Case studies
Background
After receiving a phone call back in 2007 from Karen at a local company called Forshaw
Demolition with an internet problem, we turned up onsite and replaced the network switch.
They were back surfing the internet and emailing within one hour, and a new relationship
was born!
Strategy and Implementation
Although Forshaws already had a server, it was approaching its end of life, and wasn’t being used to
its full potential. There was Windows Server 2003 installed, so no Microsoft Exchange. The users
PC’s all needed a bit of a boost as well, with the girls complaining how slow they were.
More importantly was their relocation, a big move to the other side of town. Perfect timing – supply
and install a full size cabinet, install a new rack mount HP Server, with a rack mount tape backup for
their daily backup.
Discard the old Server? No! Clean it up, blast all the dust out of it, and turn it into a remote Server!
Into the cabinet it went, still going strong to this day.
Starting on a Friday afternoon, three of us worked all night and over the weekend getting all the IT
equipment moved from one site to the other, including PC’s, printers, servers, cabinet. All their data
was copied over, email was setup through the Server with Microsoft Exchange, and they started
work on the Monday where they left off on Friday.
Outcome
Rarely do we get to work on a Server and an infrastructure setup as nice as at Forshaws. The HP
server is rock solid and quick. Their PC’s have slowly but surely all been replaced over the last few
years, and everyone is running Vista Business or Windows 7 Professional, with the latest versions of
Microsoft Office.
Their cabinet is crammed full of equipment now: CCTV, two servers, routers, switches, patch panels,
and tidy cabling (which took a while!).
The hard work we put for the move paid dividends, smooth from start to finish, and very satisfying
knowing that Forshaws had no downtime at all.
