Network capacity blooms for local garden protection distributor.

The seed of effective, reliable communications has been planted at Efekto, a local distributor of garden protection and nutrition products and services. The company's partnership with Integr8 IT has led to a fully upgraded and enhanced network environment.

"The project started with a few basic requirements at one site and eventually developed into a complex communication network, complete with workhorse servers at the MTNS co-location," says Pieter Geldenhuys, sales and account manager at Integr8 IT.

Efekto selected to outsource to Integr8 IT to enhance its network. This became necessary after the chemicals company had installed Small Business Server (SBS) 2003, added more users to the network which, combined, resulted in more pressure on the network.

"We needed to stabilize and enhance the network and, simultaneously ensure that mission critical business applications could be used seamlessly. In order to provide this level of uptime, the network had to be re-designed at all levels - but more specifically at the network data transfer level," adds Geldenhuys.

After careful evaluation of the environment and business requirements, Integr8 IT advocated a solution that caters for the Internet browsing function, mail delivery and mission critical applications. The focus was on the data network, the core of the Efekto's IT infrastructure.

The data network is used to access the Internet, send and receive e-mail and, most importantly, access the business critical application, Axapta. The network consists of three main parts including ADSL connectivity for Internet and e-mail access, Axapta traffic and Diginet connectivity between Isando and UUNET.

"ADSL lines had to be implemented at each branch in order to secure cost-effective Internet access. We also established remote connectivity between branches and head office via MTNS VPN, which essentially is a VPN running between sites and offering point-to-point like connectivity," says Geldenhuys.