NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- NATIONAL
RETAIL FEDERATION SHOW, Booth #3769 -- EarthLink Holdings
Corp. (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading managed network and cloud solutions
provider for multi-location businesses including hundreds of
national retailers, recently partnered with experts from research
consultants IHL Group and cloud-managed WiFi solutions provider
AirTight Networks to conduct one of the first-ever studies that
provides unique insights into the retail industry's plans for store
networking, WiFi, security and engagement.
Preliminary findings include:
- 82% of large to medium-sized retail participants have
already deployed in-store WiFi
- 57% of enterprise retail participants offer both customer
and employee WiFi
- 27.5% of retailers report that customer loyalty increased due
to deploying in-store customer WiFi
- 70% of retail participants currently outsource their store
level WAN to managed service providers
- 34% of retail participants will update their store level WiFi
technologies in 2015
"Our goal with this study is to establish actionable benchmark
numbers that help retail IT executives compare the state of their
store technology against others in the industry. As many plan to
invest in technologies like in-store WiFi, payment systems, PCI
compliance and security to keep customers loyal while protecting
their data, it's important to understand the benefits and
challenges others have already experienced," said Greg Buzek, IHL. "Up to 82% of retailers have
already deployed in-store WiFi and nearly 28% report increased
customer loyalty since deploying the technology. Not surprisingly
with these results, 34% of those already using WiFi are upgrading
capacity in 2015."
Once analysis of the final study data is complete, IHL,
EarthLink and AirTight plan to release a benchmarking tool to
enable retailers to see where they stack up, learn best practices,
and develop a technology roadmap that differentiates the store
experience and supports business growth objectives.
Greg Griffiths, Vice President of
Product Alliances, EarthLink, remarked, "Our purpose in teaming up
with IHL Group and AirTight for this important study is to provide
retailers with actionable data to help them plan their
next-generation engagement and technology roadmaps. We also see an
increasing need for WAN optimization, driven by the bandwidth needs
of the new centralized order management systems."
According to IHL Group, nearly 70% of specialty retailers are
designing their next Point-of-Sale system based on a central order
management system, which will put up to five times more load on the
network for core store transactions than most retailers use
today. To accommodate this load, many retailers will require
an update of their WAN infrastructure.
"Research findings show that retail has the necessary
infrastructure in place and is poised for growth around
multichannel engagement using in-store WiFi," said Kevin McCauley, Director of Retail Market
Development, AirTight Networks. "The companies that implement
within the next year will have first mover advantage to perfect
their engagement strategies. The forthcoming benchmarking tool will
help retailers cut through the complexity around that."
About EarthLink
EarthLink (EarthLink Holdings Corp.,
NASDAQ: ELNK) provides managed network, security and cloud
solutions for multi-location businesses. We help thousands of
specialty retailers, restaurants, financial institutions,
healthcare providers, professional service firms and local
governments deliver a reliable and engaging customer experience in
their stores and branch offices. We do so by building and managing
MPLS WAN networks, by providing virtualized infrastructure,
security, hosted voice, secure WiFi and compliance solutions, and
by offering exceptional customer care. We operate a nationwide
network spanning more than 28,000 fiber route miles, with 90 metro
fiber rings and secure data centers that provide ubiquitous data
and voice IP service coverage. Our EarthLink Carrier®
division sells facilities-based wholesale telecommunications to
other providers and our award-winning Internet services connect
hundreds of thousands of residential customers across the U.S. For
more, visit www.earthlink.com and follow @earthlink, LinkedIn and
Google+.
About AirTight Networks
AirTight Networks is the global leader in comprehensive cloud WiFi
solutions. The company's award-winning family of products and cloud
services combines a true carrier-class multitenant cloud
architecture with breakthroughs in WiFi location, user analytics,
social engagement, manageability, ease of deployment, and cost
effectiveness, as well as AirTight's longtime top-rated WIPS
technology. AirTight's global customer base includes leading
enterprises in the government, financial, technology/telecom,
manufacturing, health care, retail, and hospitality sectors. For
more information, please visit us
at: www.airtightnetworks.com, or follow us @AirTight
About IHL Group
IHL Group is a global research and
advisory firm headquartered in Franklin,
Tennessee that provides market analysis and business
consulting services for retailers and information technology
companies that focus on the retail industry. For more information,
visit www.ihlservices.com, call +1.615.591.2955 or email
ihl@ihlservices.com.
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SOURCE EarthLink Holdings Corp.