BELK STORES REFASHIONS NETWORK USING RACAL, MCI AND BELLSOUTH

April 7, 1993 -- SUNRISE, FL. -- When the Belk Department Stores, a major
retail organization consisting of approximately 300 department stores
located in the Southeastern United States extending from Maryland to
Texas, decided to shed its old garb of analog telecommunications in favor
of stylishly elegant and economical digital communications, the retailer
looked to Racal-Datacom, MCI Communications and BellSouth to tailor the
transformation.

The old analog network typically was a 9600 bits per second leased-line
network, primarily supporting an SNA application. There were a few
exceptions. such as bisync dialin lines for vendor orders. As stores had
been added to the network, the network had been patched and stitched. But
by 1990 Belk realized it needed to trim these lines and to evaluate the
entire network.

"We had a large application that we were installing, Merchandise Processing
System, that generated a need to add a lot of terminals at those stores,"
recalls Jim Sullivan, Director of Operations and Technical Services, of
Belk Stores Services, Inc. "And we needed faster service. Although our
credit authorization response time traditionally has been fast, the new
application required fast response for all those new terminals. We could
see that digital is the direction people are going. Therefore Belk decided
to look to the future with a new digital network.

"We heard many good things about digital, like less errors and less modem
turnaround time with digital service units," Sullivan said.

The company looked at a number of vendors for equipment and long-haul
carriers. It even looked at VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal satellite)
networking.

Finally, the decision went to Racal for equipment, MCI for long-haul
carrier service and Southern Bell to handle local loops. Southern Bell
agreed to coordinate local loop projects with independent carriers in
locations not served by Southern Bell.

"Now we can run all our sites at a data speed of at least 9.6 kilobits per
second (Kbps), the former analog speed, or higher," Sullivan said. "We
agreed on 19.2 Kbps as a goal, although most sites run at 16.8 for the
efficiency of being able to get three lines in a 56 Kbps pipe.

"The new digital network gives us the ability to give better service to our
customers."

Belk's new network technology allows the retailer to transport data between
the mainframe computer and the local stores in a highly efficient manner
with few errors.

RESPONSE TIME

"Digital is much more efficient than analog," Sullivan observed. "When we
switched from analog 9.6 Kbps to digital 9.6, people kept telling us that
the response time was faster. That was because digital is more efficient
and error-free, so the response time quickened even though we are running
at the same data rate."

There were three to five stores on a line. Now, typically, there is a
maximum of three.

Credit authorization is done in three to five seconds year-round, even
during the holiday rush season. Third-party credit authorizations have a
five to seven-second response time. But in non-peak time, this is 1.5 to 2
seconds response time. CRT applications, such as gift registering, have a
four to five-second response time. (This does not include batch
printing.)

The network is built around 28 hubs with one to three 56 Kbps lines into
each hub. Most have three. Each 56 Kbps line splits into two or three
lower speed lines. Each hub uses Racal-Datacom Excalibur Digital Access
Products, Omnimux 7000 Channel Banks and will add Excalibur Dial Restoral
System, all in a contract Racal values at more than $2 million. The hubs
are in stores or group offices.

Belk started using Racal-Datacom Communications Management System (CMS)
Racal Management System in its analog days. It also chose CMS for the
digital network. Consequently, Belk Stores Service, Inc. didn't have to
retrain network operators except for the recent addition of innovations.
Therefore "our people were just as comfortable using the new network
management system as they had been using the older Racal equipment,"
Sullivan said.

The cooperation between Southern Bell, MCI and Racal was clearly beneficial
to all. Over the past two years Racal entered joint marketing programs
with MCI and Southern Bell's parent BellSouth. In Belk's case, the three
companies were working separately in 1990 when initial investigations
about a cutover to digital technology was being evaluated by the retail
chain. By the time Belk was ready to sign contracts in 1991, the three
communications companies were working together as a team.

BellSouth is an Atlanta-based international telecommunications holding
company. Its BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. subsidiary provides local
telephone service to more than 18.5 million lines in nine Southeastern
states and also markets and maintains standalone and fully integrated
communications systems.

MCI, headquartered in Washington, DC, offers a full range of domestic and
global telecommunications services through one of the world's largest
state-of-the-art networks. With 1992 revenue of over $10 billion, the
company is the second largest long distance provider in the United States
and has more than 67 overseas offices in 55 countries and places.

Racal-Datacom is a leading independent provider of data communications
products, systems and services, with a direct presence or representation
in more than 80 nations. The firm offers business solutions for the
implementation. management and support of enterprise networks from the
desktop through local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs).

Racal-Datacomm, 1601 N. Harrison Parkway, Sunrise, FL 33323-2899
Mailing Address: PO Box 40744, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33340-7044
305-846-1601;  Fax: 305-846-3935

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