Druggists Distributors joins Omnilink

Druggists Distributors is in the process of implementing a sophisticated, robust wide area network (WAN) which will secure communications between its six distribution centres around the country.

But rather than install and maintain its own infrastructure, the pharmaceutical wholesaling company has joined the OmniLink Quality-of-Service (QoS) Virtual Private Network (VPN).

The move will enable end-to-end supply chain management and help the company to ensure products reach its customers` shelves when they are needed.

"Given our heavy reliance on Information Technology, we can`t afford the network to be down for any length of time," says Druggists Distributors IT Director Peter Smith.

"The OmniLink VPN guarantees that there will be at least two lines out of any point at any time - in effect a 99,8% availability of communication channels between all centres at all times. It is also able to absorb short bursts of additional data traffic and, if necessary, expand overall capacity of our network in the long term," he says.

OmniLink has set up ISDN dial up service lines as backup to the VPN to further protect the communication channels.

Druggists Distributors was acquired by a consortium of leading pharmaceutical manufacturers, Synergistic Alliance Investments (SAI), in December 1998, as the first step to shaping a secure, "best practice" distribution channel. The principal partners in SAI are Glaxo-Wellcome, Pfizer, Pharmacare, SmithKline Beecham and Warner Lambert.

Since the acquisition, a considerable sum has been invested to implement customised enterprise resource planning, batch tracking and accounting systems, developed for Druggists Distributors by J.D. Edwards.

The distribution initiative is building Druggists Distributors into a communication and service oriented business, Smith explains.

According to Val Moodley, business development manager at OmniLink, Druggists Distributor`s decision to outsource its WAN infrastructure to OmniLink followed the realisation that its supply chain initiative required an absolutely secure and robust IP network.

"While the company could have built and maintained its own WAN, this was not its core competency in its future IT strategy. Investigations soon showed that it would be more cost-effective to use OmniLink`s existing ATM-based backbone, which would provide the Quality-of-Service required.

"This enabled the network to be up and running much faster, and ensured the company didn`t have to invest in additional, largely redundant bandwidth to accommodate occasional additional traffic volumes.

"The OmniLink VPN will also make it easy for Druggists Distributors` principals to eventually link to their distribution company to create a secure, e-commerce community," Moodley concludes.