Founded in 1865, the Children's Study Home is a community-based organization dedicated to caring for and improving the lives of at-risk children, youth, and families through education, residential, and family services. The Children's Study Home operates an elementary school, a middle school, a high school, 2 residences, and offers clinical and counseling services for students and their families.

The Children's Study Home needed a comprehensive infrastructure solution for its seven sites located in the Springfield area. "With the Internet such a critical tool for the agencies that we work with, said Steve McCafferty, Director of the Children's Study Home, it had become very clear to us that our outdated technology was affecting our ability to respond as we needed to. At the same time, we wanted to provide better technology for our students," he added.

We these objectives in mind, the Children's Study Home sought a cost effective and scalable solution that would also lay a technology foundation for the future, offering platform on which to implement other necessary improvements. Each of the Children's Study Home's facilities had different levels of automation, equipment, and Internet access. The first step in the project was a full site audit.

With little existing infrastructure, Applied Software Technologies provided a solution that included a combination of wireless and wired network infrastructure. Cisco's Systems' Aironet® Series of Bridges and Access Points were installed to provide wireless connectivity between buildings, to the desktop, and to public/gathering areas throughout the enterprise. Systems network installation included Microsoft® Server 2003, Windows XP and Exchange. A number of solutions were also implemented for remote access - most importantly Outlook Web Access, which provides e-mail access from anywhere Internet connection. A Virtual Private Network and Firewall (Fortinet/Fortigate) was implemented to provide security for communication via the Internet. Workstations were either upgraded or replaced altogether.