Consulting Services
Most of our consulting services are focused on Internet infrastructure projects. This includes the design, deployment, audit, capacity planning, security and monitoring of enterprise class servers, services, and networks. Other projects we’ve done include the design and implementation of highly integrated and scalable collaborative social networking web environments, Voice over IP (VoIP) systems, DNS infrastructure, and email services. We have experience working at the hardware, software and systems levels and can assist with designs which require the proper matching of capabilities across all three areas. Most of our work involves Unix based systems (Linux and other) and Cisco products but we also work with other operating systems and vendors as needed. If we don’t have the expertise in a needed area we’ll either bring in additional resources to assist and/or can refer you to other consultants to help in those areas.
System and Network Planning
In the old days planning, building and running networks was a lot simpler. Often we would simply get the highest performing servers and networks we could afford. As long as they kept running and did not display any obvious performance issues everyone was happy. Those days are long gone. Hardware speeds have increased to the point where it is no longer necessary or cost effective to get the latest and greatest for many applications. We’ve also got many more choices in terms of network infrastructure from simple 100M ethernet to multi-fibre 400G structured networks. This are just a few examples. We can help take the guesswork out of the design, operation, and expansion of your networks and applications.
Additional ways we can work with customers include application, network, and server architecture design, deployment, and monitoring matched to your business needs. Other areas include system, network, and physical security, disaster planning and recover, policy planning and analysis, server, application and network audits, data protection, and asset management.
System and Network Administration
Once the networks and services are up and running, they need to be proactively managed and monitored. Are they performing as expected? Are there problems with certain machines or services? If so what is the nature of the problem and how can it be resolved? How are incidents detected, distributed, and then resolved? What kind of management systems are in place to assist with all of this and what precisely is being monitored, how often, and how long are the records retained? Are you monitoring the right things or wasting time and resources on monitoring sensors not related to problems you may experience? How easy is it to add another server or device to your network and integrate it into your existing management infrastructure? Are you using any automation in the handling of incidents or does everything depend on a live human to manually fix all problems? What do the longer term analysis show you in terms of system and network performance and capacity? Will the current systems and capacities hold you for another few weeks, a few months, or a few years?
These and many similar questions are what we normally look at when planning, building, and managing modern networks. As computer networks have become the technological heartbeat of the business and consumer worlds they are as critical to our businesses and lives as electricity and water. If we want to continue to thrive in this interconnected world we need to ensure the services we provide are available at all times and fast enough to meet our customer’s current and future demands. We assist with the planning, design, simplification, and implementation of these managed applications, servers, networks and workloads. Once we know what, where, and how to manage these resources, the people responsible for the day to day management of the various pieces need to be established. At this point, we also offer managed services (see Managed Services) of resources independent of location.
Software Development
Unix/Linux system programming services are offered in a wide range of languages including C, C++, Python, Perl, PHP, Javascript, jQuery, and Shell scripting. Our focus is on backend server programming to augment existing services and administration automation. We have developed a wide range of tools that address network security and electronic mail systems and have extensive experience with porting of system and application code in a wide range of UNIX and UNIX-like environments. Have worked with many application layer protocols and can also do lower level TCP/IP packet oriented projects. We have also done backend development work for Drupal and WordPress content management systems. Much of our current activity is in building automated systems into our management and security infrastructure for the real-time detection and handling of security and other operational incidents.
Web Design
We are not really a web design company but can assist with some issues such as basic site design, capacity and performance planning. We’ve also done application integration with Drupal and WordPress based Content Management Systems (CMS). This website is an example of one of our WordPress designs. Complete solutions are provided for most applications. We also work with web design companies who may be better suited for doing the application look and feel and graphics frontends.