Integrated VPN Keeps GST Truckin'

摘要

GST Corp. is in the business of finding the best routes and modes for freight deliveries. So perhaps it came naturally for the transportation and logistics company to do the same for voice traffic, which now gets routed over its virtual private network. The company built the data VPN two years ago as a way to expand its regional presence around the country and get geographically closer to its customers. The newly integrated voice and data VPN makes it simpler for GST to manage its network, which is growing, thanks to a series of acquisitions and the expansion of GST's branch sites. "IP telephony helps us control costs, and it's easier to manage and scale," says Donald Meewes, senior vice president and CIO of GST. The $420 million company, based in Memphis, Tenn., expects to save nearly 40 percent of network costs with the integrated voice and data network, mostly because it no longer has to pay for a managed frame relay service, he says (see "The Hard Sell," below).