Cisco Cisco 1900 2900 3900 Series 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet HS-WIC with PoE Guía De Información
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 2 of 4
of an adequate connection to the company’s WAN. For a company in aggressive growth mode, that delay was
unacceptable.
Network Solution
Meanwhile, however, cellular service towers were proliferating throughout the United States, even into the more
remote rural areas. That trend presented the company with a new connectivity option: wireless broadband.
“The goal was an all-broadband network,” says Schoonover, “and our requirements were clear: high availability
and reliable uptime at an economical price.”
“In our business, margins are very narrow, and we have to keep close tabs on our operational costs at every
store,” he says. “So we were ready to take the time to evaluate all our options both technically and financially.”
Family Dollar had been using Cisco equipment for many years, starting with its central IT infrastructure and then
deploying Cisco routers at store locations beginning seven years ago. The company’s network managers were
well on their way to standardizing the stores on Cisco
®
1841 Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) when they started
considering wireless options.
About that time, as it happened, Cisco was beta-testing its new 3G wireless high-speed WAN interface cards
(HWICs) for Cisco ISRs, including the 1800 series. “The timing worked out for us,” says Schoonover, “and we
qualified as a beta site for the HWICs.”
The Cisco 3G HWICs, which support the latest 3G standards, including EvolveData-Optimized (EV-DO), are tightly
integrated with the secure data, voice, and mobility services provided on the ISR. And, with data rates
approaching T1 speeds, 3G networks provide a reliable alternative to wireline connectivity solutions including DSL
and cable.
“In our testing, we found the cards were fully enterprise-worthy in addition to being economical,” says Schoonover.
“To bring a store online, all we had to do was plug in the card, add an external antenna, and choose a plan from
one of the wireless service providers in each location.”