Morefield Communications Deploys Cisco Technology to Enrich Company Culture for Reese Engineering
December 14, 2006
Reese Engineering, founded in 1995, is an architectural engineering firm that has designed a wide range of facilities including senior and recreational centers, schools, churches, hospitals, laboratories, multifamily and residential dwellings, office buildings, and parks and roadways. Its clients are building owners and architects hired by businesses or private owners to design a home or facility. This successful small business, with 27 employees and four offices, was preparing to move to a new, carefully designed headquarters facility in State College, Pennsylvania. It wanted its network and communications technology to be consistent with the open design of the new building and the culture of the firm.
"In a typical architecture or engineering firm you will see its employees sitting at desks and drafting tables and working on drawings, but we wanted to do something different," says Michael Sanzotti, IT director for Reese Engineering. "We wanted to create an environment that would allow employees to work in different locations but that would still foster collaboration." It has always been a goal for Reese Engineering to utilize the best and most effective tools available to serve its clients, both with its design work, and with the technology that it uses to run its own business.
"Ours is a culture of direct communication," says Sanzotti. "We understand that no project can succeed without mutual understanding and coordination every step of the way. For our new headquarters, we wanted communications technology that would enhance that culture of communication within our company and with our clients."
To bring this vision to fruition, Sanzotti turned to Cisco Premier Certified Partner Morefield Communications, located in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Morefield Communications, which has also earned the Cisco Small Business Select Partner designation, has been designing, installing, and servicing communication technologies in central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland since 1945. Morefield has worked with Reese Engineering for many years, and saw this project as an opportunity not only to refresh the companies' long-standing relationship, but also to incorporate innovative technology into an exciting new workspace.
Chris Potalivo, a sales engineer at Morefield, along with Michael Whiteman, the company's executive vice president of sales and marketing, recognized the unique structure of the new Reese Engineering facility, and immediately saw how technology could complement the design.
"This is a beautiful new building designed with a very open concept," says Whiteman. "There are virtually no interior walls. The building has lots of windows and open space, and was designed to encourage employees to easily collaborate with each other and work away from their desks. This was the perfect opportunity to deploy new technology and create a unique work environment. We were really excited by the prospect of what we could do for Reese Engineering."
Morefield recommended to Reese Engineering a Cisco® Unified Communications system. The Cisco Unified Communications system of voice, video and IP communications products and applications helps organizations communicate more effectively, streamline business processes, reach the right resource the first time, and support business growth and cost savings. With Cisco Unity® for unified messaging, employees can pick up voicemails and e-mails from anywhere, and integrate messaging with the company personal digital assistants (PDAs). The Cisco Unified MobilityManager server works with Cisco Unified CallManager call processing software to provide single number reach functionality. Cisco Unified MobilityManager enables incoming calls to be sent to multiple devices simultaneously, such as an employee's desk phone and other device such as a cell phone or home phone, so that calls can be answered immediately, regardless of where the employee is located, and employees will spend less time processing voicemail messages.
To provide employees with freedom for collaboration environments, an integrated wireless solution was needed. Reese Engineering management also wanted clients and guests at the new building to have Internet access so they could check email or go to Web sites. A Cisco wireless LAN network will enable employees to take their laptops away from their desks and work in the library, a conference room, the company café or even outside. Morefield and the Reese Engineering teams conducted an extensive wireless survey of the building and chose five access point locations. Cisco ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance) will help ensure data security that includes a hidden SSID (service set identifier) that only Reese Engineering employees can access. The security on the SSID is Cisco LEAP Extensible Authentication Protocol with TKIP data encryption. The company's public SSID allows connection to the Internet but not to Reese Engineering's own network resources.
A total of 37 Cisco Unified IP Phones 7940G, along with two Cisco Unified IP Phones 7912G, were deployed among the company's four offices. Cisco IP Communicator, a software-based application that delivers enhanced telephony support through the PC, was also deployed. Cisco IP Communicator meets diverse customer needs by serving as a supplemental telephone when traveling, a telecommuting device, or as a primary desktop telephone. With Cisco IP Communicator, remote Reese Engineering employees enjoy access to the same familiar phone services that they have in the office.
To further support employees working away from their desks, Berbee InformaCast was deployed. InformaCast is an XML application written for Cisco IP Phones that allows a text or audio message to be pushed out to many phones simultaneously.
Sanzotti reviewed and considered other options, including solutions from 3Com and Alcatel, but in the end chose the Cisco solution.
"We recognized the value of working with a local provider," says Sanzotti. "Cisco provides world-class solutions and will be here to support us down the road, and that was important to us. The Cisco account team and Morefield worked hard to meet us on price. This experience, from early planning meetings through deployment, really enhanced our relationship. In the end we may have spent a little more, but we got exactly what we wanted and needed."
Whiteman and Potalivo recommended Cisco Unified Communications not only for its advanced communications features, but also because it provides a network platform for future applications. This will allow Reese Engineering to add features and applications as the company grows and its needs change, but without major reinvestment in more equipment. For instance, Whiteman noted how Reese Engineering does a lot of video teleconferencing among their different offices, with telecommuting employees and with its clients. New video technology from Cisco, such as Cisco Unified Video Advantage for video telephony, can be added very easily to their Cisco Unified Communications platform. Additionally, the Cisco Unified Communications platform will enable Reese Engineering to be more autonomous in managing its network.
"They will not have to depend on us for day-to-day support and call us for every single change that they want to make on their network or with their phone system," says Chris Potalivo, a sales engineer for Morefield. "We have always provided support for Reese, starting back with their original TDM [time-division multiplexing] phone system. Cisco Unified Communications allows that support to evolve. We will continue to provide whatever level of support they need. But with the Cisco Unified Communications platform, Reese Engineering can now be more independent and more in control of their own network and phone system."
With the new building open and Cisco Unified Communications, wireless LAN, and network security technology in place, Reese Engineering has already recognized enormous benefits. Pushing Cisco Unified Communications out to its three other offices has unified the company more than Sanzotti even imagined.
"We have another office in Pennsylvania, plus offices in Colorado and Illinois," he says. "Having those employees just a four-digit dial away really makes them part of our headquarters office and unifies the company." This extends to Reese Engineering's clients as well. No matter which of the four Reese offices they call, clients or prospective clients have the same communications experience, which enables the company to extend a very unified and professional presence.
"The Cisco technology deployed by Morefield meshes perfectly with our organization's culture and what we want to present and deliver to our customers," says Sanzotti. "It allows us to communicate dynamically, unifies the company, and enables us to put our resources where they are best utilized, regardless of their geographic location."
