managed network services and computer network support for the san francisco bay area
We love helping our customers, whether it's merely making things run smoother or assisting with a unique IT problem in a challenging environment. Below you can read about a few of the more interesting solutions we provide in the areas of network support, managed network services and on-call IT support.
Customer/Service Level: FRSTeam / managed network services
Highlights: Reduced FRSTeam's IT needs by 34 hours per week while simultaneously providing a much stabler network environment and dramatic cost savings.
Details: FRSTeam is a leading fabric restoration company and hired Halcyon Networks in February of 2008 to take over their network management after FRSTeam lost their full-time network administrator. We also took over while FRSTeam was in the midst of having multiple network connectivity issues. Fortunately there was very good network documentation, but several holes in it (some missing passwords, unknown IP addresses for wireless access points, etc.). First we started by immediately fixing the networking problems (we actually fixed those during the interview). Once we were hired, we began filling in the missing information in the documentation and getting to know the network along the way. Lastly, now that we understood FRSTeam's network intimately, we were really able to start managing the network and make it run smoothly.
Results: FRSTeam went from a 40-hour-per-week full-time network administrator (and the paycheck and benefits that go with that position) to a 6-hours-per-week managed service contract with Halcyon. Our flat monthly fee dramatically reduced their IT costs while at the same time providing a much stabler network.
Customer/Service Level: FastServers.net / 24x7x365 on-call support
Highlights: Provide 24x7x365 on-call support for co-location facility of 400 servers with 2-hour turnaround time.
Details: One of the top 20 dedicated-server providers in the world, FastServers.Net provides business web-hosting to a broad international customer base. Located in Chicago, and with over 400 servers in their Fremont, CA collocation facility, FastServers.net contracts Halcyon Networks to provide fast, reliable server support.
Results: Since 2005 Halcyon Networks has consistently met a less than 2-hour turnaround time to fix server problems in FastServers.Net’s Fremont location.
Customer/Service Level: Pacific Legacy, Inc. / managed network service
Highlights: 4 locations in California, 1 location in Hawaii and a wide-area network connecting all sites, running smoothly since 2004.
Details: Having offices in Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Cameron Park (outside of Sacramento), and Chico, California, as well as Kailua, Hawaii, Pacific Legacy offers a unique challenge of maintaining a smooth running WAN across these five locations. Halcyon Networks took over the LAN/WAN administration for Pacific Legacy in 2004 when their existing consultant was unable to resolve a corrupted Active Directory schema which had their Cameron Park site down for over a week. Within days order was restored to the network and since then we have provided on-call helpdesk and managed services for the network infrastructure for all sites.
Results: Other than network upgrades (upgraded all SonicWall routers and all servers from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003) and the occasional bump, the network has run smoothly since 2004.
Customer/Service Level: Alliance Imaging, Inc. / on-call IT support in mobile healthcare environment
Highlights: 7 mobile PET coaches, 30 hospitals throughout California and Nevada; provided an IT solution for Alliance that all but eliminated the need for our services, but achieved our goal of helping our customer run their operations as smooth as possible.
Details: Alliance Imaging provides hospitals throughout the nation with mobile diagnostic scanning equipment and services such as MRI and PET. Alliance Imaging’s PET trailers arrive each morning to various Bay Area hospitals to scan patients for the day. These coaches connect to outdoor CAT-5 ports which are exposed to all types of weather and physical harshness (such as 10-ton trucks parked on the CAT-5 cable). Halcyon Networks provides Alliance Imaging with on-call/on-site network support services that include working with hospital staff to configure new site installations and maintain and troubleshoot existing sites. The daily successful transmittal of patient data to doctors is of the utmost importance and we are proud to provide service that keeps it all running.
Results: After some time working with Alliance and cleaning up a multitude of legacy issues, it became apparent to us that there were a handful of changes they could make to the way their PET coaches were configured that would eliminate 90% of their problems. They implemented those changes, and as a result, our recommendations reduced the need for our services from about 300 hours per year to about 10 hours per year (so really, we eliminated 97% of their problems by putting the customer's checkbook before our own)!
Customer/Service Level: Zeltiq Aesthetics / managed network service/on-call IT support
Highlights: Began working with Zeltiq as a 2-person startup in 2005, and helped grow their network to a 55-computer, 5-server network by 2008, at which point IT was handed-off to Zeltiq's internal IT department.
Details:
Zeltiq Aesthetics began working with Halcyon Networks as a 2-person company with goals to patent their own medical device for the non-invasive removal of fat tissue. At that time Zeltiq was operating in stealth mode and didn’t explain much more than the fact that they needed an IT consultant to build their network and support their staff until the point that their growth justified their own full-time IT staff. Halcyon Networks architected and implemented a network that currently supports 3 servers and 50 users and will hand-off IT operations to Zeltiq in early 2009.
Results: We helped Zeltiq build a scalable IT infrastructure and support system which grew from 2 to 50 users. After years of excellent service, in 2008 we handed off all IT support to Zeltiq's newly formed internal IT department.
Customer/Service Level: Seacastle Containers / branch-office on-call support
Hightlights: Seacastle's IT department is located in New Jersey - we support their San Francisco office by acting as an extension of their in-house IT department.
Details: Although Seacastle's San Francisco office is their corporate headquarters, the larger of their internationally located offices is in New Jersey, and so is their IT department. Seacastle's in-house IT department serves as their first line of defense for network and computer issues for all locations, and when they need hands-on service at their San Francisco office, they rely on Halcyon Networks.
Results: We've been providing excellent customer service with fast response and resolution to their problems since 2006.
