Home Textiles Retailer Anna's Linens Selects EarthLink for Managed Network Services and Voice Connectivity to Optimize Store Operations

ATLANTA, June 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- EarthLink Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading managed network and cloud services provider, today announced that home textiles retailer Anna's Linens selected the company to provide a comprehensive managed network solution and SIP Trunking for voice over IP for its more than three hundred stores and 3,200 employees. To accommodate their rapid growth, increasingly centralized IT model, and need to run more applications, Anna's IT leaders worked in collaboration with EarthLink partner Grauman Communications to transition to an EarthLink MPLS network and SIP Trunking. EarthLink also prioritized their network traffic with Class of Service to ensure that voice and point-of-sale traffic take precedence. With thousands of nationwide retail customers, EarthLink is committed to developing solutions that support the unique requirements of large, distributed businesses like Anna's Linens. 

"As a result of a more robust MPLS network from EarthLink, we have the security, reliability and bandwidth to run both our voice communications and critical in-store applications to support the growth of the business," said Joe Evango, Director, Technology Services, Anna's Linens.  "Moving forward with EarthLink, we have quite a few future projects with the potential for significant additional cost savings."

As their consultant, Grauman Communications advised Anna's Linens on the best options to continue their focus on customer-first service while being mindful of efficiency and the bottom line.

"Anna's Linens had a comfort level and trust in EarthLink as they made the significant move from the analog to the VoIP world," said Joe Grauman, Grauman Communications. "They're realizing tremendous efficiency and have increased bandwidth to run more applications."

To future-proof and position the retailer for its increasingly centralized IT model, all voice traffic on its network backbone from multiple locations taps into a central point, eliminating the need for dedicated voice connections at each business site. By replacing analog phone lines with VoIP, Anna's offset the cost of a significant boost in bandwidth while simplifying management.

The reliability of the voice service and the additional implementation of failover and disaster recovery capabilities ensure that the company's more than 300 stores stay connected with customers. Additionally, VoIP now supports their all-employee conference calls.

"Prior to working with EarthLink, Anna's was pushing the limits of its network and found it difficult to manage systems at each store, troubleshoot or make agile global changes," said Greg Griffiths, EarthLink Vice President of Retail Solutions. "Integrating voice and data with managed network services provides a way to effectively handle voice changes and standardize on a single platform, boost their bandwidth and simplify management. Our sweet spot is offering the flexibility to blend several types of access, including ADSL and T1, to give each store the bandwidth it needs while also folding in comprehensive enterprise service level agreements and repair times."

Click here to read the entire Anna's Linens case study.

About EarthLink
Founded in 1994, EarthLink Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: ELNK) is a leading managed network and cloud services provider, empowering businesses with a fully-managed, end-to-end communications, IT and virtualization portfolio including cloud computing, IT security, colocation, enterprise-class hosted applications and IT support services. EarthLink operates an over 28,000 fiber route mile network, with 90 metro fiber rings and 8 secure data centers providing ubiquitous nationwide data and voice IP service coverage. EarthLink's service and product innovation enables the company to design scalable solutions specific to each client's IT needs, supported by an experienced customer care team. The company also offers award-winning high-speed, wireless and dial-up Internet services to residential customers across the U.S. For more information, visit www.earthlinkbusiness.com or follow @EarthLinkBiz.

About Anna's Linens
Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, Anna's Linens is the 14th largest retailer of home textiles and home decor items.  The company was founded in 1987 by its current Chairman of the Board, Alan Gladstone, and named after Alan's mother, Anna.  A family-run business with more than 3,200 employees, Anna's currently operates more than 300 stores throughout Alabama, Arizona, California, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Puerto Rico. Visit www.annaslinens.com for more information.

About Grauman Communications
An independent consulting firm with 18 years of experience, Grauman Communications is in a unique position to help select the solution(s) that best suit the client's needs. Service provider agnostic, Grauman has the entire marketplace from which to select the product or service that best suits the needs of its clients. Visit www.graumancom.com or call 800-697-9766 for more information.

SOURCE EarthLink Holdings Corp.