The client is a growing regional retail chain with 25 locations across North America, in both urban and suburban areas. Its stores run point-of-sale (POS) transactions, inventory management and cloud-based business applications over the internet, and the chain continues to open new locations. The partner classifies the engagement as an SMB and retail deployment. The case study does not name the retailer.

The retailer relied on wired broadband connections for point-of-sale (POS) transactions, inventory management and cloud-based business applications. Frequent internet disruptions undermined all three. ISP outages, construction-related fiber cuts and network congestion took stores offline, and each outage meant lost sales, frustrated customers at the checkout and delays in order processing.

Growth added a second problem. New store openings were held up by ISP installation wait times, so a location could be ready to trade but unable to process a transaction.

The business needed a cost-effective, always-on connectivity solution that was not tied to a single carrier or a single piece of infrastructure, that could act as a backup where broadband already existed and as the primary connection where fiber was not available, and that its IT team could manage centrally across 25 sites.

Infinite Wireless deployed a 4G vSIM-enabled connectivity solution that serves as either backup or primary connectivity, so stores stay online even when wired internet fails.

Unlike traditional SIM-based failover tied to one carrier, Infinite Wireless' vSIM technology switches seamlessly between more than 40 LTE carriers across North America, using all of them to find the most stable and strongest connection available at each store.

The implementation covered five elements. Multi-carrier failover switches instantly to the best available network to prevent downtime. Primary and backup options let Infinite Wireless provide a primary wireless connection for stores without fiber and a failover path for stores with existing broadband. Plug-and-play setup allowed deployment at every retail location without complex configuration. Cloud-based monitoring gives the IT team real-time visibility and remote management of all locations. And the solution scales, so new stores can be added without waiting on an ISP.

The result is a single connectivity model that works for the whole estate, whether a store uses it as a safety net or as its only connection.

• 100% transaction continuity with no disruptions at checkout counters
• Lost sales caused by internet outages were eliminated, protecting revenue
• Cloud-based inventory, mobile POS and digital signage ran on improved store connectivity
• New store openings were no longer delayed by ISP installation wait times
• IT operations were streamlined through centralised, cloud-based monitoring