Retail and Restaurant Point of
Sale Systems Bandwidth Solutions
Data transfer lines for point of
sales terminals and multiple site connectivity.
Retail and restaurant point of sales systems capabilities
have grown exponentially since the days of mechanical cash registers
and cash boxes. Even the electronic cash register has often been
a self-contained system until recently. Now systems are integrated
to support inventory control and accounting. They are also networked,
both within the organization and to the home office, credit card
companies, suppliers and partners. Communications is critical
and low cost bandwidth is the key to electronic communications.
The simplest application of an electronic
data exchange is a credit card transaction using a terminal that
creates a dial-up data connection over a phone line. Phone lines
can also be used to download daily sales results to the home
office. On the small scale level, a dedicated or shared voice
line is about as cheap as you can get.
But what if you have a lot of data to transfer,
many simultaneous credit card transactions, or want to stay constantly
in touch with multiple sites. For that you need dedicated bandwidth.
In other words, a reliable always-on digital connection. This
can be a private point to point line, a secure Frame Relay connection
or a VPN or Virtual Private Network running on the Internet.
Business DSL Strengths and Weaknesses
The low end of dedicated lines is the business DSL line. This
is a broadband Internet connection that uses a regular copper
phone line. By definition, the Internet is a shared resource.
To protect your data, you'll need to be running encryption software
which creates a virtual private network. In other words, your
data is secure even though the network is shared. The big advantage
of using the Internet instead of other solutions is that you
have access to a worldwide network that can connect just about
anybody to anybody else. It's already in place and the cost is
amortized over millions of users, so your access cost is pretty
low. Sometimes under $100 a month.
The weaknesses of DSL have always been
availability at particular locations and reliability of service.
DSL is a technology that uses telephone circuits that were never
designed for high speed digital use. Consequently, it is a short
range service. You may find that the store across the street
can get DSL but your location can't. The other issue is that
DSL, even business grade DSL, doesn't generally come with a service
guarantee. The carriers make their best effort to keep it operational,
but outages can and do occur.
Highly Reliable T1 Connections
If it is absolutely vital that your broadband connection be available
all the time and get top priority if there ever is an outage,
then what you want is T1 line service. T1 was originally designed
by the telephone industry for its own use. T1 connections can
be installed most anywhere you can run phone lines and come with
a service level agreement. A T1 line is highly reliable and can
be configured as a private point to point line or a dedicated
Internet connection. Multiple T1 lines can be bonded together
to give you 2 to 6 times the capacity as your business grows.
Another option is Frame Relay. Frame Relay
is a private network that connects locations to each other with
a guaranteed bandwidth. Unlike the Internet, a Frame Relay network
is managed to limit the number of customers to no more than the
service can support. Since it is a shared network, you may wish
to run your own VPN software to encrypt your data for the highest
level of security.
What Retail Bandwidth is Best For Your
Business
If you have retail or restaurant point of sale systems, or other
inventory control systems that need high speed digital bandwidth,
let us help you find the most cost effective solution that meets
your requirements. Simply fill out the form below to see instant
pricing on most services. Or call toll free 1-866-436-7868 Ref. # 1265
to talk to our technical consultants about your business needs
and receive customized proposals.
