-ing (either incrementally or by orders ofmagnitude) when needed

• Bullet-proof the LAN and WAN by offeringunprecedented levels of fault tolerance andnetwork availability

• Reduce the cost of network ownership whiledelivering comprehensive network manage-ment

The following sections of this white paperdescribe these requirements in more detail andintroduce innovative 3Com solutions.

Challenge #1: Future-Proofing the

Store LAN

Today’s demanding store environment, charac-terized by large-scale deployment of new mis-sion-critical, bandwidth-hungry applications,requires far greater bandwidth and networkintelligence. Yesterday’s first-generation store

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networks simply don’t provide these capabili-ties. Designing in scalability means developinga future-proofed network solution that allowsa retailer to cost-effectively increase networkperformance as application demands dictate,and varying bandwidth allocation dependingon individual application requirements. Inaddition, the network must be able to supportthe growth in network nodes as new devicesand users are added or new networking para-digms such as intranets are introduced.

In addition, the increase in the number ofstore networked applications and the emerg-ing convergence applications such as voice-over-IP (VOIP), video-based security, multi-media kiosks, and computer-based trainingmake it more critical to manage store networkperformance on an application-specific basis.In a next-generation network, much moreintelligence must be built into the network—from the network interface card (NIC) to theedge/core switches.

The network solution must achieve thesescalability and bandwidth management goals:• Support back-office, POS, kiosk, and voice

functions within a common network archi-tecture

• Vary bandwidth to cost-effectively ensureperformance on a per-application basis

• Cost-effectively and smoothly scale networkperformance to meet future applicationrequirements and network growth

Two Views of Scaling Store Network

Performance: Near-Term vs. Long-Term

Application performance in a networked envi-ronment is limited by three network-specificfactors. First, typical shared Ethernet networksdeliver closer to 3–5 Mbps performance than10 Mbps. Second, too many network devicesmay have to share the limited bandwidth of asingle LAN segment. Third, a high-perfor-mance network device or application such as aPOS server or multimedia kiosk, which mayrequire 100 Mbps of bandwidth, may be lim-ited to the standard 10 Mbps. In all cases,poor application performance is the result.The challenge is to build in the flexibility tocost-effectively scale performance as neededover time. Nowhere is the scalability challenge

more pronounced than in the replacement oflegacy POS systems with new Ethernet-net-worked POS systems.

There are two scalability strategies thatretailers can adopt today, depending on theirtime orientation, budget, and the aggressive-ness of their application deployment plans.The first strategy takes a shorter-term or moremoderate application view. It begins with thedeployment of an adequate yet moderateamount of bandwidth today, with the assump-tion that, in three to five years, network band-width may need to grow to support newapplications. Taking advantage of recent net-work innovations such as the segmented Eth-ernet hub, which collapses a switch and hubinto a single network product, retailers for thefirst time can cost-effectively deploy a switchedbackbone at the store network core withshared Ethernet to the edge. This approachrequires less investment up front, but willrequire incremental investment sooner, whenmore bandwidth-intensive applications aredeployed.

The second strategy takes a longer-termor more aggressive application view. It deploysmore network bandwidth in the beginning,either due to aggressive application deploy-ment plans, or to ensure that no further net-work investment will be needed as new appli-cations are implemented over the next severalyears. The switched network infrastructurewill take the company much further into thefuture, but the initial investment is greater.This approach typically uses a combination ofEthernet switches and segmented Ethernethubs, depending on the mix of applicationsand their performance requirements.

Which strategy is right for any particularorganization depends on the pace and timingof planned application growth, the nature ofthe applications themselves, and the budgetthat senior management is prepared to com-mit up front to its store technology deploy-ment. In either strategy, a future-proofed solu-tion depends on designing a store networkbased on a stackable architecture that caneasily scale and be reconfigured based onchanging application requirements.

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Strategy 1: Shared Network Architecture

The successful near-term solution prioritizesbandwidth needs in a shared Ethernet envi-ronment, addressing the most pressing appli-cation needs first, while leaving room forfuture growth. This scenario assumes thatapplication deployment plans are not aggres-sive for the next few years and that the appli-cations deployed initially are not bandwidth-intensive in nature.

The ideal solution maximizes networkperformance cost effectively today within theconstraints of a shared Ethernet environment,yet provides an easy path for adding moreLAN segments and higher performanceswitched Ethernet ports in the future. Thisrequires the right interplay of all networkcomponents including NICs, shared portswith a switched backbone, and a stackablearchitecture. Let’s examine recent innovationsin these network components to better under-stand how they integrate into an optimizedshared network solution (Figure 2).

Scalable NICs. The link connecting networkdevices can quickly become a performancebottleneck. From a NIC perspective, future-

proofing the network means installing auto-sensing 10/100 Ethernet NICs with ParallelTasking® performance into all networkeddevices, including POS terminals, servers,electronic scales, customer service and storemanagement workstations, and wireless gate-ways. Innovative 10/100 NICs support thedevices at the edge on shared or switched 10Mbps networks today, but when new applica-tions requiring higher bandwidth aredeployed, they automatically make the jumpto 100 Mbps performance. 3Com’s ParallelTasking NIC architecture, not unlike multi-processor servers, significantly increases overallnetwork performance by allowing multipletasks such as receiving and transmitting tooccur simultaneously. NICs with ParallelTasking performance not only maximizeapplication performance today, but by extract-ing the maximum performance possible fromshared Ethernet, they extend the life of theshared network investment by as much as twoyears.

Segmented Hubs with Fast Ethernet Down-link. In the Ethernet price/performance spec-trum, a segmented hub sits between a hub and

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Fault-tolerant POS segments

Dual NICs with resilient server link capability

provide bullet-proof fault tolerance for POS servers Back-office segment

Pharmacy segment

Customer-critical, higher bandwidth

applications run on dedicated segments

to ensure reliable performance

Segmented shared store network

40 Mbps segmented Ethernet hubs with

internal store backbone switch, stackable architecture,

uninterruptable power system

Kiosk segment

Wireless

access point

Figure 2. Shared Network Topology

a switch. A segmented hub offers four innova-tive features that are ideally suited to the retailstore environment:• It collapses an otherwise separate switch and

four LAN segments into a single Ethernethub, reducing cost and protecting applica-tion performance. For the first time, mostlarge-format store retailers can cost-effec-tively deploy a switched backbone at thestore network core with shared Ethernet tothe edge. This switched backbone solutionsupporting LAN segmentation has previ-ously been the province of only the largeststores.

• It delivers a total of 40 Mbps shared among24 ports, letting store applications achievefar greater performance than was possiblewith first-generation, 10 Mbps shared Eth-ernet hubs. Segmenting a shared Ethernetnetwork reduces the number of users per

segment, which increases the average band-width available to each user and makes thenetwork more responsive. The integratedswitch in the hub speeds traffic between seg-ments and avoids the heavy incrementalcost of purchasing a separate switch. Eachsegment can be dedicated to a specific usergroup or application profile. For example,one segment can be configured for a phar-macy application, a second for back-officeapplications such as inventory and labormanagement, and the third and fourth seg-ments for POS. This segmented architec-ture prevents a kiosk or back-office applica-tion from “stealing” bandwidth from thePOS application. Each segment has its ownbandwidth, and the IT organization candetermine bandwidth allocation based onapplication priorities.

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Supermarket giant American Stores, based inSalt Lake City, Utah, has installed a sharedsegmented architecture to create highly inte-grated store networks. SuperStack® II PShubs, installed in more than 1,700 drugstoresand supermarkets, give retailers a cost-effective, flexible way to intelligently allocatebandwidth to meet pharmacy and back-officeapplication requirements. Both the main storeserver and the pharmacy server are connectedto 100 Mbps ports for optimal server per-formance, while the PCs and other end devicessupporting the pharmacists, store man-agement, and associates are connected to 10Mbps ports.

The segmented, intelligent stackable hubcontains four discrete Ethernet segments,increasing the available bandwidth within thenext-generation Ethernet hub from 10 Mbps to40 Mbps. Due to multiple LAN segments, theback-office applications cannot interfere withthe performance of the pharmacy application.For maximum flexibility, any of the ports canbe assigned to any of the four Ethernetsegments. Multimedia kiosks—supporting

American Stores’ customer loyalty program—or high-demand servers can be located on adedicated segment to ensure bandwidth avail-ability at the lowest possible cost. Less-demanding applications share bandwidth, buthave the ability to draw on additionalbandwidth when needed during peak traffictimes through the hub’s Automatic LoadBalancing feature. The integrated switch in theSuperStack II PS Hub 50 switches trafficbetween each of the four LAN segments. Inaddition, an optional high-speed module canbe plugged into the SuperStack II PS Hub 50for a Fast Ethernet connection to the backbone.

Servers and workstations are equipped with3Com EtherLink® 10/100 Mbps PCI NICs. Theintelligence designed into 3Com’s EtherLink10/100 cards automatically senses thenetwork backbone wire speed, while patentedParallel Tasking II architecture increases appli-cation performance by processing multiplenetwork functions in parallel and delivering acontinuous data stream from the network wireto the host.

American Stores’ Shared Segmented LAN

• It can dynamically allocate bandwidth tomeet user demand by configuring the hubto load-balance automatically at a presettime or whenever a threshold is exceeded.

• It supports 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet foreither a downlink to other network coredevices or for high-speed connectivity tostore servers. Since server traffic is manytimes greater than most edge devices, thisonce again optimizes overall store applica-tion performance.

When application demands require morebandwidth than segmented hubs can provide,the hubs can be replaced with stackableswitches. Each POS terminal or back-officePC can be connected directly to a dedicated10 Mbps port on a hybrid Ethernet switch,while POS servers or multimedia kiosks canbe connected to a dedicated 100 Mbps Ether-net port for maximum performance. Puttingthis into perspective, a 24-port Ethernetswitch delivers 240 Mbps of bandwidth com-pared to a 10 Mbps first-generation Ethernethub or the newer segmented Ethernet hub,which delivers an aggregate total of 40 Mbps.

Stackable Store Network Architecture. Scala-bility means being able to add functionalityand performance in a modular fashionthrough new network products such as addi-tional hubs, switches, or routers without sacri-ficing initial network investment and whilemaintaining a highly integrated networkarchitecture. A stackable (vs. chassis-based)architecture, with its relatively low initialinvestment and incremental growth path, isvery cost effective for an in-store network.Stackable architectures also offer a high degreeof manageability, reliability, and integration,maximizing centralized management and min-imizing downtime. This cost effective configu-ration lets retailers pay for only as much band-width as today’s applications require, addingbandwidth easily in the future as needed.

Summary: Shared Network Architecture.Scalability in a shared Ethernet store architec-ture is accomplished through:1 Auto-sensing 10/100 Ethernet NICs with

Parallel Tasking architecture, which signifi-

cantly increase POS terminal and client/server performance

2 Segmented hubs, which flexibly allocatebandwidth (aggregated 40 Mbps) per LANsegment within a single unit and use auto-matic load balancing to dynamically adjustbandwidth as needed without sacrificingapplication performance

3 Stackable architecture, which permits mod-ular, economical expansion without sacrific-ing network integration

Strategy 2: Switched Network Architecture

Very large store architectures, typicallydeployed by hypermarkets and some depart-ment stores, have historically combined ahigh-performance network backbone, multi-ple Ethernet switches for LAN segmentationpurposes, and shared Ethernet hubs, whichtypically were more cost effective in deliveringconnectivity to the POS terminals and servers.The network backbones, initially deployedwith Fiber Distributed Data Interface(FDDI), have begun to migrate to Asynchro-nous Transfer Mode (ATM) for faster perfor-mance and expanded scalability.

However, the recent plummeting cost ofswitched Ethernet has enabled large-formatstore retailers to consider dedicated (notshared) bandwidth to the POS terminal andservers, increasing application performancewhile future-proofing their POS investmentfor many years to come. While this architec-ture may deliver more bandwidth than isrequired by some POS applications today,other in-store applications such as multimediakiosks do require the bandwidth. And withthe development of more multimedia andgraphics-based applications, it is only a matterof time before switched 10 Mbps and evenswitched 100 Mbps bandwidth will be arequirement. With switched Ethernet to thePOS terminal and servers, a newly deployedPOS system can be expected to perform ade-quately for at least eight to ten years.

The ideal solution maximizes networkperformance cost-effectively today by deliver-ing the right combination of dedicated(switched) 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps band-width to the network edge devices, and

99

supports VOIP, private branch exchange(PBX) integration, video, and other emergingconvergence-related applications. But greaterbandwidth is just the beginning. Perhaps moreimportant, the intelligence required for moreadvanced network functions comes from theinterplay between the NIC and the switch.Let’s examine the components of a switchedstore network—including NICs, switchedworkgroups and backbone, and a stackablearchitecture—that provide the performanceand intelligent control to support emergingapplications (Figure 3).

Scalable NICs. As in the shared Ethernet sce-nario, 10/100 NICs deliver dedicated 10Mbps Ethernet today, while paving the wayfor the inevitable migration to switched 100Mbps Fast Ethernet in the future. While auto-sensing NICs and Parallel Tasking architectureplay an important role in this scenario, farmore crucial is the advanced functionality thatan intelligent switched network provides.

Much of the advanced functionality in aswitched store network involves the interplayof the intelligence designed into the NIC andthe switch. In the switched environment, theNIC becomes an active, intelligent compo-nent of the network. It is imperative that the

NIC be equipped with the intelligence to sup-port standards-based flow control and trafficprioritization features that work with switchesto regulate and optimize data transfer and toprioritize mission-critical and latency-sensitivemultimedia applications. For an applicationdeveloper working on a bandwidth-hungrystore application, understanding the band-width available for that application, and therelative priority of other applications, is key todetermining how the application will actuallyperform. For example, a multimedia kiosk hasmore demanding bandwidth requirementsthan a POS terminal, but given its mission-critical nature, POS should always receive thehighest prioritization, and never be impactedby other applications’ use of network resources.

High-Speed Workgroup Switches. Toupgrade a shared workgroup to a high-perfor-mance switched workgroup, each POS orback-office PC can be connected directly to a10 Mbps port on a 10/100 Ethernet switch,while POS servers can be connected to a 100Mbps port for maximum performance. Auto-sensing 10/100 switches simplify migration byeliminating labor-intensive reconfigurationtasks because each port automatically connectsat the speed of the attached device. This mini-

1100

Carnival Cruise Lines, based in Miami, Florida,has integrated a range of value-added guestservices into its onboard POS terminals,extending their capabilities far beyond the tra-ditional point of sale. Interactive TV, instantcredit card authorization in casinos, automaticteller machine (ATM) transactions, and virtualreality games offer passengers a new level ofluxury, entertainment, and convenience. Theseservices, however, demand a high level ofbandwidth availability and network intel-ligence. 3Com EtherLink 10/100 NICs areinstalled in more than 80 POS terminals andservers. With DynamicAccess® software,including standards-based flow control andtraffic prioritization capabilities, 3Com

EtherLink XL NICs work actively with 3Comswitches to regulate and optimize datatransfer and prioritize mission-critical andlatency-sensitive multimedia applications.

To supply the needed bandwidth, each POSterminal connects to a dedicated SuperStack IIworkgroup switch, which in turn connects to aCoreBuilder 7000 ATM backbone switch. Theredundant network configuration affords alevel high of fault tolerance to minimize theimpact of at-sea electrical storms. In the eventof a switch port going down due to electricalproblems, the remaining POS terminals, eachoperating on its own dedicated port, remainunaffected.

Carnival Cruise Lines’ Integrated Switched “Store” LAN

mizes the time, effort, and cost associated withupgrading network performance and greatlyfuture-proofs the investment in new store net-work architecture.

There are several benefits to implement-ing a switched Ethernet architecture. For thelargest-format retail stores—where POS termi-nals exceed 100 per store—the sheer numberof POS terminals dictates a highly segmentedLAN architecture. LAN segmentation pro-vides separate collision domains for differentstore applications so that one applicationdoesn’t affect the performance of others. Forexample, regardless of how much bandwidth amultimedia kiosk application might demand,it should not be able to steal bandwidth fromother LAN segments where POS or otherapplications reside.

Flexible Backbone Switches. At the core of anext-generation store network is a high-performance backbone. This store networkbackbone, supporting the integration of mul-

tiple workgroup switches, is typically based onATM or Fast Ethernet technologies. Switchingfeatures such as low latency packet forwardingand sophisticated bandwidth allocation andbandwidth reservation capabilities give differ-ent types of traffic—data, multimedia, voice,and video—different levels of service accord-ing to policies developed by the IT group.

Switching also enables IT managers to setup virtual LANs (VLANs) that can increaseconfiguration flexibility and security withinthe network by creating separate, flexible,location- and topology-independent groups ofworkstations that communicate as if on acommon physical LAN.

Stackable Store Network Architecture. Asdescribed in the shared solution, a stackablearchitecture lets the retailer grow the networkincrementally as needed. UNIX servers likethe IBM RS/6000 or HP9000 families havebeen largely deployed as in-store processorsdue to their ability to cost-effectively scale inperformance through the addition of more andfaster processors, expanded memory, and discstorage, avoiding a costly and disruptive boxswap. Likewise, the SuperStack II store net-work architecture is an integrated networked

1111

Centralized server farm

Each server has resilient links to

two different modules in the

fault-tolerant backbone switch

Switched Ethernet workgroup

Each switch delivers 240 Mbps

aggregate bandwidth,

stackable architecture,

uninterruptable power system

Fault-tolerant

backbone switch

POS

server

Kiosk

server

In-store

server

Pharmacy

server

Wireless

access point

Each terminal receives

full 10 Mbps bandwidth

Figure 3. Switched Network Topology

system that can expand with the addition ofhubs/switches/routers as needed in modularand highly cost-effective fashion. Stackablearchitectures also offer a high degree of man-ageability, reliability, and integration.

Summary: Switched Ethernet Architecture.Scalability in a switched Ethernet store archi-tecture is accomplished through:1 Auto-sensing 10/100 Ethernet NICs with

Parallel Tasking architecture, which signifi-cantly increase POS terminal and client/server performance

2 Ethernet switches, which segment the LANbackbone and support multiple VLANs

3 A high-speed store network backbone capa-ble of supporting multiple technologies(ATM, Fast Ethernet, etc.) for greater LANsegmentation, performance, and support forfuture convergence-related applications

4 Stackable architecture that permits econom-ical, incremental expansion without sacrific-ing network integration

Challenge #2: Future-Proofing the Store WAN

The WAN is also undergoing radical transfor-mation. As integrated applications tie corpo-rate headquarters, distribution centers, stores,

and suppliers more closely together, the needfor bandwidth grows significantly. Today,most large-format store chains have deployedFrame Relay–based WANs to connect theirstores into an enterprise network. This solu-tion often involves an expensive local loopfrom the local telco provider to access theFrame Relay network. Some chains also oper-ate parallel satellite networks to provide thebandwidth required to support video broad-casts out to their stores for sales associatetraining and enterprise communications.Many chains now recognize that it is only amatter of time before applications runningover the WAN will outgrow these traditionalsolutions.

ATM-Based WANs Scale to Meet

Capacity Demands

To address the rapidly growing bandwidthneeds in the WAN, retailers are beginning toturn to a new solution that offers far greaterdata bandwidth management without a sub-stantial increase in telco charges. This innova-tive and exciting WAN solution combinesvoice, data, and video over a single T1 con-nection using ATM technology. While manyretailers have already turned to ATM in their

1122

Kinko’s is basing its future on customers usingservices supported by its switched in-storenetworks. In addition to high-quality, high-volume copy services, the company’s chain of850 business service centers is gearing up toprovide traveling business people with all thebusiness functions they’re used to in their ownoffices. From the ability to print large digitaldocuments, to Internet access, to the ability toaccess their own corporate intranets in asecure environment, Kinko’s new switchedstore network will allow it to create a “virtualoffice” for business travelers in need.

Eager to proceed with its external productsand services plan, Kinko’s has moved aggres-sively to install 3Com SuperStack II Ethernet/

Fast Ethernet switches in its stores. With 10Mbps of dedicated bandwidth to each PC,printer, and high-performance output device inthe store—a total of 240 Mbps of bandwidthin each store—Kinko’s can easily handlemultiple megabit-size print jobs withoutslowing down other network traffic.

Kinko’s is replacing its older-generation POShubs with 3Com OfficeConnect® eight-porthubs. These hubs link directly into theswitches, creating a single, integrated storenetwork architecture. The abundance ofbandwidth in the switched store networkensures that demanding virtual office appli-cations won’t steal bandwidth from the POSsystem.

Kinko’s High-Performance Switched Store Network

corporate data centers for increased band-width and to support LAN-based convergenceapplications, nowhere is the use of ATM morepromising than in the WAN. Retailers thathave already deployed ATM as a WAN back-bone between regional sites include TargetStores, Station Casinos, and Boots plc. Thenext step is the deployment of ATM-basedservices out to the stores.

For some retailers, the Frame Relay T1line into the retail store network is inversemultiplexed to separate, static data and voicechannels, providing a first-generation conver-gence solution. In contrast, ATM services pro-visioned by the carrier deliver a single “fatpipe” or channel. The retailer determines howmuch bandwidth to allocate to each applica-tion based on policies rather than havingbandwidth preset by the carrier. The dynamicvoice-data ATM network offers significantcost savings. For example, voice channels typi-cally far exceed the bandwidth of the data net-

work. This huge amount of untapped band-width can be dedicated entirely to data andvideo traffic when voice traffic drops off atnight. During the day, IT can intelligently uti-lize the “idle” voice bandwidth for data, asapplication requirements dictate (Figure 4 onpage 14). And ATM’s Quality of Service(QoS) capability ensures that latency-sensitivemultimedia applications get the bandwidthand delivery priority they need to deliver crispaudio and smooth video images.

ATM is being adopted as a WAN tech-nology at differing rates throughout theworld, largely depending upon the aggressive-ness of carriers in different geographies. WANaccess switches based on an open architecturesupport Frame Relay–based WANs todaywhile providing a migration path to ATMwithout hardware replacement. It is widelybelieved that the U.S. market, with its highlycompetitive carrier environment, will see themost rapid rate of adoption.

1133

Station Casinos (STN), the ninth largestgaming company in the U.S., chose to stan-dardize a new ATM network on 3Com systemsat its four Las Vegas hotel/casinos. The fullyswitched, 2,000-user LAN and WAN, utilizing3Com PathBuilder™ S600 WAN accessswitches, enables STN to provide multimediafeeds to all four casinos, supporting not onlyhigh-bandwidth video applications, but alsovoice services currently executed using costlyvoice-only T1 circuits.

The network will support a range of new appli-cations designed to provide enhanced customerservices at the four casinos, including multi-media touch-screen Redemption Center kiosks.The kiosks provide videos of STN services andaccommodations, and let customers redeemand exchange casino points for purchases atretail stores and restaurants. The 3Com networkalso expedites customer checkout at STNhotels, restaurants, and shops via the inte-grated POS solution. A Data Slot AccountingSystem monitors all 15,000 casino slots and

video machines. And the multimedia LAN/WAN provides video conferencing foremployees at geographically dispersed sites.

To support this mission-critical, multimediacomputing environment, STN needed to cen-tralize its information using a stable, redun-dant, high-speed LAN/WAN connecting all fourLas Vegas properties and their associatedrestaurants and stores. STN’s casino LANs areeach based on a CoreBuilder™ 7000HD ATMswitch with redundant switching engines, dualpower supplies, and a 5 Gbps backplane. Thebackbone CoreBuilder 7000 switches haveredundant 155 Mbps ATM full-duplex fiberconnections to one another, providing redun-dant paths in case of link or switch failure.

Interface cards in each ATM switch provide100 Mbps Fast Ethernet links to servers andmainframes at each casino, as well as toSuperStack II Ethernet/Fast Ethernet switchesfor dedicated 10 Mbps connections to desk-tops and local devices.

Station Casinos’ Future-Proofed ATM LAN/WAN

ATM Features Suit Retail Network Needs

ATM is a standards-based, widely available,long-distance carrier–provisioned service. Incontrast, ISDN is a local carrier-provided ser-vice. Difficult, inconsistent local telcoprovisioning policies and widely varying statetariffs made ISDN in North America a man-agement nightmare for the regional or nationalretail chains that deployed it. And ISDN’stime-based cost model makes it undesirablefor continuous connections. ATM greatlylessens tariff and provisioning complexity forretailers. Since long-haul carriers’ internalinfrastructures are already based on ATM, lit-tle additional investment is required to offer it“the last mile” to the stores. And becauseATM is a permanent circuit like Frame Relay,it is not time sensitive, so monthly telco costsremain constant regardless of monthly usage.

The intelligent utilization of bandwidthmade possible by policy-based ATM net-working, together with the easier provisioningof these new ATM services, radically alter aretailer’s ability to cost-effectively support newstore applications for competitive advantage.These include video conferencing for collabo-ration, video-based security surveillance, dis-tance learning, and a growing number ofWeb-based applications such as data ware-house access, human resources, e-mail, giftregistry, and special orders.

Challenge #3: Bullet-Proofing the

LAN and WAN

To be viable for the store environment, next-generation store networks require a highly reli-able architecture where downtime is eitherzero or minimal and problems are quicklyresolved. For a network to be completely bul-let-proof, fault-tolerant capabilities must bedesigned into every critical component on thenetwork, from the POS servers at the networkedge to core Ethernet hubs and switches,WAN links, and remote office systems. High-transaction POS environments in particularrequire a completely fault-tolerant networksolution with no single point of failure.

The level of robustness required in a sys-tem component is directly related to its effecton the network if it fails. It’s not surprisingthen, that the closer a component is to thenetwork core, the more critical its fault-toler-ant and resiliency features become. Fault-tol-erant strategies include built-in redundancy ofkey components, alternative power sources incase of equipment power supply failure orbuilding “brownouts,” and redundant datapaths in case of LAN or WAN link failures.

Fault tolerance is also a critical require-ment for the WAN, as was painfully evidentin a recent outage of AT&T’s U.S. FrameRelay network. Most large-format retailerswith permanent leased, satellite, or FrameRelay–based WAN circuits require a backup

1144

Voice

SNA

Packet and

router traffic

Voice

SNA

Packet and

router traffic

Circuit and time division multiplexing

Frame Relay WAN-Based Convergence

ATM WAN-Based Convergence

Dynamic bandwidth allocation

Wasted

bandwidth

Figure 4. ATM-Based Networking Supports Dynamic Allocation of Bandwidth

solution to ensure that electronic paymentsand other customer-critical applications arenot interrupted, even when the primary WANcircuit or router fails.

Fault Tolerance at the LAN Edge

Each POS terminal is typically configuredwith a single NIC, because a single POS ter-minal failure is not considered catastrophicgiven the high terminal population in large-format stores. However, a POS server failure isanother matter. Retailers have long recognizedthe benefits of dual POS servers, where thesecond server is configured as a hot standby tothe primary server and instantaneously takesover operation should the primary server fail.In this way, system availability is ensured—provided the network connection doesn’t fail.Up until now, however, a network link failurecould render even the most fault-tolerantserver configuration useless. And for retailerswith a single POS server or a collapsed ISP/POS server configuration, the health of thenetwork is even more critical to POS uptime.

A recent innovation in next-generationserver NICs takes fault tolerance a quantumleap forward. A new fault-tolerant capability,

Resilient Server Link (RSL), features a “stand-by” NIC that automatically provides accessthrough a secondary link if the primary hubor switch link fails for any reason. In addition,if the POS server or the network causes a dri-ver to become corrupted, “self-healing” driversin the NICs can monitor, detect, and recoverfrom fault conditions. These innovative solu-tions bring unprecedented levels of fault toler-ance to networked POS systems.

The degree of fault tolerance designedinto the store network, then, is a function ofwhich network products are deployed, toge-ther with how the network is architected. Thekey point is that varying degrees of availabilityand fault tolerance can be designed into thestore network architecture—it doesn’t have tobe an all-or-nothing situation (Figure 5). Forexample, POS requires a greater investment infault-tolerant design than back-office applica-tions. For POS, redundant server links com-prised of one or two tightly integrated pairs ofNICs residing in the POS servers togetherwith a redundant Ethernet core made up oftwo Ethernet hubs or switches, each internallyequipped with dual power supplies and otherredundant components, creates the ultimate

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Redundant

server link NICsRSL NICs

Segmented hub

Switched

Ethernet to the

network edge

Switched

Ethernet ports to

POS terminals

and servers

Switched

Ethernet ports to

POS terminals

and servers

Redundant

switched core

and server links

Switched

Ethernet ports to

POS terminals

and servers

Switched

Ethernet ports to

POS terminals

and servers

Redundant

backbone

switches

Fully redundant

switched backbone

and network fabric

Segmented hub

Segmented hub

Redundant

shared core

and server links

Fault

tolerance

and

availability

RSL NICs RSL NICs RSL NICs RSL NICs

Figure 5. Degrees of Store Network Availability and Fault Tolerance

fault-tolerant solution. Utilizing LAN seg-mentation ensures that other in-store applica-tions don’t impair POS performance byrobbing the POS application of preciousbandwidth. But this level of fault-tolerantinvestment may not be warranted for all in-store applications.

Fault Tolerance at the Heart of the Store LAN

System resilience and robustness must bedesigned in on many levels. Stackable hub andswitch system redundancy features deliver onelayer of fault tolerance. For example, redun-dant management modules safeguard againstany interruption of management if one unit inthe stack goes off-line. When equipped with ahot-swap cascade unit, a hub or switch can beremoved from anywhere in the stack withoutdisrupting the operation of the rest of thestack. Optional redundant and uninterrupt-ible power systems protect against internal and

external power failures, ensuring constantpower to the stack. These power systems canbe managed and monitored remotely at a cen-tral site. The automatic resilient links featurefound in some stackable hubs and switchesautomatically and continuously monitors thehealth of primary and backup ports, switchingover to the backup path in millisecondsshould a signal fail on a primary connection.

In addition to device-level fault tolerance,retail store networks also require bullet-proof-ing at the network core. Hub and switch net-work configurations can provide an additionallevel of fault tolerance. Switches provideinherent protection because each POS termi-nal has its own dedicated switched port, sothat a single port failure affects only one POSterminal. POS servers and terminals can alsobe connected to either single or multiple hubsor switches, depending on the desired degreeof network availability. For example, some

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Marks & Spencer is an upscale departmentstore chain with more than 320 stores locatedthroughout Europe. Known as a technologyleader in its market, Marks & Spencer hasdesigned a networked POS solution that offersnot only exceptional performance, but also themost fault-tolerant network capabilities everdeployed in a retail store. This retailer’s bullet-proofed solution employs a Fast Ethernet back-bone switch, with multiple Ethernet switchesproviding dedicated 10 Mbps Ethernet directlyto each POS terminal for a total of 240 Mbpsaggregate bandwidth per switch. This fullyswitched architecture delivers the bandwidthrequired to support Marks & Spencer’s appli-cations well into the next decade.

Dedicated segment architecture ensures high-bandwidth availability and guarantees that asingle port failure affects only one POS termi-nal. The retailer also uses next-generationFast Ethernet Server NICs in its POS servers.The dual-board NIC operates in tandem. If theprimary NIC link fails for any reason, the sec-ondary NIC automatically takes control, keep-ing the POS server available to all connected

switches, and subsequently all POS terminals,on the network. Marks & Spencer installedtwo pairs of redundantly configured ServerNICs in each POS server (four total), connect-ing each POS server to two different switchesto eliminate any single point of failure. And inthe event of any single component problem,3Com’s Transcend® network managementsoftware automatically sends a sophisticatedRMON2 alert that provides the technical staffwith detailed information for problem determi-nation and resolution.

Finally, the NICs’ Virtual LAN Tagging (VLT)feature—when used in conjunction with 3ComVLAN-enabled switches—allows networkresources to be shared by as many as 16VLANs, increasing configuration flexibility andsecurity within the network. The EthernetNICs embedded in the new ICL POS terminalsare also designed with 3Com’s award-winning Parallel Tasking II performance andDynamicAccess software capabilities toensure fast, efficient processing in high-trafficenvironments for even the most demandingapplications.

Marks & Spencer’s Fault-Tolerant LAN Network

retailers, including Carnival Cruise, TheHome Depot, Marks & Spencer, andCarrefour, have deployed networked POSdesigns that ensure that no single point of fail-ure exists within their POS environment. Bydeploying multiple Ethernet hubs or switchesalong with multiple NICs per POS server,these store networks have significantly higherdegrees of fault tolerance than their legacydual POS server configurations. Given theextremely high transaction volume in manystore environments, this capability is consid-ered essential for effective store operation andtop-quality customer service.

Fault Tolerance at the WAN Interface

As retailers deploy online customer serviceapplications that travel throughout the enter-prise and beyond into the supply chain, LANresiliency is only one part of the solution. Toguarantee the highest availability over WANlinks, many retailers use both a primary andbackup WAN link strategy. In case of link fail-ure on a primary link, calls are quicklyrerouted over a backup, alternate technologynetwork.

An ideal bullet-proofing strategy for theretail enterprise WAN is to have a backup,dial-up WAN infrastructure in place based oneither ISDN or analog modems in-store com-

municating to a highly scalable, ultra-highport density remote access switch on the hostend. In this solution, the dial-up WAN isautomatically engaged when the primaryFrame Relay circuit or router fails. Achievingthis degree of primary and backup WANinfrastructure is considerably easier when bothends of the solution—in-store modems andHQ-based remote access WAN switches—aremanufactured by the same vendor.

Multiprotocol routers support connectiv-ity between store networks and the central sitewith flexible WAN connectivity options sup-porting primary and secondary WAN links.

Challenge #4: Reducing Cost of Ownership

While Improving Network Support

For large-format retailers, the ongoing costs ofmonitoring the network and keeping it per-forming at peak levels far outpace initialequipment costs. According to a recent study,the total network cost of ownership breaksdown into the following percentages:• Capital equipment purchase outlay (approx-

imately 23 percent)• Support staff costs to implement, operate,

and administer the network (approximately36 percent)

• Maintenance, cabling, and leased line costs(approximately 41 percent)

1177

With more than 3,000 stores, 300,000employees, and $120 billion in sales, Wal-Mart is by far the world’s largest retailer. Wal-Mart deployed a fault-tolerant enterprise WANsolution to ensure uninterrupted availability ofcredit authorization and other customer-critical applications.

Like many other large-format retailers, Wal-Mart has a Frame Relay WAN connecting all itsstores into an enterprise infrastructure. Toavoid downtime from a circuit, router, or telconetwork failure, Wal-Mart installed multiple3Com Total Control™ remote access concen-trators that connect to a 3Com Courier™modem in each store. This high-density, highly

scalable concentrator, used by America Onlineand more than 1,000 other Internet serviceproviders, enables retailers to set up, support,and manage a wide mix of primary and sec-ondary WAN technologies. Based on a future-proofed design, these modems can be upgradedto V.90 56 Kbps technology through a simplesoftware download into flash memory. Usingthe full capabilities of the Total Control plat-form to extend access beyond the store,remote users and mobile professionals such asbuyers and regional/district store managerscan access e-mail and database applicationsthrough the robust dial-up ISDN or analognetwork infrastructure.

Wal-Mart’s Fault-Tolerant Wide Area Network

Clearly, effective network managementsignificantly reduces a retailer’s total cost ofownership. Store networks by definition areremoved from the corporate office and thecentralized technical staff. As more and moretechnology is deployed in retail stores, theability to effectively monitor and manage thenetwork remotely becomes a critical require-ment. Fortunately, network managementcapabilities have grown considerably in thepast couple of years. Network managementsolutions based on industry standards such asSimple Network Management Protocol(SNMP) and Remote Monitoring (RMON)allow the central support staff to log onto in-store networks remotely to diagnose andresolve problems and upgrade software andfirmware when necessary.

While most routers, switches, and hubs atthe core are network manageable, the greatestnumber of failure points occur at the edge ofthe network—at the POS terminals, servers,and back-office systems. Therefore, a trulycomprehensive network management solutionmust encompass all components of the net-work, including the links at the edge, andmust distribute intelligence throughout thenetwork.

A relatively new but important cost-of-ownership management feature built intosome NICs is the “wake-up on LAN” capabil-ity. Wake-up on LAN allows the retailer toremotely power on and off in-store POS ter-minals and servers, or other PCs, to cut energycosts. Boot ROMs that enable POS terminalsto be booted from the networked POS serveralso save retailers substantial money bydeploying thin POS clients and protectingagainst unauthorized logons and networktampering.

VLANs Simplify Network Management

In addition to reducing broadcast traffic over aswitched network, VLANs can also reduceadministrative costs and increase workgroupsecurity. Large-format store retailers thatspend substantial resources to handle movesand changes on their IP networks find VLANsvery attractive. Since IP addresses must bemanually updated in the workstations when

users move to different subnets, IT depart-ments devote considerable resources to thistime-consuming process. VLANs are a solu-tion that simplifies the labor-intensive updatetask. Because VLAN membership is not tiedto an end device’s location in the network, theend station keeps its original IP addresses andsubnet membership whenever it is moved,greatly simplifying network administration.

The ability of VLANs to create firewallsalso creates secure workgroup environments,especially when combined with segmentedswitching. Broadcast traffic on a single-usersegment—for example, an in-store multime-dia kiosk—is targeted only to that VLAN’susers. And because the broadcast or unicasttraffic does not physically traverse the seg-ment, unauthorized users can’t “listen in.”

RMON and RMON2 Deliver Next-Generation

Management

First-generation SNMP-based network man-agement solutions offered limited remote storemanagement capabilities. Remote Monitoring(RMON and RMON2) answers the need fortrue proactive, remote network managementof a single segment or an entire network.There are typically no network technicians atstore locations, so technical staff at a centralsite must be able to remotely monitor storenetwork and application performance anddetect and resolve network problems before

1188

0 10

Segments managed per staff person

No RMON

RMON

20 30

Se

gm

en

ts i

n n

etw

ork

200+

101–200

51–100

11–50

Figure 6. RMON Reduces Management Costs

they threaten the health of the network andcritical store systems.

In a standards-based Ethernet network,RMON agents distributed across LAN seg-ments can collect statistical, analytical, anddiagnostic data independently and non-obtru-sively, forwarding them to the central site on aneed-to-know basis. RMON2 moves beyondthe segment level, monitoring actual network

usage patterns and providing information onthe health and performance of client/serverapplications and end-to-end communications.Together, RMON and RMON2 give networkmanagers a complete understanding of theirnetworks so they can optimize service to indi-vidual locations and users.

Figure 6 shows how the cost savings asso-ciated with RMON management increase as

1199

Most retailers today have adopted a best-of-breed philosophy in which the many com-ponents of their in-store systems—scanners,POS terminals, Windows NT–based POSservers, UNIX servers, databases, appli-cations, electronic scales, kiosks, and othercomponents—are manufactured by multiplevendors. At this level of systems integration, abest-of-breed approach makes completesense. Based on industry standards such asTCP/IP, OPOS, JPOS, application softwaredeveloped for portability in either C or Java,and Ethernet at the physical layer, a highdegree of commonality enables the effectiveinteroperability of multiple vendors’ products.

From a networking perspective, the older,first-generation store network solutionscommonly found in back-office store networkswere easily built utilizing multiple vendors’products. But with today’s more intelligentand more complex store networks, the multi-vendor approach becomes less tenable.Today’s highly intelligent, advanced storenetworks leverage the intelligence in the NICas an active element of the networkedsolution. Even a segmented hub-basednetwork solution actively leverages the rela-tionship between intelligent NICs and hubs toachieve advanced functionality such asautomatic load balancing. A single-vendorsolution also increases network availability bysimplifying the problem resolution processassociated with network failures. One vendor,one phone call, one escalation process, andone team of engineers ensure faster problemresolution and a more manageable solutionfor the retail help desk.

Adopting an end-to-end network solution froma single vendor also makes business sense.Reduced complexity translates directly intolower cost of network ownership. Integratingequipment from multiple vendors requiresmore skilled resources to implement andoperate the network, consumes more adminis-tration time and resources, and increasestraining requirements—all of which adds sig-nificantly to the cost of network ownership.

Why has 3Com become the store networkvendor of choice for so many major retailers?For one, choosing a vendor that offers leadingprice/performance and that has product lead-ership in key market segments and a strongoverall product portfolio eliminates theconcern about losing a key technologicaladvantage in any one area. 3Com Ethernetproducts have won countless awards andintroduced many key innovations over theyears. The company is an industry leader indeveloping standards-based technologies thatare used in more than 300,000 stores by theworld’s largest and most demanding retailers.3Com network solutions are employed bymajor retailers across all lines of trade; theyinclude Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, The HomeDepot, Lowes Companies, Kinko’s, Sheraton,Holiday Inn, Carnival Cruise, Ross Stores,Sears Roebuck, American Stores, Shaw’sSupermarkets, Wegman’s Food Markets,Eckerd Drug, Nordstrom, Starbucks Coffee,Woolworths Australia, Carrefour, Marks &Spencer, Harrod’s, Dixon’s, Pep Boys,American Retail Group, and hundreds ofothers.

The Case for a Single-Vendor Networked Store Solution

the size of the network grows. In a distributedstore network, the benefits of remote datacollection are obvious, and the cost savingsscale even faster than in a campus network.

Using RMON/RMON2, retail IT man-agers can see the effects of various applicationsand events on the network. For example, theycan evaluate the impact of a new applicationon the traffic patterns coming out of eachstore, analyze the percentage of bandwidthused by specific applications, or isolate thecause of time-outs by time-sensitive legacy(SNA) applications. This high-level informa-tion allows retail IT managers to tune individ-ual store networks based on application uti-lization and throughput requirements.

Web-Based Management Extends

Access and Control

Web-based network management has becomeone of the most popular ease-of-use develop-ments in recent months. Making networkmanagement tools and information availablethrough standard Web browsers dramaticallyincreases the accessibility of network informa-tion. Web-based management encompasses aseries of fully functional tools for configura-tion, monitoring, troubleshooting, and analy-sis available through a Java-enabled browserinterface. Technical support staff at a retailer’sheadquarters can quickly access key manage-ment data through a secured login for anystore on the enterprise network from any-where on the network, including from homeor from the road.

Remote Management Reduces

Management Complexity

As the scope of the enterprise networkexpands, a retailer’s ability to manage WANlinks and remote sites becomes critical to theirsuccess. 3Com Boundary Routing architec-ture—a fundamental rethinking of WANarchitecture—centralizes network complexityand distributes simplicity to the store. Thisinnovation, very important to retailers, pro-vides all the benefits of configuring a singleinterface, much like the central device in acollapsed backbone LAN environment, but ina large WAN network. Boundary Routing

architecture transfers complexity from the in-store router to the central site router, whereadministrative expertise is located. As a result,the retailer does not require on-site technicalstaff to deploy the in-store router, and configu-ration changes, software upgrades, and otheradministrative tasks for the remote sites virtu-ally disappear.

Boundary Routing architecture imple-mentations that support Frame Relay, dialedlines (PSTN and ISDN), and X.25 switchedmedia can significantly lower WAN costs. Inaddition, data compression, traffic prioritiza-tion, and custom filtering techniques can fur-ther lower WAN costs by using bandwidthresources more efficiently.

Conclusion

Fierce competition in the retail industry isforcing retail chains to rethink how to bringaccess to the resources of their enterprise intothe hands of store associates to better servetheir customers. Next-generation retail net-works bring a wealth of information and capa-bility to the POS and other in-store systems,enabling retailers to implement revenue-gener-ating applications and streamline processes.This newfound capability comes at a price,however—the price of growth and increasedcomplexity. Meeting the challenges requires acomprehensive, next-generation store networkarchitecture that includes scalability, robustfault tolerance, intelligence-based performance,and comprehensive network management.

To obtain maximum value from their net-work investment, many of the world’s largestretailers turn to 3Com. 3Com’s next-genera-tion, end-to-end, networked store solutionencompasses intelligent NICs at the edge andintelligent, stackable hubs, switches, androuters at the core with future-proof, bullet-proof features that maximize retail flexibilitywhile lowering cost of ownership and networkoverhead. A majority of the 100 largest retail-ers have already deployed a 3Com solution.With technological leadership in all key prod-uct areas relevant to the store environment,3Com offers the most comprehensive POS andback-office network solution on the market.

2200

®

To learn more about 3Com products and services, visit our World Wide Web site at http://www.3com.com.

©1998 3Com Corporation. All rights reserved. 3Com, Boundary Routing, DynamicAccess, EtherLink, OfficeConnect, Parallel Tasking, SuperStack, andTranscend are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries. CoreBuilder, Courier, PathBuilder, and Total Control are trademarks of 3ComCorporation or its subsidiaries. OS/2 is a trademark of IBM. Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft. Java is a trademark licensed through Sun Microsystems.UNIX is a trademark licensed through X/Open. All specifications are subject to change without notice.

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3Com France Phone: 33 1 69 86 68 00 Fax: 33 1 69 07 11 54 Carrier and Client Access

Phone: 33 1 41 97 46 00Fax: 33 1 49 07 03 43

3Com GmbH

Berlin, GermanyPhone: 49 30 3498790Fax: 49 30 34987999

Munich, Germany Phone: 49 89 627320Fax: 49 89 62732233

3Com Iberia

PortugalPhone: 351 1 3404505Fax: 351 1 3404575

SpainPhone: 34 1 509 69 00Fax: 34 1 307 79 82

3Com SwitzerlandPhone: 41 844 833 933Fax: 41 844 833 934

3Com Latin America

U.S. HeadquartersPhone: 1 408 326 2093Fax: 1 408 764 5730

Miami, FloridaPhone: 1 305 261 3266Fax: 1 305 261 4901

ArgentinaPhone: 54 1 312 3266Fax: 54 1 314 3329

Brazil Phone: 55 11 246 5001Fax: 55 11 246 3444

Chile (also servingBolivia and Peru)Phone: 56 2 633 9242Fax: 56 2 633 8935

ColombiaPhone: 57 1 629 4847Fax: 57 1 629 4503

MexicoPhone:52 5 520 7841/7847

Fax: 52 5 520 7837

PeruPhone: 51 1 221 5399Fax: 51 1 221 5499

VenezuelaPhone: 58 2 953 8122Fax: 58 2 953 9686

3Com Mediterraneo

Milan, ItalyPhone: 39 2 253011Fax: 39 2 27304244

Rome, ItalyPhone: 39 6 5279941Fax: 39 6 52799423

3Com Middle EastPhone: 971 4 319533Fax: 971 4 316766

3Com Nordic AB

DenmarkPhone: 45 48 10 50 00Fax: 45 48 10 50 50

FinlandPhone: 358 9 435 420 67Fax: 358 9 455 51 66

NorwayPhone: 47 22 58 47 00Fax: 47 22 58 47 01

SwedenPhone: 46 8 587 05 600Fax: 46 8 587 05 601

3Com Southern AfricaPhone: 27 11 807 4397Fax: 27 11 803 7405

3Com UK Ltd.

EdinburghPhone: 44 131 240 2900Fax: 44 131 240 2903

IrelandPhone: 353 1 820 7077Fax: 353 1 820 7101

ManchesterPhone: 44 161 873 7717Fax: 44 161 873 8053

Marlow Phone: 44 1628 897000Fax: 44 1628 897003