Consulting Services... There's a saying in the Consulting industry.. "If you're not part of the solution, there's BIG money to be made in prolonging the problem!!" As humorous as that saying is, it's painfully true. We don't happen to subscribe to this way of thinking. When a client comes to us for our expertise or experience, they're looking for answers, not "Billable hours". Not every idea or solution falls off the drawing board and into a working environment but, we make every effort to apply our knowledge and experience to our clients situations so they, and us, don't reinvent the wheel for each and every situation. With the diversity of clients and the depth of knowledge our staff carries, whatever the problem, chance are, we've seen it before, somewhere. Some of the areas of consulting we can serve you with are... General Network Administration - Many of our client over the years have not been large organizations or Fortune 500 companies. They have been small, 10 - 100 computer companies. One of their big problems is that they cannot justify, or afford, to have a full time IT person on staff. Have you ever heard "Joe in Accounting knows about this stuff. He'll fix it!". Well, guess what? "Joe" is supposed to be "Accounting", not installing the latest round of Microsoft Patches on all 50 workstations or trying to figure out why the Backup isn't working. This is where OAC comes in. With the ability to perform almost every network administrative task remotely, We're just a phone call, (or Instant Message) away. We will audit and document your systems and network and setup a number of remote access solutions so that when there's a problem, or maintneance needs to be performed, we can take care of it for you Network Security and Control - It's a scary world out there. Worms, Trojans and the Virus du jour all add up to the fact that network security is a full time job. We've worked in one of the "Most Active" environments when it comes to network security, Colleges. If it's out there, the students will find it, and bring it into the network. Our partnership with Firewall vendors and Sophos provide effective, flexible solutions to securing your network. Of course you can just "Pull the Plug" and be secure. With the newer Firewall and content filtering products, we can fine tune access both, into and out of, your network so that the Internet can once again be a tool, rather than just a risk. With Content Filtering, we can ensure that the World Wide web is used by your employees for work related purposes and not just surfing E-Bay. The Spam Filtering can cut the amount of Junk E-mail to a trickle. It will not only clean up your Inbox but could reduce the need to upgrade E-mail servers or bandwidth requirements. With Reporting, Users and systems that must get priority access to network resources can get the priority. Voice over IP is a prime example. You don't want to lose an important VoIP call because someone is listening to Internet Radio. Sophos is a leading provider of Anti-Virus solutions for large and small enterprises. It might not be a name you've heard before. They don't sell their products at Staples and it won't come free with a PC. They work closely with knowledgeable partners like OAC to ensure that Sophos customers get all the protection they need. See our Product Lines page for more information Equipment Purchases - We do sell equipment and software, and of course we'd love to sell it to you. But, that's not always the best answer for the client, and we realize that. We can provide consulting on equipment purchases to ensure it will fit into your environment, work with other systems and be available to ask the questions that the Vendor might rather not be ask. System Architecture - When you don't have an overall plan, decisions made today can dramatically effect the future. To insure that you really can "Get there from here", we can help design a plan that will allow for growth. You ARE growing, aren't you? Software Implementations - Now a days, the software is cheap, it's the "Implementation" that will rock your world. We've seen articles that suggest that the rule of thumb is "Implementation" will cost five to ten times the cost of the software! What's up with THAT! We can help you see if you're buying a lot more than you think you are. What are the hidden costs that didn't quite make the PowerPoint presentation. Disaster Recovery - Nobody likes to think about it but, S#$t happens! Now what? Having a Disaster Recovery plan can make all the difference in whether or not your staff get's a "Free day" or it's Business as usual. It might be as simple as having system documentation (You DO have documentation, Don't you?) compiled in one place for quick reference or arranging for off-site Backup Media storage. In today's technology based business environment, Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail. We've seen enough failures to know what to plan for. TelCom - Do you know what an "IXC" is? What would you say if someone ask you for your NPA-NXX? Ever heard of a USOC code? Welcome to the wonderful world of Telecommunications. Telecommunication companies thrive on obfuscation and confusion. Getting a data circuit "Provisioned"(They really use that term) is NOT as easy as you might think, and the opportunity to pay too much or buy what you don't need is great. We've been working with Telcom providers and their "interesting" ways of doing things, for years. We can analyze your needs, see what providers are available, and handle all of the "Provisioning", installation and implementation details for you. After all, you just want to get E-Mail, right? TelCom Auditing - Do you REALLY know what you're buying from the telephone company. Would you be surprised to know that we've found "Phantom" charges at practically every client we've ever Audited. Have you ever gotten a call from the phone company saying "We noticed that the Fax Line at your closed branch office is still showing Active. Let us correct that and refund the monthly charges"? I didn't think so. Most companies have trouble figuring out their Telco billing. Several years ago, we actually wrote an application for the U.S. Treasury Department that did NOTHING but audit Telco bills looking for errors, increases in rates or added charges. Are you paying for Caller ID on EVERY line? Do you even NEED it? We can help you sort it all out.