WIRELESS

From the July 2003  issue of Communications News

Jack in the Box uses free-space optical solution for expansion.

Fast-food giant Jack in the Box Inc. has always focused on using innovation to better address its customers’ needs. By employing inventive marketing, and implementing unique quality and service programs, the company has improved its market share by 25% since 1998.

Such rapid growth, however, began to present IT challenges for the company’s San Diego corporate operations center. To maintain its expansion plans, Jack in the Box needed to expand into a new building, a move that would require extending the company’s LAN to the new site. The network extension would have to be reliable, fast and cost-effective. Choosing the wrong solution could derail the company’s operational flow and quickly impact its bottom line.

The new building was located 960 meters (0.6 miles) from the main office on the Jack in the Box corporate campus. To give the remote building full access to the main TCP/IP/IPX network, a full-duplex Fast Ethernet link (100 Mbps) to the site had to be established.

Jack in the Box’s network support manager, Jim Antoshak, explored a number of connectivity options. “The first consideration we had was trenching fiber between the buildings,” Antoshak says. “While this would provide the speed and reliability desired, the projected cost was more than $100,000, and would take significant planning and cause disruptions between the buildings.”

Another option was leasing a T-1 frame relay between the buildings. The T-1 line, however, at just 1.5 Mbps, would not provide enough bandwidth to take full advantage of Jack in the Box’s Fast Ethernet network investment. “We considered a number of traditional choices,” states Antoshak, “but none had the combination of flexibility and price performance that we needed.”

To find a more appropriate solution, Antoshak turned to the Web, and found that free-space optical (FSO) might be a viable alternative. “The technology offered high data rates, did not require frequency licensing and promised a secure communication channel,” he says.

To determine if the technology was right for his company’s application requirements, he contacted MRV Communications to review the project. A site survey was scheduled to ensure proper product selection and to choose the optimal location for the installation.

The first objective of a FSO site survey was to ascertain that a clear line of site existed between the two buildings. Other priorities included determining the exact distance, identifying possible obstructions (trees, traffic, machinery) and finding the best location for the physical placement of the unit.

Antoshak and MRV determined that a TereScope 155 Protocol Independent Series system would be a good fit for the application. “With a data rate of up to 155 Mbps and a maximum range of up to 3.75 km, the FSO system was more than a match for the project’s specifications,” offers Antoshak.

Since reliability was a key consideration, the network was designed so that two of the FSO links would be operating in parallel, with a T-1 frame relay in the background as an emergency backup–in case fog, which can be heavy in the area, ever disrupted the link.

During the installation of the transceivers, the units were separated enough so that the signals from the transceivers would not interfere with one another. Once in place, the TereScopes were connected to Cisco 3640 Fast Ethernet routers via 1,310-nm, multimode fiber. The routers were also connected to Adtran TSU 100E units, which interfaced with the T-1 frame relay backup. The routers were configured to find the best path between the buildings.

“The links have performed exceptionally well for us,” reports Antoshak. “The TereScopes have performed cost-effectively in comparison to fiber and have been very dependable.”

Jack in the Box is now looking at future uses for the optical systems. With a 70,000-square-foot innovation center planned to open in 2004 and future plans to add more Gigabit Ethernet ports, FSO is still part of Jack in the Box’s path to success.

TereScope 155 PI Series

The TereScope 155 Protocol Independent systems offer a safe and reliable alternative to leased lines, with data rates ranging from 10 to 155 Mbps, at distances up to 3.75 km. These rugged systems can be deployed quickly to expand a network as needed. The MRV Fusion RF backup system can be added to the products to offer 99.999% availability in all types of weather, including heavy fog and rain. The TereScope 155 Protocol Independent products can be managed by MegaVision, MRV’s SNMP browser. They accommodate multiple protocols, including: E-3/T-3, Fast Ethernet, FDDI, OC-3, ATM and STM-1. Operating at data rates of 1.5 Mbps to 1.25 Gbps, TereScope solutions provide scalable wireless alternatives to leased lines. TereScope systems can be deployed in one day, without right-of-way or government permits for installation.

For more information from MRV:
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