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Business Systems

Providing IT Systems installation across London

Systems consist of many elements including network cabling (CAT5/CAT6), servers, client computers, printers, network security and many other important components.  We can provide them all ensuring that everything is provided for a perfectly integrated system.

Implement a good foundation to your network with solid structured network cabling

Computers systems should be built from the ground up.  With good foundations the system above will be more stable.  In the case of computer systems your foundation is the network cabling.  In many office environments, that we see for the first time, cables are often laying across the floor or are run around the perimeter of the room.  Not only is this unsightly and a potential health and safety issue but if cables can be stood upon, rolled over by chairs or tripped over, then cables can become damaged or disconnected creating short and long term issues that can often be intermittent and difficult to diagnose.  We therefore recommend structured cabling.  This involves dedicating a small area of your office to centralize the switching, routing and termination of all of the cables in your office.  A standard sized cabinet is installed (600mm overall width, height can vary depending on the equipment that needs to be housed), then cables are run through cable management (cable trays, dado trunking, conventional trunking) to RJ45 sockets, where computers, printers etc. can be connected using short patch leads.

With a good foundation in place you can start to consider the reliability and performance of your computers.  Performance issues can often be caused by one weak point in your network and so it is important that you consider removing any bottlenecks in your system.  These can be in the form of inadequate switching, server hardware (or mis-configuration), client computer hardware, routing, Internet connections and many other factors.

A correctly configured server can be vital in providing a reliable IT infrastructure

The idea behind a server is to centralize your data allowing it to be available from any location that you logon.  Centralising user account logon information should be the place to start.  With centralised logon information user accounts are setup once at the server and then client computers are connected to the server.  Then whenever a user logs on to a computer their details are checked against a central database.  This makes it much more simple to add and remove users as people enter and leave your organization but also provides many other benefits.  Since the user account is centralised the users are not restricted to logging on to a single computer.  This can be useful if a computer should fail or if your job requires that you logon in different rooms (for example in schools teachers will roam between classrooms).  By using roaming profiles and folder redirection a user can log on at any computer and their personal settings, documents, desktop icons, Internet Explorer favourites will all roam with them.  Then editing documents (removing or adding files included) will happen on the server meaning that immediately these documents are available at other computers in the office. With standard email accounts (POP3 generally) your email would not roam with you but with the implementation of Microsoft Exchange your email, calendar and contacts (Outlook information) can be centralized and roam with you too.  Even to the point that your mobile phone or home computer can be looking at the same information.  This means that if you send an email from anywhere it will be documented or add an appointment you will not need to add it multiple times (an appointment added to your phone would be added to webmail, your computer at home and all of the computers in the office).  There are many other ways to centralize your information in a server environment and you should speak with us to consult on the specific requirements that you may have including multi site implementations and third party application integration.

There will of course be some information (in fact most information) that will not be personal to you and should be shared with colleagues.  A server is extremely useful here too.  It can be as simple as a shared folder (permissions can be applied so that only specific users can see specific information) or more advanced with the implementation of Microsoft SharePoint.

Fault tolerance and IT security is critical

Of course with all of this information being stored in one location you will want to be sure that it stays available.  This can involve various approaches.  IT security is of great importance.  Implementing Antivirus software is critical but with many computers this can be a nuisance to maintain.  In a networked environment Antivirus can be deployed and managed centrally.  In this scenario an Antivirus management console is installed on the server.  The policy of your Antivirus is configured and then Antivirus packages are created for deployment to your client computers.  Then whenever a new computer is installed the Antivirus is pushed to that computer ensuring that is receives the correct configuration and receives all future updates.  Perimeter security is also vital.  This can be in the form of firewalls or can simply ensuring that users are using strong passwords.  We can assist in developing with you a policy that works for your organization.

There are other risks that need to be considered when protecting your information.  Fortunately if you are in a server environment this is more simple as you can put all of the resource for protecting your data in to one place.  You will want to consider fault tolerance (the process of implementing more than one piece of equipment to do the same job)  As an example, in a conventional computer your data is stored on a single hard drive.  If this drive should fail and you do not have a backup then the data is lost.  In a fault tolerant implementation you would have more than one hard drive and as data is written, it is written to more than one drive.  Therefore if a hard drive should fail another instantly carries on with the job of returning the exact same data to your users, without users even being aware.  Of course there may be an alert (in the form of a beep) that may make them aware that a hard drive needs to be replaced to recreate the fault tolerance but everyone can carry on with their work.  This is just one example of fault tolerance.  You can create fault tolerance in memory chips, fans, power supplies, Internet connection and even entire servers or geographical locations.
 

Short power cuts or power spikes can cause major issues for IT equipment

Power protection is also a consideration.  In the event of a power surge or power cut your equipment can be temporarily or even permanently affected.  Some power spikes can actually destroy parts or entire computers.  Power cuts can often be brief but even the briefest cut would switch off servers and computers.  If this happens at the wrong time hard drives can fail or data corruption can occur.  The solution to power spikes or brief power cuts is UPS (Uninterruptable power supply).  If you think that you may be susceptible to longer power cuts and continued operation is critical then you may want to consider backup generators.

Backup is an essential part of any system and now it can be transferred offsite securely and automatically

There may of course be situations, such as theft of equipment, fire or water damage, that may mean that fault tolerance alone is not enough.  In these situations recovery from backup may be the only solution.  In the event of a fire a backup on site would also be destroyed so you would want to consider a backup kept offsite.  This can be external hard drives or tapes that are replaced daily (therefore a tape or drive for at least each day of the week is essential).  It can also be backups that are transferred immediately, over the Internet, to an offsite data centre.  To be safe it would be a combination of both.  Backups can of course also help in the event of a user accidently (or deliberately) deleting data.  We highly recommend Acronis Backup  and Recovery products.  There are a whole family of product to suit various server types and onsite and offsite backup. Other solutions can be more efficient in restoring small quantities of data in these situations.  A solution called volume shadow copy allows a user to recover their own data to a specific point in time if it is stored on a network location.
 

Business Systems Services

Network cabling installation
Server installation and configuration
Telephone system installation
Router installation
Client computer installation
Computer repair

APNET Ltd. Compass House, 36 East Street, Bromley, Kent BR1 1QU (Please make an appointment before visiting)
 t: 020 8315 5820 | e: info@apnet.co.uk

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