JJ Food Service Boosts Warehouse Store Efficiency With Aruba Wireless Technology

Khipu deploys secure wireless networks across UK retail warehouses for customers and employees and guests. Khipu Networks today announced that JJ Food Service Ltd., the UK’s leading food service delivery and collection provider, has deployed a mobile network based on the Aruba Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture to facilitate Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) for customers, employees and guests.

Headquartered in Enfield, North London, JJ Food Service has evolved from a general food service wholesaler into a supplier of bespoke products and known brands that meet the precise requirements of its customers. The company continues to expand quickly with around 850 employees and stores throughout the UK, including its recently opened Bristol branch. Where the company sees inefficiencies, it works hard to develop systems to remedy them and, in recent years, investment in new technology has been the driving force behind the company’s growth. JJ Food Service has worked with Aruba Networks’ partner Khipu Networks to install over 200 Access Points and high availability Mobility Controllers in its warehouse stores, delivering a high-performance wireless network for its customers, employees and guests. The highly secure, high-performance mobile access is critical in supporting the applications that JJ Food Service employees use for checking stock, including receiving and pricing goods, allowing the company to process around 70,000 stock movements a day.

JJ Food Service has also deployed Microsoft Lync Server 2010. Aruba’s MOVE architecture enables wire-like performance of Microsoft Lync Server 2010, with tests showing up to 75 percent better performance for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 compared to an equivalent Cisco Wi-Fi network. The degree of improvement was calculated from mean opinion scores (MOS) after rigorous testing by Aruba and Microsoft, using Microsoft testing and evaluation criteria. This ensures that the benefits associated with the Unified Communications solution’s features are maximised – including instant messaging, robust conferencing and enterprise voice. Guest workers, such as vendor product distributors and point-of-sale managers, are also able to use the wireless network, securely and efficiently and without the need for any technical assistance to onboard their devices onto the network. Similarly, the shopping experience is enhanced for customers via wireless terminals, which enable secure guest access to the network.

“Having had some challenges with Cisco, we wanted to find a wireless technology provider that was far more focused and flexible enough to meet our specific needs – Aruba fit the bill perfectly,” said Rif Kiamil, chief information officer at JJ Food Service. “Aruba has enabled us to boost the operational efficiency of our warehouse stores – both for our employees and our customers. With one master controller located in a data centre, there is minimal risk of any downtime, meaning that our services run without interruption at all times and with improved and more reliable performance. In addition, with Aruba’s excellent relationship with Microsoft and enhanced support for applications like Microsoft Lync, our staff is seeing even greater benefits from enhanced unified communications capabilities.” “We are delighted to help JJ Food Service implement a high performance wireless infrastructure to support the breadth of their mobility demands,” said Bob Vickers, UK regional director at Aruba. “We’ve worked hard to innovate a comprehensive range of wireless solutions to meet the needs of varying industries and environments. JJ Food Service is a fantastic example of how our wireless technology can improve the services of companies in the retail sector – as workers, guests and customers all experience significant benefits.”