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By Mona R. Litt In an era when people are spending less time in the office and more on the road, mobileDATA Technologies Group provides the necessary services to keep businesses on the go. How does the consulting and network services company provide the best technologies to clients while maintaining it s own network? "We have many sites using different methods of access, such as frame relay, ISDN, leased-line and dial-up access, along with several types of computer systems," notes John Bowling, mobileDATA's CEO and chief technologist. "That variety of systems, plus promoting user mobility, pose a real challenge and a hair-pulling experience everyday." Bowling describes mobileDATA's services as "a nationwide network sharing common technologies." Its small-business clients run the gamut from florists to medical professionals and rely on mobileDATA as their IS department. mobileDATA builds the network infrastructure for clients, including all WAN services and routers and partitions. To keep clients' network traffic from mixing and to secure its own network from outsiders, the company uses Cisco Systems PIX firewalls and routers with access control lists and filters, and communications servers with Terminal Access Controller Access Control System (TACACS). For speed and security, client s use apps running locally on their systems rather than accessing them over mobileDATA's network. "Security is a two-way street," says Bowling. "We can make the network 100 percent secure and no one can use it, or we can provide access and heighten the risk. We are still wo rking on a balance." mobileDATA monitors clients' systems for problems with CiscoWorks and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP OpenView. Clients also can take advantage of mobileDATA's wireless service, available through AT&T. Applications used exclusively by mobileDATA employees include Microsoft Corp.'s Office for daily office tasks and Microsoft Project for scheduling and planning. Microsoft Access and SQL Server databases store more than 7,000 records. Staffers utilize Symantec Corp.'s ACT 3.0 for contact management and calendars and Symantec's Norton Administrator for helpdesk functions. Employees communicate in real-time by combining Microtouch Systems' IBID IP White Board and Microsoft Network Meeting software over frame relay. The accounting department uses Platinum Software's accounting software and Microsoft Access, while Microsoft Word and Excel are used to process sales and credit applications and updates on medical and office forms. Microsoft Exchange for Mail and Netscape Communications Corp. Navigator 3.0 help them to browse the Web. Employees can create network diagrams with ClickNet from PinPoint Software Corp. and Visio software from Visio Corp. And, for Macintosh users, there's ClarisDraw from Claris Corp. Web designers use Microsoft Front Page 97 and Java for internal Web site development. Bowling plans to use Front Page for storing forms and updated documents within the next three months.
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Updated April 24, 1997 |
