Financial Services Firm - San Marcos, CA

ZoNE-X was contracted with a Financial Services Firm in San Marcos, CA to provide on-site and remote support for their IT infrastructure.  One of our first goals was to ensure that the network backbone was stable enough to provide services to the 3 companies housed under a single network & roof.

Networking Upgrade

We started by upgrading the entire LAN to 10/100MB managed switches from Cisco (Catalyst Series).  This helped improve LAN traffic by getting rid of their old 10MB unmanaged hubs.  Network performance increased dramatically after this minor upgrade.  Next in line was to ensure that all servers and workstations were equipped with 10/100MB NIC cards, guaranteeing their ability to take advantage of the new LAN speed boost.

Server Upgrade

The server was running Windows NT 4.0, along with Windows NT Workstation clients on the desktop.  We wanted to bring the network up to speed by installing a new Small Business Server 2003, controlling all facets of the domain (file sharing, network logon, fax sharing, e-mail hosting with Exchange Server, printer sharing, intranet/web sites, VPN and Remote Access via Remote Web Workplace).  This helped the remote workers remain in contact with the main office, while benefiting from a single administration point for ZoNE-X.  We could monitor, in real-time, the status of the server along with its associated services (backup, CPU performance, disk space, etc.).  Small Business Server 2003 bundles all these components and makes management tasks more organized.

Desktop & Software Upgrade

We then began upgrading the desktops from NT4 up to Windows XP Professional.  This allowed us to leverage the Remote Web Workplace on SBS 2003, so users could remotely connect to their office desktops while away or on the road.  This was a huge benefit to keeping the staff informed of news and events, as well as enabling them to keep client relations and customer service at very high levels.  Adding Office 2003 Professional to each desktop added all the features and benefits of the newer technology, as well as a much more stable and secure suite of tools to help increase productivity.

Firewall Security

Rounding it out, ZoNE-X implemented a WatchGuard Firewall to secure the internal network, as well as the public facing servers, from any network attacks and or vulnerabilities.  WatchGuard products come 100% secure out of the box.  Only by "turning on" services can you allow different aspects of networking to function.  We also controlled staff website browsing by implementing a content filter on questionable websites. 

Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware Protection

As a final step in securing the network, ZoNE-X implemented a company-wide anti-virus and anti-spyware tool deployment.  These tools allow ZoNE-X to ensure that staff will not "accidentally" install currently-detected spyware or viruses that could interrupt the network functions.