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Microsoft Retail Management
System HeadQuarters (HQ) operations do not require dedicated,
expensive, high-bandwidth phone lines. Instead, its data
communication incorporates smart algorithms to economically
compress and transfer data between the head office and
retail stores. These minimal bandwidth requirements let
you exploit low-cost, dial-up phone lines and the Internet.
You can use a virtual private network (VPN) to securely
transfer data via the Internet between the head office
and retail stores. This network can easily accommodate
simultaneous connections to hundreds of stores.
To enable remote stores to communicate with the head
office database, HQ uses two software programs: HQ Remote
Client (installed at each store) and HQ Communications
Server at the head office. These programs are included
in HQ.
Each remote HQ Client sends information from its store's
database via the Internet, virtual private network or
dial-up access to the HQ Communications Server. It automatically
initiates a connection to the head office per a schedule
you specify. Then it updates stores' databases per your
directions in HQ worksheets.
The HQ Communications Server installed at the head
office exchanges data between the HQ database and remote
stores. It listens for incoming messages from stores,
then processes and stores their data in the HQ database.
Next, HQ forwards directives you have entered into HQ
to the remote stores you specify. An HQ Communications
Server can handle connections from multiple stores concurrently,
though messages are processed sequentially to ensure
data consistency. Large retail enterprises can add more
HQ Communications Server machines to distribute the
load.
To ensure reliability and delivery, the data transfer
between the HQ Communications Server and HQ Client is
message-oriented. Error detection and retry logics are
built into the communication protocol, which is based
on industry standard TCP/IP sockets.
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