Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods has chosen Comcast Business (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Ethernet-based business services to provide network connectivity to more than 500 employees and facilitate internal application development.
Based in Milwaukie, OR, Bob's Red Mill produces more than 1,700 whole-grain products, from flours and hot cereals, to baking mixes and grains. The company's IT team is tasked with helping employees collaborate more effectively, and also develops applications and workflows in-house, such as the company's warehouse management, inventory and shipping systems, to advance operations at the mill.
"Before Comcast Business, we were using antiquated T-1 lines, which were expensive and unreliable," said Terry Kester, senior network architect at Bob's Red Mill. "We experienced frequent downtime, and due to bandwidth issues, backup processes would saturate our network at night. The reliability and scalability that the Comcast Business network provides allows us to maintain efficient business operations, as well as keep employees connected to our systems, customers and each other."
Bob's Red Mill is using two 50 Mbps Ethernet Private Lines (EPLs) from Comcast to connect the company's headquarters location to both its retail store and restaurant, and its world distribution center. The EPLs deliver connection for data sharing among the three sites, and enable the IT team to centrally locate applications and workflows at headquarters for company-wide use. Bob's Red Mill is also using a 50 Mbps Ethernet Dedicated Internet service from Comcast, as well as two Comcast Business PRI Trunks.
Bryan Emerson, chief information officer (CIO) and VP of IT at Bob's Red Mill, said: "Every employee - whether at headquarters, our retail store, our restaurant or in the warehouse - uses a variety of network-based applications and systems every day. With Comcast Business, we have dependable and high-capacity connectivity that allows us to ship orders quickly, process credit cards in real-time, and provide employees with the communications tools they need to maintain customer satisfaction."