Agri Trade

New Network Installation for office relocation and new IT support and Training contract

Introduction:

Reliance Trade (www.reliancetrade.com) are a high profile commodities and investment group whose main business operations include the government of Nigeria and other West African countries. Reliance trade were unhappy with their previous service provider in helping them to complete a new installation as they were relocating offices. They approached thinksolution after being recommended by an existing thinksolution client.

think Benefits

• Reduction of Downtime
• Speedier resolution to problems
• Added accountability
• More secure and robust network, capable of further expansion
• Network is up to date and capable of running modern applications
• Centralised data
• Faster access to information
• Shared resources
• Back up arranged
• Access to a wealth of knowledge regarding networks and other areas in IT that are exploitable for competitive advantage.
• Increased IT skills for all internal staff.

Problems

• Migration of IT maintenance away from current provider
• Installation of new network with new computers and server
• Lack of adequate maintenance without monthly on-site visits
• Migration from NT4 to Windows Small Business Server 2003
• Staff regularly fly around the globe for business meetings and require emails at all times wherever they are
• Do not have sufficient in-house IT expertise required to gain technical advantage

think Solution

• All cabling patches were correctly installed onto the patch panel.
• All computers were set-up with the correct suitable operating systems.
• Computers were joined onto the network with appropriate user permissions. All relevant programs were also installed along with Email accounts.
• The server was configured to process all emails coming in and out of the network via their new domain name.
• The Blackberry Server was installed and configured so that it would communicate with their new mail server and send all emails direct to the users handsets wherever they were located.
• An annual support contract was offered which included one 4 hour site visit every month and unlimited remote support and remote training.

think Approach

2 Meetings were held to identify all requirements. A Network Consultant and a Network Engineer were used to carry out an initial network and security audit. thinksolution did not opt to carry out structured cabling in this project as Reliance had wanted a speedier cabling installation. BT were chosen as subcontractors responsible for this.

Setup

• 8 Computers
• Domain Server including email server
• Blackberry Server
• Logistics Application
• Online Banking applications
• Accounting applications

Technologies used