
- Global storm it corporation kirby marshall install#
- Global storm it corporation kirby marshall upgrade#
"However, I'm happy with the bid we put in. "Am I a little sad we left a bunch of money on the table, absolutely," Marshall said. Global Storm's bid left more than $700,000 on the table compared to the second highest of the three bidders, and was almost $1 million under Northwestel's bid. Marshall said Global Storm won the bid by doing what he does best targeting what he wants for his business and then going after it. In its basics, this is what Global Storm will be doingįor the GNWT, expect on much larger scale. The savings can add up quickly, not only in terms of eliminated long-distance charges, but in terms of eliminated land lines and their associated monthly fees. "We can have a call from any Tlicho (government) phone to any phone in the five communities. Those calls would have remained long distance had Global Storm not tweaked the system so callers from any Tlicho building could dial into the local system of any other Tlicho building, then dial out from that local number. "We found there were a lot of calls going from Behchoko, for example, to Yellowknife suppliers, partners and other companies." "We looked at years of (Tlicho Government) phone bills to determine where their costs were," Marshall said. Tweaking the network to replace another set of long distance charges. Most long-distance charges between Tlicho Government offices all but eliminated, but Marshall went further, "We ended up massively reducing their long-distance (charges) within their organization," Marshall said. Previously, every call between, for example, a Tlicho Government office in Behchoko and Yellowknife produced a long distance charge. They're all connected by the data network, so within the Tlicho network, there's no long distance (charges.)" "What we ended up with was a homogeneous phone system across five communities, including Yellowknife. "They had a real mishmash of phone systems," Marshall said.
Global storm it corporation kirby marshall install#
Global Storm was contracted to install the digital telephone system throughout all the Tlicho Government buildings and offices in Yellowknife, Gameti, Whati, Behchoko and Wekweeti.

One of Marshall's biggest installs of such a system was for the Tlicho Government. Switching a phone network from analogue to digital data transmission can bring with it a number of advantages, not the least of which are savings in both long-distance charges, and savings through cutting the number of land lines needed. On the most basic level, the new network is carried by data networks rather than over analogue land lines. I did it (the bid) from Edmonton on this," he said, holding up his Blackberry. "We put our proposal together in four long days. "Most organizations had several months to work on it (the bid)," Marshall said. Avaya asked if Marshall would be interested in teaming up with Connex on the bid. Just five days before the tender was to close, Marshall got a call from Avaya, the Internet telephone provider he has been working with for several years for smaller scale installs. Marshall had decided not to bid on the contract when an early search for suitable partners came up dry. "They're creating the programs and the plans, but as for boots on the ground, that's us."

"If you look at the bulk of the labour hours, it's going to be us," Marshall said. "Partnered with them, we met all the requirements of the tender," Marshall said.Ĭonnex will handle the design and engineering of the system and Global Storm will handle the installs and ongoing service. Global Storm teamed up with Connex Telecommunications, a Canadian designer and supplier of these networks on an enterprise level. "Anybody in the North bidding on it would need a partner." "The GNWT's RFP had requirements we could not meet on our own," Marshall said.įor example, Marshall said the GNWT wanted a company with at least two 5,000-person network installs. Marshall will be the first one to tell you that the scale of the install is beyond Global Storm's resources without a large partner. onerous in terms of the skill set, knowledge and experience they wanted the (winning) proponent to have," Marshall said. "The RFP (request for proposal) was very. Kirby Marshall, Global Storm IT founder, president and CEO, said the company's winning bid was an 11th-hour proposal that he almost didn't put together. The new network, which will roll out over the next three years, will connect approximately 3,300 GNWT workers. The almost $2.6 million contract is to install a new voice over internet protocol (VOIP) system and related hardware connecting GNWT offices in Yellowknife, Hay River, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, Norman Wells and Inuvik.

Global storm it corporation kirby marshall upgrade#
Marshall landed a $2.6 million contract to upgrade phone systems for the GNWT, beating out Northwestel in the process. Global Storm IT Corporation founder, president and CEO Kirby Marshall at his desk in Yellowknife on Jan.
