Like most companies in the construction industry, Hayward Lumber has been sharply affected by the economic downturn, especially the fall-off in new building activity. Hayward made the strategic decision to trim operations and expenses to the point where the company could weather a slowdown, yet remain ready to scale back up as the economy improves. In examining its IT operations, Hayward recognized it could no longer justify maintaining neither its older private-line based data network, nor the IT staff required to run it. Read more about their strategy to ride out the economic downturn with a move to an MPLS-based IP network, complete with a network-based firewall.