Scenarios
The following six scenarios show typical examples of customers who want to upgrade their IT to offer better features or to resolve specific issues.
Scenario Overview
1 - Remote email and shared contacts.
2 - Expensive PC desktop upgrade.
3 - Centralised file data.
4 - Antivirus protection.
5 - Quick PC rebuilds.
6 - A complete solution.
Scenario 1 - Remote email and shared contacts
Requirements
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Cheaper remote email access for sales staff and directors so they can send and receive mail whilst out of the office.
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Shared contact and calendar information to be accessed by users with predetermined access privileges such as read only or edit.
Current System
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Email provided by a third party for which you must pay monthly bills.
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No shared calendar information and contacts are kept in a shared Excel spreadsheet that corrupts frequently and can only be updated by a couple of people at a time.
Possible solution
One solution that would reduce your monthly IT bills would be to host your own email service. This would mean that all emails to your business would arrive at the mail server on your premises. Microsoft Exchange 2003 is suitable for any sized business. Exchange allows you to create shared calendars and contacts repositories, which can be secured on a per-user basis. To facilitate the migration process we would help you migrate your current contact and calendar information into the new system. Additionally, Exchange allows remote access to your corporate email over the internet for your sales staff or anyone needing to work away from the office.
Scenario 2 - Expensive PC desktop upgrade
Requirements
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Increase desktop PC performance as the hardware is old and out of date. You have 20 PCs.
Current system
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Numerous old PC’s networked together from a variety of PC suppliers, each with a different specification.
Possible solution
Rather than the large capital outlay required to buy 20 new desktop PCs it is possible to keep the same hardware (providing you can still turn it on!) and use virtual PCs. Depending on their planned use, you could host your 20 virtual PCs on one medium sized server. Your users would connect to the virtual PC server from their old PCs. The difference being that all the processing is now done by the much faster server rather than the old PC and from the users perspective it looks and feels like they are using a conventional PC. You can add extra processing power and memory to the server and increase the performance of all of your PCs at once. This means that you can keep your current hardware much longer than planned.
Scenario 3 - Centralised file data
Requirements
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Provide centralised access for all users to corporate files.
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Secure access to sensitive files on a per-user basis.
Current system
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Users access data on each other’s PCs by mapping numerous drives to each different computer and the files are accessible to everyone.
Possible solution
We can install a centralised file server with user security groups such as that provided by Windows 2003. You can define who has access to your company data and delegate control over this access to each area within your business rather than having to ask for IT support to do it. Windows 2003 offers the ability to present hundreds of shared file areas on multiple machines as one drive letter so users can access the same data via the same path whichever PC they are using thus saving hours of drive mapping and re-mapping.
Scenario 4 - Antivirus protection
Requirements
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Protect all servers and PCs from virus attack and be able to see at a glance which PCs and servers are up to date.
Current system
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You have multiple versions of different antivirus products installed across the company and some PCs and servers with no protection at all.
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You have no idea if everything is up to date without going round each member of staff.
Possible solution
We can install antivirus solutions with a centralised point of administration that will let you see at a glance which PC’s are up to date and what, if any, viruses have been detected. This can be configured to update the protection files on an hourly basis to reduce any impact on your business.
Scenario 5 - Quick PC rebuilds
Requirements
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Reinstall operating system and applications on your company PCs quickly and with limited intervention.
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Create uniform PC software environment to make support easier
Current system
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Manual reinstallation of operating system and applications takes up a lot of time and input from staff.
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All PCs are built to different standards as they are rebuilt so infrequently.
Possible solution
We can create an automated installation CD together with simple instructions which will rebuild the PC for you with no intervention required. Additional application installations can also be incorporated depending on your requirements. You can then carry on doing something more productive while the computer is rebuilding itself. Rebuilds can then be scheduled on a more frequent basis to get each PC up to the same standard.
Scenario 6 - A complete solution
Requirements
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A cost effective IT set up for a new small business, which is easy to support.
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Fast network, email hosting, secured file data, printing, systems monitoring, capacity management, internal corporate website, remote data access, full backups and antivirus software.
Current system
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Nothing or a small home PC/Printer and network set up.
Possible Solution
In terms of value for money, Microsoft’s Small Business Server is ideal for companies with up to 75 users. It meets all the above requirements and, coupled with a firewall, network router and antivirus package, will offer you the same facilities as those available to large enterprises but without the need for an enterprise sized budget. Depending on more detailed requirements the installation and configuration is quick and should require limited maintenance. Remote data access allows quicker response to support issues and flexibility for travelling staff.