Company Overview
Iowa State Bank & Trust Company (ISB&T), the 20th largest bank in Iowa, offers a wide range of banking services to both consumer and business customers. Founded in 1934, ISB&T is a long standing Community Bank with deep family roots. Their mission is the same today as it was in 1934, “Take care of our customers and those who should be”. They are committed to helping their customers by providing a full range of financial services including; Investment and Trust Services, Home Loans, Commercial Loans and Business Services in addition to their competitive Personal Accounts and Loans.

Business Challenge
Due to the nature of their business, there is zero tolerance for any points of failure in their communications network. Each branch must be able to communicate with one another at all times. In the event of a threat to one location, temporary facilities must be established immediately in order to keep communications up and running.

In the spring of 2008, the bank’s affiliate location in Parkersburg, Iowa was devastated by a tornado and in early summer of that year their Coralville, Iowa location was closed due to flooding. The flood caused several Iowa cities to be shut down for several days. Two of Iowa State Bank & Trust’s branches had to be relocated to temporary facilities.

Solution
ISB&T began working with LightEdge early in 2007 to unify communications between bank branch locations and to maximize efficiency in the management of the communications network. Using LightEdge’s converged WAN IP services to connect their branch locations allowed the bank to establish a resilient wide-area-network and share high-speed Internet access with minimal management and upkeep.

In order to manage 100% uptime for communications between branches, LightEdge had to move communication circuits from the two affected branch locations to temporary facilities as quickly as possible. By transferring the circuits, ISB&T was able to maintain their main telephone numbering plan and avoid disruption of services between branches.

“We were on a very short time table to get these two temporary facilities open, and LightEdge was able to get our circuits moved and operational before we actually opened,” said Allen Schneider, IT Managing Officer, 2VP for ISB&T. “Having these services available is critical if we want to provide our customers with the best possible service. Our LightEdge sales and support team stepped up to make sure we were taken care of.”

Advantages of WAN-IP converged model:

• Communicate as if everyone was in the same branch
• Reduction in costs (eliminating telephone lines, eliminated long distance
  between branches)
• Single centralized network infrastructure
• Simplified network management and optimization
• Outsourced communications services management
• Standardization of services in the various branches

Business Results
The LightEdge Wan-IP service and converged access solutions helped ISB&T meet these challenges by quickly moving their converged network links to temporary facilities. This solution supported 100% uptime for voice communications between branch locations.

“LightEdge was able to have our communications ready when we were ready to open our doors,” says Schneider. “Considering the short lead time and the extent of the damage in the Parkersburg and Coralville communities, I was very happy with the results.”

Moving Forward
“The primary reason we continue to work with LightEdge is because of the flexibility from a communications standpoint.” Schneider continues, “Before, we had point-to-point circuits that terminated at the data center. LightEdge’s converged access solution has given us more flexibility and we are better positioned to deal with events like we’ve seen in the past month.”

“We continue to work with LightEdge because the company goes beyond what a traditional communications provider offers,” said Schneider. “They also keep me informed about new services and features, so I don’t have to research the information on my own. They strive to continuously improve our communications network.”