ROHM Electronics (Nashville, TN), a division of ROHM Corporation, is one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers; it also provides integrated circuits, transistors, diodes, sensors, liquid crystal displays, resistors, printheads, and capacitors to major manufacturers of automobiles, computers, communication devices, and other high-tech components around the world. Its parent company, ROHM Corporation, is headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, and has offices and plants in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Although it serves a very technical market, ROHM Electronics has lacked networking capabilities, relying heavily on fax technology for inter-office communication and customer support. Without an email system or access to the Internet, sales representatives around the country and in branch offices lacked a fast, reliable method for maintaining contact with the home office in Nashville and with customers.

Why upgrade?

"We felt it was time to upgrade the existing communications infrastructure within our organization -- we needed to build an integrated computing infrastructure that will support our business systems today and in the future," says Mike Bogie, MIS Manager at ROHM Electronics. "We need to be able to respond and react quickly to changes in business cycles and to customer requests. We wanted to reduce the amount of time people spent on the phone and the time it took to copy material from catalogs and fax it to customers. A lot of time was also spent on generating redundant data and distributing it via diskette."

Bogie and Reza Ghalebi, ROHM Electronics Marketing Services Manager, worked together to convince the company to invest in internal networking improvements, along with a connection to the Internet, electronic mail, and a Web server. "We wanted ROHM Electronics to have a visible presence on the World Wide Web and SMTP mail in order to stay competitive in our market," says Ghalebi. "ROHM has been a pioneer in other ways -- we have a highly automated and efficient warehouse and delivery system, for example -- and we want to continue this tradition. We started converting our 8000 pages of technical documentation to an electronic format over a year ago so that eventually it could be put online."

The MCI-Intergraph Solution

MCI Sales representatives teamed up with Intergraph Network Services personnel to present a comprehensive solution to ROHM. The package included an Internet connection provided by MCI, and hardware, software, and services to be provided by Intergraph. The total package gave ROHM Internet access via a T1 link, a local area network, electronic mail, fax, dial-in capabilities, a web server, and various startup and implementation services. Future plans include upgrading ROHM’s WAN to frame relay, adding a firewall, and connecting their mainframe to the network.

ROHM has been one of MCI Account Executive Kandy Coots’ accounts since 1990; MCI provides ROHM’s long distance phone service. She started discussions with ROHM executives in 1995 about the new technologies that the company might use to become more efficient. "ROHM does a lot of business on the phone, and we realized that a website and a fax-back system would enable them to get more information to people faster and with less expense. MCI didn’t have solutions for these areas, so I knew we needed to find a partner. We came in with Intergraph for several reasons," says Coots. "ROHM had zero network equipment, and I knew Intergraph could provide that. In addition, I felt that the people at ROHM wanted to know how everything would fit together, and I needed a company with the right expertise. Intergraph brought that to our discussions. And finally, I wanted a company that was internationally known. ROHM’s parent company is Japanese, and finding someone who understands the needs of a large international corporation was very important to them."

Coots and Pat Duggan, Intergraph Network Services Senior System Consultant, made the first joint presentation to ROHM. "For Intergraph, it was a great opportunity," says Duggan. "ROHM needed a lot of different things, and MCI provided the foundation in the form of the Internet connection. We were then able to work with ROHM in creating the network they needed. We used a lot of their existing hardware, adding the NT-based web server and firewall machines, tying it all together into an efficient system," explains Duggan.

The original proposal, for a web server and a 56K link to the Internet, was expanded during several meetings and presentations. Once ROHM started thinking about the possibilities, and realized that Intergraph could provide the services needed, the company decided that a web server was just the beginning. "Restructuring the communication infrastructure was a necessity, notes Bogie. "To remain competitive we know we have to make these changes."

Ghalebi agrees 100%. "Using the Internet and networking technology to do business isn’t a luxury -- it’s a necessity. We are really serious about this -- we are changing the way we operate to take advantage of the opportunities the technology offers," he adds.

Ghalebi also says that the MCI-Intergraph partnership was one of the key factors in the selection. "ROHM is a large, multinational corporation, and obviously when you start a project like this, you want to work with companies that have a similar global experience and structure. According to our research, both MCI and Intergraph were very strong technically. MCI’s backbone, and Intergraph’s experience with graphical workstations and the development of Internet technology were important to us. The MCI-Intergraph alliance provided an important level of comfort in making our selection."

Coots also feels the partnership made a big difference. "I thought we really worked well together, sharing expertise and ideas. What MCI couldn’t provide, Intergraph could. In the final presentation, ROHM was very impressed, they seemed to like everything, and we got the deal," she says. "You can’t ask for anything better."