Woolworths selected Cable & Wireless following a competitive review process against strong competition and as a result, Cable & Wireless is now Woolworths' preferred strategic supplier for managed communications services.
Cable & Wireless will manage all Woolworths' networks and will be responsible for the IP-based local area networks at its London head office, Castleton and Swindon data centres, remote corporate sites and its 820 stores across the UK. In addition, it will roll out an IP-VPN to connect Woolworths' head office, regional offices, distribution centres and data centres -as well as all stores.
With everything running across a single IP network from a single supplier, Woolworths will benefit from faster communications and be able to offer a more responsive and dynamic service to its customers: for example, promotion and pricing updates will be distributed more quickly.
The network will be able to prioritise vital traffic like credit card authorisations for stores, in-store ordering and kiosk-based transactions, corporate backup and replication. It will also pave the way for future consolidation of Woolworths' "traditional" voice network onto the new data network.
Pete Wilkinson, Head of Systems Delivery, Woolworths, said: "We have chosen Cable & Wireless to be our preferred strategic networks and communications partner, building on our existing, excellent long-term relationship. Our network management, maintenance, network provision, capacity planning and disaster recovery have effectively been outsourced to Cable & Wireless.
"In the past, it has shown a great desire and commitment to understand our business and our people and shape the service to suit our needs. I have great confidence that our networks are in good hands, allowing us to focus on our retail and channel systems."
Jim Marsh, CEO, Cable & Wireless Europe, Asia and USA, said: "Retailers are increasingly trusting us to run the critical infrastructure that connects their stores and drives their businesses. I'm delighted that Woolworths has recognised the value that our managed services approach can deliver and has selected us as its preferred supplier."