Network Success Stories

EcomServer : Total Network Solution
American Pharmaceutical : Network Restructuring
Northeast Automation : Firewall Construction
BuyandHold.com : Design a Corporate Network
VanPelt Insurance : Small Office Networking

EcomServer : Total Network Solution

The Client Challenge:
To establish an entry level enterprise network while also maintaining and developing it to fit future needs.

A multinational E-Commerce company that was establishing itself in the United States needed highly skilled Network Technicians and Engineers to build a network that can support a large group of IT workers as well as provide a means for the use of several webservers, email servers and other Internet Servers that will be accessible from the local network as well as the Internet. The company had a LAN of a hundred workstations and needed them all to have access to the internet. The company provided a Cisco 1601 router and needed enhanced security before they could implement the addition of their webservers and other internet servers.

AMDC recommeded the PIX 515 Firewall as the solution. The company agreed and AMDC began the implementation of the Firewall. After the Firewall was brought online, AMDC was brought back in to reconfigure it to support the addition of the new Internet Servers. A highly secure firewall strategy was written up and enacted allowing only traffic meant specifically for a server to reach the server it was destined for.

As more workstations were added to the network, the amount of traffic was getting very high. This led to more collisions on the network which led to a bottleneck slowing all data transfer down. AMDC was called in to remedy this situation. The solution was the addition of a Cisco Catalyst Switch to break up the large network into individual collision domains. The end result was that the network was brought back up to speed in a short amount of time and in the most cost effective way possible.

The company soon decided to add a Proxy Server to monitor traffic, once again AMDC was brought in to assist in the configuration of WinProxy, a Windows Proxy Server. AMDC also changed the configuration of the PIX firewall to reflect the addition of the Proxy Server by removing the Network Address Translation step from the PIX.

The company continued to grow as did its network needs. Once again AMDC was called in to restructure the network. The company added several new IP addresses necessitating in a new addressing scheme on the network.

Soon the company added a remote office in New York and they once again called AMDC. AMDC assessed the needs of the company and created a strategy to go about them. The company required that both locations have access to the internet as well as access to the resources available to both location. The main use of the network would be for sharing resources across a Windows Network. Furthermore the New York location should be secure. AMDC determined that the most cost-effective method to doing this would be to use a Cisco 1600 Series router with the IPSec plus Firewall feature pack.

AMDC brought the router to the client where it was installed and configured to access the internet. AMDC then went on the construct the VPN tunnel. The Cisco IOS happened to be out of date so AMDC contacted Cisco and got a newer version. This new version was installed and the VPN tunnel was built. To permit Windows clients to browse across the VPN tunnel, AMDC installed WINS (WIndows Naming Service) on a Windows NT Server on each end of the tunnel and configured them to replicate to each other. This allowed the end user to view two disparate networks as one and share the resources as the client initially wanted.

EcomServer later formed an alliance with research group Arrow Electronics. And required a modification in their network to support an additional VPN with Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES). Due to the demand of 3DES, AMDC helped with an upgrade to a Cisco 2621 router to replace the existing 1601-R router in the Princeton office. The 2621 router was then configured to handle the existing network functions of the 1601-R as well as to establish the new VPN connection with Arrow Electronics.

EcomServer purchased a Checkpoint Firewall that would be used in its India office. They required a new VPN tunnel between the Princeton and India office locations as well as to provide access to and from the Arrow Electronics network. AMDC worked alongside two teams of engineers, one team from Arrow Electronics and one team from the India location, to get connectivity between the sites. AMDC was required to manage each teams progress and act as mediator between the teams.

American Pharmaceutical : Network Restructuring

The Client Challenge:
To restructure a corporate network after moving their headquarters to a new location.

The client, a large warehousing company, located in both New York and New Jersey, needed to restructure its computer network after the corporate headquarters moved locations. The client needed Advanced Micro Distribution Channels to assess the existing network, make recommendations and carry out the implementation as needed.

The company had a major distribution warehouse and a remote office that needed to be in contact with the New Jersey headquarters to conduct daily business. The solution provided was a cost efficient network that could link the three locations. Therefore a Frame Relay Network was built.

In time the company needed to move locations while also keeping its business in operation. AMDC assessed the problem and constructed a plan of action. AMDC moved into the new location and began wiring the building to support the LAN. In the mean time, AMDC also was in contact with the local telco providers as they connected the new location. As the time to complete the move neared, the telco company failed to provide the required fiber optic cabling for the amount of bandwidth the company needed. AMDC took a quick response in providing the company with a temporary solution to keep the company in touch with its remote offices and the internet. AMDC rebuilt the Frame Relay Network using a 56K connection, which was the most the old wiring would provide as the telco company installed Fiber Optic lines as the customer requested.

AMDC ensured that the client had a minimum amount of downtime during the move as well as provided a quick temporary solution to not having the WAN line in place.

Northeast Automation : Firewall Construction

The Client Challenge:
To create a highly secure network in a cost effective manor.

The client, a local medical supply distributor, required a very secure yet cost effective method to permit their employees to gain access to the internal network remotely while also keeping unwanted people out. AMDC analyzed their situation and determined that a Linux Based Firewall would be the most cost efficient, reliable, and secure solution to their problem. The Firewall that was created permitted users that were authenticated to enter while keeping unwanted people out.

BuyandHold.com : Design a Corporate Network

The Client Challenge:
The Client needed a consulting firm to design a High Speed network that could have 99.99% and greate uptime as well as provide a total ease of administration for the IT Professionals Onsite. Other requirements consisted of remote access via conventional phone lines as well as people connecting over the internet. The Internal network would require complete security as well as a fully meshed internal network. The Internal network would provide Internet Servers ranging from Email services to remote login for the network. The Client wanted to use a thin client setup where all management could take place on one or a cluster of servers.

AMDC analyzed all the aspects of this problem and came up with a reliable network design that fit the customers expectations. AMDC began by addressing the network infrastructure. AMDC recommended using 2 Cisco 3661 routers for the core layer of the network design. Each Router would have two connections to the internet using two differnt telco providers. In addition, the two routers could also handle dial in connections and server as a Remote Access Server. The uptime requirements were also addressed by having redundant Firewalls. Two Pix 515 firewalls were chosen as the security for the internal network. One firewall would be on, the other would be in standby ready to go active if the first one failed.

The need for a fully meshed network was then addressed as was the need for a high volume of traffic on the LAN. AMDC analyzed the expected growth of the network. We looked how a thin client approach would influence the amount of traffic on the network. AMDC also looked at the nature of the business, Online Stock Trading, and determined that the network had to be adequate. Using all these factors AMDC chose the Cisco Catalyst 3524 Switches as the network backbone.

AMDC then looked at addressing the thin client approach. Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition was determined since it provides the Windows Environment that was required. At roll-out the LAN was going to consist of 160 Wyse terminals. Each user would have access to different programs ranging from Exceed to Visio to Internet Explorer. AMDC determined the system requirements of the environment and decided that four high powered servers would be adequate to run Terminal Server. To provide a seamless environment to the end user, AMDC also incorporated Citrix Metaframe which provides Load Balancing among the four servers.

Since the data that would be on the network would be mission critical, two file servers were included in the design. These systems had RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) level 5 controllers and were joined using the capability of Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition. The two systems also had tape backup systems incorporated into them.

The Mail Servers were created to be redundant as they had Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition to provide this function. Microsoft Exchange was chosed as the Mail Transport Program. A Fax Gateway was also required so a third Microsoft Exchange Server was built to handle incoming faxes.

Twenty independant printers were also required to be on the network. AMDC determined that the best method to accomplish this would be to use Hewlitt Packard JetDirect Cards and devices to handle the printers.

AMDC provided all consulting services and created a total computer solution for the company.

VanPelt Insurance : Small Office Networking

The Client Challenge:
The Client, an insurance agency, needed a network to support nine workstations and a fileserver. A cost effective method of connecting to the internet was also required.

AMDC looked at the problem and determined the LAN solution to be an ethernet network.AMDC then looked at what WAN (Wide Area Network) options were available. The lowest cost internet connection was a Fractional T1 which was much more that what was needed. The client then informed AMDC that they had several America Online Accounts and three modems that they once used to connect to the internet. AMDC then took the modems and placed them on the fileserver, a powerful Windows NT Server, and networked them so that they were accessible from the network. This permitted the client to connect to the Internet when they wanted to.

The end result was a network that was suitable for the amount of traffic and provided internet access just as the customer asked for.

For additional information e-mail networkers@amdc.com