UPGRADED LINES SPEED DATA AT CARR GOTTSTEIN

MATT NANNERY

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- High-volume telephone lines linking the Carr Gottstein Foods stores that dot this state are buzzing. But it's data, not idle chatter, that's keeping these lines busy.

The chain, based here, is installing new routers and digital modems to expand the volume of data handled by its X.25 multipoint data communications network. That network has allowed Carr Gottstein to pull back data 10 times faster than was possible on dial-up lines and to run applications that would be difficult to administer without it.

The single 56-kilobyte lines that link each of Carr Gottstein's 13 Greater Anchorage stores to company headquarters are responsible for the increased speed, according to Larry Walsh, manager of retail systems.

"All the data from a store runs over a single line," he said. "That's where you pick up the throughput."

Walsh said it took the chain roughly one hour per store to pull back complete store files from each of the Anchorage area stores -- a total of 13 hours -- prior to the installation of the system. Due to the long transmission time, the chain pulled back reports only twice a week.

"Now it takes an hour to do all 13 stores, so we do it every night," Walsh said.

"We send a lot more data down to the stores now," added Bill Berkshire, systems manager at the chain.

The single lines per store replaced a jumble of telephone lines. A single dedicated dial-up line was required for each separate in-store application. The situation was even more complex at headquarters, where corresponding ports for every application at every store created a maze of circuits.

"We had a wiring nightmare at the host," Walsh said.

In addition to pulling back

movement reports and downloading price changes to stores, Berkshire said the system lets the chain offer lucrative services.

"We can centrally manage our videos," Berkshire said, "and we handle debit and credit card transactions over the same lines."

Berkshire said the system even allowed the chain to bid for and win an exclusive contract as a ticket broker. Shoppers who don't buy tickets to sporting and cultural events at the box office can buy them at Carr Gottstein stores.

Carr Gottstein's desire to run even more data over the system, however, prompted the current upgrade. Through "synchronous data compression," the new modems allow the chain to run three to four times as much data over the 56K lines. A single DSU/CSU digital modem is being installed in each store to compress outgoing and decompress incoming data. One corresponding unit for each store will be installed at Carr Gottstein headquarters.

Carr Gottstein will use the increased volume to download information on couponing from headquarters to individual stores. The new routers will allow the chain to bring stores outside the Anchorage area into the system. They will accommodate both voice and data via satellite. Satellite transmissions will be less frequent than terrestrial calls, however, because of cost.