Business needAs its business grew exponentially, Schewels struggled with high maintenance costs and ineffective security using outdated solutions from multiple vendors. The company needed a consolidated platform that ensured reliability and scalability while minimizing impact on limited IT administration resources.

SolutionIn order to meet increased demand for network security and productivity, Schewels has upgraded its security infrastructure enterprise-wide with SonicWall™ Next-Generation Firewalls, Email Security, Backup and Recovery, as well as Management and Reporting solutions, complementing its PowerEdge server platform and Dell Wyse clients.

Benefits• Facilitated 300 percent growth while

retaining IT staff levels• Enabled company-wide wireless networking• Realized ROI on Dell Wyse clients within

18 months

Solutions at a glance• Email Security• Network Security• Server

Furniture retailer redesigns retail network for business growth with SonicWallSchewels spurs innovation and productivity by upgrading its network security platform while minimizing costs, using SonicWall solutions enterprise-wide

“I am extremely satisfied with SonicWall, especially from a service and support level perspective.”Jon DeCarmo Manager of Information Systems Schewels

Customer profile

Company Schewels Industry Retail & WholesaleCountry United StatesEmployees 800Website www.schewels.com

2

“Our technology footprint has grown well over 300% in the last 11 years but our IT staff headcount has remained the same. SonicWall and Dell Wyse have been a significant factor contributing to that success.”

Jon DeCarmo Manager of Information Systems Schewels

Network security and productivity are primary concerns for the company.

“Protecting company and customer data comes first,” says Jon DeCarmo, manager of information systems at Schewels. “But a close second to that is preventing the employees from breaching company usage policies and protecting them from computer viruses and malware, while at the same time boosting their productivity. Our biggest threat is typically our end-users, and it is not normally due to malicious intent. It’s because they are unaware of the impending threats. Many of the problems we have to resolve are specifically because of user actions, such as losing a notebook, taking it home, logging into personal on-line accounts, personal e-mail accounts, etc.”

The company operates a distributed network connecting over 50 locations. IT productivity depends on centralized unified management of technology.

“We support over 800 users on a network maintained by three in-house staff and one contractor,” says DeCarmo. “Some of our servers are currently PowerEdge servers; however, we are currently gearing up to upgrade the balance of them to PowerEdge M-blade servers.”

Previously, the company had been testing and considering a Cisco® firewall solution.

“We had to hire certified technicians to configure and maintain our Cisco firewalls,” says DeCarmo. “Of course, that greatly increased our costs.”

The company’s rapid growth had also overwhelmed other components of its security infrastructure.

“At one point, we were talking about hiring another staff member because our Barracuda email security appliance was overwhelmed, generating false positives and unable to stop the viruses from coming through,” says DeCarmo.

Over time, the company decided to upgrade and consolidate their technology infrastructure on a secure, reliable platform that could scale with their growth and boost productivity, while keeping costs under control.

“We needed the most reliable hardware, the most advanced services, and the most user-friendly interfaces. We found all of that in SonicWall,” says DeCarmo.

“It’s much more

Schewel Furniture Co., Inc. (Schewels) is a Virginia-based retailer with over a century of continuous operation under the same family management. Over the past decade, the company has rapidly grown its distributed network and spurred innovation and productivity, all while minimizing staffing and administrative overhead, in part by deploying SonicWall and Dell Wyse solutions.

Products & ServicesHardwareDell Wyse clients

Dell PowerEdge Servers

SoftwareSonicWall E-Class and NSA Series

SonicWall TZ Series

SonicWall Email Security Series

SonicWall CDP Series

SonicWall UMA Series

3

user-friendly, easier to manage and control, and easier to implement than any other vendor we have tested or used prior. They have simply been the best fit for our needs. SonicWall is, in my opinion, the best dollar-for-dollar value versus its closest competitor.”

Schewels has deployed paired SonicWall E-Class NSA E5500 Next-Generation Firewalls at its corporate gateway. Network Innovation and Associates (NIA), Schewels’ trusted partner, designed and managed the entire network infrastructure.

“The E5500 has been rock solid. It is a great product,” says Ryan McMurry, network administrator/partner at Network Innovation and Associates.

“I unequivocally recommend it.”

“It has really been worry-free. SonicWall gave us the same level of quality, security and uptime as Cisco, but the user interface is so much friendlier,” says DeCarmo. “For us it was a no-brainer.”

The company applies a range of integrated SonicWall network security features, including Gateway Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, Intrusion Prevention, Content Filtering, and Application Intelligence and Control, as well as Enforced Client Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware.

“We are not only protected from threats at the gateway, but our endpoints are secure as well,” says DeCarmo. “Beyond that, the content filtering also keeps users from getting to restricted sites on the Internet.”

“We use the application control capability to block Facebook,” says McMurry, “and the VPN feature lets us centrally manage site-to-site remote access to resources from our distributed locations.”

Moreover, the company has implemented SonicWall Email Security and Continuous Data Protection (CDP) 5040B Backup and Recovery solutions. The company’s entire

SonicWall security platform is centrally managed using a SonicWall E-Class Universal Management Appliance (UMA) EM5000 appliance. The SonicWall E-Class UMAEM5000 centralizes policy management, monitoring and reporting for multiple SonicWall appliances.

“One of the biggest benefits is visibility,” says DeCarmo. “The granular reporting helps us increase user productivity, implement policies and see exactly what is going on. We can implement our Internet usage policy’s parameters through tools such as content filtering and client AV enforcement. These custom reporting capabilities allow us to see usage trends that may be of specific concern to us regarding our data security, bandwidth costs and/or decreases in user productivity. The availability of this data keeps us ahead of negative trends.”

“We have a strict environment, but we also monitor daily usages and use detailed reporting on individual sites proactively,” says McMurry. “I can view, configure and push changes to all of our remote appliances without having to log into them individually. It will sync, and let me know when the devices sync. That is a very useful feature. It gives us all the necessary tools, as well as a very good bang for our buck.”

The solution has enabled Schewels to grow while keeping the same number of IT staff.

“Our technology footprint has grown well over 300% in the last 11 years but our IT staff headcount has remained the same. This was accomplished while incurring a cost of ownership increase of just about 65%,” says DeCarmo.

“Based on a zero-budget philosophy, we simply needed the best equipment and services to compensate for the fact that our IT department operates with such a small staff. From an operations standpoint, SonicWall has got to be the best solution out there. From a manageability standpoint, it has given us peace of mind. Their products allow us

“We realized a return on our investment in 18 months. Dell Wyse clients have worked exactly as promised and continue to be trouble free.”

Jon DeCarmo Manager of Information Systems Schewels

View more case studies at www.sonicwall.com/casestudies

4

to remain scalable, and do not get in the way of our growth.”

The company has also deployed Dell Wyse clients.

“We realized a return on our investment in 18 months,” says DeCarmo. “Dell Wyse clients have worked exactly as promised and continue to be trouble free.”

“By deploying an enterprise-wide SonicWall solution, we have afforded ourselves the security needed to protect our customers and employees, the flexibility to grow our infrastructure as needed, and it has afforded our staff greater efficiency and less travel,” says DeCarmo. “SonicWall is progressive in their design and vision, and has done an incredible job in forging relationships with and acquiring top end companies.”

DeCarmo continued: “I am extremely satisfied with SonicWall, especially from a service and support level perspective. We are now evaluating SuperMassive for future deployment.”

Case Study-Schewel-AMER-Metia-D1-pdf

This case study is for informational purposes only. SonicWall Inc. and/or its affiliates make no warranties, express or implied, in this case study. SonicWall and [add any other trademarks in this document here], are trademarks and registered trademarks of SonicWall Inc. and/or its affiliates. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners. © 2016 SonicWall Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reference number: 10012004