iQ MAGAZINE

With 22,000 customers, 48,800 catalogued parts, and 150 employees working in five U.S. locations and an office in Germany, the last thing John Bellnier needs is an unreliable network. But that's exactly what he contended with for years as IT manager at Metric & Multistandard Components Corp. (MMCC).

MMCC, founded in 1963 by three Czech immigrants in Yonkers, New York, has grown into one of the largest U.S. distributors of metric industrial fasteners. In the last 10 years, business has doubled, reaching $20 million in sales in 2005. But the company's growth overwhelmed its managed Frame Relay network. The network crashed frequently, interrupting e-mail and leaving customer-service representatives unable to fulfill orders promptly.

"We had locked ourselves into a three-year contract with our provider," he says. "It was a managed system and therefore we didn't have passwords to the routers. I experienced dozens of episodes of spending days on the phone trying to escalate job tickets to get the problems solved. It was a nightmare."

He recalls a particular challenge that occurred when the provider denied that its router had gone down. "Their network was broken," he says, "and we had to deal with the downtime consequences on top of spending time trying to convince someone 2,000 miles away that one of their routers needed repair."

Taking Control for Future Growth

Several months before MMCC's contract with the provider was to expire, Bellnier began seeking a better network solution. He outlined his requirements:

• Reliability: Provide maximum network uptime to sustain business operations
• Scalability: Grow with MMCC's increasing business demands
• Security: Ensure confidentiality and integrity of company data
• Economy: Reduce costs for both initial outlay and ongoing administrative and maintenance overhead. "I wanted all the hardware from one vendor so when issues come up, I know who to turn to," Bellnier adds.

Bellnier told MMCC executives in 2004 that he believed he could manage a new companywide network internally, on a limited budget, and could recoup the up-front investment by lowering operating expenses.

Strengthening the Foundation

Bellnier selected Hi-Link Computer Corp., a Cisco SMB Select and Premier Certified Partner that has earned specializations in wireless LANs and VPN security. As a first step, Hi-Link audited MMCC's existing network and interviewed management about business goals and requirements.

Hi-Link's consulting engineers, led by Business Development Manager Jim Gartner, suggested that MMCC build a secure network foundation with T-1 VPN links between sites. Using Cisco integrated services routers and security appliances, the network blueprint was designed to give Bellnier transparent remote access to all necessary devices, increase his control over the network, and improve network performance.

Hi-Link showed Bellnier how a secure network foundation works to automate routine maintenance, monitor the network, and alert IT staff of security or performance issues.

MMCC accepted the proposal. Once the T-1 lines were in place, it took less than a week to deploy the Cisco routers preconfigured by Hi-Link.

"Hi-Link made this implementation effortless by working efficiently at the best times for us," Bellnier says. "They handled all the details associated with Internet providers and project management."

The benefits are clear:

• The new network eliminated MMCC's network congestion almost immediately.
• It has improved network bandwidth, reliability, and security.
• It provides a sophisticated network monitoring system.
• Network downtime has been reduced to nearly zero.
• The new network is saving MMCC a significant amount of money.

"Frame relay had cost us just under $11,000 a month; the new leased T-1 lines cost $4,400 per month," Bellnier explains. "We've calculated an annual savings of $77,000, which means we got our return on investment in our first six months."

Best of all, the network is transparent and easy to manage. "We can access all our Cisco routers. We can see the errors and logs. All our T-1s are contracted directly with the local exchange carrier, which gives us a direct communications link to resolve troubles," Bellnier says.

Growing Efficiently

"Every remote office is configured in exactly the same way, and we can easily duplicate it to bring up any new location. We can easily add extra bandwidth to meet additional demands," Gartner says.

MMCC is also adding wireless capability in all its warehouses. Bellnier offers advice to other IT managers in small companies that may be considering building and managing their own network: "Do not limit company expansion by thinking you cannot support or afford a self-managed system with limited resources," he says. He adds that MMCC's experience with Hi-Link shows how quickly an SMB can "recoup the cost and implement a self-managed system with far superior performance and a lot fewer problems."

About the Author

Based in Northern California, Eric J. Adams writes about technology and business trends for a variety of national and trade publications.

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iQ Magazine, Second Quarter 2006