CPA Firm Moves Its Servers to a Virtual Environment

From its inception in 1961, Kirsch Kohn & Bridge has grown to become one of the most prominent local CPA firms in Los Angeles consistently ranked as a top 50  accounting firm in Los Angeles County by the Los Angeles Business Journal.   The firm’s goal has always been to provide high quality financial services to their clients in an environment that encourages long-term working relationships.   Kirsch Kohn & Bridge provides outstanding service to their clients because of their dedication to the three underlying principles: professionalism, responsiveness, and quality.

Kirsch Kohn & Bridge prides itself on being responsive.  Companies who select them rely on competent advice and fast, accurate personnel.  Kirsch Kohn & Bridge knows that if their computers are slow or unavailable, they wouldn’t be able to provide the high quality of service that their clients have come to expect. Although their network was stable and secure and meeting their needs, Kirsch Kohn & Bridge management wanted to preempt any potential issues before tax season began.  Their servers were nearly four years old and the extended warranty period for them was about to expire.

Challenges The firm recognized the importance of having a highly reliable network and the need to be protected against the possibility of downtime or data loss.  They wanted to spend wisely - with an eye on cost effectiveness without hindering future growth.  Because of their ongoing successful relationship with [VC3]and our expertise in network design, implementation, and support, they looked to [VC3] for guidance and direction.  

The Solution

As Kirsch Kohn & Bridge’s trusted technology advisor for the past 20 years, [VC3] presented the option of moving the firm to a virtual server environment.  While the move to this new approach meant a slight increase in initial capital outlay, it offered significant cost savings in the long term and improved up-time and reduced risk.  Four physical servers were replaced with two physical servers utilizing VMware ESXi, on which [VC3] built nine virtual servers. Rather than having to grow from four physical machines to nine, they actually reduced their foot print by two (servers).  This freed up physical space at the firm and reduced their electrical and maintenance costs.  In addition, the new infrastructure includes two switches with redundant paths to both (physical) servers which improves performance and increases redundancy of the network paths thus reducing their exposure to risk.