Testimonials
Barry Fairbanks, Data Network Advisor, Anadarko Petroleum Company
Through the course of our 6 month 30 story new building project for Anadarko Petroleum Company, Chris Boykin represented both business and technical roles in what I consider to be a near perfect job of balancing Anadarko's interests. Whether he was directly responsible for an item or not he acted as a single point of contact for Anadarko on all project issues.
This project had some challenges as we were asking for a turn key, Cisco best practices solution for the building and data center network, plus a complete Cisco Works 2000 configuration for the new building extended to also cover the remainder of the Anadarko LAN/WAN network. The new data center has over 150 servers and includes mass data storage systems that are linked to a second data center in another building.
The end result of the project has been a completely tested and documented network addition with no real surprises after several months of operation. In addition to always following through, Chris lets you know when issues are encountered and presents options with pros and cons in a way that is customer focused and does not try to dictate a solution.
Director of Information Technology, INTEC Engineering
INTEC Engineering has been using the services of Got Net Solutions for the past year. The following letter chronicles how we discovered Got Net and why we have come to define our relationship with them as a critical component in our global infrastructure. We were introduced to Got Net by one of our vendors, Cisco Systems, while working on a seemingly unsolvable problem in Europe. In late 2002, we had deployed a global VPN utilizing technology provided by Checkpoint and Cisco. We had deployed the VPN over 2002 with the assistance of the three large vendors in Houston. The deployment phase was a nightmare, each vendor made the same promises and all fail to deliver. We slowly worked our way through each vendor. We eventually managed to complete the VPN ourselves to about an 80% satisfaction of the goals we had set forth 9 months earlier. At this point we were unaware of Got Net and their Checkpoint expertise, but there is more on this later.
Another project that we had initiated after the VPN deployment was a migration to less expensive Internet links at each of our ten global offices. We were phasing out expensive frame circuits for more cost effective solutions such as DSL. In order to compensate for some of the technical hurdles that DSL can bring, such as congestion at the DSLAM, we set out to load balance multiple DSL lines from multiple providers. Our first office to test this new approach was our UK office. We were able to achieve 80% of our objectives within a fairly short timeframe. The problem came in at the last 20%, as it always does. We knew that this area would present us with the greatest challenges, but were unable to get a logical reason as to why what we were attempting would not work. I was determined to either achieve 100% of our objectives or have a technically accurate explanation as to why it could not be done. The grand finale was a conference call with Cisco that lasted 12 hours. Towards the end of this call, I was so frustrated I told the engineer that I didn't care what it took or what it cost; I wanted the absolute best Cisco person they could find inside or outside their organization. After about an hour he said that I should receive a phone call within the next hour. Fifteen minutes later a person called from Got Net Solutions. It was one of there lead consultants, Chris Boykin. He spoke with us for two hours and helped us achieve 90% of what we needed to accomplish and explained in detail with great accuracy the technical challenges in achieving 100%.
It wasn't until an hour into the call that I discovered Got Net was based in my hometown of Houston, Texas. I was obviously pleased to find out the best person Cisco could find in Europe was actually in Houston. I asked for his contact information and requested an invoice. He gave me the contact information, but refused payment for the help. Two months after returning to Houston we had another major problem with our VPN. I was, as usual, terrified to call the latest local vendor we had been using. I remembered that the Cisco expert we had used in England also knew Checkpoint. I called Got Net and explained my plight. They sent Chris to our location within an hour. It was Super Bowl Sunday 2003 and they were extremely accommodating in our time of need. We worked from noon on Sunday to 6AM Monday morning and rebuilt our entire WAN. Within an 18-hour day, I personally witnessed Got Net fix what we, along with the three large vendors in Houston, could not achieve in 9 months.
The very next week I know the most responsible thing I could do was to start a long-term relationship with Got Net. We signed a one-year agreement for them to manage our global network. Since then, with the help of Got Net, we have taken our network to the next level. We were so successful on every project we just kept adding more. We deployed VLANs, Quality of Service, Remote User Firewalls and many other cost savings technologies. Every project was gracefully managed and executed by Got Net with flawless precision. As a global engineering organization we achieved ISO certification and setup technologies such as license sharing over the VPN that has given us clear competitive advantages. Got Net was critical in each of these areas. The security audit they performed was absolutely essential in helping us not only achieve ISO certification, but also in increasing our client's confidence in our ability to secure their data.
As an I.T. Director I see Got Net as a secret weapon in my arsenal. While planning for a more fiscally tight year in 2004 all contracts were being evaluated closely by the Executive team. The Got Net contract was immediately place in the pile with the power bill and rent. It is well understood that the quality of support we receive from Got Net is critical to our continued success on the global landscape.
