# Home Office/IT help



## jason359 (Jun 17, 2010)

I need to set up an office at home from scratch. Need a server, laptop, printer/scanner/fax machine and blackberry synched to the server. Can anyone recommend a company or person who can assist, not just with the set up, but also with advice on which make and models fit my needs in each category. A one stop shop who can buy, deliver and install said items and offer ongoing IT support/maintenance would be my preference.
Thanks.


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## indoMLA (Feb 6, 2011)

Damn, that is asking for a lot...
Do you really need a server in your house? Can a simple network work with a computer hdd as the main access for files, etc.? 

What is your budget for the hardware and also for continued support/maintenance on a monthly basis?


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## jason359 (Jun 17, 2010)

indoMLA said:


> Damn, that is asking for a lot...
> Do you really need a server in your house? Can a simple network work with a computer hdd as the main access for files, etc.?
> 
> What is your budget for the hardware and also for continued support/maintenance on a monthly basis?


dont have a budget in mind


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## DubaiATC (Jun 26, 2010)

jason359 said:


> dont have a budget in mind


must be nice!!!


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## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

Check with Opentec Systems - 10 Years of Experience


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## jason359 (Jun 17, 2010)

zin said:


> Check with Opentec Systems - 10 Years of Experience


Wow....an answer to the question, rather than needless meaningless comments....much appreciated zin. Have you used them?


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## pamela0810 (Apr 5, 2010)

Try "Internet Heroes." They are a little expensive but are also very good. We used them when they were just starting up and went by another brand name. Internet Heroes - Computer Support Services Dubai

Jason, why are you always so negative when someone asks for more detail. Perhaps they can help you better and just need a little more information.


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## jason359 (Jun 17, 2010)

pamela0810 said:


> Try "Internet Heroes." They are a little expensive but are also very good. We used them when they were just starting up and went by another brand name. Internet Heroes - Computer Support Services Dubai
> 
> Jason, why are you always so negative when someone asks for more detail. Perhaps they can help you better and just need a little more information.


Not negative, just a little exasperated that people cant stick to answering the question, without throwing in their two cents when it is not needed nor requested. I didnt ask for an opinion on the spec of my set up, nor did I mention cost or ask for an opinion on cost/budget. If I had done then fair enough, but I didn't. I simply asked for a name of a company that could assist, which you and Zin kindly answered/provided. I guess I dont understand why people find it necessary to reply to threads when they really dont have anything positive to contribute that specifically relates to the matter at hand and I dont think any more detail was required than that contained in my original post. To end on a more positive note and to try to show that I'm not a glass half empty kinda guy, thanks again for your reply!


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## pamela0810 (Apr 5, 2010)

jason359 said:


> Not negative, just a little exasperated that people cant stick to answering the question, without throwing in their two cents when it is not needed nor requested. I didnt ask for an opinion on the spec of my set up, nor did I mention cost or ask for an opinion on cost/budget. If I had done then fair enough, but I didn't. I simply asked for a name of a company that could assist, which you and Zin kindly answered/provided. I guess I dont understand why people find it necessary to reply to threads when they really dont have anything positive to contribute that specifically relates to the matter at hand and I dont think any more detail was required than that contained in my original post. To end on a more positive note and to try to show that I'm not a glass half empty kinda guy, thanks again for your reply!


No worries. I'm trying to find a couple more options for you and will write back as soon as I hear from my contact.


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## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

jason359 said:


> Wow....an answer to the question, rather than needless meaningless comments....much appreciated zin. Have you used them?


We use them at work, they are quite professional and provide a good service. I'm not sure if they do what you are after but no harm in asking.


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## jason359 (Jun 17, 2010)

zin said:


> We use them at work, they are quite professional and provide a good service. I'm not sure if they do what you are after but no harm in asking.


Agreed. My project might be on the small side for them, but I'll shoot them an email all the same. As you say, no harm in asking and even if they cant help, they may know a man who can....


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

jason359 said:


> Not negative, just a little exasperated that people cant stick to answering the question,


<snip>

Wow, it's going to be a real lucky person that's going to end up working for you.


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## jason359 (Jun 17, 2010)

Mr Rossi said:


> <snip>
> 
> Wow, it's going to be a real lucky person that's going to end up working for you.


Gotta love the Scottish humour, you and Frankie Boyle...genius


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## indoMLA (Feb 6, 2011)

jason359 said:


> I need to set up an office at home from scratch. Need a server, laptop, printer/scanner/fax machine and blackberry synched to the server. Can anyone recommend* a company or person* who can assist, not just with the set up, but also with advice on which make and models fit my needs in each category. A one stop shop who can buy, deliver and install said items and offer ongoing IT support/maintenance would be my preference.
> Thanks.





jason359 said:


> Not negative, just a little exasperated that people cant stick to answering the question, without throwing in their two cents when it is not needed nor requested. I didnt ask for an opinion on the spec of my set up, nor did I mention cost or ask for an opinion on cost/budget. If I had done then fair enough, but I didn't. I simply asked for a name of a company that could assist, which you and Zin kindly answered/provided. *I guess I dont understand why people find it necessary to reply to threads when they really dont have anything positive to contribute that specifically relates to the matter at hand and I dont think any more detail was required than that contained in my original post.* To end on a more positive note and to try to show that I'm not a glass half empty kinda guy, thanks again for your reply!



Read what yo asked for again... You asked for a person as well, not just a company. Did it ever occur to you that maybe some of us in this forum can perform the items/tasks you require? Or maybe in an effort to throw your business to someone we know, we would like to gather more information from you to see if it is even worth mentioning to them or doing ourselves. Most companies are not going to touch a small business or an individual as there is no profit in it for them. But small entrepreneurs (like myself) could do this for you and provide you personal and customized support. 

Why do I need to respond to your post with something positive? I only responded to see what your set-up would be or what is required. Oh, and of course your request is vague. You don't mention the speed you want to run, the software, the type of interface, the server capacity/size/etc. and these are the basics, so how would someone give you an informed estimate based on the vague request you made in the OP? But maybe the IT service industry is so far advanced in Dubai that they can quote this all to you only after you ask a single question. 

My apologies for wasting your time and trying to assist you by trying to learn a bit more about your operation.


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## jason359 (Jun 17, 2010)

indoMLA said:


> Read what yo asked for again... You asked for a person as well, not just a company. Did it ever occur to you that maybe some of us in this forum can perform the items/tasks you require? Or maybe in an effort to throw your business to someone we know, we would like to gather more information from you to see if it is even worth mentioning to them or doing ourselves. Most companies are not going to touch a small business or an individual as there is no profit in it for them. But small entrepreneurs (like myself) could do this for you and provide you personal and customized support.
> 
> Why do I need to respond to your post with something positive? I only responded to see what your set-up would be or what is required. Oh, and of course your request is vague. You don't mention the speed you want to run, the software, the type of interface, the server capacity/size/etc. and these are the basics, so how would someone give you an informed estimate based on the vague request you made in the OP? But maybe the IT service industry is so far advanced in Dubai that they can quote this all to you only after you ask a single question.
> 
> My apologies for wasting your time and trying to assist you by trying to learn a bit more about your operation.


Google tells me that there are plenty of companies that deal with individual/small business set up.


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

jason359 said:


> Not negative, just a little exasperated that people cant stick to answering the question, without throwing in their two cents when it is not needed nor requested. I didnt ask for an opinion on the spec of my set up, nor did I mention cost or ask for an opinion on cost/budget. If I had done then fair enough, but I didn't. I simply asked for a name of a company that could assist, which you and Zin kindly answered/provided. I guess I dont understand why people find it necessary to reply to threads when they really dont have anything positive to contribute that specifically relates to the matter at hand and I dont think any more detail was required than that contained in my original post. To end on a more positive note and to try to show that I'm not a glass half empty kinda guy, thanks again for your reply!


Jason - You really need to relax here. The questions indoMLA asked were quite valid in my opinion. As I was reading your initial post - I was thinking about recommending a guy who can help you with everything you have asked for but not sure if he would be able to offer monthly support. As it is a home office - if your setup can be simplified then why not? I have personally setup home offices before and know that with today's day-to-day PCs - you really don't need 'servers' anymore unless of course your work really requires it.

It's the internets Jason - everyone has an opinion!! The sooner you learn to live with it - the better.

Just my 'two cents' ...

:focus:


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## jason359 (Jun 17, 2010)

w_man said:


> Jason - You really need to relax here. The questions indoMLA asked were quite valid in my opinion. As I was reading your initial post - I was thinking about recommending a guy who can help you with everything you have asked for but not sure if he would be able to offer monthly support. As it is a home office - if your setup can be simplified then why not? I have personally setup home offices before and know that with today's day-to-day PCs - you really don't need 'servers' anymore unless of course your work really requires it.
> 
> It's the internets Jason - everyone has an opinion!! The sooner you learn to live with it - the better.
> 
> ...


Fair enough


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

w_man said:


> Jason - You really need to relax here. The questions indoMLA asked were quite valid in my opinion. As I was reading your initial post - I was thinking about recommending a guy who can help you with everything you have asked for but not sure if he would be able to offer monthly support. As it is a home office - if your setup can be simplified then why not? I have personally setup home offices before and know that with today's day-to-day PCs - you really don't need 'servers' anymore unless of course your work really requires it.
> 
> It's the internets Jason - everyone has an opinion!! The sooner you learn to live with it - the better.
> 
> ...


Very well said. The forum is here to help and whilst not all information provided will be useful to the original poster, they may be of some use to someone else. We also have to appreciate that people are actually giving up their time to respond to the query.

The general idea is that the OP should simply ignore any advice that is not useful to their particular query. Smart answers/ retorts will also limit the responses provided and I for one, would not bother to reply if someone came across as rude or had a 'know-it-all' attitude.


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## mavzor (Feb 17, 2011)

Hi Jason,
How did your search for an IT provider go?
How were they, and how were the costs?

Let us all know!


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## Rainmaker (Oct 11, 2008)

jason359 said:


> I need to set up an office at home from scratch. Need a server, laptop, printer/scanner/fax machine and blackberry synched to the server. Can anyone recommend a company or person who can assist, not just with the set up, but also with advice on which make and models fit my needs in each category. A one stop shop who can buy, deliver and install said items and offer ongoing IT support/maintenance would be my preference.
> Thanks.


PM me if you still need a technician. I have a good guy.


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## ReggieDXB007 (Mar 10, 2011)

jason359 said:


> I need to set up an office at home from scratch. Need a server, laptop, printer/scanner/fax machine and blackberry synched to the server. Can anyone recommend a company or person who can assist, not just with the set up, but also with advice on which make and models fit my needs in each category. A one stop shop who can buy, deliver and install said items and offer ongoing IT support/maintenance would be my preference.
> Thanks.


My experience is that there isn't a company that can actually deliver everything from scratch the way you describe. Please don't get me wrong, there are loads of companies that are happy to sell you their stuff; even to provide you turnkey solutions and a few of them are good and reliable. However the region doesn't believe in paying for support and the economies of scale are such that most companies simply can't invest the considerable sums required for a decent support infrastructure with properly staffed help desks, MS and other certifications etc. unless they are focused at the medium to large enterprise level.

OK this is pretty negative so don't take it to heart, all I'm saying is that you're going to have to do some of the running yourself. The good news is that the industry has advanced from the days I was struggling to get NT/Domino/Exchange servers to talk to each other, hardware is much more affordable and powerful and hardware and software manages to talk to each other without too much prodding. Added to that is the actual useability of 'cloud' solutions and life is much easier (IMHO).

If I may suggest that you consider things like:

- How many users
- Will you need to share data with other offices
- Do you need to access data on the move
- Do you need to integrate mobile devices (you mention Blackberry synch, but is that just for emails or for data as well?)
- Do you need to run proprietary software/databases
- Company security policies

Which will guide you as to whether you should be thinking of a comprehensive server-based network or a peer-to-peer system using something like dropbox to share and synchronise data and Google Apps for corporate email (which also synchs to Blackberry without going through the hassle of enterprise servers).

Additionally, you may want to consider all-in-one scanner/printer/copier devices which can save you hassle and space, depending on the volume of work that you want out of them.

There is no one right answer of course; there is compromise with everything. Over the years we've used various companies and came to the conclusion that their business model was essentially product based and not support based.

However, more recently (about 4 years ago) we started using a company called IT-Serve who understand how a decent support organsation should work. They seem to be happy to work with larger as well as small home office based environments and we always found them responsive and intelligent in their approach to problem solving.

The other alternative is of course to find that one magic IT guru who not only has the required know-how but has also the capacity to give you adequate time - a rare beast indeed.

Good luck with your installation - don't forget, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel!

Jp


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## jason359 (Jun 17, 2010)

ReggieDXB007 said:


> My experience is that there isn't a company that can actually deliver everything from scratch the way you describe. Please don't get me wrong, there are loads of companies that are happy to sell you their stuff; even to provide you turnkey solutions and a few of them are good and reliable. However the region doesn't believe in paying for support and the economies of scale are such that most companies simply can't invest the considerable sums required for a decent support infrastructure with properly staffed help desks, MS and other certifications etc. unless they are focused at the medium to large enterprise level.
> 
> OK this is pretty negative so don't take it to heart, all I'm saying is that you're going to have to do some of the running yourself. The good news is that the industry has advanced from the days I was struggling to get NT/Domino/Exchange servers to talk to each other, hardware is much more affordable and powerful and hardware and software manages to talk to each other without too much prodding. Added to that is the actual useability of 'cloud' solutions and life is much easier (IMHO).
> 
> ...


Most helpful Jp, thanks.


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