Dec 9 2009
Ecessa, a leader in affordable WAN link controllers for small-to-medium sized enterprises (SME), today announced that Samy’s Camera has selected Ecessa’s PowerLink WAN link controllers to manage its multi-location network connectivity for 24/7 uptime.
By deploying PowerLink, the camera retailer is able to ensure reliable network connectivity between corporate offices and retail stores by preventing network downtime. It is also able to efficiently balance VPN traffic over multiple Internet links to provide a fast and reliable backup for its point-to-point T1s.
The point-to-point (PTP) T1s between Samy’s data center and the retail stores has had several recent incidences where the connection has been down for 35-40 hours each time. Previously, when a PTP T1 went down, network traffic automatically failed over to the VPN. However, the VPN was too slow and unreliable to be able to handle all the traffic. The company needed a solution that would automatically load balance traffic between multiple Internet links, creating a virtual pipe with enough bandwidth for the VPN to operate efficiently
“Network downtime is unacceptable for us as we depend upon our networks to run our business,” says Lars Oberg, IT Manager at Samy’s Camera. “After testing the VPN over the PowerLinks in a live environment for several weeks (by intentionally keeping the point-to-point T1 shut down), it has become clear that the VPN now performs well enough to totally replace the expensive point-to-point T1. Additionally, it creates fast and reliable Internet access for all users at the locations that does not bog down due to one or two big downloads.”
With the PowerLinks deployed, Samy’s is looking forward to substantial bandwidth cost savings each year by replacing PTP T1s with multiple lower cost broadband links for which the PowerLink will automatically load balance and provide needed failover. Samy’s can reduce paying its $400 to $770 per month for each PTP T1 and replace it with lower cost broadband links for approximately $200 to $300 per month.
Samy’s also has a growing group of remote users that connect from the field and from home. When automatic software and security updates occur, they can sometimes consume most of the bandwidth, and the network performance for these users can dramatically drop to a point where they become unproductive. With the PowerLink deployed the network performance problem is virtually eliminated, with traffic now load balanced among multiple connections, and sent to the links with the least amount of latency.