HOUSTON -- Shell has selected Netifice Communications Inc., which offers flexible IP virtual private network (VPN) solutions and other managed IP services, as a provider of the Shell CoolBand network, connecting and delivering value-added services for up to 10,000 Shell-branded sites throughout North America.
Netifice's managed IP services will provide Shell-branded retailers with a secure, PCI-compliant infrastructure to support all of their credit card processing requirements. In addition, it can enable Shell retailers to deploy the latest innovative [image-nocss] applications to cut costs, increase operating efficiencies, provide greater management controls and provide new services to Shell customers. These applications include real-time point-of-sale (POS) reporting, tank monitoring and inventory management, video surveillance, online music and advertising and IP telephony.
Netifice's line of fully managed IP services will allow Shell-branded retailers to consider options for increasing the value they provide customers, while reducing overhead costs and enabling tools to manage their operations, said Paul Stanifer, Shell's general manager of operations support U.S. By powering the Cool Band network, Netifice's high-performance, high-reliability platform will provide Shell retailers with greater flexibility in their business operations.
Until now, Shell-branded retailers used separate phone lines to support many of their gas station applications, including ATM, credit card processing, pump monitoring and onsite security. With the flexibility of Netifice's managed MPLS broadband VPN service, retailers can now consolidate all applications over a single network infrastructure that is fully managed by Netifice's expert support staff. This will allow Shell retailers to reduce the costs associated with redundant phone lines, while continuing to deploy new applications that ultimately help them cut costs and increase revenues.
As today's businesses evolve to address new customer needs and business objectives, they require a flexible infrastructure that enables them to easily and efficiently add applications and capabilities, and that's exactly what Netifice's managed IP services allow our customers to do, said Greg Davis, senior vice president of marketing at Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Netifice. Our suite of innovative communication services, allow customers like Shell to consolidate all applications onto a single platform so that they can attain increased operating efficiencies, along with the flexibility to address new business opportunities as they arise.
Netifice said it can tailor a solution that fits a customer's specific requirements, whether they need to run performance-sensitive applications between the corporate headquarters and branch offices via the Netifice MPLS fiber optic network, or extend their infrastructure to include numerous other carrier networks, increasing their reach to thousands of remote users and retail sites via broadband, wireless, satellite and global dial access.
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