Case Study:

Rust-Oleum Corporation – Infrastructure and security support

Our Client            Rust-Oleum Corporation is a worldwide leader in protective paints and coatings for both home and industry. Their products range from decorative American Accents^® paints to durable industrial roof repair coatings.

Technical Setting            Their daily business operations utilized an IBM System 390 main frame system. OS2 servers residing on a token ring network. and they used an outside organization to implement Windows NT.

THE CLIENT CONCERN

Rust-Oleum had several concerns/issues with their network.  First of which, the vendor they initially used did not properly execute the installation of Windows NT. This caused the log-in time to the network to be extremely slow. The only e-mail that was in place was based on the mainframe and was questionable. The reliability of the network as a whole was doubtful at best, and the network connections with remote sites were usually non-existent because they were always dropping. Another high profile problem was the lack of technical support that was in place for the end-users. Lastly, the security of the network was vulnerable.

THE NETMEDIC APPROACH

We migrated the applications and/or business functions residing on the existing OS2 environment to a more reliable, robust Windows NT environment.  Also, we had converted the IBM mainframe from SNA to TCP/IP.  To address their support issues we instigated an end-used help desk and trained Rust-Oleum’s technical staff on new network infrastructure.  All users were properly trained on the new e-mail interface delivered by Netmedic.  One of the larger issues dealt with the speed and reliability of the network.  We designed and implemented a switched gigabyte ethernet backbone LAN with 10/100MB auto sensing for all 650 users on the network.  We also designed and implemented a Frame Relay WAN between their locations, as well as, the entire IP infrastructure.  An ISDN disaster recovery plan, for potential Frame Relay failures, was put in place.  At the request of Rust-Oleum we created a secure environment related to their internet traffic, as well as, performing security audits and assisting in the creation of new policies. 

CLIENT FEEDBACK

Rust-Oleum was completely satisfied, and impressed, with the improved functionality and reliability of their new network. Netmedic managed and supported the new network while Rust-Oleum hired new employees.  Netmedic trained the newly acquired Rust-Oleum employee’s to support the network. Rust-Oleum is now running smoothly on internal resources. With the complete success of this project, Rust-Oleum is another satisfied Netmedic client.

For additional information contact Rainmakers at 847/251-3327 or click here: mailto:jon@rainmkrs.com