American businessman, Scott Cook, is quoted as saying; “We're still in the first minutes of the first day of the Internet revolution”. Cook has very deftly described the pace at which the internet, and everything associated with it, is growing, evolving, improving – and becoming more vulnerable. In a world where innovation and security are possibly the two most important information technology factors, on point protection and constant connection are key.

In the South African fast moving consumer goods and retail market, the speed at which goods move is brutal (as the name suggests). Any downtime is exponentially more devastating, as sales are lost and customers become frustrated. To offer this market a reliable, secure solution, local data security and information management company, InfoProtect has partnered with the international, leading provider of cloud-based, wired and wireless WAN networking solutions for distributed and mobile enterprises, Cradlepoint.

With Elite Partner status, and as a Cradlepoint value-added reseller, InfoProtect is perfectly positioned to relieve the FMCG and retail market of its connectivity and security woes, ensuring that their connection is constant, their data is safe and their goods can move even faster.

The initial, large-scale implementation of the solution has already begun at South Africa’s most-loved, humorous fast food chain. The Cradlepoint cloud-based platform combines software-defined networking and radio technologies with virtualised services and CPE to deliver 4G LTE networks that are secure end-to-end, agile to deploy, and ultra-reliable.

“We were exceedingly impressed with the Cradlepoint offering, which aligns well with our goal to ensure that customer data is not compromised,” confirms Brad Fraser, CEO of InfoProtect.

Sugan Ganasen, Cradlepoint’s Sales Manager for Africa is excited about the partnership, and is looking forward to supporting InfoProtect as it rolls the solution out across the South African FMCG market. “Although these solutions are suitable to any industry that hosts a fixed infrastructure, the FMCG and retail sector is our South African focus; this is where we see the greatest need in the country at present, and it certainly is a good fit.” 

Let’s face it – for most businesses, IT is confusing. When re-starting the router doesn’t work, a professional must be called in, at a premium rate, to re-establish the connection. The Cradlepoint solution simplifies the process. A device is aligned with any existing fixed line infrastructure with access to fibre and ADSL, a sim card is added, data is enabled, and a failover is created between the fibre, ADSL and LTE 4G network. “The solution completely takes care of all of the decision making,” confirms Fraser. “In addition, the data drives the information management system, and a secure Ethernet port is supplied.”

This is a unique solution, especially in terms of the AER2100 advanced edge router that is used in this particular application. The model offers temporary, micro and mobile branch locations, is cloud managed, offers advanced security, and ensures business continuity with its failover capabilities.

“No other device on the market provides this seamless, multiple WAN connectivity/failover and failback solution, with an option of a single or dual radio modem configuration,” concludes Ganasen. “It is a router that facilitates primary and failover requirements that are paramount to business continuity while also being able to manage additional traffic from M2M and IoT solutions either via the amazing dual 802.11 AC Wifi, or through its array of Ethernet ports provided.

There simply isn’t another device that achieves these results in the same way. It is also complementary to any other solution, making implementation seamless. We pride ourselves on a ‘Wrap and Embrace’ approach rather than a ‘Rip and Replace’ one. – and that’s why it was selected by the fast food chain.”