Facts at a glance
Network: Internal Data Center linking remote offices through a WAN consisting of T1s and VPNs
Problem: Printing requirements maxing out bandwidth of network
Solution: Installed CirrusPrint on Server to compress printing data traffic and manage remote printers
“It was either CirrusPrint or we would have had to purchase more bandwidth. CirrusPrint truly reduced the data requirements for printing by 99%”
Andy Del Greco –IT Director, Northern Sales
About the Company
Northern Sales Company Inc., founded in the early 60’s, is a wholesale distribution company providing services and products in Alaska & Washington. We have our head office in Sumner, Washington, and manage seven distribution centers and two depots in Alaska, and one distribution center in Washington State.
For more information about the Northern Sales Company its products, please visit www.nsales.com.
Each remote office is connected to the head office in Washington through either a T1, at the larger sites, or a VPN at the smaller sites.
Every morning our reps go out and check stock levels then enter the orders for the day via a remote connection to our head office in Sumner. Our ERP, Food Distribute by AFS, creates the Invoices, which are printed out at the appropriate remote location. The printing, which takes place during the busiest point of the day, was maxing out the bandwidth of the network to the point that walk-in customers had to wait 10 or 15 minutes just to get a printed copy of their invoice! It was not a sustainable situation, the client was unhappy and the office managers were unhappy.
CirrusPrint pushes more data, faster to the printers
The solution was either to purchase more bandwidth, which is very expensive or to try CirrusPrint. From the day it was installed, CirrusPrint was able to push more data, faster, through our existing network. The configuration was straightforward; logical printers are setup on the server that direct the invoices to Cirrus Print which gets them to their final physical destination. All of this is invisible to the users. We simply point the printer to a port and CirrusPrint takes if from there.
With very little effort and expense we have reduced the data needs of printing invoices by 99%. The outcome, besides not having to purchase extra bandwidth, is that customers are getting their invoices printed instantaneously, like the system was in the next room.