The project
The history of the Höhl family begins in 1779 in Hochstadt (Maintal), a romantic hamlet just outside the city of Frankfurt. From this long family tradition, DR. HÖHL'S continues to produce valuable natural products from and with apples.
A few months ago, the traditional company moved within Maintal. In addition to the central location, both for customers and for logistics, the Internet connection was a particular focus during the move.
Initial discussions with Internet service providers revealed that very high connection costs as well as disproportionately high monthly costs and runtimes would have to be expected. For a medium-sized company, this represents an investment that should not be underestimated.
Alternative solutions with 4G or 5G routers of the consumer sector were therefore considered but discarded after close examination. A mobile router that is in use 24/7 must offer the same reliability and availability as a cable or IP connection - in other words, industry standard.
That is why DR. HÖHL'S GmbH now relies on a router from NetModule. The router not only provides the desired Internet connection, but also simultaneously supplies the warehouse area for logistics processes with Wi-Fi.
Quote
«The handling of the NetModule router is very customer-friendly and the device is easy to operate and configure after a short training period. I would recommend NetModule to anyone who does not have a fiber or other cable connection to their location.»
Requirements
To meet the project requirements, the router used must meet the following:
- Best possible LTE connection including backup
- 24/7 availability
- WLAN supply for logistics
- VPN access for applications with different levels of security
Solution
To avoid an expensive wired IP connection, a NetModule NB1601 series router with LTE/4G modem as well as a WLAN module was chosen. The industrial router also comes with four Ethernet ports and powerful software.
As the central access router in the distribution cabinet, it now supplies all subscriber connections, securely routes all system accesses and also covers the entire 650 m2 warehouse area with WLAN. A second SIM card was procured as a backup for the LTE connection. If the Internet provider has a problem and the LTE connection fails, the router automatically switches to the other SIM card with a different network operator.
DR. HÖHL'S operates an online store and an ERP system, among other things, and uses standard office applications. Some of these servers are located in a cloud or must be accessible from the employees' home offices. Therefore, the connections to and from the router are secured with various VPN tunnels.
When the world is not in the grip of a pandemic, events are also held, for which WLAN is used. The router can manage up to four SSIDs, each with its own network configuration, with its software, so secure guest access for the WLAN can be set up without any problems.
After the – according to DR. HÖHL'S simple and fast – installation and configuration, the data throughput was tested. It finally turned out that a 5G infrastructure would currently not offer any advantages over the existing LTE installation.
Conclusion
With the NB1601, DR. HÖHL'S has a router in operation that was able to meet all requirements.
At a fraction of the initially calculated costs, a secure and stable Internet connection could be realized, even with backup through a second SIM card, thus ensuring continuous business operations.