New Recruitment (Bicester, Banbury, Abingdon & Swindon)

The Requirement

Our client a recruitment company in Oxfordshire was out growing their current offices in Bicester, and decided they would capitalise on this and open a second office in Banbury to generate more business. 

Their requirement was how to keep both offices in sync with each other, retain email flow and keep costs to a minimum.

The Resolution

Using two standard ADSL routers (to keep the cost within the clients budget) and using the existing broadband connectivity at both sites we setup two distinct networks with the new office using the two routers to create a branch office VPN tunnel

What this meant to the client

The client was able to keep costs within budget by using two off the shelf ADSL network devices, and by utilising their already existing broadband supplier.  This had the additional benefit of allowing our client to share resources, staff can work from both offices and access their files and to allow the best usage of their current product licensing model as the same server was still in operation between both sites

Dazed & Confused Magazine, and Rankin Photography

The Requirement

Our client a magazine publishing company in Central London is a mixed environment of Apple Macintosh and Windows based computers.  The accounts department caters for two companies and is based on Windows PC’s in a workgroup environment.  The management wanted to establish more management and control (via security and auditing) in the environment as they were carrying out a similar piece of work on the Apple Macintosh’s.  Just before commencing our work their workgroup failed and they needed to do year end accounts.

The Resolution

Firstly due to their new predicament, we used one of our spare servers to initiate disaster recover procedures to get their original data back and get the environment operational so the account department could validate the data, and produce their year end accounts.  This was successfully achieved and the accounts were produced without any delay.

Once the year end accounts were signed off, we moved forward with the planned work of implementing a resilient Windows 2003 server domain, providing file and print services to the Windows XP connected computers and laptops.  We also successfully migrated the data, and performed all required testing of the accounting software.  In addition to this we integrated the servers into the current Retrospect Backup product that is hosted on a  Apple Xserve, and enabled file sharing on the Apple Xserve file servers.

What this meant to the client?

In the first instance, the ability to react quickly and effectively to re-establish their accounting function, and enabling the creation of year end accounts, without delay or any issues was evidence that the client had chosen the right IT supplier.

The successful implementation of their resilient Windows 2003 domain now provides them with the peace of mind that a server outage will not render their accounting function inoperable.  In addition to this costs where further reduced by salvaging the original server and replace the failed components.

Stockwell Park High School

The Requirement

Our client a South London Secondary School, needed to migrate their current computer system as the software was coming to the end of it’s supportable life, and their current hardware was in a desperate need of upgrading to meet the demands of educational software, and new reporting that was required.  The school IT department also needed to design and implement an Active Directory environment that was highly configurable for security lock down, but also gave flexibility for teachers and admin staff.

The Resolution

The client wanted us to provide complementary services to assist their IT department, so we agreed that we would work in a consultative capacity, but also be flexible to give hands on assistance where required. 

The project scope did move, and we met the requirements of the client as in a efficient and professional manner.  By the end of the project, we had provided training to the IT department, migrated them to a locked down Windows 2003 server domain with Windows 2000 file servers, and setup their System Management Server 2003 to enable centralised patch management, and packaged application deployment, merged two buildings disparate networks and installed and configured ISA2004.

What this meant to the client

The client is now able to meet the high demands a modern inner London secondary school places on the IT infrastructure.  They also no have a central platform for managing and deploying applications and patches fro their 500+ client PC’s and laptops, and the ability to manage security issues before they occur.