Verizon's latest managed services initiative targeted at retailers is a realization that to target vertical markets you can't take a cookie cutter approach but rather one that understands the particular inner workings of those verticals.
To achieve that goal for the retail market, Verizon not only pledged its support for the Association for Retail Technology Standards, but is also developing an open-standards approach for retail IT services. One of Verizon's first moves in its retail initiative is to launch a managed wireless security service in partnership with Motorola that will be offered via Verizon's Framework for Retail.
Ravi Bagal, vice president and global managing director-retail, Verizon Business, said in a Light Reading article that the new wireless service is designed to help secure the 'growing number of in-store wireless LANs being used for internal purposes and for customer use.'
What has prevented retailers from achieving this goal in the past is that they were stuck with purchasing proprietary network elements that did not interoperate. "Interoperability is a huge issue for retailers," said Bagal in a release. "Unfortunately, retailers are plagued with a mishmash of applications that often do not integrate with each other and can be disruptive to their business.
For more:
- see the technology framework release here
- see the wireless security release here
- LightReading also has this article
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