In this design lab I am going to demonstrate how peplink Max BR1’s can be used in a retail kiosk environment.
Internet Connectivity for Retail Kiosks
Retail kiosks are often found within shopping malls, on the highstreet and sometimes they can be hosted within another complementary retail environment - a shoe repair kiosk in the corner of a shoe shop example.
In some cases these retail environments are rapidly deployed and temporary - set up for a seasonal promotion for example, and then removed until the following year. In all cases however reliable Internet connectivity is normally required to provide Internet connectivity for credit card processing machines as well as corporate based Internet access to corporate resources by staff. Additionally, depending on the type of kiosk - providing public wifi is also desirable.
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Software Defined Multi-WAN Failover with the BR1**
For These types of small rapid temporary deployed locations we would frequently suggest a MAX BR1. The Max BR1 Is a conveniently sized cellular router with inbuilt Wi-Fi. It can intelligently connect to any available Internet access source whether that be a fixed wired DSL connection, cellular internet connectivity or even by connecting wirelessly to an existing public wifi access point treating WiFi as a WAN link.
This makes it a very versatile router as it can be deployed just about anywhere and connected to the Internet using whatever Internet connectivity is available. The BR1 also comes with support for multiple power sources. It can be powered with the usual plug in mains adaptor but it also has hard-wired terminals on the front so it can be powered from a battery or any alternative 10v to 30v DC power source. This makes the BR1 suitable for deployment in outdoor environments such as retail trailers at trade shows, exhibitions or even festivals to accept payment on stands and kiosks as well as in vehicles and on ferries. .
Automatic Prioritised Failover
When multiple types of Internet connectivity are available, the BR1 can be set to automatically failover between Internet connections. So in a shared retail environment where fixed wired Internet connectivity might be available locally, be that a DSL or an existing ethernet network connection or even a site wide wireless network, that connectivity can be used as the first preference, with cellular connectivity on standby in case the fixed line connectivity fails.
Network Security
Like any other enterprise deployment where wifi and credit card processing is required, retail kiosks need to provide separation of users, devices and traffic types for bandwidth management and security purposes.
The BR1 supports the creation of VLANs on its LAN, so user and device traffic can be isolated from each other. This would enable a wired card processing machine to be isolated from other wired and wireless networks and users - both kiosk staff and any public wifi users.
With a stateful Firewall, category based web filtering and QoS functionality built into the BR1, exactly how the available internet bandwidth is used can be carefully controlled and managed.
Captive Portal and Social Logon
All businesses can benefit from knowing more about their customers and their spending habits, the BR1 can provide a captive portal and act as a public Wifi access point to promote special offers and/or to allow the customers to connect to the internet whilst waiting visiting the kiosk.
InControl 2 powered social Wi-Fi with Facebook Login](http://www.peplink.com/technology/social-wi-fi-hotspot/) is a powerful marketing and analytics tool, allowing you to glean important metrics about your visitors. When your visitors opt-in, you could grow a quality mailing list for your marketing campaigns. Metrics are visualized and displayed in beautiful at-a-glance graphs and charts for easy cross reference.
Use our SD-WAN Controller to manage and monitor the Kiosk deployments
Whether you are deploying 1 or 1000 kiosks, not only does InControl 2](http://www.peplink.com/products/incontrol-2/) provide valuable additional management capabilities like remote web admin device access, configuration cloning, automated wifi network deployments and configuration, but it also provides insight into the device status and use.
Notifications of device WAN status as well as reports on the number of connected clients and even cellular signal strength, allow for a much clearer understanding of what’s going on across the distributed networks.
Automated VPN configurations using InControl 2
InControl 2 supports SpeedFusion VPN configuration and management. Just create a SpeedFusion profile and apply it to all devices in a group. InControl 2 then automatically configures SpeedFusion VPN settings on all devices, giving you a centrally managed SpeedFusion deployment in minutes.
This can secure traffic between the remote retail kiosk deployments and a head office or datacenter where credit card processing or other corporate services might be hosted.
Granular control of outbound policies on the BR1, segregate public internet traffic, corporate services and credit card processing, keeping important data secure and seperate from public WiFi users.
All the Power of Software Defined WAN - Anywhere
The BR1 in combination with InControl 2 (our SD-WAN controller) can provide a complete solution for easy centralized management and monitoring of remotely deployed retail Kiosk connectivity.
It is versatile, quick to configure, and with zero touch deployment capabilities, can eliminate the need for IT staff to visit each location so greatly reduce operational costs for retailers.
