Layer8 Consulting, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC (EA) is a U.S.-based consulting firm that provides environmental, engineering, compliance, natural resources, and infrastructure services. Founded in 1973, the company works with various public and private sector clients, including federal, state, and local governments, as well as private businesses.

EA is known for its expertise in solving complex environmental challenges, ranging from site remediation to ecological restoration and sustainable development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Layer8 Consulting, Inc. to accomplish?

• Implement a new Fortinet Fortigate Firewall solution

SOLUTION

How did you find Layer8 Consulting, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Layer8 Consulting, Inc. over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Layer8 Consulting, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Layer8 developed a comprehensive migration plan to replace an existing checkpoint firewall solution with a Fortinet Fortigate firewall solution for EA's more than 25 offices.    They deployed Fortinet's FortiManger and built all the policies, objects, UTM profiles, etc. 

They also built and configured the FortiAnalyzer server for logging.   Layer8 tested all aspects of the solution and provided comprehensive documentation and diagrams.   Finally, they provided detailed knowledge transfer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Layer8 developed a detailed implementation plan and provided weekly milestone calls to ensure the project stayed on schedule.   A pilot site was setup and tested to ensure rules and policies flowed as expected.   As rules were created, they were tested for success.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

I would give Layer8 an A+ for project management.  From the first day to the final milestone, everything was accomplished on time or ahead of schedule.   Excellent communication throughout the process kept our IT department as stress free as possible during this complex undertaking.

What was your primary form of communication with Layer8 Consulting, Inc.?

In-Person Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Layer8 Consulting is a relatively small company that works as a partner with their customers rather than a contractor.   You get that down to earth hometown feeling when working with Layer8. Elden (the VP/Principal) gets personally involved and stays engaged with his customers. 

Their team of engineers are well trained and thorough.  We had a dedicated engineer (Rob) thoughout the entire project which you don't often get with larger consulting firms.   And Rob was one of the best engineers I've had the pleasure of working with!   

Are there any areas for improvement or something Layer8 Consulting, Inc. could have done differently?

This project went extremely smooth so I can't think of anything that could have been done differently. Top-notch all the way.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the President of a telecommunications company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide fiber, telephone and data center services to business and government.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Layer8 Consulting, Inc. to accomplish?

• Replace existing firewalls for corporate HQ.
• Provide support to internal networking team.
• Migrate a complex cloud hosting network

SOLUTION

How did you find Layer8 Consulting, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Layer8 Consulting, Inc. over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Layer8 Consulting, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Layer8 worked (working) on three projects during 2024:

1. Migrated corporate firewalls to new firewall.
2. Supported network engineers on various troubleshooting and network upgrades.
3. Migrated existing firewalls and data center switches to new firewalls and data center switches.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• The corporate firewall migration project went unbeliebably perfect as measured by the minimal service interruption to employees (including 24/7 employees).
• Our networking team has provided great feedback on the Layer8 team for all the direct support Layer8 provides the team on various projects.
• The hosting network project is still in progress and will complete by December 2024 but is looking good so far. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project management has been very hands on with level of effort descriptions, project plans and status reviews. Layer8 has been very flexible as analysis uncovers new details for each project.

What was your primary form of communication with Layer8 Consulting, Inc.?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The complexity of our network (and subnetworks) is very high.  I am shocked how easy they have made all of these changes. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Layer8 Consulting, Inc. could have done differently?

They have failed to clone their staff so that each team member can be available 24/7.  Otherwise, they are perfect as they are.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CIO of ASCP

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

ASCP (www.ascp.org) is the preeminent global medical society for pathology and laboratory professionals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Layer8 Consulting, Inc. to accomplish?

• Modernize our legacy tech stack / Move on-prem servers to private managed cloud
• Increase network security / improve alerting and control
• Improve network traffic routing / reduce hops

SOLUTION

How did you find Layer8 Consulting, Inc.?

Referral

Why did you select Layer8 Consulting, Inc. over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Layer8 Consulting, Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The details of the project are confidential. Layer8 was an incredible value add to the project, and continue to be supplemental staff to our team

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project is confidential. Success outcomes were visible to stakeholders and senior leaders - and they were acheived on time and under budget

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Excellent project leadership. On time. On budget. Responsive

What was your primary form of communication with Layer8 Consulting, Inc.?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Layer8 Consulting, Inc.'s team is curious, creative, available, technically excellent, and dedicated.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Layer8 Consulting, Inc. could have done differently?

No areas for improvement