Acumera Inc., an Austin, Texas-based provider of managed network services, has won the contract for network integration and management services for Alon Brands.
Alon Brands, headquartered in Dallas, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alon USA Energy, Inc. that operates more than 300 convenience stores in the southwestern U.S. Alon Brands also is the largest 7-Eleven licensee in the U.S., and also manages fuel, credit card and marketing programs under the FINA brand to independent convenience store owners, having more than 1,000 FINA-branded stores in its network.
Acumera’s services will migrate Alon Brands’ existing IT and store network systems onto a more cost-effective broadband network, increase store IT systems integration, and enable enhanced remote support.
“We selected Acumera for this network transition because of its proven performance in supporting our Abilene stores,” said Tim Patterson, general manager of marketing support at Alon Brands. “Alon Brands is now able to provide FINA branded stores a high speed, fully managed information management program that allows the transfer of daily price book files, digital security recordings, automatic tank gauge readings and other vital files from stores to corporate offices with total security, while limiting in-store access to the Internet. We particularly appreciate that the Acumera system reduces costs by delivering information to the right individuals within the company when it’s needed.”
“We’re pleased that Alon Brands has selected Acumera to provision and support their network,” said Dirk Heinen, Acumera’s CEO. “Acumera’s network products and services provide the company with better system integration, lower operating costs, and an easy to use platform to remotely support and update its network.”
For Alon Brands, Acumera will be providing network design, WAN provisioning, interface development for existing and future systems, and network monitoring and management. This turnkey approach links store systems from multiple different vendors into a common network management framework, while streamlining data flows for increased operational efficiencies.
Acumera uses two key products for Alon service delivery: the Acumera Merchant Gateway and AcuVigil Network Management. The Acumera Merchant Gateway combines five network functions into one device for ease of installation and reduced cost. AcuVigil Network Management reduces deployment and operating costs by providing a Web-based view into network status to manage Alon Brands’ WAN, VPN and network devices.