A focused independent review is usually a good starting point for any IT environment where expansion/upgrade is required or there are current issues that need to be addressed. The review would provide the foundation for further development or to address specific needs. Our review is conducted by skilled and qualified technical experts. On completion of a review you will receive a detailed report which will be explained to the management team through a formal presentation. The report would provide a snapshot of the institutions current position, strengths and areas for improvements, inherent issues and a set of recommendations with some indicative costs for implementation. The institution can then utilise the review to prioritise the IT works required and accurately budget for the level of investment needed.

One of the quickest ways to significantly reduce IT costs and strengthen the network infrastructure is to implement a virtualisation and migration strategy. This is now becoming more popular than ever as it brings many benefits beyond cost savings. As physical systems (servers, switches and storage) are being virtualised and proprietary management tools, such as RM network management consoles and the like, are being replaced with vanilla enterprise servers, having a partner with an in-depth knowledge of various platforms and experience of migration is essential. Our engineers have a wide range of experience of different technologies (VMware and Hyper-V), infrastructure and the processes of migration including:

• RM network management replaced with a Microsoft vanilla enterprise platform
• Redesigning and migrating Active Directory
• Replacing and upgrading Exchange server along with associated data transfers and migration
• Servers and switch virtualisation
• Server optimisation, consolidation and migration

The IT team is led by an experienced project manager and an active engineer who oversees and manages the migration team according to an agreed project plan. Our team are adept in working alongside live environments within tight schedules and have a record of ensuring minimum downtime. All infrastructure and migration projects are carried out in consultation and collaboration with the institutions existing network team. This not only provides an opportunity for greater understanding and ownership for the institution involved, but also ensures that the implementation is successful and addresses the specific needs of the organisation.

As institutions increasingly use technologies to replace manual systems and processes, data storage inadvertently becomes a major challenge. Upgrading and changing storage solutions is a very expensive investment, but at times there are no other options. However, our engineers recommend that before large investments are made in new storage solutions, consolidating data storage should be the first step in order to ensure that current storage is properly being utilised and where possible storage compression and data archiving is effectively implemented. Our engineers have first-hand experience of data storage and consolidation and also have implemented many storage solutions covering small enterprises to very large data centres.

Dealing with IT vendors where profit mark-up can exceed 300% inevitably means that IT procurement becomes a highly specialised task. Negotiating the cost of an IT solution requires a person with strong technical expertise and effective negotiation skills. The SFX Corporate technical team has up to date knowledge of systems costs, market values and competitor solutions. Therefore, our team is able to identify actual costs of solutions and negotiate a significant discount so that the vendor profit mark-up is minimised. We have partnerships with a range of solution providers and can offer a full procurement package (including identifying alternative solutions) or just act on your behalf to procure an identified IT solution.

Having a robust core and edge switch network architecture is key to maximising speed and data through-put around the network. Our engineers are highly qualified with CCNP, CCIP, JNCIP certifications and have extensive experience of developing and managing large datacentre networks. We are therefore fully conversant with a wide range of network architecture and are able to quickly conceptualise an institutions network design and provide a comprehensive report and recommendations for improvements. Our services range from network review to planning for a full network infrastructure upgrade or replacement.

Firewall is the first level of security protecting the institution from the outside world. Through the firewall the college provides access to staff, clients, service users and the public to defined areas of the network. Therefore, essentially this is one of the most important security layers. In order to meet the requirements of the Data Protection Act and requirements from the internet service providers (such as Janet), institutions need to ensure that the firewall is properly configured, managed and maintained. SFX Corporate provides a range of services, including firewall maintenance contracts with a specialised partner and replacement or upgrade of the existing firewall. We also provide a health check review of the existing firewall setup, which provides the institutions management with an independent assessment of compliance along with identifying strengths, weaknesses and recommendations for the future.

In order to provide wireless connectivity and essentially offer Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) capabilities a robust and highly effective wifi platform is required. Although this technology provides many opportunities for institutions, it also introduces many avenues of possible threats to the network. As the wifi signal can be picked up by anyone within the signal radius it is essential that the wifi infrastructure is fully configured, secured and managed to protect it from possible threats. SFX Corporate has a number of corporate partners who offer top end wifi solutions at very competitive rates. Our service includes, wifi survey, technology procurement, full implementation and management support, carried out by highly skilled engineers who have knowledge of a range of current wifi systems.

Ensuring that the server management tool is effectively understood, administered and managed is critical to the overall function of the institutions IT network infrastructure. Indeed having a poor network setup can degrade the network, introduce poor performance and more critically put the institution at risk in terms of legal compliance requirements.

Our Microsoft Systems Centre Certified Engineer is highly specialised in reviewing, optimising and implementing the Microsoft enterprise standard server platform. Our services range from audit review and training to full implementation and server management under agreed service level agreements.

Many institutions in the early days of educational IT would have contracted the server management to a proprietary solution provider, such as RM. However, over time the institutions requirements change, the management service becomes very costly and more importantly institutions are forced to operate within a defined framework and therefore the system becomes an obstacle to change.

SFX Corporate engineers are highly skilled in scoping, planning and implementing large scale migration. The most recent and highly successful migration project (RM to vanilla) was conducted at St Francis Xavier College. The outcome of the migration resulted in over £100k cost savings and the network infrastructure was significantly improved. The college now benefits from an enterprise standard network, which is now significantly more efficient and effective.

Ensuring the IT network team are up-to-date with current technologies and their skills are regularly checked is an essential exercise for every institution. SFX Corporate can provide a quick health check for technical staff on skills and knowledge capabilities for those who are responsible for the day-to-day management of the institutions network. The institution can then plan staff development funds accordingly in order to ensure those who are managing critical IT systems are appropriately trained and up-skilled to carry out their functions effectively.