From its beginnings as a small business selling fishing lures through newspaper classified ads, Cabela’s has evolved into the world’s largest mail order, retail, and Internet outdoor outfitter. With an extensive product line that includes hunting, fishing, and camping gear, outdoor apparel, and accessories, Cabela’s retail stores rank among the most popular tourist attractions for their museum-quality wildlife displays, large aquariums, and entertainment-style shopping atmosphere.

But even a company that started as a home business must continue to keep pace with the growing demands of its thriving operations and the ever-changing needs of its customers. Cabela’s needed to back up its primary communications network with a cost-effective solution to ensure uninterrupted service at its U.S.-based retail stores. Should the primary connection become unavailable at any of these sites, the store would be unable to conduct transactions or perform critical business functions, such as accepting credit card payments and running point-of-sale and inventory management applications, resulting in unrecoverable fi nancial losses.

An Insurance Policy

That’s why Cabela’s is now using the Hughes Access Continuity Service, a high-performance, broadband satellite networking service with ubiquitous coverage and high speeds that acts as an insurance policy against costly downtime caused by connectivity outages. This allows Cabela’s to continue to serve in-store customers, fulfill online and catalog orders, and transport goods without the need to rely solely on terrestrial providers for connectivity. When a remote site detects a primary network connection outage, the Hughes Access Continuity Service is automatically engaged. Policy-based routing automatically switches all data traffic to the satellite network to keep the store up and running.

“With the Hughes Access Continuity Service, Cabela’s stores can confi dently serve their customers and continue to provide superior fi eld expertise, up-to-date product information, and accurate inventory, secure in the knowledge that critical information will always be available,” said Carl Udler, marketing director for North America, Hughes.

The Unexpected Bonus

What was originally a backup solution, however, has evolved into added primary business benefi ts for the giant outfi tter. As Udler explained, “Because the Hughes system can be deployed and installed quickly—in a matter of days—Cabela’s has incorporated the installation into the build process of its new retail stores. As each new store is constructed, Hughes expeditiously installs the HughesNet service. It then functions as the primary network while the terrestrial network is being provisioned. This bonus functionality enables Cabela’s to ensure that terrestrial provisioning delays will not affect a new store opening. Once the terrestrial network is established, the Hughes Access Continuity Service switches to its role as a backup network.”

For a company that went from selling fi shing lures to luring millions of loyal customers, it’s safe to say that Cabela’s, backed by its Hughes Access Continuity Service, will continue to reel in outdoor lovers for many years to come.