Casey's Upgrades Broadband Service

ANKENY, Iowa -- Casey's General Stores Inc. will upgrade to Hughes Network Systems LLC's (HNS) managed broadband services, enabling the convenience store chain to take advantage of greater network efficiency and to deploy new IP-based applications. for its 1,400 locations.

"HNS has provided Casey's with reliable network performance and excellent support for more than four years," said Brad Heyer, Casey's vice president of information systems. "Making the move from our current network to their new managed broadband services is an obvious choice. We'll have a solid foundation from which to scale our network and to incorporate more bandwidth-intensive applications as we develop them. We look forward to reaping the benefits of HNS's managed broadband service to meet our evolving business needs."

Casey's initially considered moving to an all-terrestrial network solution, but after weighing the benefits of HNS's combined terrestrial and satellite broadband offering against its business needs, the company decided that a predominantly satellite solution was best suited to its operations. Operating in nine midwestern states, Casey's stores are in rural areas where terrestrial broadband options are limited. HNS's managed broadband services provide optimized coverage at all stores, regardless of geography.

Using managed broadband services from HNS, Casey's can conduct polling at each retail location; enhance customer service with improved business transactions; and future-proof its network through flexible service offerings.

"Our long-term relationship with Casey's General Stores reflects HNS's commitment to providing our customers with reliable broadband services that help maintain a healthy bottom line," said Ken Cohen, assistant vice president of North American Marketing at HNS. "Designed for companies like Casey's, our new managed broadband services facilitate the deployment of IP-based applications to meet rapidly evolving business needs."

The managed broadband services selected by Casey's are enabled by HNS's new DW7700 router, which makes network scalability possible on a site-by-site basis, enterprise-wide. Service rollout began in December 2005.

Casey's General Stores are located in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana.