The need to interconnect disparate equipment and operating systems, and the trend toward outsourcing of network related projects, have led to the birth of a new area of industry expertise, the full service network integrator. As technology requirements have become increasingly complex, Pate Consultants Group has made a commitment to remain current on technology issues / developments and to respond quickly to changes within the industry. We do not simply propose technology solutions, but also stand by our selection with a comprehensive suite of integration and engineering services.

Pate Consultants fully guarantees that every product and service it provides will perform to a predetermined specification. Pate addresses the challenges posed by multiple and/or heterogeneous networks, system platforms and software environments; specializing in:

	LAN/WAN and Internet/Intranet Logical Networking
	Advanced Technology Planning and Migration
	Problem Analysis and Determination
	Backbone and Campus Implementation and Certification
	Help Desk Implementations and Systems Development
	IP Management
	Remote Access and VPN Solutions
	Documentation

Pate Consultants manages complex projects through a methodology of formal project phases. Each phase is systematically converted to tasks and sub-tasks. Project tasks, resources, expenditures, deliverables and timelines are monitored and reviewed with management at each critical project phase. Experience has demonstrated that this structured project management approach yields significant dividends by optimizing project resources and ensuring management control.

In addition to participating in the design and analysis phase of corporate network deployments, Pate has managed many complex network integration and implementation efforts. Pate has the ability, either directly or through relationships with suppliers, to provide a turnkey solution for the deployment of networks and network infrastructures. When attempting to introduce new technologies, the ability to tightly control all aspects of project implementation is critical.

For the deployment of large networks, Pate provides its clients with the ability to delegate "management of vendors" to a dedicated and experienced project team.

A key step in most projects is the actual procurement of products and services. While an in-depth understanding of the product choices is gained in an earlier project phase, there still remains the final selection process to determine which products or services best meet corporate objectives. It is at this phase, for all projects encompassing a significant technology investment, that Pate Consultants can provide support for formal Request for Proposals (RFP). Pate Consultants has extensive experience in RFP creation and analysis.

Objectives:

	Bid process to create a competitive environment thus securing favorable financial terms.
	Assessment of vendor’s willingness and capability to provide integration and implementation support.
	Begin development of business relationship with critical suppliers.

To successfully manage the challenges of migrating to a fully integrated network environment, the new network architecture needs to be communicated to the corporation’s information technology and business technology management.

Before deploying any new network architecture, Pate Consultants Group creates a design that aligns technology investment to corporate goals and business plans. We strongly believe that the alignment of network architecture to business objectives and technology investment is a crucial element in assuring a deployable, extensible and affordable network,

Business Objectives Methodology

Pate Consultants is also committed to a comprehensive technical design methodology.

Rigorous adhesion to a proven design process including network surveys, requirements definition, data entity relationships, traffic levels and patterns, protocol reliability and overhead, network security, management and control issues, and scalability are applied to each design model.

Prototyping and Modeling

When deploying complex and new technologies, Pate’s network performance prototyping and modeling skills can be utilized to minimize the risk of network disruptions during the implementation phase of the project.

In addition, Pate’s designs are always backed up by analysis to assure that key goals for delay, throughput, availability, and cost can be met.
Our analytical techniques include heuristics, models, and simulations. They are often used to perform Baselining, Application Deployment Planning and Capacity vs. Cost Planning projects for our clients.