STAR Publishes Improved Dealership Infrastructure Guidelines for Automotive Dealers

MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 22, 2007 STAR (Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail), the IT standards body for the North American retail automotive industry, has published an improved version of the "Dealership Infrastructure Guidelines" (DIG version DIG2007v1.0), which will help to facilitate the standardization of an open, common IT infrastructure for all automotive dealerships.

The DIG is a technology reference manual intended to assist dealers and their technology partners in developing a simplified, more cost-effective IT network. It includes information on Internet access, security, local area network design, PC hardware, and other IT components.

"The DIG is an ever evolving guide that helps build a strong foundation for your infrastructure. It has an abundance of information that stays current with the needs of the industry for those implementing and updating new technologies," says Nichole Pierron, STAR Infrastructure Project Manager.

The goal of the document is to help dealers prepare their IT infrastructure for the next generation dealer-to-OEM communication systems.

The 2007v1.0 version of the Dealership Infrastructure Guidelines has several updates. First, the addition of a new chapter, Business Continuation and Disaster recovery, to aid dealers in developing a strategy to deal with disasters and assist them in determining how to proceed.

Next, STAR reviewed and modified the DMS Migration section, the Wireless Network section, and the Checklists to accommodate newer technologies and changes in business.

Finally, some minor modifications have been made to various chapters. These changes include grammatical corrections, and minor style updates.

  The DIG can be downloaded for free at: www.starstandard.org