Case Study 1
Large scale MSI Packaging

Case study 2
Migration & Staff augmentation

Case Study 3
Large scale Windows 2000 Migration

Case Study 3
Large scale Windows 2000 Migration

Background
This government agency handles a number of insurance-related claims and cases for the state of California. As a state-wide agency, they have more than 10,000 employees in 40 office locations across California, and only one dedicated agency help desk to handle all technology-related issues that occurred. When the agency contacted Coalition Networks, there was no consistency among hardware/software platforms, even among the desktop units in a single location. Everything from Windows 95 to Windows NT4 was being used on countless systems across all office locations.

Problem
The agency faced two common technology-related problems due to their current setup:

	The help desk was flooded with calls about setup-specific problems. Because the entire agency did not have a standardized platform, the help desk had to perform a high level of research with every case to understand just what they were dealing with. This made diagnosing and fixing problems much longer than it really needed to be.
	Because of the disparate platforms and overall lack of consistent security, system control was in the hands of the users, not the administrators. This led to an insecure network which allowed essentially free access to install applications and surf the web, opening the door to malware, bandwidth usage from downloads, and viruses.

The answer to both of these problems was an agency-wide migration to a consistent, modern platform with full network capabilities. For an agency running technology in the 21st century, Windows 95 simply would not cut it anymore.

Solution
Coalition Networks created a plan to migrate every system to the Windows 2000 desktop environment designed to minimize downtime while transitioning users in an expedited fashion. These proposed changes would streamline all of the agency's systems into a single image. This would open the door to a trickle-down effect regarding what the help desk could now do in terms of distribution and communication capabilities.

The first step to achieving this was to deal with the problem of disparate hardware platforms. To do this, Coalition Networks analyzed what operating systems were used, what hardware was being run, and came up with a solution that was almost unheard of within the IT industry: after a period of customization and testing, Coalition Networks was able to create a master desktop image compatible with the various platforms in the agency.

This master image was burned on to CD and duplicated for easy installation. Once this was prepared, the migration process began. For the 10,000+ employees and 40+ locations, migration was seamless; Coalition Networks handled the state-wide process across weekends during a nine-month process. At the end of it all, every single computer for this agency was running on Windows 2000. That solved the consistency and security issue.

Results
The Coalition Networks agency-wide revamping of systems offered both short-term and long-term results:

	Short term: Once the migration was complete, the agency's help desk now had a standardized platform to work with across all 10,000+ employees and 40+ locations. This standardization immediately gave total control back to the help desk and increased security, along with allowing for MSI remote application distribution. Users no longer had the freedom to download software at will, ensuring that viruses, malware, and other damaging elements would be minimized.
	Long term: Overall help desk calls went down thanks to the standardized application and system usage. The standardization also gave the help desk a consistent process for identifying problems, and Windows 2000's remote distribution and access capabilities allowed the help desk quicker response times for resolving issues.

Overall, the Coalition Networks solution provided this government agency with a consistency it had been sorely lacking. By accommodating the agency's hardware disparity with a unique, customized solution that worked for every single user, the agency and its help desk ran a smoother, more efficient operation that helped reduce both support call volume and response time.