Hardware Needs Evaluation and Procurement

OVERVIEW:  While some business owners have chosen to take on the task of buying needed computer hardware themselves, and have done so “on line”, from sources such as Dell, there is yet another subset of the business community that prefers not to be burdened with researching all the possible brands and ratings of hardware, but rather to rely on local technology expertise to recommend the appropriate products to buy, based on an understanding of the owner’s business needs, budget, and long term goals.

Apollo Solutions will provide such services, in many cases based on long term relationships of IT support with business owners.  Products needed to maintain business functions, or enhance office productivity, are usually discussed with decision makers beforehand, then researched, specified, and quoted.  Apollo Solutions maintains strong relationships with a few reliable PC hardware suppliers, and can specify PC workstations, servers, and notebooks to specific owners’ needs, and deliver items usually within 3 days of placing an order.  Products typically have options of 1, 2, or 3 year warranties, either depot or on-site.  Choices of the most appropriate software operating system to be pre-installed on the hardware are also necessary to consider.

Purchasing a server usually requires decisions such as the type of hard drive to use (SCSI or SATA), and whether redundancy of hardware is important or not.  If so, RAID should be considered, and the type of RAID to deploy must be decided upon, with the most popular types being Type 1 and Type 5.  Spending more money on certain components of a PC workstation can prove worthwhile, by bringing a measurable performance boost, while upgrading other components will sometimes show indistinguishable benefits to the average user.  Apollo Solutions tries to keep these facts in mind when quoting hardware to business owners.  Finally, Apollo Solutions can install and network all hardware provided

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: 

• Company requirements researched and hardware configurations specified with customer needs of cost and performance considered

• Computer hardware sold and installed by your IT support provider

• Specified products include:  PC workstations, servers, notebooks, routers, firewalls, switches, network attached storage devices, wireless networking components, printers, battery backups, and various other network connectivity devices as needed for specific interface needs

• No need to use multiple vendors for computer hardware, software, and/or network   installation and support