For the past seven years, The Wilkins Group Inc. (WGI)
has provided second and third level support for the Western Region of
Bank of America.
Initially, WGI was asked to provide the Network Services group with
assistance, in the form of Consulting Services. We helped Bank of
America
identify a cost effective and efficient way of utilizing an abundance
of which existed between a number of their downtown buildings. The
issue that the bank was faced with was from fiber that was being used
for multiple services, e.g.: RS-232, V.35, T-1, Ethernet and token
ring connectivity. There was a new and abundant source of connectivity
among the buildings, but there was no process to manage the use or
"police its usage".
The Opportunity
As a solution provider and a service provider, WGI looked at this
situation as an opportunity to demonstrate our ability to determine
the clients' needs and identify the correct approach to solving the
problem.
WGI solicited bids from numerous vendors, acting as the client, and at
the same time keeping the Contract and Standards group informed, for a
complete and concise premise distribution platform. WGI determined
that as the client grew the need for additional fiber capacity would
increase. WGI narrowed its choices of vendors down to three. Each of
these vendors had a platform that could combine each of the expressed
requirements. WGI then went into a test and qualification phase of the
service and qualified each of the vendors further. After this phase,
it was quite apparent to both Bank of America and WGI which vendor had the
appropriate platform.
WGI assisted in the implementation and final testing phase of the
project. All services have been migrated to a more efficient and
cost-effective platform, and at the same time the client realized an
increase in performance and considerable cost savings.
Current Activities
Finding a solution to manage Bank of
America's fiber capacity, was the
catalyst for WGI to demonstrate our capabilities to the client, and
since then we have become a very integral part of the service
organization. Presently, WGI provides second and third level support
in the day-to-day operations of the LAN/MAN/WAN environment,
assistance in engineering functions, MAC coordination, disaster
recovery assistance, and Consulting services. WGI is involved in the
process from the point that the signal leaves the NIC card on the PC
to the point that it travels across the WAN. WGI is fortunate to
maintain a mutually-beneficial relationship with a client like
Bank of America.
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