Case Study
Designing and Implementing a Distributed Network for Equity Network
When Julie took a job offer in Arizona, she realized she would be leaving a hole at Equity Network's main office in Snohomish. Sid, the boss, had relied on her talents to help run the operation for nearly a decade. And though they had used computer technology extensively, their network was small and limited. He was looking to bring in new people at distant locations and was concerned with how they could function efficiently. The change prompted Mary, the new office manager, to contact Ion Business to see if there was a way to utilize current technology to set up a distributed network, to integrate their new employees working at distant locations. In essence, she was asking if we could setup a wide area network to run the operation.
With employees in Oregon, Eastern Washington and Snohomish we recommended a secure network using a combination of a Sonicwall firewall with VPN tunneling, Windows Terminal Server and Windows XP Professional remote desktops. With broadband at each location, each user is able to securely log into the Terminal Server to share files, photos, documents and email, and to collaborate in an efficient way.
The network was up and running within a week, though remote printing and some sharing issues had to be resolved.
Julie has been gone for over a year now, and the office has not missed a step. With Donna in Bend and Sid in Roslyn, they are able to carry on their document-intense operation.