In addition to office furnishings, Marco also provided Nor-son with cabling and infrastructure components for their new facility. Marco designed, configured, and installed a Category 6 cabling system, wire management, server racks, switches, and  reconfigured their Intrusion Detection System.

According to Dan Stanifer, AutoCAD Manager for Nor-son, “At the time we were planning for our technology needs for our new facility, our current IT manager had left the company. Kevin Schwantz, Marco Account Representative, was so helpful in getting us through this transition period and explaining our options in terms I could understand.”

Marco provided Nor-son with the latest cabling technology available—a Hitachi Category 6 cabling system. Dan commented, “Our new Category 6 system makes a world of difference from what we had before! Our other building was basically point to point cabling, which was kind of difficult to deal with.” Their new organized, manageable cabling system allows for easy changes and faster network speed.

Nor-son was also looking at changing their switches, and Kevin proposed a design that met their needs. Marco provided four new Cisco backbone switches, which were installed in their old building first and tested to make sure everything was running properly. Marco then moved the switches to their new facility upon completion.

Marco also reconfigured Nor-son's Intrusion Detection System to provide them with a more secure network environment. Dan commented, “We had an IDS system in place with another vendor. Because of our comfort level with Marco, they took over the system for us and reconfigured it properly to meet our security requirements.”

Dan added, “It was real easy to work with everyone at Marco, especially Kevin. He was not only our salesperson, but our coach as well.” Dave Mimm, Nor-son's new IT Manager added, “Marco was friendly and accommodating. They were willing to do whatever needed to be done to meet our needs.”

In May 2003, Marco implemented a two site Wide Area Network to connect Douglas' Alexandria and Deerwood facilities. Marco installed and configured a 1721 Cisco router and a Cisco 2950 24-port switch as its core gigabyte switch at the Deerwood facility, and also configured their Cisco 3640 router at their Alexandria location.

Because of their location in Deerwood, they were limited to line carriers for their point-to-point connection between the two facilities. Mara Anderson, Marco IT Project Manager, worked with Al Meyers and the line carriers to provide the most affordable line costs available. Al commented, “Mara was very proactive in following up with the line vendors to make sure our point-to-point connection was in place for the installation of our WAN.”

Douglas utilizes one common firewall implemented by Marco for a private point-to-point connection between locations. Their regional salespeople and service managers connect to their network through a high speed VPN connection.

Al was pleased with Marco's installation and implementation process. He said, “Once our line carrier was taken care of, the Wide Area Network was implemented within an hour and a half. Of all the projects I have been involved in, this one was definitely the cleanest. Everything fell into place. It was a big deal for us. And I haven't had to touch it since it was installed. It has made our responsibility for our Deerwood facility a lot simpler too.”

Douglas' longstanding relationship with Marco is one of the reasons they chose Marco for their WAN project. “We value a vendor's level of experience for a project,” said Al. “We had a very positive experience with Marco when they connected our Maple Grove location a year and a half ago. It was just natural to choose Marco as the vendor for this project. We felt very comfortable with Ann McCann, our Marco Account Representative, and Steve Knutson and Lyle Carter, who designed and implemented our WAN.”

As architects and builders, Nor-son, Inc. is dedicated to one goal—their customers' complete satisfaction. Nor-son is a provider of high quality construction services throughout Minnesota. Over the past 25 years, they have completed over 1,500 projects in design/build, construction management, and general contractor project delivery systems. Nor-son is committed to providing their customers with cost effective buildings constructed to the highest standards. They pride themselves in meeting and exceeding their customers' needs for even the most unique projects.