Case Studies

Founded in 1979, Soligent is America’s largest wholesale distributor of solar panels and related accessories. With 9 distribution centers nationwide in addition to their corporate headquarters, many white-collar operations staff work from home. The dynamic workplace arrangements, specialty equipment used for inventory and logistics, and ambitious growth objectives would ordinarily scare away most outsourced IT firms, and for that matter, many candidates for an in-house IT position.

Challenges:

• When Top Notch was first retained in 2021. technology strategies were still very much based on pre-COVID norms
• No systems of centralized asset tracking or management for a company of over 300 users
• Computer repairs, as well as procurement and deployment of new systems, were extremely difficult once the majority of white-collar workers went remote
• Resident IT staff was disproportionately small, with high turnover rates and a select few holding “the keys to the kingdom.”
• Following a recent acquisition and integration, two similarly sized international companies had completely different technology models
• Data, email, and other control systems spread out across 4 different ecosystems

Scope of Engagement:

• Augment help desk, network admins and interface engineers by chiseling away at aging tickets
• Build out customized Jira Service Management instances to empower end users and resident tech teams in tracking requests, incidents, emergencies, and other projects
• Standardize the company’s technology policies and processes
• Legitimize cybersecurity posture of physical locations, cloud infrastructure, and web sites to meet demands of investors
• Oversee construction and migration of multiple warehouse throughout the US, assimilating the networks into existing company ecosystem

Outcomes:

• Average time to resolution for tickets and outages brought down to 3 hours from 2 days
• Uniform fleet of equipment, with established lifecycle policies, real-time asset management, and daily dispatching of new and repaired systems as needed from Top Notch inventory or closest drop ship locations
• Modern security tools, such as EDR/XDR, CVM, SIEM
• Sunset of last on-premises domain server with complete migration to cloud-based Azure Active Directory, Intune, and Autopilot in place for new system rollouts
• Reduced or eliminated dependence on AWS, Google Workspace, and on-premise servers.

Charlottesville Day School is a private, upscale PreK-8^th grade institution that emphasizes academics, art, and social awareness. The parent base is comprised of area physicians, entrepreneurs, executives, UVA professors, and other notable professionals.

IT really can make or break academic environments, with students and staff becoming increasingly reliant on technology, both as a subject matter and as a delivery medium for curriculum. With private schools considered one of our core specialties, the school’s administration was delighted to learn we were up to the task.

Challenges:

• Campus consists with one main building with 3 satellite buildings-originally dependent on multiple Internet connections
• Degree of content filtering and network security required for young children, sharing the same physical mediums as the adult staff
• Outdated email, server and network infrastructure
• No routine monitoring or maintenance rhythms in place

Scope of Engagement:

• Migrate away from legacy small business servers while preserving domain properties and computer user profiles
• Work alongside contractors in construction of new gym, outfitting the entire interior and exterior with good WiFi
• Conjoin satellite buildings with headquarters utilizing wireless hardware beam connections until medium-range fiber connection were made available
• Modernize phone system with enterprise-class VoIP

Outcomes:

• Ubiquitous WiFi spanning the entirety of campus, indoors and outdoors
• Proper accounting setup
• Enhanced work-from-home capabilities
• “Unified Threat Management” firewall, configured to protect children while browsing while enabling staff to conduct business
• Ongoing management of backups, cybersecurity, and network uptime, with an established cadence of routine maintenance

Castle Hill produces hard cider for consumers, tourists, and wholesale distributors. Most apples are grown on property and bred to create the signature dry “crisp” that has grown a loyal following among beverage aficionados everywhere.

CHC’s origins are traced back to the late 1700’s when Colonel Thomas Walker, a Revolutionary War veteran, sowed a harvest of rare “Pippin” apples at his farm on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge. The modern Castle Hill Cider concept was born in 2010 and has since grown into a leading distributor for the region. The property itself boasts a tasting room for the general public, several annual festivals, and charity events, and has recently been heralded as the region’s leading event destination.

Delivering enterprise-grade Wi-Fi and back-of-house systems to a challenging rural property wasn’t easy, but it’s been an honor to enable and witness the transformation of CHC to what it has become today.

Challenges:

• Technology was not necessarily a consideration at the cidery’s inception in 2010. However, as business increased and demand for products and customer service rose, it became apparent systems were needed.

• A POS system, file sharing and accounting for the back office, and guest-facing Wi-Fi all needed to be deployed in two months’ time in preparation for the high season.

• DSL and satellite-based Internet were the only available Internet mediums at the time of opening.

• As with much of the hospitality industry, we were working with a very limited budget.

Scope of Engagement:

• Lay foundation for network using enterprise-grade wired and wireless equipment. Rollout of central server to run the network and host files. Implementation of proper backup and cybersecurity controls.
• Set up remote access for executive and accounting teams
• Utilize load balancing technology to collectively harness the power of 5 separate DSL connections as if they were a single pipe.

Assist in wading through various bureaucratic systems to secure necessary permits and funding for the eventual rollout of fiber circuit to property

Outcomes:

• Support for 1,000 concurrent users during peak event times while back-of-house systems continue to run concurrently.
• Proper data protection, cybersecurity, and business continuity solutions have been implemented, satisfying the compliance needs of investors and insurance companies.
• Work from home and field personnel have no remaining productivity barriers
• 300% overall company growth since initial engagement with TN

Keswick Hall & Golf Club is a historic estate nestled among the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge, approximately halfway between Charlottesville and Richmond Virginia. Today, the property boasts a full-featured country club, hotel resort, dining mecca, and gated community of over 100 upscale homes. The member base is comprised of area physicians, entrepreneurs, executives, UVA/UR professors, and other notable professionals.

Once a flagship Orient Express portfolio hotel, the property began to face challenges in the new millennium common to the industry: Now orphaned from the franchise model, the property (including technology systems) had to be rebuilt with a degree of autonomy never previously required. Full time talented IT staff from neighboring portfolio hotels were brought in to modernize the setup, and progress was being made. Beneath the surface, however, a dangerous scenario was brewing: With more moving parts than almost all other businesses, the “keys to the kingdom” were held by one one or two individuals.

In the wake of the resident staff’s untimely departure, Top Notch was brought in to restore order, finish the original technology migration, install proper power and data protection. We also filled the void with as-needed user helpdesk for the club’s blue and white-collar staff.

Challenges:

Complex infrastructure layout, with the furthest satellite building located ½ mile from the center property.

Extremely limited support or documentation available for existing setup

Hotel property management, reservations, member management, and restaurant software were all individual applications with some requiring integrations.

Aging computer systems and networking equipment

WiFi coverage was unpredictable at best and only covered indoors

Entire compound highly susceptible to lighting strikes, flooding, and other nuisances beyond human control

Scope of Engagement:

Retire older 2008 and 2012 servers from setup, without disrupting system state of user workstations

Set up ongoing managed service solutions, placing Top Notch in the company’s corner for all ongoing IT matters and new system procurement.

Golf and pool pavilions bridged with main compound via wireless hardware point to point solution.

Connect remote golf Maintenance building with separate Internet connection to main company resources

Build virtual desktop infrastructure for out of state Reservations teams

Oversee property-wide upgrade of Oracle Opera Management system

Outcomes:

Attained ongoing reliability, scalability, and compliance by upgrading to modern server & hybrid cloud ecosystem with long-term support

Important data consolidated to centralized server, with “hot” storage also available in SharePoint cloud

Food and beverage system linked with hotel PMS

Medium range underground fiber, links, all satellite officers with main complex

Realtime asset management and tracking in place for all IP based equipment

Supported IT and technology improvements through nine-figure renovation project, ultimately leading to the successful acquisition and integration following the Riverstone Group’s release of the property in 2021.

Since 1927, Richmond International Airport has operated as the primary commercial airport for the region. Over the last decade, the facility has experienced rapid growth consistent with the city of Richmond and surrounding areas. To accommodate the additional traffic, the airport underwent expansions two expansions since the turn of the millennium, resulting in a bi-level atrium for departures & arrivals, and the addition 8 additional gates.

As with many public works projects, technology needs were considered an afterthought, and subsequent renovations simply piled more equipment and miles of wiring onto the original server and Wi-Fi setup. Essentially bursting at the seams, users ranging from ATC to gate agents to the public felt the squeeze of the additional pressure on outdated equipment and systems. The airport’s public Wi-Fi performance had a reputation among travelers as “worst in the nation”. Eventually, a need for modernization was realized, and the request for assistance at all levels (as well as a future ongoing technology partner) was generated.

Challenges:

• For portions of concourse, gate connections and public Wi-Fi dependent on wireless solutions
• Extremely large physical footprint with little to no device health monitoring
• Local and cloud environments subjected to five individual regulatory frameworks
• Odd dynamics for resource sharing with privately-owned restaurants and stores

Scope of Engagement:

• Upgrade virtual servers and general networking backbone of systems with new versions
• Enhance storage capacity by 500%
• Introduce high availability redundancy solutions for uptime & data backups
• Eliminated the need for wireless boosters and repeaters by completing improvements to the physical layer

Outcomes:

• Improved Wi-Fi coverage and reliability
• Backbone now consists entirely of multi-mode fibre and last mile connections as CAT5
• Modern cybersecurity controls
• On-time flight departure rate up one point year-after-year

The Global Environmental Technology Foundation develops and operates technology to address environmental challenges. Through dozens of government and private sector collaborations, the organization has implemented initiatives ranging from large-scale chemical cleanups to research to strategic planning. GETF plays a crucial role in advancing environmental technologies and fostering collaboration to address pressing global challenges. Its work emphasizes the importance of innovation in achieving sustainability and protecting the planet for future generations. The Global Water Challenge, the world’s leading commission on safe water delivery, is managed by the foundation, along with several other corporate and government-led partnerships.

Challenges:

Workforce dependent upon traditional client/server software model, comprised of almost half remote staff (even predating the COVID19 era)

Global workforce, with staff and consultants requiring 24/7 support across 6 time zones

Remote staff serving underdeveloped countries with major Internet limitations

Stringent compliance requirements spanning multiple industry frameworks

Scope of Engagement:

Migrate email systems from legacy Exchange server to Cloud-Based Exchange via Office 365

Complete overhaul of servers, Wi-Fi, backups, and cloud services to meet the modern era

Centralize and facilitate privileged access to accounting systems

Ongoing management day to day help desk, procurement, networking, and remote access services

Outcomes:

Organization’s productivity largely unaffected by onset of COVID19

Significant cost savings over prior corporate-governed MSP relationship

Contractors & consultants able to productively engage with corporate network following a “zero-trust” model

Successful office renovation from the physical layer upwards

BRG is a nationwide group of mechanical engineers responsible for the design and development of many government and private-led aerospace initiatives. The team is considered best in class when it comes to the design and failure analysis of bearings, seals, turbines, and rotors. Clients range from government defense contractors to the well-knows energy titans operating in the US and abroad.

Challenges:

• Decentralized workforce model was employed, even pre-COV19
• Remote engineers must maintain access to license server on main office LAN, for granting usage to expensive specialty design software, such as ANSYS or Solidworks. However, direct access to their hardware was a must, to harness the computing power of their graphics cards.
• Extremely stringent security and compliance demands

Scope of Engagement:

• Migrated environment from arbitrary collection of computers and data custody to centralized domain server system.
• Proper remote access utilizing TLS 1.2 VPN
• Migrated email accounts from default web server on web site to Exchange Online. Build bidirectional ForceTLS relationship with primary client.

Outcomes:

• Standardized fleet of laptops and equipment procurement process
• “Cloud Convenience,” while meeting local custody and security requirements of stakeholders
• Modern cybersecurity controls, such as enhanced spam filtering, continuous vulnerability management, & extended detection & response