NEW YORK, NY — August 6, 2007 — Business Technology Partners, Inc. (BTP), one of New York City’s premier IT consulting firms, today announced the successful deployment of a converged voice and data network at Gibbons PC, a leading law firm with locations throughout New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania metropolitan areas. Serving as the Virtual Chief Technology Officer (VCTO), BTP designed and managed Gibbons’ IT and telecom infrastructure which included the build-out of a new data center, implementation of a companywide VoIP system, and secure remote access. BTP also managed the relocation to a new 100,000 square foot headquarters facility in Newark and a redesign of the network in the company’s Manhattan office.
With 220 attorneys, Gibbons is ranked among the Nation’s Top 200 Firms by The American Lawyer. To help Gibbons keep pace with growth, BTP designed and implemented a new converged voice and data network, giving attorneys and employees a broad range of applications and remote access tools to communicate and collaborate inside and outside the office. Given the firm’s reliance on phone and email to support their business operations, BTP put in place a unified messaging system as well as integrated time-tracking, billing, and telephone recording applications.
“Our relocation in Newark enabled us to rethink all aspects of our technology infrastructure,” explained Patrick Dunican Jr., Managing Director of Gibbons. “Understanding our needs, BTP not only designed a next-generation IT and telecommunications platform, but also guided us through the implementation process.”
“Staying in front of client projects and their continuously changing legal needs is critical to Gibbons’ business,” explained Joshua Aaron, President of Business Technology Partners. “This successful project deployment enables them to harness technology to realize significant productivity gains, reduce costs, and deliver improved business communications to support their growing client base.”
Converged Network
Leveraging several cutting edge technologies, BTP implemented an end-to-end Internet Protocol (IP) network in Gibbons’ Newark headquarters. This included a VoIP-based communications system utilizing a Cisco backbone and phones. As part of this project, BTP also designed the 650 square foot data center which serves all remote Gibbons offices.
Unified Messaging & Productivity Tools
BTP designed a unified messaging platform that combines the firm’s VoIP phone system with email and voicemail through one common interface, enabling the firm’s attorneys and employees to have a centralized repository for receiving and handling all client communications. To track billable phone time, BTP recommended Dimension Data’s CATT application that seamlessly integrates with Cisco’s VoIP technology. This application automates the process of capturing billable time, creating reports, and invoices. BTP also specified CallRex software that allows attorneys to record and archive important telephone conversations with clients.
Remote Access & Mobility
Leveraging a Cisco SSL Virtual Private Network (VPN), attorneys and employees working remotely now have secure access to their voice and data applications as well as documents. The new VPN provides remote connectivity to the Newark data center. Using the Cisco IP SoftPhone application, Gibbons “road warriors” have full access to their telephone on their laptops to access personal phone extensions and call features from any location. Additionally, Cisco’s Mobility Manager allows attorneys to login to any phone and have full access to their profile and settings, such as call forwarding, follow me, and other routing features.
Disaster Recovery
To support the firm’s VoIP-based voice communications, BTP designed resilient systems that include redundant gateways in Newark and New York. These “survivable routers” are capable of continuing to offer full voice communications from Gibbons’ remote offices, even when connectivity between them is temporarily lost.
WAN Connectivity
Ensuring continuous availability of the firm’s data center operations in Newark, BTP worked with Gibbons’ wide area network (WAN) connectivity provider to improve bandwidth and performance. Leveraging an MPLS-based backbone, the new WAN now offers up to four to ten times performance of Gibbons’ previous network. Additionally, the WAN allows Gibbons to place business-critical network resources and backup operations off-site as part of its disaster recovery strategy.
About Gibbons:
With 220 attorneys, Gibbons is a top law firm in the New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia metropolitan regions and is ranked among the nation’s top 200 firms by The National Law Journal. The firm provides transactional, litigation and counseling services to leading businesses. The firm was recently ranked among the Best Places to Work in New Jersey by NJBIZ Magazine and one of the top 100 firms in the nation for diversity by Multi-Cultural Law magazine. Gibbons maintains offices in Newark, New Jersey; New York, New York; Trenton, New Jersey; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
About Business Technology Partners:
Business Technology Partners, Inc. (BTP) is a technology consulting firm that delivers tailored solutions leveraging a broad array of expertise in IT infrastructure and applications, network management, technology maintenance, telecommunications, audio/visual and security systems. BTP’s technology practice areas help organizations with design/build projects, relocations, technology upgrades and corporate consolidations. The company combines business-driven experience, industry best practices, and its own methodology to deliver projects on-time and within budget. A list of clients includes ABN AMRO, ADP, AIG, Altria (Phillip Morris), Bloomberg LP, Calyon, Deutsche Bank, Estee Lauder, Gibbons PC, JPMorgan Chase, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, L’Oreal, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, MTV Networks/Viacom, Morgan Stanley, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New Line Cinema, St. Peters Hospital, The New York Board of Trade, PRIMEDIA, Proctor & Gamble (The Wella Corporation), Reed Business, Reuters, State Street Global Advisors, Time Inc., Trump SOHO Hotel, and Xanadau at the Meadowlands. For more information, visit www.btp.net.
