A Energy “A to the power of Energy” 6 Proprietary & Confidential Biography of Owner Sabelle Arnold, Executive Director Sabelle Arnold has over twenty-five years of engineering experience related to advanced powder metallurgy and particulate materials, innovative design and processing, and information technology integration. Arnold holds three master’s degrees, one each in mechanical engineering, engineering science, and business administration in information technology. Arnold is the fourth-generation of ownership of A Energy Company. She has had different responsibilities in the company including production of parts, conducting research and development, and the architecture of the current IT system. Arnold began working for A Energy Company while in high school. She returned to work with the production and research teams during her summers while seeking her degrees. Arnold purchased the company from her father four years ago. A Energy Company has experienced a 17.5% increase in sales since Arnold took the helm. She is currently exploring the prospect of expanding the company from its current western and central United States locations into eastern and southern United States markets. Arnold serves on the APMI (a nonprofit professional society for the advancement of powder metallurgy) International Conference Planning Board and has published several articles in the International Journal of Powder Metallurgy and the Journal of Information Technology. A Energy Company supplies component parts to over 150 energy efficiency and energy generation firms in the western and central United States. A Energy “A to the power of Energy” 7 Proprietary & Confidential Feasibility Study Executive Summary A Energy Company has plans to expand its services to the eastern and southern United States. Increased coverage requires increased expense related to technology upgrades and possible expansion and new staff members at the new locations. The market analysis has identified a number of potential clients in these new regions. Development of relationships with these clients is necessary for the success of the expansion. Much of this relationship development is dependent upon the functionality of the company's IT infrastructure to maintain the same feeling on collocation that the company has between its Fresno, California, and Chicago, Illinois, sites. Description of Products and Services A Energy Company is considering expansion of its services to eastern and southern United States locations to supply component parts to the energy efficiency and energy generation companies in these new regions. Currently, A Energy supplies component parts to more than 150 firms in the western and central regions of the United States. A Energy Company has grown 17.5% in sales since four years ago, which was the beginning of the tenure of the current owner. Each year, the sales staff continues to have record years. Much of this success is a team effort. The information from the sales calls is shared with the research and development team to design new and innovative parts to increase the competitiveness of the clients. Excellent service from suppliers for the appropriate tools and dies to make the parts is related to the technology integration. The quality of the technology employed is as effective as being collocated. Technology Considerations To facilitate the expansion, the level of technology with the new locations must continue the experience of collocation via the network. The limited number of staff, 30 members, has production resulting in over $45 million in sales this past year. The high level of productivity is due to the ability to work as a team in both physical locations while having a home office in only one location. Expectations of the technology system will be to have security monitoring for each location capable of being viewed at each of the other locations, the server capacity would have to double, and the number of communications would change in