If you really want to know who your friends are, just ask them if they'll help you move on a weekend. Rodeer Systems, Inc. was founded in 1995, from an idea to bring together medical practice knowledge and information technology by offering medical transcription and information subscription services to medical professionals and health care organizations across the country.

While Rodeer realized that information transport was crucial to their core business, their first network consisted of a single hub and dial-in router with several PCs and workstations which simply could not support their phenomenal growth. After only 18 months, the company had grown to $30 million in sales and almost 1,000 employees. Having worked with The Root Group on smaller projects [including cabling and web development], the CIO at Rodeer asked for help designing a network that would support their growing needs. Initial design requirements included secure Internet access with firewall, PPP dial-in for employees, frame-relay connections to new acquisitions, and Sprint Intranet PPP dial-in for customer access.

Within just a few weeks, a network design was approved and installation began. The plan called for seven Cisco routers, a firewall, and other networking equipment [including hubs, modems, and CSUs/DSUs]. But even as the new network was improving communications and information access, continued exponential growth forced Rodeer to leave the building for which the network was originally designed.

Now needing to support an expansion that included remote sites and extensive security requirements, the project team at The Root Group designed a new topology to anticipate predicted growth. This new design compartmentalized the network to support each of four individual business units which in turn necessitated a new security architecture with four firewalls.

Now for the hard part.

With mission-critical services and core business functions dependent on the entire network, shutting down for even a day was unthinkable. So a team of Root Group professionals [which included network, system, and security engineers] helped Rodeer relocate to a larger facility and deploy the new network over a single weekend.

Today, Rodeer's success continues and their network includes more than 25 sites connected by frame-relay and ISDN. Their Internet connection has been upgraded from 56Kbps to a full T-1 [1.544Mbps].

"It's amazing…two years ago we were essentially working out of my basement," says Patrick Wolf, "now we have 1,400 people in 30 offices. Thanks to the Root Group's expertise, our people can work with anyone, anywhere, anytime...we wouldn't be where we are today without them."