Case study: AH Lifestyle Ltd
Assignment
AH Lifestyle approached Core Technical Solutions to offer a solution for their new premises in Victoria (London). Allegra Hicks are an international luxury lifestyle brand featuring ready to wear and beach wear collections, homewares and interior textiles. Headquartered in London they employ approx 15 people with varying IT needs and equipment utilising both Macs and PCs. Their new location had no IT infrastructure in place and they required a solution where Allegra could work offsite but still have access to all data stored in the Victoria Offices.
Analysis
First we visited their current location in Belgravia to try and understand how they were currently working and how we could improve their workflow while still trying to limit the downtime.
We then visited their new premises before the builders came in, in order to get a better understanding of what they were looking for from their new working environment and to see how the space could be best used.
Their existing working environment already consisted of 6 PCs running Windows XP (all of varying model and spec), 2 iMac G5's running Mac OS 10.4, 2 scanner’s and 2 printer’s, all of which required relocating to the new site.
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Plus the addition of an Intel iMac running Mac OS 10.5, A3 scanner and A3 printer for the designers to use in their current location, so we had to come up with a solution that would be truly cross-platform and practical with minimal (if any) impact to the running of the company.
Solution
The solution was to setup an iMac G5 as a Mac Server running Mac OS 10.5 Server to act as a file server for both the Apple Mac and Windows users with regular back ups to an external storage device, it was also configured with VPN to allow access to the office while offsite.
Summary
Since undertaking our installation the staff of AH Lifestyle have been able to continue to work seamlessly with far more efficiency. We now provide them with ongoing support both onsite and remotely.
According to the Head of Production
”You're STARS! So far I have read all my emails, sent emails with excel attachments, sent emails with large file attachments, printed images……and it's only 10am! Thank you! :-)”
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Case study: Graphx Design Services
Assignment
Graphx contacted Core to help implement a crossover from a PC to Apple Mac environment.
With five employees and ongoing projects minimal downtime for the switch was imperative.
Analysis
We attended onsite to discuss and view their workflow, discuss their needs from the new system and their budget.
Solution
We supplied five Imac 24” machines and a Mac Pro Server for File Management with VPN and FTP to allow remote access for the team. We also setup a backup system for the server to eliminate the risk of data loss. |
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Summary
We now look after Graphx Design Services on an 8 hour response annual support contract. Since the initial meeting we have built a great working relationship with Graphx and they now look after our website for us.
According to the Managing Director
“We approached Core to discuss our ideas for the switch to Mac computers and have never looked back. They implemented the changes over a weekend and as a result we suffered no downtime and were able to continue our projects first thing Monday morning on our new Apple macs. I have recommended the guys at Core to friends already as they are a great partner to my business.” |
