Morrisons replaces wide area network

The grocer is replacing another supplier with the roll-out of the network, which will connect all of its 430 UK sites to its corporate headquarters.

The network has been commissioned to allow for the roll-out of Oracle Retail applications that Morrisons is currently engaged in. In addition, the supermarket chain is expected to run a voice application over the new infrastructure so that it can use it to make telephone calls.

Cable & Wireless managing director for the enterprise business Philip Grannum said that the company was still in discussions with Morrisons about whether it will also deploy the telco’s fixed mobile convergence technology. This would allow Morrisons staff to make mobile phone calls that run over its wide-area network when they are within one of its sites.

Morrisons IT director Gary Barr said that the investment in the network was essential to the grocer’s growth plans, but over time it would deliver real dividends. He added that Cable & Wireless had demonstrated that it could support Morrisons’ desire to streamline its processes and operations.

Morrisons will also use Cable & Wireless’ Application Performance Management suite. This will allow it to see how much bandwidth is being taken up by different applications and optimise the bandwidth that is available for the most important applications. It can then, for instance, reserve the majority of the network’s bandwidth for Oracle applications during trading hours.

Morrisons will also be able to accelerate certain applications using compression technology, to reduce the amount of bandwidth required and minimise costs.

The roll-out of the network will begin this year, with a freeze over the Christmas period, and should be completed by April next year.