Everything in that article delivers scalable services in addition to using little power.

Contact Stevan for more information on how these ideas can help you business use less power while still running efficient IT services.

These services can be provided on a Free Software platform using the following software:

• File sharing – Samba for Windows clients, NFS for Linux and Mac clients
• Printer sharing – CUPS printing, if necessary with Samba – no client drivers required
• Email – postfix for incoming mail, dovecot for IMAP clients, various layers of email security for anti-spam and anti-virus
• Intranet – various options depending on the business.  Examples are pmwiki, wordpress, drupal, plone etc.
• Groupware – eGroupware providing remote email access, diaries, remote file access, and…
• PDA sync – eGroupware supports SyncML for diary and contacts syncing
• Remote Access – OpenVPN provides secure, automatic connections for remote workers

All these services attract no client licences or additional cost and can scale from one user to several thousand. Imagine that – as your business grows, you don’t have to worry about additional software costs for basic IT infrastructure.  Conversely, if unfortunately your business contracts, you’ve not lost money on excess licenses.

For details of these services, please contact us.

At TNC Applied Technology, we know about Free Software infrastructures, but we think other people organise business seminars better than we can. So if you you have an audience but need a presenter on this or related subjects, contact us.  We can also help with structure and formats for day or half-day programmes.

I’ve been doing a lot of complicated stuff with the word processing software – charts and tables and the liek. I really like it , Stevan – so much easier to use than Word. I’m having trouble changing the default font, though, that’s is the only thing.

Admittedly OpenOffice doesn’t make changing default settings easy, but as unsolicited feedback, it’s all the more remarkable. People don’t like change, but when they embrace it, not only does the world continue to turn, some advantages turn up.

TNC Applied Technology can help. We can provide ideas and examples of services you can take to the market. We can be part of your pre-sales function to assure your customers that you have depth and access to the right skills when it comes to Free and Open Source software. We can provide your technical staff with pointers to develop their skills in an appropriate, business-centric manner.

The Lenovo laptop was set up with a fully encrypted hard disk for added security, all with Free software.

The two clients were supplemented by the excellent little Asus eeePC, also running Linux and OpenOffice, which is now used on business trips, leaving the laptop behind.

For added reliability, the systems are monitored remotely and system information sent to and managed by TNC Applied Technology.

The systems were designed not just for short term use, but also with significant expansion in mind, ultimately becoming a multi site system with many more users.

There has been some traction from a user uncomfortable with a change not perceived as a linear one, but the business advantages and cost saving over-rode these concerns.

TNC Applied Technology can work with you, either in a workshop style of setting, or in an unstructured support style to give your business a fast track to understanding how to get the best from Free Software, to help Management understand what the “Free” part means (not always free of cost, but always with immense Freedoms to run your business as you see fit) and to help IT departments to incorporate these approaches in their existing service delivery process.

You know you and your business need to take a view on Free and Open Source Software.  TNC Applied technology can help you do that.

We can be contacted by email or phone.

Email:- info@tncat.co.uk

Phone: +44 (0)1571 855361

We will use contact information you supply only to communicate with you in this context and to continue that communication if we work together.  The information will not be used for any other purpose and will not be passed to any third party, unless legally required.

With over 20 years IT experience, from the early days of PC networking, the rise of the Internet and the change of computing from pure business tools to general purpose communication and collaboration platforms, Stevan Lockhart also has over 10 years’ experience of the deployment of Free and Open Source software in a commercial environment.

Most recently, Stevan was Group IT Director with a pharmaceutical company based in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders.  He was with that company from very small start-up to flotation in 2005 and beyond.  He gained experience of M&A business activity throughout Europe, due diligence associated with funding rounds and the joys of supporting a rapidly growing highly entrepreneurial organisation. This was where he developed his ways of introducing Free Software solutions to support business.

Earlier IT experience was mostly in financial services and related organisations.  Stevan was Senior Technology Consultant to a large South African-headquartered multi-national financial services company with responsibilities for IT strategic direction across the Northern Hemisphere as well as a spell as operational IT Manager for a dental finance scheme based in Winchester.

Prior to his IT career, Stevan ran numerous trade associations for the Chamber of Industries in Cape Town, learning much about the differing “personalities” of various industries and their approach to business.

Basic services are:-

• File sharing (SMB for Windows, Linux and Macs, NFS for Linux/Mac)
• Printer sharing
• Postfix and Dovecot for email
• ClamAV, Spamassassin for inbound anti-virus and spam management
• eGroupware for collaboration
• MySQL or Posgresql for corporate databases
• Apache or Lighttpd with wikis for Intranets
• OpenVPN for secure remote access
• Shorewall for corporate firewalling
• Backup to removable disk
• Nagios for system monitoring
• Systems Management Tools (Mailgraph, reports etc)
• Accounting options (WebERP, GnuCash or TurboCash)

Nagios systems monitoring and systems management may be done remotely.

These services are ideal for startups, remote offices, revamping an older infrastructure, or bringing “cloud” services, such as email provided by an ISP, in-house.