Liverpool Department Stores Keep Data EXTRA! Secure
Attachmate terminal emulation safeguards valuable data

Liverpool (www.liverpool.com.mx/) is the leading department store chain in Mexico, with 65 stores across the country that feature clothing, furniture and gifts. Additionally, Liverpool manages seven shopping centers, a retail credit division, and a real estate division. The company’s estimated market share is 63%, with annual sales of about $3 billion.

The company was founded in 1847 by Jean-Baptiste Ebrard, who sold clothing on the streets of Mexico City from a trunk, calling his fledgling operation El Puerto de Liverpool, S.A. de C.V. (‘the Port of Liverpool’).

Until the early 1960s, Liverpool had one store in Mexico City. The company began expansion in 1965, joining the Mexican Stock Exchange. In 1988, Liverpool acquired the Fabricas de Francia department store chain, thus extending its presence into more cities across Mexico.

During the past two decades, Liverpool has maintained its aggressive expansion strategy by building new storefronts, acquiring a number of existing chains, and by developing and managing the shopping centers. Today, Liverpool has more than 25,000 employees, and is the third largest issuer of credit cards in Mexico, with over 2.4 million Liverpool branded credit cards.

Protecting Valuable Data is a Major Business Goal

Liverpool boasts a state-of-the-art distribution infrastructure and network. The company makes significant investments in IT, which give the organization considerable competitive advantage. With a fast-growing customer base, Liverpool continues to improve internal systems to keep pace with growth initiatives, and also seeks to enhance its customer service to stay ahead of competitors.

One of Liverpool’s most valuable assets is its data, which includes sensitive customer information. The company takes extra steps to ensure the data is protected from internal and external threats, especially when sending and receiving data. Security is a big issue for any business, and Liverpool understands there are risks both inside and outside of the organization.

According to Liverpool’s IT executive, “If we start from the premise that 80% of frauds occur with involvement of companies’ internal personnel, then there is an urgent need to be met.”

A longtime Attachmate customer, Liverpool has incorporated EXTRA! X-treme in all its stores and administrative offices to help protect the company’s valuable data. “In this sense, the Attachmate solution helps meet this need and adds value to our service offerings, because it allows us to protect our customers’ information from potential eventualities,” the IT executive said.

EXTRA! X-treme Safeguards Data in Motion

Attachmate EXTRA! X-treme is terminal emulation software that securely connects Windows users to applications running on IBM Mainframe (3270), IBM AS/400 (5250), and UNIX/Linux/OpenVMS (VT) systems. With EXTRA! X-treme, IT professionals gain three essential capabilities:

1. Maximum security when accessing or transferring valuable legacy host data
2. An array of features for enhancing terminal emulation user productivity
3. The ability to seamlessly integrate with new and evolving technologies, such as new operating systems, Citrix, Active Directory and Group Policy, and PKI infrastructures

EXTRA! X-treme, the first application certified for Microsoft Windows Vista, provides seamless integration with Microsoft Office, which means users can access all their familiar Office productivity features from within the EXTRA! X-treme framework.

Technological Upgrades Benefit Liverpool Customers

Part of the company’s strategic business planning includes upgrading and improving technology in order to benefit Liverpool’s large customer base, and to increase the efficiency and security of Liverpool’s IT organization. The implementation of EXTRA! X-treme was an ideal fit with the company’s strategy.

“We are talking about the transfer of information and security in all our processes,” said Liverpool’s IT executive. “With Attachmate solutions, we are guaranteeing an extremely high level of security, independently of internal and external audits, and accordingly we are taking the initiative to offer our customers a better service.”

EXTRA! X-treme features integrated cryptography, allowing for client-side SSL/TLS, SSH, and Kerberos data encryption and authentication. EXTRA!’s cryptographic modules conform to the strictest government standards (Federal Information Processing Standard or FIPS 140-2 and US Department of Defense PKI). Additionally, EXTRA! protects data transfers with Reflection Secure FTP Client which utilizes the same integrated cryptography.

Attachmate Solutions in Liverpool

The work performed by Attachmate for this project was to assist Liverpool’s IT staff in implementing the tool, conducting functional tests, and releasing the project. The solution was implemented on a platform of over 5,000 machines, performing all the proper tests to minimize the possibility of failure.

“It’s a very friendly, simple, and easy to install solution, built to standards that reduce training needs and lower tech support costs,” he said. “It is worth adding that this was a very clean project, with no major obstacles.”

Attachmate is working on other important projects for Liverpool, such as monitoring of automated activities to support production, monitoring of information to support credit systems, gift desk, and financial authorizations, which are the foundation of the business.

Liverpool’s IT executive said, “the project worked in price, cost, and planned time, which is the most important thing. We are satisfied with the solution; and the cost-benefit ratio is also very high.”