Case Studies

Small Business Example

The Customer

A printing firm based in Blackburn. Some of the services it provides are: listing paper, A4 laser forms, NCR Products, sheet fed litho printing and continuous stationery.

The Requirement

When Envision were introduced to the I.T. services, they were met with a very unreliable and unstable network that had evolved into its current state, rather than having been designed. Problems that were present included slow performance of the network in general, infrequent backing up of business-critical data and large-scale virus infections due to no anti-virus software having ever been deployed.

The Company was becoming more and more dependant on I.T. to service their expanding business needs, but what they currently had in place was costing them time and money to service on a daily basis, all for very little return on their investment.

Envision were asked to design and implement a solution that would improve the whole of the company's I.T. infrastructure, from the networking hardware through to the desktop PCs and, to facilitate their expanding business practices, would include secure internet access and email for all administration staff.

The Solution

The project was split into four particular tasks:-

1. Upgrade the underlying network hardware:
   The existing 10Mb hubs were replaced with 10/100Mb switches. Where necessary, PC network interface cards were upgraded to be 10/100Mb compatible to facilitate maximum high-speed communication.
   
   
2. Install new server hardware:
   Envision installed two file servers initially, one Novell NetWare 5.1 server to be deployed as the main file store and one Windows NT4.0 server used as a domain controller and application server, including email using Microsoft Exchange 5.5, anti-virus using Computer Associates' eTrust InoculateIT and centralised backup using Computer Associates' ARCserve.
   
   
3. Standardise the PC desktop environments:
   It was important to ensure that all PCs were configured with the same network settings and software versions so that users could access their data in a familiar way from any machine on the network. To facilitate access to email, software was deployed that would automatically generate an Exchange profile for the user when they logged onto a particular machine for the first time. All PCs received an anti-virus client and were cleaned of all virus infections.
   
   
4. Consolidate user data:
   Some users had got into the habit of storing business documents on their PCs, so it was important to regain control of the data by centralising it on the Netware file store. As well as facilitating shared access to files, it also allowed for the data to be backed up on a daily basis. All files that were transferred to the new file store were cleaned of any virus infections.
   
   An important aspect of the new I.T. infrastructure was that, where possible, its implementation should have as little impact on the user base as possible. This was quite easy to achieve during the building of the new server equipment, but when it came to upgrading the PC environments, access to the machines was limited during working hours. A decision was therefore taken to perform all PC modifications outside of the Company's working hours, at the same time as the data was migrated to the new file store. Two of Envision's engineers remained on-site throughout the night to complete this work.
   
   

The Outcome

The Company's major investment in their I.T. network provided them with a platform to take their business forward and improve the service that they could offer to their customers by being able to receive and transfer data electronically. Reliance on the internet as a tool of work led to the Company's connection being upgraded from ISDN to ADSL as soon as the technology became available, thus allowing them to interact with both customers and suppliers in various ways.

Envision Technologies continued to provide support to the company in all aspects of their I.T. requirements, with the Company's network eventually being extended to include their second office in Blackburn. A 512Kb leased-line was installed and the users located there communicate with the servers at the main office via Windows 2000 Terminal Services, giving them real-time access to all the Company's systems.