Cybera Lands Big Deal with Mapco
By Roy Moore - The Nashville Business Journal, October 24, 2003
Cybera Inc. is building a network-based virtual private network connecting Mapco Express Inc.'s 248 convenience stores across seven states in a deal that further expands the Nashville technology firm's presence in the retail sector.
Franklin-based Mapco, a subsidiary of the Delek Group, will use Cybera's SmartNetwork program to generate faster credit card transactions and improve inventory management and security surveillance, among other functions. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Cybera officials say Mapco is among their top 10 customers and is the largest among convenience stores.
Cybera, founded in February 2001, has quickly found a niche in retail, where companies with multiple locations need broadband access to run new applications. Earlier this year, the company inked a deal to build a dedicated private network connecting 33 Cooker Restaurant Corp. sites in Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio.
That contract and the Mapco deal will be big drivers for President and CEO Cliff Duffey and his team, which expects to post revenues of more than $7 million this year, up from just $1 million in 2002.
"We're seeing a strong need for virtual private network service in the retail community because most retail organizations have had only a data line that was a single phone line to support their credit card functions," Duffey says. "What we've seen happen over the past few years is retailers have added new applications like gift cards or remote security monitoring or real-time inventory management. They're starting to build business intelligence."
The company's VPN system connects a client's remote offices to the parent firm's private network through a virtual router, while providing firewall-protected broadband Internet access.
At Mapco stores, Cybera is installing a broadband circuit and small router at each location while managing the service from its home office. The SmartNetwork, which replaces the dial-up Internet access used by each store, has been implemented at 75 percent of Mapco's stores and the rest will be added by the middle of November. Most of Mapco's stores are clustered around Nashville, Memphis and Richmond, Va.
Scotty Creason, IT manager at Mapco, says the new system should offer real-time information about customers' buying preferences as well as added store security.
Mapco is looking at using the bandwidth for digital video recorders, computer-based training and voice over IP, as well as sharing its high-speed connection with ATMs and Internet kiosks.
"We're able to support the broad range of applications, not just the credit card applications and gift cards, but video and voice," Duffey says.
Despite Cybera's inroads in the retail sector, the company continues to target financial services and other sectors.
Tech firm Quarry Technologies in January said the market for Internet Protocol VPNs should grow from more than $5 billion in 2001 to nearly $15 billion this year to more than $43 billion by 2006 - a 37 percent compound annual growth rate.
Cybera has offices in Nashville, Atlanta, Miami and Birmingham.
David Condra, president of the Nashville Technology Council, says Cybera and Duffey, the former chief technology officer at defunct BlueStar, are a perfect example of the need to keep technology executives in Nashville after their old companies fold because they will likely start new companies.
"They are capitalizing on a new idea, on a new technology that is entering into the marketplace," says Condra, who came to know Cybera through his work with the Nashville Angel Network.
© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.
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