eRX Network

Challenge

eRx Network®, a leading electronic service provider to the retail pharmaceutical industry, needed a more flexible, scalable network solution. Their traditional frame relay network posed scaling challenges as new sites required management of an exponential number of permanent virtual circuits.

Solution

Qwest® proposed and delivered a hybrid Layer 2/3 wide area network (WAN) solution called Smart PVC. Smart PVC combines the reach of the Qwest Layer 2 Frame Relay/ATM network, with a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) core. That core uses the Qwest OC-192 IP backbone. Border gateway protocol (BGP) routing was implemented in the MPLS/IP network to maximize optimal paths between enterprise destinations for eRx Network.

Capital investment in customer premises equipment (CPE) is very low, as eRx can utilize their existing network’s frame relay CPE with a Smart PVC solution. PVC management greatly decreased, as each eRx Network location needs only one, very intelligent PVC to communicate with all the eRx Network destinations. The solution maintains the security of a traditional Layer 2 network with the added benefits of an IP-based WAN. Inclusion of BGP allows eRx Network to control their end-customer route assignments and provides the ability to segregate their customer’s traffic appropriately.

Client

eRx Network is a leading electronic service provider to the U.S. retail pharmacy industry. Its e-commerce products and network infrastructure are tuned to the unique needs of retail pharmacy.