JCPenney Catalog Telemarketing: on line, on time, never closed

The network and facilities of JCPenney Catalog Telemarketing, a provider of telemarketing services to the JCPenney Catalog Division and other JCPenney Divisions offering professional and comprehensive telemarketing services to the business community, are described. To ensure a fail-safe call handling environment, each of the 16 telemarketing centers (TMCs) is equipped with an automatic call distributor having built-in redundancy. All of the centers are equipped with an uninterruptible power supply system, battery backup, and power generators. Five regional JCPenney Data Centers support the telemarketing centers (an IBM Systems Network Architecture Network). A state of the network operations center (NOC) allows a single point of contact for the 16 telemarketing centers. The NOC staff can analyze all elements of the network and monitor and control the performance of network resources. Using hardware and software evaluation tools, they can identify and diagnose complex communication problems and other factors affecting services. Three examples are given to illustrate the operation of the network.<>