ModCloth.com is a democratic fashion retailer. The company interacts with customers via social network sites, requests feedback through the ModLife Blog and product reviews, and asks customers to vote on potential inventory with the “Be the Buyer” program. Supplying customers with the opportunities to have their voices heard is what keeps the company fresh, relevant, and growing by leaps and bounds. ModCloth’s business depends on a reliable, high-speed connection to the internet.

ModCloth has experienced tremendous growth in the last year, opening three new offices.  The company has moved employees into the new offices almost immediately after obtaining the new spaces, and long before permanent high-speed network circuits could be installed. 

This situation presented a unique challenge. The company wanted to establish high-speed internet connectivity without waiting two to three months for a permanent high-speed internet line to be installed.

ModCloth’s Infrastructure Manager implemented a network system using a Truffle SD-WAN with Broadband Bonding Service to bring new offices online quickly.

Because it is usually very quick and easy to get DSL lines, the company uses the Mushroom Networks device to bond 6 DSL lines to create one high-speed internet connection.  The Truffle is peered with the Mushroom Networks Broadband Bonding Service, which is hosted in the Internet cloud. This allows for uplink and downlink bonding of all types of traffic, creating a high-speed option for both directions.

ModCloth has used the Truffle to “start up” three offices and plans to continue to use it as the initial means of network connectivity each time a new office is opened. 

ModCloth’s Infrastructure Manager puts it best:

“It has worked flawlessly in each new office scenario, providing users with high-speed internet on day one.  We were also impressed with the device’s ability to handle VPN and voice traffic with no noticeable quality degradation.  I can plug it in and in about 15 minutes, I have a network ready for folks to connect to without any other equipment.  With the built-in DHCP server, Quality of Service, and Firewall, it is literally a network-in-a-box.”

ModCloth’s Infrastructure Manager was able to achieve high bandwidth with the Mushroom Networks SD-WAN device for only a few hundred dollars. It would normally cost several thousand dollars for the same speed, dedicated bandwidth line.

The greatest benefit for ModCloth, however, is quantified by not having downtime for employees during the first few weeks they are in a new office.