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A large retailer of home improvement products and equipment was looking to
update the information technology systems they use in their stores. The
company serves more than seven million do-it-yourself and commercial business
customers each week through 780 stores in the United States. Their current store design
is a 121,000-square-foot warehouse style store with an outdoor lawn and
garden center adding an additional 30,000 square feet. Given the size of the
store, they had to take certain things into consideration when designing the
new IT system. They knew they wanted to create a 10Mbps Ethernet network.
Since Ethernet is so widely excepted, the cost of the networking equipment
would fit in their budget and 10 Mbps speeds would provide enough bandwidth
for the type of data they were transmitting. The goal of their system
was to improve communications and productivity so each point-of-sale cash
register, each department, each commercial order desk and the stores
management offices needed to be connected to the system. For ease of network
management, each of these locations were to be wired back to the main
computer room in the store. No electronic were to be installed in the open
rafter ceiling, only at either the workstation or in the computer room. This
meant most of these cable runs were well beyond the 100-meter distance
limitation of Ethernet on Category 5 Twisted Pair cable. Because of the distance
issues, they decided to use multimode fiber cable to connect each workstation
to the switches in the computer room. But this meant fiber based equipment
would also have to be purchased, equipment that is higher in cost than those
designed for twisted pair. This was a concern given the number of stores that
needed to be updated, the aggressive schedule of new store openings, and
their budget. Any where they could save money in each store would mean a
great deal to the company's bottom line at the end of the year. This is the reason they
chose a solution from Transition Networks, Inc. ®. By utilizing lower
costing twisted pair based switches and network interface cards along with
10Base Ethernet media converters, the retailer was able to significantly
lower its per port cost. Here is how they did it. 
In the computer room they
used 10/100 switches with RJ-45 ports. Each workstation has a 10/100-network
interface card installed. Chassis based media converters are installed in the
computer room and stand-alone units are used at the workstation. The
converters attach to the fiber and short Cat 5 patch cables connect the
converters to the switches and NIC's. This creates a quality connection
backed by Transition Networks lifetime warranty on all of its products. The
retailer was able create a simple installation by using fiber cable to run
the distance it needed and connect their work stations in a cost effective
manner. Transition Networks is the
leader in media conversion technology; offering a wide array of products
including Ethernet, Fast Ethernet (FX and SX), Gigabit Ethernet, 10/100 rate
converters, T1/E1, DS3, OC3, OC12, RS485, V.35, Token Ring and more. Our
Point System chassis provides users with manageability, reliability, and
future proofing. The Point System offers fully SNMP compliant read/write
software including web-based management. The chassis also provides for
redundant management, redundant power (AC or DC), converters that can be
upgraded in the field, and more. Please contact Transition Networks for more
information and how we may be able to help you deliver data services to your
customers. Transition Networks Product Numbers:
19-slot Point System Chassis:
CPSMC1900-100 Redundant Point System Power Supply:
CPSMP-200 Dual Slot Master Management Module:
CPSMM-200 Point System Slide-In-Module Media Converters:
Ethernet 10BASE-T to Multimode Fiber ST (2 km):
CETTF1011-105 Stand-Alone Media Converters:
Ethernet 10BASE-T to Multimode Fiber ST (2 km):
E-TBT-FRL-05
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