Founded in 1994, Unique Infoways is a leading provider of technology solutions including hardware and software to PSUs and corporates. The company’s product portfolio includes desktops, laptops, printers, scanners, storage and backup devices.

The company also distributes products of about 100 IT brands including laptops, smartphones, LCD TVs, desktops, peripherals, accessories and cameras. Unique Infoways’ client base includes DLF, the Container Corporation of India, Hyatt Regency, the National Dairy Development Board, Apollo Tyres Limited, Fujitsu Limited, Pepsico and Omaxe. Unique Infoways has 10 stores located in Delhi. In 2013, the firm established one of the country’s largest IT malls with a shopping area of about 40,000 square feet at Nehru Place. The IT store, HOT, houses a range of IT and electronic products. The company has a team of over 300 sales executives and plans to set up similar IT stores in other cities.

Being an IT hardware and solution provider, Unique Infoways recognises the critical role played by telecom and IT in streamlining operations. Over the years, the company has been making significant investments in upgrading its telecom infrastructure.

tele.net takes a look at the company’s telecom-related initiatives…

Existing infrastructure

According to Vipul Jain, chief executive officer and promoter, Unique Infoways, the company is using WAN for meeting its communication requirements. The WAN provides the company seamless and on-the-go connectivity at its headquarters and co-location sites and other offices. It is using multiple WAN technologies such as VPN, radio frequency (RF) and optic fibre for establishing connectivity. The majority of the organisation’s locations are connected using RF or optic fibre. For uninterrupted and enhanced network connectivity, the company is using RF technology and for last mile connectivity, it has deployed optic fibre. The company uses optic fibre-based connectivity to power its SAP-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. It has established end-to-end connectivity points for managing stock transfer, billing, accounts, customer database, etc.

The company has a large network of leased lines provided by Bharti Airtel. Besides Bharti Airtel, Unique Infoways sources bandwidth from Sify Technologies. The company’s multiple locations are connected through leased lines based on point-to-point connection. In addition, through RF technology, the company accesses connectivity speed of 6 Mbps. Unique Infoways’ 10 retail stores are connected to a central server that ensures 24x7 connectivity. All retail stores have access to the central server but are not connected with each other. “There is no need for the retail outlets to be connected with each other since each store is an independent unit. Staff at every outlet has access to stock and price details of products at their particular location only. Sales personnel at the retail outlets have restricted usage rights to the company’s communication network,” Jain says.

To guard against failure of the fibre-based network, the company has put in place an RF-based network for backup. The network is configured to seamlessly shift from one connectivity platform to another in case of malfunction or breakdown. Jain points out that the company’s core operations remain unaffected even in the event of complete failure of the network. This is because the company has built all the critical applications in-house, which allows the system to raise invoices even during network downtime. In the case of network downtime, employees are not able to replicate the invoices raised. But once the network is active, replication takes place automatically and sales personnel can access and update the inventory available and goods sold at the retail stores.

IT applications and network security

The company uses a host of IT tools and applications for carrying out day-to-day functions. It uses ERP for functions such as inventory management, billing, managing customer loyalty programmes and paying government taxes and levies. ERP offers the company various modules to handle diverse functions. Unique Infoways also manages the employee count and payrolls through an ERP-based module. Moreover, for tracking retail-related activities, it uses LS retail software, which is an end-to-end retail solution enabling organisations to replace multiple software programs with a single solution.

To secure its network, Unique Infoways uses a mix of firewalls and anti-virus tools.

Benefits and future plans