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The Green Sheet Online Edition

June 14, 2021 • Issue 21:06:01

New Products

Secure, flexible Wi-Fi for omnichannel retailers

Product: TNS Secure SD-WAN
Company: Transaction Network Services Inc.

Transaction Network Services Inc., a global provider of infrastructure-as-a-service solutions for payments, financial services and telecommunications companies, launched TNS Secure SD-WAN, a solution that combines PCI compliance, global connectivity, network security and specialized hardware to help retailers create an optimal processing environment throughout enterprises and branch locations.

Shaun Donaghey, TNS's senior vice president and managing director, payments market, North America, described TNS Secure SD-WAN as a flexible solution, unlike legacy managed networking solutions, which tend to be difficult, highly specialized and inflexible.

"SD-WAN gives retailers and brands the ability to deploy technology fast, which impacts their businesses in a positive way," Donaghey said. "It also enhances IoT deployments that use beacons and self-service kiosks in the store. These innovations are just outside of the payments framework and part of retail transformation, which is very exciting for us."

Retail transformation

Supercharging Payments with Secure SD-WAN, a white paper published by Juniper Research and TNS, identified three key takeaways:

  1. Retail networks are complex: The convergence of online and offline channels has changed retail, heightening the need for tools and connectivity beyond what traditional solutions, such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) offer.
  2. SD-WAN solutions have matured: SD-WAN solutions have come of age and are a worthy successor to MPLS, particularly with the addition of built-in security features. 
  3. Service providers have diverse product offerings:SD-WAN offers an array of choices to retailers. Researchers advised retailers to assess solutions and providers by evaluating security credentials, geographic reach and alignment with organizational goals to ensure connectivity, coverage and compatibility.
  4. Nick Maynard, lead analyst for Juniper Research, stated that SD-WAN deployments reduce cost and complexity of ownership by providing a simple overlay that is managed end to end. "This simplicity and freeing up of resources will help retailers keep pace with market changes by improving payments acceptance, optimizing the customer experience, and offering more value-added services, such as customer Wi-Fi," he added.

    Customer-facing benefits

    While the main benefits of SD-WAN deployments are operational, managed network environments can also help retailers optimize the customer experience and easily integrate value-added services, researchers stated.

    "One of the major benefits of the use of SD-WAN in payments networking is that it will enable strong payments acceptance," researchers wrote. "SD-WAN can support online eCommerce gateways, ATMs, POS terminals, tablets for digital payments, cash registers, payment-enabled fuel pumps and more."

    Additionally, SD-WAN can enable cloud access and facilitate alternative payment methods, such as POS finance or digital buy-now-pay-later services that are rapidly scaling in retail environments of all types and sizes, researchers noted.

    Helping retailers scale

    Donaghey mentioned that TNS SD-WAN works for all types and sizes of businesses, from single-location convenience stores to retailers with thousands of locations. From an SMB perspective, we can certainly provide a cost-effective solution with a fast return on investment, he added.

    "There may be some variation in terms of how many internal resources they have or how they outsource and pay for their network to be managed," Donaghey said. "But once they review the model and run the numbers, they will see a flexible commercial solution that can scale up or down."

    While acknowledging that MPLS is still a viable solution for some retailers, Donaghey suggested that retailers will continue to migrate from MPLS to SD-WAN, as merchants, service providers and consumers continue to enjoy the benefits associated with SD-WAN adoption. end of article

    Website: www.tnsi.com Contact: solutions@tnsi.com

    The Green Sheet Inc. is now a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals. Click here for more information.

    Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact names or information may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.

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