FORD RIDES WITH REYNOLDS ON MCI VPN

MCI announced last week that it is providing Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealers nationwide with an IP-based virtual private network, transitioning most data traffic off of a legacy satellite network.

Working with Reynolds and Reynolds, an IT provider specializing in automotive retail customers, MCI deployed the network as part of the FordSecure initiative. That initiative, which connects Ford Motor Co. to Reynolds' secure data center as well as directly to the dealers' Reynolds dealer management system, is another in a series of moves that highlights the extent to which the automotive manufacturer has become an early technology adopter. Last month, Ford announced it signed a deal with SBC Communications to manage a hosted voice-over-IP network and became one of the largest enterprises to opt for a hosted solution.

The FordSecure initiative also emphasizes the changing data demands of typical dealerships, said Jim Aten, vice president of Reynolds Networking Services.

“What we're seeing is a shift from proprietary interfaces to everything over the Internet,” he said. “What we're seeing is the need for a persistent Internet connection that is of relatively substantial bandwidth.”

Previously, most communications between Ford, Ford Motor Credit and its dealerships was done via satellite and required deployment of a server at each retail location. Reynolds, using the Reynolds Private Managed Network brand, connects dealers directly to Reynolds Internet Services without redirection through a host.

One of the biggest concerns for Ford was security for sensitive customer data being sent when customers are applying for loans, said Bob Dull, comptroller at Beau Townsend Ford in Vandalia, Ohio, which has had the system running for several months. Just as important was reliability. “With RPM, we have not been down once,” he said.

Among the more technically aggressive solutions dealerships are deploying are video auctions. Instead of physically attending sales of used cars to fill their lots, auction houses can provide the entire process via a secured IP connection. More mundane but no less important is MCI's ability to offer features like content filtering and load management.