The customer is a plastics manufacturer and consumer electronics distributor headquartered in the Southwest with sites nationwide. They initially engaged CornerStone in 2008 to implement carrier services and networking equipment. Over time, the team worked more closely with CornerStone. In 2014, we were deeply involved in network consulting, routing design and implementation, and firewall configurations. In 2016, CornerStone deployed a new premise-based phone system. Over the years, the team changed leadership and eventually engaged CornerStone as a trusted advisor in 2019.

In 2019, we reviewed their redundancy and disaster recovery plans. The customer had a hub-and-spoke network design, with a significant number of single points of failure on both the LAN and WAN sides of the network. We mapped their entire LAN and WAN, then built several solutions to modernize the environment and meet their DR needs.

We were later engaged in several projects, including switching and wireless network refreshes, assistance with determining a new facility’s IT requirements, maintenance and deployment of more premise-based phones, server and workstation sourcing, managed security service, and other miscellaneous products.

Before 2019, the customer had maintained a hub and spoke network design. Internal traffic passed between sites over MPLS connections, with any public-facing traffic routed through HQ’s internet. At the time, they decided to simplify their cyber security planning by routing outward-facing traffic through their primary firewall. However, it resulted in HQ being a single point of failure in the event of a local carrier outage or a fiber cut. It also significantly limited their ability to embrace new cloud-based technologies, as the branch sites would see significant latency due to the number of hops. Lastly, the customer was very concerned with downtime affecting production and shipping from their plants. Disaster recovery planning conversations deeply explored WAN resiliency, routing capabilities, and LAN-side failovers. DR planning also touched on their server production environment and on-prem/cloud backup solutions.

Based on the customer’s concerns, the hub and spoke solution had to go. We designed an access and backbone diverse, dual circuit delivery. One circuit per location functions as a hybrid MPLS/DIA solution, where traffic routed between sites meets SLAs similar to those of a traditional MPLS product. They can use both circuits for local data, allowing them to modernize their production applications and move to the cloud for improved resiliency.

SD-WAN—To best utilize both circuits, VeloCloud was chosen because it can control application routing both into and out of the network. Most SD-WAN solutions that don’t use a cloud gateway cannot apply Quality of Service (QoS) to inbound traffic. The Velo solution also allowed for application-level prioritization, meaning mission-critical data was prioritized over other services. Voice, video, and the company’s CRM were prioritized, while email and general web browsing were demoted.

With the SD-WAN deployment, the customer has not faced any facility outages for years. Although they’ve had several fiber cuts and regional provider outages during this time, their High Availability solution has kept them in business 24/7.

The customer’s initiative to improve DR became a focus shortly after we deployed the high-availability carrier network and SD-WAN solution. Since the WAN was addressed, the spotlight turned to the LAN and local servers and storage. CornerStone was tasked with ensuring the switches in each location’s MDFs and IDFs were stacked for resiliency. Where it wasn’t possible, or the switches were nearing the end of their life, we sourced and deployed new Aruba equipment. CornerStone engineered and physically installed the core switches at each location while the customer’s team addressed the IDFs. The customer’s servers consisted of various brands and models, some new but most old. They engaged CornerStone to work with Dell and design a high-availability production environment with HyperV replication between sites. CornerStone worked with Dell’s senior engineering team to scope, design, and install the new hosts appropriately. Once the new hosts were installed, the customer decided Dell’s storage product would exceed their budget. They asked CornerStone to engage Synology for a low-cost, on-premise backup product and Backblaze for a cloud-based data dump. We brought VEEAM to the table to simplify the backup process, which the customer easily implemented in-house.

CornerStone was engaged over several years to re-IP the customer’s network on a location-by-location basis and set up network segmentation for management and security purposes. The customer’s team has relied on CornerStone’s resources to support and manage their Aruba networking equipment.

The customer’s IT team was tasked to design and manage the implementation of services to a new, large facility that was being built. The IT team engaged CornerStone to assist with scoping and sourcing the majority of their IT needs, including networking equipment (Aruba switches and APs), Dell and Lenovo workstations, phones and voice switches for their on-premise phone system, servers, racks, UPS’s, patch cables, and a variety of other miscellaneous products. CornerStone worked with manufacturers like Aruba to provide wireless heat maps of the floorplan and carriers to build their fiber networks into the facility.

CornerStone engineered the new network and helped the customer install much of the equipment referenced above. It also coached the new IT administrator who’d be responsible for the site on how to manage and implement changes to the network and phone system. We scheduled several recorded training calls to set the customer up for success in managing their environment in the future.

The customer identified a need to establish a new SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) product to better track security events in their environment. They initially purchased the highly regarded Splunk but quickly realized that the technical and administrative requirements were excessive. CornerStone was engaged to identify a competing SIEM that’d be easier to support.

Ultimately, CornerStone provided an alternative industry leader, Microsoft Sentinel, and a fully managed SOC that provided the customer with professional setup and implementation, 24x7x365 monitoring and reporting on suspicious alerts, and ongoing security best practices assessments. The customer meets with analysts on a regular cadence to review tickets and potential threats and keep an eye on vulnerabilities in their environment.

The customer has used CornerStone as the “easy button” when it comes to tracking down various one-off solutions and products. From UPSs to SSDs, backup licensing with VEEAM to ad hoc Microsoft licenses, we’ve gladly handled each request and provided the customer with reviewed and recommended options. Whenever a team member searches for a new tool or wants a creative way of solving a problem, they’ll give us a ring.

We excel at vetting technology solutions for our customers, no matter the simplicity or complexity of the request. If we can ultimately make our customers’ lives easier, we’ll do anything we can to clearly lay out their options and find the best fit for them.

References are available on request.