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LAGNIAPPE, INC.
Lagniappe, Inc. is known as a unique floral design shop in the suburb of Bexley located in Columbus, Ohio. As their name implies, Lagniappe has been consistently offering high-level of services and uncompromised quality to their customers since 1986. Always willing to provide a little extra, Lagniappe has been serving many corporate clients in the Columbus area such as The Limited and Victoria's Secret.
BUSINESS PROCESS AND INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE
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Technologies Used:
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Dell Workstations and Servers
Windows NT
Windows 2000
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Their Needs:
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The workstations in use at Lagniappe were extremely unreliable and underpowered. Each workstation could not fulfill the tasks for which they were originally assigned to do. Additionally, they would not be able to handle any new software packages that Lagniappe wanted to install. Petalsoft, a software application built specifically for florists, was selected with the intention to help streamline Lagniappe's business processes. Dove Network/Teleflora software was also desired to help allow immediate dispersal of floral orders.
A secondary objective Lagniappe desired was the ability to network all workstations and printers in the front and back areas of the building this was to allow collaboration as well as maximize the use of shared resource to all employees/computers.
Lastly, Lagniappe was using several phone lines to obtain access to the Internet. . These phone lines were also used as their main incoming fax lines. Lagniappe needed to find a cost effective solution for internet access and allow no disruption for incoming faxes.
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Our Solution:
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IDDG configured a Dell PowerEdge with Windows NT 4.0 Server to be used as a central server to house both the PetalSoft application and the wire service application. The server was configured with 2 modems: one phone line specifically for internet access, and the other for receiving wire orders from the Dove Network. A software based firewall and modem sharing package was installed to allow all employees to use the single line to access the Internet. The firewall portion of the software package insures the business is protected when connected to the Internet. IDDG also configured 2 Dell workstations running Windows NT Workstation 4.0 to be used in the front office. Additionally, the existing machines were stripped down and rebuilt with new hardware and Windows NT Workstation 4.0. IDDG installed network lines and associated equipment along with Ethernet cards in all of the machines to establish Lagniappe's first LAN. All of the printers have been shared through the workstation they are attached to which allows any employee to print to any of the printers. This allows the front office to take in phone orders and then print them out at the flower preparation area where the employees pick them up and prep the order for delivery.
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The Results:
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The business process for Lagniappe has improved greatly. They can now share information between their workstations. They no longer have to carry orders back to the flower preparation area which saves them time. They also no longer have to worry about missing a FAX because a phone line was tied up from someone dialing out to the internet since all of the machines can reach the internet through a single dedicated phone line. Because of Lagniappe's utilization of the Dove Network wire service, the shop has also doubled its sales. As their need for internet access grows they will be able to meet their requirements with minimal infrastructure upgrades due to the network that was put in place.
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