Discount Store Chains Finds Connectivity Savings with Peplink

A leading Canadian discount store chain operates over 260 branches nationwide, with a workforce of approximately 10 000 individuals. This chain provides a wide inventory of discounted products, including clothing apparel, groceries, and other everyday necessities. 

Challenge

The discount store chain originally relied solely on DSL connectivity for their day-to-day operations. However, they wanted to build network reliability by adding a failover link. Although they considered additional DSL lines, the discount store chain felt that it would be costly in terms of installation time and maintenance cost for a failover connection. 

And with a large branch count, the discount store chain was looking for a scalable solution that would allow them to conveniently and instantly add more devices to new branches when necessary. They also wanted to avoid the need for further IT assistance on-site when deploying additional devices. 

Solution

These requirements were shared with a Peplink partner and they decided to go with Peplink’s BR1 Pro 5G. They deployed a BR1 Pro 5G in each branch, with one DSL connection and another 5G connection to act as the LTE failover. In order to use SpeedFusion’s Hot Failover, all BR1 Pro 5Gs were connected to an established FusionHub at the Peplink partner’s headquarters.

Result

Using InControl 2, the BR1 Pro 5Gs were conveniently configured remotely within the time and budget allowance set by the discount store chain. This also enabled them to oversee the network and all devices from a single platform. Additionally, this gave them the confidence to deploy more BR1 Pro 5Gs when required. 

With the BR1 Pro 5G routers installed, the discount store chain was able to experience immediate failover to 5G connectivity, or LTE in areas with no 5G access. With Hot Failover, they never experienced any downtime and even found that their secondary connection provided them with fast speeds.

Deployment

MAX BR1 Pro 5G

  • Installed in each discount store chain branch for 5G failover
  • Connected to FusionHub to form SpeedFusion tunnels
  • Scalable and manageable through InControl 2

FusionHub

  • Set up at the Peplink partner’s headquarters
  • Enables Hot Failover for seamless traffic transfer
  • Avoids additional hardware for management