Which Company?

tech

Ok I need to get a IT company to do multipule server installs in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Dublin, Belfast ,,

All sites to have local Exchange servers and about 20 client Win Xp machines on each site, All sites should be controlled from ideally Limerick or Dublin, All Sites will have DSL available and so on and so fort

Does anyone know who would be the best company to roll out an install like this ??

Also provide full 7 days a week cover ??

Capt'n Midnight

1. Unless you need the workgroup features, and I don't mean the Global Address Box, try to find a different solution if at all possible, MDaemon is about 1/10 the price and if it falls over and dies then all your emails are individually stored in a raw text format file. You can even drag and drop the raw mails in to queues on other mail servers.

2. Only 20 PC's per site eh ?
Just make bloody sure you won't ever need more than 8GB in total for mailboxes and folders, including replicated ones because otherwise you'd need the enterprise version. Exchange enterprise needs Windows Enterprise and you'd probably want BackupExec & exchange agent. If you add in software assurance don't expect ANY change out of €10,000 for the software licences per server. I'm not including CAL's in that either.



Rolling out is easy like most microsoft software it is easy to install and configure when you figure out the strange terms they use and where they hide the options. Unfortunatly this means you could get a default options ticked rollout or you could one that has been optimised for disaster recovery. When (NB not "if") exchange needs sorting out guess which type of install you rather be looking at ?

Third party maintainance on exchange - great 'cos you have someone to blame, great if the company has a real exchange guru, not great if the person they send out is sitting in front of the box acting as pair of hands for someone back in the office, not great if they are on an hourly rate

Also how much will be done in house apart for day to day mailbox and address list management ?

My general feeling is that you should be able to handle most tasks in house and not be totally dependent on third parties, though it great to be able to call them in when there is a big problem or for hand-holding when doing some major configuration changes.

DSL + Firewalls + remote desktop / VNC + VPN - remote management is trivial compared to getting a bullet-proof exchange setup.

tech

any one else,

does anyone know about these companies

Calyx
PFH
Cara,
TEchniche
DCM
DSS

which are the best out there?

Static M.e.

DSS are good they work for all of the big names

Microsoft
Wyeth
DFA

just to name a few, I would definatly give them a call. From what I know they have 100+ Networking Admin's including 2 CCIE's

Mac daddy

tech wrote:

any one else,

does anyone know about these companies

Calyx
PFH
Cara,
TEchniche
DCM
DSS

which are the best out there?

Calyx these guys have contracts with the goverment at the moment - and there meant to be quite good

dabhal

I've had expierence of DSS and would steer well clear.
I think for that much kit you really need to get your hands on an on site engineer.

Philbert

I use Calyx at the moment and used Moss Technologies before Calyx bought them out. They are good and could easily handle what your looking for.

Big €€ id imagine though.

dabhal

I've done training with calyx, very good if that's anything to go by.

Nuttzz

Abacus systems in Walkinstown are good, recently did the counrty wide network upgrade for the army

qwertz

Would you consider an independent consultant?

secret_squirrel

We use cara as a prefered supplier for most of our hardware that doesnt come straight from Dell or HP/Compaq. They screwed up the network installation of a pair of fault tolerant mirrored W2K boxes, and their prices for hardware bits and bobs are pretty extortionate compared to say.... Komplett. But if you're stuck with a dumb corporate purchasing dept and policy they are ok I guess.

tech

Hey Philbert, Im just wondering have ye got a big IT Layout or nation wide area or is this is a single site? I ve been hearing good things alrite bout Calyx, They are meant to have some great Engineers out there? can anyone commient ?

Sposs

We've dealt with DSS alot and have found them excellent terms of speed and quality.