Consulting

We offer the following consulting services incorporating these technologies.

Services

Network Support Contracts

Network support contracts relate to the on-going support and management of a company's network. This will ensure; remote administration, telephone and on-site support does not exceed an agreed price per month, thereby crystallizing the continuity of specialist full time employees without the time outlay. A report formulating the condition and modifications made to the network will be conducted at regular intervals.

Helpdesk

We provide structured 24 hour helpdesk services that include the use of Virtual Private Networking assistance.

Call-out

Call-out services allow us to visit your organisation as required, 24 hours a day.

Technologies

Our consulting services operate principally within the following technological areas.

Software Development

Software development technologies are discussed in the Software Development section.

Web Design

For web design related technologies, see the Web Design section.

Operating Systems

Design, implementation, maintenance, hardening, upgrade and backup of the following operating systems in simple standalone environments to multiple server and desktop WAN roleouts.

Server

Windows NT4 Server
Windows 2000 Server
Windows 2003 Server
Windows 2003 Server R2
Windows 2008 Server

Desktop

Windows 95/98/ME
Windows NT4 Workstation
Windows 2000 Professional
Windows XP
Windows Vista

Within the server related technologies we consider Active Directory, Group Policy and NT Backup to be important components.

Network Devices

Support, design and implementation of the following network devices.

Routers, specialising in Cisco and the TCP/IP protocol stack
Modems, including ADSL
Switches; standalone and managed
Printers and print servers

Computer Hardware

We provide recommendations in most server, desktop and laptop related hardware for capacity, performance, redundancy and backup scenarios. Compaq and HP server technologies are our specialisations.

Security, Hardening and Firewalls

Securing Operating Systems beyond their default configuration is known as hardening. This can employ; IPSEC, restricting user account access and group membership within Active Directory, disabling or removing unused Windows services, Group Policy, NTFS and the Windows Registry. Ensuring the latest security and service pack updates are installed and verified using specialised network administration software is also important.

Human resource management as opposed to the purely technical aspects of software is relevant because users should not be assigned more permission then their role qualifies, particular when job role changes take place. Monitoring and reporting through the use of Windows Auditing can provide history of user activity.

We also offer the configuration of dedicated firewall software using ISA 2000, 2003 and 2006. When these products act as internet gateways, bandwidth and caching requirements should be considered.

Databases

Design, implementation and backup of Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008. This includes hardening to ensure SQL is running with the minimum set of permissions so intrusions, such as injection attacks, cannot further penetrate the local or networked machines.

Performance tuning that takes into consideration table and Transact-SQL query design as well as the placement of database and transaction logs in relation to hardware performance and capacity optimisation. Development in SQL is further discussed in the Databases section of Software Development.

Backup and restore in relation to disaster recovery testing using internal SQL backup and restore mechanisms. We have found the most likely cause of data loss in SQL is simply forgetting to configure a backup schedule for newly created databases. With expertise, a "blanket" backup schedule can be created.

Email

We have installed, configured and implemented backup of Exchange 5.5, 2000, 2003 and 2007 servers. This has ranged from single server configuration in an SBS environment to the deployment of dedicated Exchange servers accessible over WAN, while taking into consideration Public Folder replication and mail scheduling for unreliable links.

Miscellaneous

Technologies listed within this page are not exhaustive, please Contact us for further information.