Business IT Upgrade - Hants/Surrey

[Dr Interceptor]

Morning folks...

I'm looking to upgrade our current IT setup, and wondered if there were any PHers in this sector that would like to help/quote.

We're based in Farnborough (Hants), and have been at our premises since Feb 2009 - so all our equipment is now 6 years old. We run an SBS Server for basically everything, file storage, exchange email, internet connection, Sage Accounts - everything. We have VOIP phones, and this means that if the server were to fail, we lose all email, all phones (although they do auto switch to a backup land line), and we lose the card machine in the shop.

We have four PCs on the premises, plus one network printer.

What I'd like to do is:

1. Have a dual WAN Router in place to take advantage of our two broadband connections, with load balancing to optimise the VOIP. The two connections should also mean zero down time in theory, so no loss of phones/card machine.
2. Migrate to Office 365 - cloud based email etc.
3. Migrate to Cloud based Sage
4. Improve the current file storage - not sure on the best options for this - NAS?

Basically, I need to remove our reliance on the SBS server, especially as it's now 6 years old.

I'm pretty IT literate, but I'd like to employ someone's services to oversee the migration, and ensure it all happens smoothly!

If anyone wants to get involved, drop me an email, and we can go from there.

Cheers,

Jon

[nikaiyo2]

Hi

We used a company called BTP based in Eastleigh to migrate/ install new servers last year, set up cloud based back ups etc.
They were good and the whole process was much less painful than we had feared.

[Dr Interceptor]

nikaiyo2 said:

Hi

We used a company called BTP based in Eastleigh to migrate/ install new servers last year, set up cloud based back ups etc.
They were good and the whole process was much less painful than we had feared.

Thanks for the recommendation

[dmsims]

Hmm

Moving to cloud based stuff: when you say you have 2 Broadband connections are these completely separate physically all the way to the destination?

I would consider 3/4G as a backup

[Dr Interceptor]

dmsims said:

Hmm

Moving to cloud based stuff: when you say you have 2 Broadband connections are these completely separate physically all the way to the destination?

I would consider 3/4G as a backup

I have one BT Fibre line, and a Virgin Business Fibre - completely separate as far as I know...?

[TurricanII]

Dr Interceptor said:

I have one BT Fibre line, and a Virgin Business Fibre - completely separate as far as I know...?

One careless JCB driver performing roadworks in your street might prove to be a single point of failure for you there! I second the 3G as a backup link recommendation. Draytek routers will let you use both fibre links AND a 3G USB modem too for a third backup.

[Dr Interceptor]

TurricanII said:

One careless JCB driver performing roadworks in your street might prove to be a single point of failure for you there! I second the 3G as a backup link recommendation. Draytek routers will let you use both fibre links AND a 3G USB modem too for a third backup.

Thanks for the suggestion - something to add in to the mix.

[pontypool]

I use these guys and have referred a few of my own clients to them and they are a great bunch. They have just helped a client of mine down in Fleet, so cover your area.

www.computernerds.co.uk

Ask for Nick who runs it.

[x2nmh]

Hi Jon, just dropped you a mail.

Nik

[b0rk]

Sage Cloud? are you thinking SageOne or cloudified line 50.. SageOne is actually pretty good but cloudified line 50 is just pure junk.

Are your PC's domain joined or they work independently? ditching the SBS and not replacing with another domain server will lose any centralisation of control you have currently.

Before adopting cloud backup you need to consider 1. who the provider is and what safeguards they have to protect your data from hackers or their own incompetence. 2. How you'll get the data back from the provider if the worst happens, download? physical shipment of media?