Dimension Data US rolls out massive network in 60 days

London-listed Dimension Data`s US subsidiary took less than 60 days to successfully rollout a network linking over 400 branch offices of the North American operations of Randstad, the world`s third largest staffing company.

Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Randstad North America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Netherlands-based Randstad Holding nv, the world`s third largest international provider of employment services with more than 1 800 offices in Europe and North America.

The rush to network the offices, spread across 34 US states, followed Randstad`s acquisition of Strategix Solutions, a major staffing company which itself was a collection of acquisitions. As a result, few of Randstad`s offices were interconnected and most processed information differently.

According to Frank Gullotti, director of IS operations for Randstad in the US, the company was under pressure from investors to integrate Randstad`s 70 existing North American offices with those of Strategix.

"Our problem was that we had to implement an all-new network, connecting 3 500 desktops in over 400 offices and bring Internet access and e-mail to people who had never had it, before an upcoming investor meeting just 60 days away," he explains.

"We chose Dimension Data US not only because they said they could do it - other potential solution providers said the same. Rather, Dimension Data, with its strong Cisco relationship, presented us with a complete game plan of how they would get it done within our time frame. And they did."

Dimension Data managed the project, rolled out the necessary resources and handled all technology requirements from telecom provisioning to PC configurations. Many of the locations had to be moved or shutdown, and some were linked to the other offices via dial-up lines.

Due to the disparate technology systems across the country, Dimension Data had to perform a technology audit across the various locations to establish the status of the technology in each site.

The next step was to agree on the network design and layout. This process involved determining the appropriate infrastructure which would be sufficiently scalable to handle the demands of any application used.

Once the physical deployment was underway, Dimension Data had 12 full-time people - including two dedicated full time project managers and 10 IT technicians - on the project, deploying 10 sites a day, 50 sites a week, over the eight-week period.

"We were confident we could handle our part of the project,` says Jim Shea, project manager Dimension Data. "Of more concern was the fact that the sheer volume of phone lines required careful coordination with several different carriers. Due to the redundancy designed into the system, roughly 1 000 phone lines were ordered and had to be installed before our crew arrived to set up a branch`s network. In addition, we had to work closely with Cisco to ensure the timely delivery of routers to the branch locations.

"Fortunately, everyone involved - the telcos, Cisco, and Randstad - came to the party. Randstad was very cooperative in educating their people and getting us all the information we needed up-front so that we could preconfigure each piece of equipment prior to deployment.

"The result is that all 460 plus sites were up and running by the deadline. In addition to a fully interconnected network, we gave Randstad a complete map of all the hardware, software and connectivity installed, including its functionality and connectivity features," he concludes.