The Requirement
How often is a system upgraded only to find that the new one is not quite like the old? A well-trained and up to date administrator will try to shield the business from the pain of the upgrade, but what if the business cannot invest in the cost of an experienced administrator ?

One of our clients found themselves in just this situation. The old system was no longer supported by HP and starting to cost more to maintain than it would to purchase a new server. From a cost perspective server replacement was justified, however the new server also required a new release of the HP-UX operating system and the only member of staff that knew anything about the existing environment had long since left the company.

The Solution

Preferred spent time on-site getting to know the business implications of the upgrade, formulating a detailed implementation plan, ensuring the new server was installed and configured without serious disruption and little impact on day-to-day business operations.

The new system was now installed successfully but our client still had to address the issue of how to manage the new system. As Preferred performed the implementation, knew both HP systems and how the company operated we offered to administer the system for them.

We installed scripts that collected relevant information from the system on a daily basis. The output of those scripts was emailed to our office and checked on a daily basis. Any issues were brought to the attention of the client with recommendations on how to address them. Potential problems with hardware and operational procedures have been spotted before they became a business issue. Coupled with regular visits, phone calls and email communication, the client now has a stable and well administered infrastructure without having to invest in a costly full time systems administrator.

Preferred Computers & Networks Ltd.
314 Upton Lane
Widnes
Cheshire
WA8 9AG
Tel : 0161 786 0900