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Building the Bandwidth for the Year 2000 Business at Applied Materials is booming and so is traffic on the network. In Austin, an average of 32 regular full time employees have been hired every week since the first of June. Over 300 temporaries will come on board before the end of the year (and that doesn't count contractors). Austin's local network links over 1,700 computers at different sites. These computers are made by different companies. They use different operating systems and different software, yet they all demand network attention to complete the complex tasks which keep Applied Materials running. Applied Strategic Knowledge Solutions (ASKS) is looking ahead. To build the bandwidth needed to keep pace with technology and continuing company growth, a combination of new equipment, new software, and simplified communication between computers is needed. "Network 2000"(N2K) is the program begun in Austin to turbocharge the network-making it fast, flexible, and robust enough for the future. When "Network 2000" is completed, the network will be managed by fewer people for less money per computer and perform at peak efficiency while scaling to meet the growing user community and complex, interactive applications of the future. Network 2000 is more than an upgrade and reorganization of existing resources into a leaner, more efficient model. It is more than a way to automate expensive administrative tasks. Network 2000 also anticipates the future requirements of a dynamic company on the rise. Austin has begun blazing the trail for Network 2000 by standardizing the software on individual computers. In mid-October, Austin Information Systems and Technologies (IS&T) began upgrading every desktop and laptop computer. Many technicians and specialists were enlisted to help with installations and upgrades. The conception and planning of the Network 2000 program by the core team made it a success. The core team members are:
Installation and upgrades for most employees took about 20 minutes. On completion, the user had the latest version of McAfee Virus Shield, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Office 95, a Microsoft NT network login account, and registration with an administrative tool called SMS. The McAfee Virus Shield will stop computer viruses from entering the system and network administrators will now be responsible for keeping the anti-virus current on every computer. They can do this automatically by using the Software Management System (SMS) to distribute the latest fixes. Ultimately, SMS will allow for one-stop resolution. Employees calling the Help Desk with a problem, will be transferred to an expert, have the problem diagnosed, and fixed on the spot. An NT account allows employees to log into the Applied Materials network with one ID from anywhere in the world. These three upgrades alone will save Applied Materials $10.4 million dollars annually. Austin IS & T provided conference rooms with laptops and printers during the transition. Employees were given advance notice and could delay the upgrade until later in the day if necessary. There are classes, quick start literature, and plenty of support to keep Austin users productive. Initial feedback from the user community in Austin has been very positive. Of 11,000 calls to the Help Desk in October, only 20 were related to the Network 2000 installation. ASKS expects to deploy the Network 2000 program throughout Applied Materials employees in the coming year.
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