A leading distributor of team sports apparel and equipment had an aging internal data center hosting their production environment, and had experienced several recent power outages. Upgrading the existing facility was determined to be too costly, but the risks of staying put were too high. In order to determine the best course of action they turned to TDS. TDS initially evaluated the cost and risk of staying put vs moving to a new facility. It was decided from this analysis that the best option would be to contract with an external colocation hosting provider.

TDS was then engaged to assess their current network infrastructure and provide architecture, implementation and migration support to build out a new, parallel network at the chosen colocation facility. The colocation provider had been selected, with the help of TDS, after a comprehensive site selection process. TDS developed an improved network architecture, as well as build out and network integration designs. Plans are to use the old data center as a disaster recovery center in the future.

TDS implemented a high-availability, automated failover LAN with MPLS and Internet WAN connectivity. OSPF and BGP dynamic routing protocols were utilized to provided automated Layer 3 redundancy. The old corporate network was also remediated and integrated with the new colocation environment.

The result was a single move event where all data was migrated with a seamless cutover and minimal scheduled downtime. With the help of TDS, this company reduced costs and outage risks while improving their hosting environment. Going forward, they have architecture and as-built documentation sets for the new environment and all network integration points developed by TDS. Click here to read more Customer Success Stories or learn more about our Network Services.

Who’s New at TDS

We are excited to introduce the most recent addition to our team – John DuPont.John has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry with extensive involvement in voice and data network infrastructure management, design, implementation, and support.

John has an impressive portfolio of professional certifications including Cisco Certified Network Professional, Cisco Certified Design Professional, Ciena Certified FlexSelect 4200 Optical OAM&P (Operations, Administration, Operations, and Provisioning), and a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Data Communications Systems Technology from Northeastern University. Prior to TDS, John held network architect and engineer positions at several prestigious companies, including ACS, IBM, and John Hancock. He also served in the US Army Reserve.

John is the newest Senior Network Engineer on TDS’s IT Infrastructure Services team, which specializes in 24/7/365 support of high-performance, high-availability systems, including networks, physical and virtual servers, storage and security. TDS is excited to welcome John to the team!

TDS Certification Count Climbs

TDS’ IT Infrastructure Services team supports all IT needs, and provides “always on” availability for everything from individual applications to your entire network. They provide 24/7 IT monitoring, troubleshooting and remediation, and remote and on-site support, across a broad range of technologies. To be fully competent and competitive in today’s complex, rapidly changing IT industry, a company needs to have the best and brightest on board. That is why TDS prides itself in encouraging its employees to stay current with the most recent industry certifications.

TDS would like to congratulate two employees who recently have been awarded certifications in their areas of expertise. James Bradford has received his MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist) certification in Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration and Tony Baker has received his MCTS certification in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certifications are in depth validations of skills on the features and functionality of Microsoft technologies.

Earning certifications demonstrates proven experience and knowledge, and allows employees to stay current with evolving technologies in today’s ever-changing IT marketplace. James’ and Tony’s certifications add to the list of accreditations held by TDS employees, including: VMware Certified Professional 5 (VCP 5); VMware Certified Professional 4 (VCP 4); Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA); 5 Product Consultant – LTM; Juniper Networks Internet Certified Associate, and many others.