Careroom Nurseries
Doherty’s solution
Doherty worked closely with Careroom to identify and understand the company’s business needs and help build a scaleable, stable and secure IT platform.
A new central file server was installed at head office and linked to all nurseries via a high speed, secure virtual private network (VPN). High levels of connectivity were established between all locations to enable file sharing and remote working to take place. Full back up was also provided and Doherty conducted all ongoing technical support.
The business benefits have been considerable: management time spent on monthly site visits and resolving computer issues has been eliminated. Broadband has allowed the business to communicate with itself, clients and suppliers far faster than before – increasing productivity and business efficiency.
As importantly, Careroom’s management are now free to focus on their business, secure in the knowledge that Doherty will focus on their IT.
The technical story
The solution designed and implemented by Doherty Associates provided a new central file server running Microsoft’s Small Business Server (SBS) at Careroom’s Head Office. It also included a central backup solution. This has allowed Careroom management and administrative staff access to data on any of the satellite nurseries whenever required, even from home.
Cutting-edge Trend antivirus software was included and a second server running Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Server. ADSL was installed into each location to provide fixed-cost broadband connections to the Internet for email and secure VPN access from each of the nurseries to the central file server.
All software applications are now installed on the central file server and each nursery connects to these applications securely over VPN and Terminal Services. Each PC has been set to either print to a local printer or to a central printer at Head Office.
Each nursery therefore now has direct access to the Child Care System, Accounts Software and e-mail. The phone line located at each site is shared between the PC for e-mail and the telephone.
The infrastructure Careroom invested in included Compaq ProLiant ML350 server including RAID5 hard disk configuration for improved fault tolerance, Compaq 20/40 DAT backup drive, Compaq uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for power protection and BT ADSL Business 1000 Plus. Doherty provides all the technical support and system management, both remotely and on-site for the whole group.