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Profile:	Insuring Reliable Internet Access
Goal:	Bringing Internet Access to an Insurance Agency

Story:

We are an Allstate Insurance Company sales office located in Scranton, PA. Our function here is to provide sales and service of Allstate Insurance products. These products include most every type of insurance; most notably, auto insurance. Our office continually strives to streamline operations so as to provide prompt and immediate service to our customers. Anticipating that a large number of prospective and existing customers have made or will be making Internet communication investments, we recognize the increasing value of the Internet to our business. For current customers, we want to be there to provide them with services when they need it. For new customers, we can use the Internet as a complement to our marketing plan in attracting new customers. Having identified the values of Internet communication and how it could put us at a competitive advantage, our next step was to bring Internet access to our office. It would not be enough to have each person share the same phone line and Internet account. We wanted each person to have the Internet right at their desktop. We looked at the alternative solutions such as adding phone lines and Internet accounts for each person. This would be quite expensive. Another option people told me would be a high-end solution involving a router. Both options turned out to be prohibitively expensive. In choosing RideWay, we had a software solution that would integrate nicely with our simple, peer-to-peer network. What makes RideWay most appealing are its comprehensive features and ease-of-use. We were able to download and install RideWay without wasting a lot of time. For any office that has a network and wants to deliver Internet access across the LAN, RideWay is ideal.

John C Giguere Allstate Insurance, Inc. Scranton, PA

Profile:	Simple, Reliable Internet Access Solution For Law Firm
Goal:	Deliver Internet Access Across A Network For A Law Firm

Story:

Zelle and Larson, LLP is an environmental law firm heaquartered in Minneapolis, MN with California-based offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Environmental law has become increasingly important as companies seek to comply with rapidly-changing environmental laws on international, federal, and local levels. As such, it is imperative that all our legal staff have access to the environmental and legal resources on the Internet to better serve our clients.

"Like most law firms, time is critical as information must be processed and disseminated at a fast pace internally and, in some cases, externally. Our goal was to extend Internet and e-mail capabilities to each computer in our network. However, we had to insure that the solution we chose was secure, cost-effective, easy-to-use, and, had a low total-cost-of-ownership. At Zelle & Larson, we found that RideWay met or exceeded all of our requirements . More importantly, RideWay is backed by a responsive support staff to assist us with complex issues which may arise occassionally. For the fast-paced nature of a law firm, RideWay is an ideal solution for MIS managers to provide attorneys with Internet access from their desktop easily and securely."

Robert Dukes MIS Manager Zelle & Larson, LLP San Francisco

Story:

Finish Thompson, Inc (FTI) is an environmental equipment manufacturer located in Erie, Pa. FTI designs and develops centrifugal and vertical pumps used to handle corrosive and aggressive liquids such as acids, caustics, and solvents. Other pumps and recycling units developed by FTI handle acids, solvents, and antifreeze agents. Some of the recycling units are used to "clean" solvents and convert them into reusable products that save customers thousands in purchasing new solvents and disposing of old solvents.

Practically every department within FTI benefits from Internet access. The Engineering Department uses the Internet to gather technical data on processes, design, and component selection. The Purchasing Department uses the Internet to locate vendors for the materials that go into FTI products. FTI Sales staff gain from using the Internet by communicating with current and prospective clients or for gathering information competitor's products. The FTI Shipping Department takes advantage of the Internet to track deliveries

With each of these departments implementing Internet communications, we experienced "conflicts" among the various departments vying for online time on a few machines. After investigating similar products to RideWay, we were amazed at RideWay's ease-of-use. Another major feature was the cost-savings. Not having to have a dedicated internet server (i.e. just using a standard PC on the LAN) eliminated performance and security concerns from our MIS department.

We found the setup of Rideway to be very quick and simple. In addition, we received excellent technical support on a few advanced issues from ITServ. We were able to get our users up and running on Rideway in no time. In fact, the person's PC that we used as our "server" could not even tell that we were channeling everyone through his PC to access the Internet!

Towards the end of our evaluation period, we did not detect a single problem with the Rideway software--so we bought it. Now, everyone that needs Internet access has it when they need it--without conflicts!

Link Galeza Product/Methods Engineer

Story:

The Barnet School is an elementary school located in Barnet, Vermont. As part of an expanding information technology curriculum, we currently have PC's available for students in grades 4-8 while younger students in grades K-3 learn on MacIntosh computers. Recognizing the growing role of the Internet in classrooms worldwide, the Barnet School initiated a campaign to get students and teachers to use the Internet in the classroom for research and simulations. Through the State of Vermont's K-12NET, all state teachers and students are each allowed an individual Internet account and e-mail address.

"As teachers, we continue to work on professional development in order to stay abreast of our students' abilities and needs. Implementing Internet access as part of Barnet's technology curriculum became widely accepted among all of the teachers and administration. However, the major hurdle remaining was how to get Internet access distributed across our computer lab's local area network (LAN) through one Internet connection. Investing in a complex network solution that involved a router or adding multiple phone lines were not fiscally possible under the school's budget."

RideWay has proved to be an effective solution in bringing simultaneous Internet access to students on a classroom LAN as it is priced well below the cost of the alternative options. More importantly, RideWay is easy to handle, and it doesn't freeze up the network. As result, we have been able to enhance our information technology curriculum with Internet communications. Students are now being taught Netiquette, school-acceptable use policies, aspects of popular e-mail applications, and how to use search engines for research.

Mary Prior Information Technology Coordinator

Story:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Employee Credit Union provides high quality convenient, and competitive financial services to more than 11,000 members nationwide including, current employees, former employees, and family members. The FDIC Credit Union staff works hard to provide the best possible services to its members. We depend on e-mail and our home banking products heavily to service our members that live across the United States. The FDIC uses an extensive web page and e-mail communications to interact with its members. A rapidly growing number of our members now rely on the Internet for their banking services. It became increasingly evident that we needed to bring Internet access to the FDIC Credit Union staff.

"Security is a major concern. Our Internet Service Provider originally provided us with public IP addresses to configure some of our machines for Internet access. We found this was not a viable solution as we would be incurring considerable risk in favor of necessary Internet communications. After consulting with the staff at ITServ, we found RideWay quickly solved our dilemma as we were able to implement multi-user Internet access and still maintain a high level of security. With RideWay's easy installation, we did not have to spend valuable time configuring a custom firewall for our LAN. RideWay is cost-effective and gives us the ability to monitor and restrict Internet access by our LAN. RideWay's firewall capabilities provided us with more security than a router."

Bill Keefe Information Systems Manager

Profile:	Financial Services over the Internet
Goal:	Cost-Effective Simultaneous Access to the Internet

Story:

The Internet Stock Exchange is a global financial resource center that specializes in small-to-medium cap companies.

Pending approval from the SEC, The Internet Stock Exchange will be the first on-line exchange for listing and trading company securities.

By providing a public forum in which emerging companies can present themselves, Internet Stock Exchange gives investors access to early-stage investing. Such data was previously available only to a small circle of company insiders and venture capitalists. For many small cap stocks, a current quote is unavailable from any other public on-line source. These companies may not have active market-makers for their stock or may be forced to rely on pink sheet and over-the-counter market makers.

Therefore, the Internet Stock Exchange is able to deliver a comprehensive listing of companies in one location which allows investors easy access to research a company. Internet Stock Exchange provides a company profile, financials, history, products and services, news, product updates, press releases, and stock quotes.

To date, approximately 11,500 companies have listed with the Internet Stock Exchange. "With more than 500,000 hits per day, our business relies totally on the Internet and its resources to deliver and compile information," said founder and CEO, Taki Kyriakides. Gathering and exchanging information on these prospective companies is critical to Internet Stock Exchange analysts and its clients. To facilitate Internet access comprehensively and cost-effectively among its staff, the Internet Stock Exchange has implemented RideWay.

Previously, The Internet Stock Exchange tried other software solutions. Siting costs and performance as primary criteria in selecting a multi-user Internet access solution, Kyriakides says that the choice is simple. "No comparison," says Kyriakides. We tried WinGate and were very disappointed in its performance and its total cost of ownership; given its hindering effects on our network. Conversely, RideWay is powerful, easy-to-use, and, most importantly, let's us focus on our core business."

Profile:	Real Estate Company
Goal:	Cost-Effective Simultaneous Access to the Internet

Comments:

"Stevens, Realtors is a leading residential real estate company serving Washington, D.C and its suburbs in Northern Virginia and Suburban Maryland. Communications among its clients and agents is paramount to succeeding in the highly-competitive Washington, D.C. real estate market. As the Internet continues to become an integral component of real estate business models everywhere, Coldwell Banker, Stevens Realtors has chosen RideWay as the solution to enable multiple users at its offices to access the Internet using one phone line, one Internet account."

Benefits:

"The Internet is rapidly becoming critical to our operations in gathering information for real estate listings. Our company continues to make local area network and hardware investments at its headquarters in Vienna, VA and its 11 branch offices throughout the Washington, D.C. Metro Area. Each office is able to purchase a licensed copy of RideWay, along with one phone line and Internet account. RideWay saves us time and money we would otherwise have used in purchasing and maintaining extra phone lines and Internet accounts. To put it simply, RideWay is easy to use and the cost is next to nothing."

Russell Johnson Operations Administrator

Comments:

"Meyers & Associates is a government consulting firm located in the heart of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. We represent cities, universities, agriculture, and businesses. Information and communication are paramount to our operations. We depend on the Internet extensively to keep up with issues affecting our clients and their respective industries from a legislative viewpoint. While we had one PC with Internet access, our entire office had to take turns using the Internet. This was inefficient and costing us a lot in down time."

Benefits:

"We have found that RideWay has satisfied our ever-increasing needs for gathering and communicating information. Thanks to RideWay, everyone in our office can now access the Internet!  RideWay is just so cost-effective and easy to install and maintain. For any business concerned about cost yet needs information to compete, we recommend RideWay."

Kelly Whitton Meyers & Associates Washington, DC (202) 484-2773

Comments:

"As a systems integrator, I get a lot of networking and information management systems requests from a variety of clients. There is an increasing demand among offices, large and small, to provide Internet access to more than one staff member on their network. As Internet communications continue to emerge as an integral part of business models everywhere, small offices need multiple Internet access to effectively compete."

Benefits:

"As a re-seller of RideWay, I have been able to meet the needs of those clients who cannot afford to spend extravagant amounts on a connection, router, and server. While many of my competitors are bidding for more complex Internet access solutions, I am able to provide a cost-effective alternative. Once it is installed, there is no maintenance or costly overhead for my clients."

Advantek, Inc. Rockville, MD

Comments:

"Connecting to the office from home is very important to me as I spend much of my time working from home. Ideally, I could check my email and utilize other available Internet resources from home without having to pay for another ISP account."

Benefits:

"I save time and money when I use RideWay to access the Internet through my university's connection. Best of all, I do not have to battle crowded Internet Service Provider lines. I can honestly recommend RideWay to anyone who wants to connect from home to the Internet through the office LAN."

Dr. Pawel Gora Concordia University Montreal, CANADA

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