Coffee franchise Gloria Jeans has signed a two-year contract for a national IP network to connect 340 Australian franchisees on ADSL and the Gloria Jeans data centre on fibre optic.

VoIP and remote IT support will be available within Gloria Jeans franchises next year, fitting with the company's expansion plans. Pacific Internet was chosen for the contract against four other telecommunications providers.

Mike Devlin, Gloria Jeans Coffees Australian CEO, said having a common IP network platform, and single point of contact for account management and technical support is a significant advantage and each of its franchise connections to be purchased from Pacific Internet under a standard data management fee.

"Having a scalable and reliable IP data network with access to our central applications is integral to our streamlined franchise model and aggressive expansion plans," Devlin said.

"Enormous efficiencies will come from a multi-site private IP network, including real-time business reporting, the ability to distribute real-time marketing material to franchisees, online banking for stores and fast access to suppliers.

"The solution will also position Gloria Jean's Coffees on a Quality of Service enabled IP platform to adopt VoIP and remote IT support in the coming year."

Previously the franchise used a mixture of dial-up and broadband from a mix of providers. The private IP network, expected to be implemented within the next three months, will connect hosted finance and point-of-sale applications with all franchisees and the head office. The data centre will use a fibre optic link while head office and franchises will use ADSL.