[BUGS] IT Support Business with FreeBSD servers

[harrywwc]

Hey Brad,
> 
<snip>
> 
> I have a degree in Software Engineering and currently work as an 
> engineer for a large company. I have a mate (or two) that has a similar 
> background to go into partnership with.

sounds useful already - with a strictly 'one-man band' there are times 
when you are just "unavailable" (e.g. sick) and this makes customers 
"unhappy".

> 
> Apart from software development and web development type work, I would 
> like to focus on supplying rock solid IT infrastructure including 
> FreeBSD servers for mail, files, database, etc.
> 
> I am targeting businesses with say 5-50 employees. For example, the 
> manufacturing industry.
> 
> I am thinking of charging as a fixed price monthly fee where we pretty 
> much take care of IT issues for the business so they don't need an 
> internal person to be responsible for IT. Hopefully less end-user type 
> stuff and more infrastructure/server work, depending on whether we can 
> find some guys from TAFE or something to man a help desk.

you should be able to find some graduates from TAFE. Check with the Head 
Teachers (not today) at Glendale TAFE - they do (or were about to do) 
the RedHat Certified Technician - and I think (don't quote me) they are 
also a CISCO Academy. If you could get a Diploma in IT graduate, they 
should have the knowledge of -both- those embedded in their skillset - 
and Windows Server and Desktop and Networking too boot!

> 
> We would offer standard sort of installs and software, automatic offsite 
> backups, network monitoring, remote access, etc. We would include the 
> hardware in the price as a rental, so all the hardware we work with is 
> suitable. Probably use second-hand HP/Compaq servers.
> 

As soon as possible I would go "new", with a maintenance contract from 
HP - they (in the DEC-days) had a service centre in Newcastle, so 
support should be pretty prompt. You don't want your kit failing because 
it's 'second hand'. You are offering a service to *paying* customers - 
if you have hardware issues, your reputation will be less than mud very 
quickly.

> I am thinking that one technician can maintain 15-20 servers. Doing the 
> sums, it seems a good price would total about $1000/month for the 
> average spend. That's $12,000/year for one server, which I think is 
> reasonable for a quality hands-off hassle-free installation that just 
> works (as far as the customer is concerned). Employing someone from TAFE 
> etc to do the same job would be far more expensive and be worse quality.
> 

this is becoming a popular business model. A colleague (from DEC days) 
who put me onto FreeBSD (back in the 2.x.x days) is doing much the same 
thing. However, his partner is in Melbourne (my colleague is in Sydney). 
And most of the support work is done remotely. He showed me a demo of 
his setup one time, and it is brilliant in it's simplicity :')

I'm assuming the 'dig' here at TAFE students is from ignorance (yours). 
Many students with a DipIT(Networking) are highly skilled and motivated. 
(decalring my own interests - I'm a Teacher in IT at Hornsby TAFE) :')

> I've done a google search for competitors and found a couple with 
> quality services, but not many in Newcastle. And many seem to prefer 
> Microsoft Small Business Server, which I see the advantages, but if I 
> manage FreeBSD professionally for the business, FreeBSD will be a better 
> choice (in my opinion).
> 
> So, I was wondering if you guys could share your wisdom with

Yeah, M$ is out there, lots. Can I suggest you form a casual 
relationship with a company that does M$-SBS, so you can recommend them 
as a 'partner' - perhaps with a small percentage coming back to you for 
the referral? :') and of course the 'reverse' from them to you.

One thing, think about playing with Linux as well - there will be some 
who will have Linux (probably RHEL/CentOS or SuSE or even Ubuntu) 
installed. The difference (once you come to grips with the SysV startup 
scripts) is not that great. Sure, some things are in the "wrong" place, 
but you get used to that - especially if you've used several 
'commercial' *IXen.

hth,

.h

-- 

harry [at] woodward-clarke [dot] com
imago Dei in quolibet homine' inveniartur