Maximizing LTE & 5G Inside & Beyond Retail Stores
The ways and places that retailers serve customers and improve operational efficiency have changed a great deal recently — as have the technologies that underpin this digital transformation. And whether it’s a long-term location, a seasonal pop- up shop, or a self-serve kiosk, one of the biggest necessities is dependable connectivity — enabling the modern experience shoppers expect and the operational technologies and IoT devices employees need, and the flexibility to handle it all.
Because of these trends and evolving needs, retailers are turning to LTE and 5G to support their digital transformation.
The Benefits of LTE for Retail
Exceptional Network Performance
Business Agility
Simplicity & Flexibility of Network Management
Security for all Types of Traffic
More and more retail applications — voice and video, for example — require ample bandwidth and excellent performance to ensure usefulness and cost-effectiveness. High latency is unacceptable. As LTE and 5G networks and edge solutions evolve, their usefulness in high-bandwidth situations continues to rise.
Time is money, which is why the abilty to get network access immediately is so significant for enterprises that open a lot of new branches. Companies need edge solutions with the agility to support and optimize multiple types of WAN links, allowing LTE for day-1 availability to immediately support business operations.
Few companies with multiple branches place full-time IT professionals at each site, which means the ability to deploy them easily and configure, monitor, manage, and troubleshoot them centrally is essential. Cloud-based management platforms are ideal.
Branches today deal with numerous types of traffic, including direct-to-internet traffic, IoT information, and data that must be sent to back to the corporate data center. Flexible security features are the only ways to accommodate such diversity.
Customer success: David's Bridal
David’s Bridal Protects Uptime & Key Applications with LTE Failover
Retailer Easily Adds Cloud-Managed Overlay LTE to Existing Branch Architecture
Challenges
David’s Bridal needed to reduce network downtime in retail stores throughout multiple countries and consolidate multiple disparate solutions to reduce laborious updates and management complexities.
Solution
David’s Bridal leveraged
Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service for branch continuity, delivered through purpose-built LTE adapters, which maintained a constant connection to cellular
and was always ready to take over in case of a failure in the wired WAN link.
Benefits
David’s Bridal now has highperformance wireless overlay failover with ample flexibility and reliability. Robust cloud management capabilities allow the IT team to monitor and troubleshoot the network remotely, including over-the-air
OOBM.
“With just a couple of clicks, I can use NetCloud Manager to upgrade all 330 devices in less than 10 minutes. That saves us a lot of labor and got our stores protected very quickly.”
Kevin Weaver,
Director of Infrastructure, David’s Bridal
