An artisan pet food company increases efficiency and productivity with fiber technology

For one family-owned pet food company, innovation is a family hallmark. Their fifth-generation artisan pet food business boasts a number of firsts including developing the first canine and feline distemper vaccines, inventing the first dry pet food and pioneering the use of the first natural pet food preservative. And the company will soon make its mark outside the animal nutrition industry by opening a brewpub.

This new venture, spurred by a family passion for beer making, will join the growing list of family-owned properties, which are all connected by a single network. Among these locations are several office buildings, manufacturing plants, warehouses, a canning facility, and a private bed-and-breakfast for business guests.

The existing MPLS network couldn’t support the family’s ambitious plans. What they needed was a partner who would provide the reliable connectivity needed to innovate, expand and diversify.

New voice services expose network shortcomings

The company IT director first realized he needed a more reliable network when it couldn’t provide the speed and reliability required by a new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone system. This resulted in dropped calls and network failures.

Word-of-mouth recommendations brought him to Spectrum Business. He decided to run a 50 Mbps Spectrum Business Dedicated Fiber Internet (DFI) circuit to the servers supporting the VoIP system. His team noticed an immediate and significant improvement in service reliability and call clarity on the fiber connection.

New infrastructure helps overcome obstacles

Encouraged by the substantial improvement in the voice services, the IT director decided to see if Spectrum Business fiber connectivity solutions could solve other challenges the company faced.

For example, accountants and other support staff had to work at the main manufacturing plant where the servers were located rather than where they were most needed. “When I first started, the network was so unreliable that they didn’t trust putting terminals for the accounting team across the state,” he says.

When the IT director switched to Spectrum Business connectivity, he was impressed not only with its reliability but also its performance. “We loved it … great speed, great response, no issues. When we started running analytical tests on speed and latency, we discovered the Spectrum Business DFI service was delivering data from one building to another in just one to two milliseconds versus eight to nine milliseconds on our other network.”

A network ready for any challenge

Due to the success of the speed and latency tests, the company chose to deploy Spectrum Business solutions including DFI service, Ethernet, Managed Router Service (MRS) and SIP Trunking service across its properties.

The Ethernet service links the company data center to all the business properties and the owner’s private residence. The Spectrum Business network supports fiber connectivity even to the company’s furthest locations. It also connects everything from production lines and shipping to business analytics data feeds and sensors in the manufacturing plants.

MRS is fully managed by Spectrum Business, which allows the IT team to focus resources on more strategic initiatives. The service helps them manage network traffic flow and bandwidth, and maximizes network uptime by providing failover to a second router in the event of a service disruption. “It’s like having another me running around the place,” says the IT director.

Delivered over the fiber Ethernet network, the Spectrum Business SIP Trunking service replaced the original VoIP solution provided by another vendor. It supports all the company’s properties, and can scale easily to support new locations as the business grows. Because it uses bandwidth separate from that of the data services, high call quality is ensured.

A solution designed for business innovation

The company is introducing new supply chain technologies that make manufacturing more efficient. For example, hundreds of sensors on high-speed, low-latency connections throughout the production facilities enable the company to collect and analyze real-time data to fine tune processes at a moment’s notice. The Spectrum Business network easily supports these innovations.

Ready for the future

Fueled by innovation and continued business growth, the IT director is already planning for the increased demands that will be put on the network in the years to come. The company is considering construction of a new headquarters, as well as retail space near the brewery to attract visitors. To stay ahead of the curve, the company is planning to add a 10 Gbps circuit to the data center.

The IT director is confident the Spectrum Business network can handle whatever new business endeavors the family pursues next. “A reliable network goes hand in hand with being able to increase your business,” he says.

Learn more about Spectrum Business solutions.