Catalyst Solutions - Helping People use Technology more Effectively

The success of Catalyst Solutions is tested every day through the application of technology at each of Catalyst's clients. Catalyst has kept a steady course to promote effective application of technology even through the hype of the Internet in the mid to late 1990s. "How does this improve the bottom line of your organization?" is always foremost in our mind. Talk and theory are one thing, action and results are another. Below are examples of some recent projects where Catalyst Solutions has had an impact. Catalyst has been fortunate to have served these organizations who are the real success stories through their willingness and expertise in partnering with Catalyst to take on these technology challenges.

Internet Connectivity

The objective of Internet Connectivity is to determine the clients needs and define the most effective solution given those parameters:

Bekins Group - Bekins had an existing fractional T1 connection to the Internet through a local ISP. In planning to move from their headquarters, the Director of Technology desired to improve the stability and speed of that connection. This requires the consideration of national companies that provide a connection 'closer to the backbone' of the Internet. The competitive nature of the RFB (Request for Bid) process led to a proposal which was slightly more than the current local ISP cost with a commitment for a faster connection and a professionally managed redundancy at the ISP.

Warner Group - The Warner Group was an especially challenging Internet Connectivity project. They had an existing DSL connection and wanted to add a second connection (cable) and provide automatic fail-over. Part of the challenge was integrating this with the existing customized firewall solution. This project was an example of where Catalyst brought in the support of another company who specialized in the support of the operating system of the custom firewall. After a city-wide failure of the DSL provider, Catalyst contacted the Warner Group only to find that they had not realized the failure had occurred. Mission accomplished!

Terra Industries - Terra is the worlds largest provider of nitrogen for the agriculture market. Based in Sioux City, they have sales people located through the United States. Catalyst Solutions was brought in to replace an existing dial-up 800 service for the sales people to access the Terra systems. Catalyst proposed and implemented Client-Server VPN (virtual private network) using their existing technology (cost effective!). One of the biggest challenges in this project was working with a variety of Internet Providers across the country in large and small markets to provide a connection adequate enough to support the VPN.

Internet Security

The objective of Internet Security is to determine the resources to be secured and apply the appropriate security. The following are 'real life' solutions provided by Catalyst Solutions, although the names of the organizations are not provided for security reasons

Access Only - Catalyst has two types of clients who desire protection from the Internet - Inexpensive Security and Proactive Security. One of our clients requested a direct connection to the Internet through a cable connection. They had a separate WAN (wide area network) on a frame relay (not Internet) that they used for secure business. They desired an inexpensive way to share access to the Internet through a cable modem. The appropriate solution in this case was a LinkSys modem. The LinkSys provided NAT (network address translation) which allowed for sharing and as long as no services needed to be provided through the devices, they had been proven to be protective of the network.

Another client had minimal security risk, but did want to 'track' attacks against their network. The solution defined and implemented included a SonicWall firewall, which was easy to implement and train the customer on how to track their own logs.

Customer Support VPN - The advent of the Virtual Private Network (VPN) has allowed customers to use the inexpensive connectivity of the Internet to be used to implement secure connections for extending their own network and providing unique customer support. One client has used both benefits to lower costs and improve support. This software development company has programmers who are remote from the main location (by hundreds of miles!). They had been communicating using leased lines and ISDN. This company also has customers with little or no on-site support all over the United States. The method for support was 'dialing-in' to their systems... running up substantial long distance bills. The solution was to implement a firewall (SonicWall Pro) with the ability to do client and firewall-to-firewall VPN. It was also determined that IPSEC would be used as the VPN 'language' (because it was a standard that multiple firewalls would support). As a result, the programmers now have a high quality connection to the intranet and many of the customers are supported via firewall-to-firewall VPNs at substantial savings. Another interesting aspect of this project is that the firewalls that are communicating over the VPN include Cisco PIX, CheckPoint, NetScreen and SonicWall.

Instant VPN - One of our favorite success stories is the implementation of a VPN for a local company. Catalyst received a call from a local company who had been attempting to implement a CISCO IOS VPN solution between two of their locations. After two weeks of experimenting, the company employed Cisco engineers to help them implement the VPN. The result of the consulting was a request that they change their hardware to another model which better supported the router-to-router VPN. The company was moving into the new location and desired to be operational soon... like before the next morning. Catalyst had two SonicWall SOHO2-10 firewalls and VPN upgrades on hand. At 6:30PM the VPN had been established and employees at the first site were able to connect to the remote systems.

Internet Access Restrictions, Large Customer Network - This client has a substantial network including multiple locations connected through two separate frame relay clouds. Providing access to the Internet for the remote locations required that the design consider routing requirements. The client also had a requirement that they wanted to restrict by user (not system, which is an important distinction) could use the Internet for browsing. Catalyst identified the appropriate solution to be the Microsoft ISA server, for which Catalyst had no experience! This did not stop Catalyst from recommending the appropriate solution, attending the training and implementing the solution for a cost that met the customer's budget.

Internet Applications

Internet Applications are what make the Internet worth the hype it has wrought for the last 10 years. Adapting an appropriate business operation to the Internet can be profitable for some companies... and necessary for survival for others.

Partnership Solutions - Catalyst was proud to be a principal in the design and implementation of the technology for Partnership Solutions. Partnership Solutions provides major companies with purchasing logistics solutions. In other words, they will help you define your needs, identify a source, negotiate an economical solution and then provide an effective and efficient method for ordering and having the product delivered. Catalyst worked with Partnership Solutions to define a simple, streamlined web site that allowed customers to order their products. The order entry system interfaced with the accounting system in an effort to control the overhead.

General Business - Very few customers have applied the advantages of the Internet as well as General Business. This project is a wonderful example of collaboration for success. General Business was able to combine the financial backend software from Hedburg with extranet, e-commerce and inventory tracking software from KISP, and web site design into an efficient solution. This project required the client to commit to a substantial project, but reaped it's rewards through the securing of several significant regional and national accounts.

Professional Computer Systems - Catalyst Solutions has been proud to have been involved in the evolution of Professional Computer Systems and their Utility Billing products over the past two years. Catalyst was brought in to work with PCS in the role of Internet technology transfer. One project was the development of an integrated product written in WebSpeed that allows customers of a utility who is a client of PCS to see information about their account and pay for their bill. Another was a 'lighter' product developed using Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) that did not require integration with a PCS product (making it more generic and affordable).

Training and Presentations

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Small/Medium-sized Business Systems and Networks

Catalyst a wide variety of levels of support to small and medium sized businesses. For some businesses we provide recommendations and support on the more complicated issues. For others Catalyst Solutions is the technology support for the company:

Bekins Group - Randalls Formalwear - Headquartered in Sioux City and spread throughout the midwest, Randalls provides formalwear rental. Randalls recently moved to a Windows-based MIS system and extended the access of that system to the branch stores. Catalyst Solutions filled the gap between the software vendor and the customer by providing implementation and support for the Windows 2000 server in a Windows Terminal Services environment. Catalyst was able to utilize existing equipment in many areas to make the transition as cost effective as possible.

Revival Animal Health - Revival Animal Health is a fast growing pet supply provider through catalog and on-line sales. Catalyst has supported this growth through cost effective recommendations and implementations of technology. Revival Animal Health has a wide variety of technology but does not have a dedicated technical person on staff. Catalyst has worked with the staff at Revival so they can support as much as they can without needing to bring in that full-time IT person. Catalyst has been able to limit support to one day every 1-2 weeks. Support includes keeping the workstations up-to-date and getting the most out of every station, protecting the network with firewalls and virus protection and serving as a liaison to the technical vendors that Revival Animal Health works with.

Pritchard Auto and Chrysler of Forest City - Pritchard Auto and Chrysler of Forest City consist of three car dealerships in North Central Iowa. The auto manufacturers have gone to the Internet as the main corporate interface which has forced dealers large and small to establish secure, high-speed connections to the Internet and internal systems and networks to support the web applications. Making these updates in a competitive environment and in a non-metro area can be a challenge. Catalyst Solutions was able to utilize information from Ford and Chrysler to put together a plan that was so cost effective, that when it was reviewed by a corporate 'dealership systems consultant' with the promise to find savings, the consultant was not able to save on the plan. Best yet... the plan was implemented on budget.

Management Information Systems (MIS)

Management Information Systems projects are complex implementations of technology to support the mission of the company. Note the importance of supporting the mission as opposed to being the mission of the company. A good MIS system will reduce the time and effort staff spend on mundane tasks and allows them to spend time doing what they do best. Another characteristic of a successful MIS implementation is not the MIS system... but the people who work with it. People issues are much more critical than system issues in an MIS implementation and Catalyst not only recognizes that, but has succeeded in using people skills to ensure a successful implementation.

Sioux City Community School District - Catalyst has been involved with the planning and implementation of the Pentamation MIS at the School District for the past seven years. At first, Catalyst was heavily involved in the planning and preparation for the major change in process and procedures. Throughout the implementation Catalyst has transferred that responsibility to the employees of the District so that they are now primarily self-sufficient.

Western Iowa Tech Community College - This project was led by John Pritchard, President of Catalyst Solutions, prior to Catalyst having been founded. John was the Activity Director for a five year Title III project to completely renovate the MIS systems at Western Iowa Tech Community College. Like at the School District, there were many 'human' aspects of the project that required 'benevolent dictatorship' to successfully lead the college into a new era of technology.

Telecommunications

Telecommunications is a mature technology that is going through yet another evolution. The objective of these projects is to take advantage of the advancements in technology and restructuring to improve features while keeping the stability of the 'Bell' and keeping costs in check.

Bekins Group - Bekins had an interesting project in that it encompassed several aspects of telecommunications including WAN for data (frame relay for remote locations) and local and long distance voice (telephone). Throughout the proposal and bidding process it was a challenge to keep the proposing companies on task to meet the objective of Bekins while interpreting their proposal into an 'apple-to-apple' comparison. In the end, Bekins able to retain a vendor they are comfortable with very competitive rates (due to the bidding situation).

Briar Cliff University - When Briar Cliff was considering a new Internet connection, Catalyst suggested they might combine that proposal with other telecommunications needs for the college. After a competitive proposal and bidding process, Briar Cliff was able to reduce their voice communications cost enough to upgrade their Internet connection in both speed and reliability.