Challenge

A Top 100 law firm that relies heavily on its network to connect more than 25 locations was experiencing reliability and performance issues. This included a growing pattern of network outages—sometimes circuits provided by different carriers would fail simultaneously—and not enough bandwidth to meet the firm’s day-to-day requirements. Finally, the firm wanted to move its data center to a new colocation site to obtain more space and reduce costs.

SMI Analysis

SMI determined that the firm was in fact operating close to its maximum bandwidth allocation. Plus, an in-depth review of the network determined that the existing fiber paths were not diverse in all locations: circuits to almost half the sites shared the same point of entrance (POE) into the building. Also, the carrier fiber maps themselves showed multiple instances of single-points-of-failure—explaining why the firm had experienced simultaneous outages with different carriers.

SMI Solution

SMI designed a new network with circuits into each site using different carriers and taking completely diverse routes. SMI managed the fiber build at each property. The new network delivers significantly increased capacity to handle current requirements as well as scalability for future needs. Post-installation, SMI performed a range of tests to ensure that diversity was achieved and back-ups were performing correctly.