Poundland to upgrade LAN infrastructure

Retailer selects NextiraOne for its administration and warehouse distribution locations

High street retailer Poundland has signed a contract to upgrade its core LAN infrastructure.

The firm has selected communications services company NextiraOne to design, supply, implement and maintain its communications infrastructure.

Poundland has been working with the communications company since 2004, when NextiraOne won a tender to upgrade Poundland's LAN and voice environment.

This deal is an extension of that contract.

The solution will deliver faster communications with improved management for the company's headquarters in the UK, and its warehousing sites.

The LAN is designed to provide greater bandwidth for new systems and applications and to allow for future growth.

Mike Gray, director of IT at Poundland, said that efficiency is key to his business.

"Operating in a highly competitive retail environment, Poundland's strategy has always been to invest in the systems that will allow us to run our retail and warehouse operation with the highest levels of efficiency.

"With a growing organisation and rapid turnover of goods, we need systems that are reliable, resilient, and provide fast communications."

The network will be based on Cisco switches and should improve LAN access as the switches will support multiple device types.

These switches could help to enhance productivity by enabling applications such as IP telephony, wireless, and video communications.