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Case study: PacketiX VPN 2.0

Remote management of a sushi-go-round chain

Akindo Sushiro Co., Ltd.

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The Japanese sushi chain Akindo Sushiro has developed the worlds first "integrated sushi-go-round management system", driven by two questions:

• How can we quickly know the customer's wish and timely deliver it?
• Can we be more efficient by reducing the amount we throw away?

For a sushi shop, it is difficult to always prepare the right menu choices according to the customers' tastes, the season, the weekday and special orders. It requires long years of experience on the side of the head chef.

In the system invented by Akindo Sushiro, RFID tags are placed under each plate, which allows it to track each individual plate. Data is collected by a terminal unit in each chain store and sent to a shared server in the data center. The supply manager in the headquarters can download and browse the data.

The connection between the data center, headquarters and each chain store is done over a VPN, and Akindo Sushiro has selected PacketiX VPN 2.0 as its VPN software of choice.

Only one fifth of the estimated budget

During the installation test in 2005, PacketiX VPN 2.0 showed satisfactory speed and strong security, says Akindo Sushiro's project leader Hiroshi Yamao.

"During our evaluations, we also had products where software and hardware had to be bought as a set, at a much higher price than we were hoping to pay. With PacketiX VPN 2.0, we could do it for a fifth of the estimated price. Half would have been superb, but under 20% is simply amazing."

With PacketiX VPN 2.0, server and client can be installed on already existing PCs, so the VPN can be built without the initial cost to purchase new hardware.

Another valuable feature is its high security. "We also thought about a dedicated line, but this is very expensive. PacketiX VPN 2.0 is inexpensive and offers both client side and server side authentication. That gives us reassurance for the future," says Mr. Sugihara of the project's system integrator Wakasugi. Before implementation, Mr. Sugihara had concerns about speed, but when he was testing the system first-hand, he found "we could use it without any problem".

Noticable results

With the system, the sushi plate circulation in each store can be checked from the headquarters. Headquaters can also direct store managers, and remotely administer the PC systems. Previously, when a problem with the IT occured, a technician had to go to the store's location to fix it. With PacketiX VPN, this can be done by remote desktop.

In the words of Mr. Yamao: "Trying out the system administration is an eye-opener. The screen on the other side is coming up right in front of your eyes and you can administer it. That's incredible. I'm truly glad we installed PacketiX VPN."