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News Releases
New Broadband Network Helps Anna’s Linens Boost Record Sales and Service
COSTA MESA, Calif. – (Jan. 26, 2004) – The cash registers were ringing fast this past holiday sales season for Anna’s Linens.
The 122-store bedding, bath, and windows treatments chain posted its best holiday season sales volumes. It attributes the same-stores sales surge to a newly installed multi-site broadband network linking all stores in nine states.
“We were able to reduce the average credit card transaction at our cash registers from 30 seconds to about five seconds,” said Alan Gladstone, president and CEO of Anna’s Linens. “Short check out lines invite busy shoppers. This is just the front edge of what we will be able to do with our private broadband network over time.”
Each Anna’s Linens store had been using multiple dial-up telephone connections for credit card transactions, check verifications, sales reporting, inventory control, various accounting data transfers, and e-mail. Stores are eliminating all but one dial-up line for data communications. Its new multi-site network uses a combination of ATM, Frame Relay and DSL connections to create a managed, private network that does not traverse the public Internet.
The new network is always on, faster, and more reliable because it uses synchronous data flow with a high quality service-level commitment. Anna’s Linens can boost employee productivity because it enables multiple functions simultaneously, rather than deferring certain activities until after regular business hours.
“By linking all of our stores together, we can now see what’s going on at all the stores at the same time rather than dialing them up individually,” said Lynn Negrete, director of IT for Anna’s Linens. “This allows us to better manage our existing stores and make it easier for Anna’s Linens to grow.”
Anna’s Linens added 37 stores during 2003. It plans to open another 40 stores this year.
Anna’s Linens selected Vancouver, Washington-based New Edge Networks for it’s multi-site wide area network. Telecommunications consultant Joe Grauman, based in Los Angeles, advised Anna’s Linens.
“The network we designed and built for Anna’s Linens spans multiple geographies, technologies, and carriers,” said Dan Moffat, president and CEO of New Edge Networks. “By providing Anna’s Linens a single point of contact for all its networking needs, they are able to stay focused on doing what they do best – provide merchandise at deep discount values to their customers.
“Business broadband technology solutions are making managed multi-site networking affordable for more small and midsize businesses that could not previously cost-justify high-speed access,” Moffat said. “With Frame over DSL, for example, a business customer can get more than double the bandwidth for about half the cost. What’s more, they can easily scale bandwidth requirements as their needs grow and evolve.
“We can provide affordable multi-site business broadband access to virtually any business address in the United States,” Moffat said.
About Anna’s Linens
Anna’s Linens, headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, was founded in 1988 by its current president and chief executive officer. The company was named after his mother. Anna’s Linen’s carries primarily American made textiles and currently operates more than 120 stores in 9 states including California, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. With 1,500 employees, Anna’s employee base is comprised of more than 90 percent minority women. The company’s Web site is www.annaslinens.com. Telephone: 1-800-326-6279.
About New Edge Networks
New Edge Networks is a single-source national provider of secure multi-site managed data networks and dedicated Internet access for businesses and communications carriers. New Edge Networks seamlessly integrates a wide variety of last-mile broadband access services available through multiple carriers, technologies, and geographic regions worldwide. Its customers include telecom carriers, small to midsize businesses, large corporations, and their telecommuters anywhere. New Edge Networks owns a nationwide multi-services network with more than 850 carrier-class switches and Internet routers. It has one of the country’s largest coverage footprints with a strong presence in small and midsize markets. Frost and Sullivan selected New Edge Networks as its 2004 Telecom Company of the Year. The company’s Web site is www.newedgenetworks.com. Telephone: 1-360-693-9009.
Contact:
Sal Cinquegrani
(360) 906-9723
ATTN: New Edge Networks news releases contain information that is accurate as of the date they are issued. Information contained in past news releases may become out of date and the company does not assume responsibility for updating information contained in past news releases.