The box is the easy part: a NAS or a small server is ordered in ten minutes. The work is the files: the price list in three versions on three PCs, an hour spent hunting the right quote across USB sticks, the management software running on Paola's computer — if that one dies, the business stops — and a former employee who still has the password to everything. That isn't just untidiness: it's risk piled up in the wrong places, and it surfaces on the worst possible day. This service unpicks it: one tidy place where your company's files live, get found and stay under control.
Turnkey means something precise here: a NAS or server sized on the real workload — how much data the business holds, how fast it grows, what has to run on it —, folders organised with you, one account and one password per person, a virtual machine ready if the management software needs one, a UPS so a power cut can't corrupt the data, and monitoring with alerts before a disk dies. Assembly, commissioning, a final test done together and a documented handover: the folder-and-permissions map, and the administrator credentials handed to you, never held as leverage.
It starts with a site visit and a fixed-price quote, free and clear before we begin: what's included, what it costs, what you don't actually need. One-off jobs go by hourly rate, with the quote arriving by email; care over time is an ongoing support agreement, priced case by case in the quote. The boundaries are declared up front: sockets, the fuse board and any mains work belong to a qualified electrician, and the management software itself belongs to its vendor — we prepare the machine and coordinate. And here too, every job closes with a written report: what was installed and configured, and what to keep an eye on.
The first honest choice isn't the brand: it's NAS, server or cloud — made on criteria, not fashion. A NAS — a small computer built to store and share files, with two or more disks mirroring each other — beats a server for many small firms: it sips power, fits in a cupboard and runs without an IT department. A real server earns its place when something has to run with more muscle: management software with many users, virtual machines, heavy archives. The cloud is handy from anywhere and doesn't break in your office, but it isn't free forever — the fee grows with your data — and with large files it's only as good as the line into the building. Often the right answer is a mix: working files close to the people, a copy elsewhere. The quote gives you the sums, not a dogma.
Folders shaped like the way the firm works, one account per person: order is half the job, permissions are the other half. The folder map is drawn with you — jobs, accounts, archive — and file sharing works the same at a desk and away from it, no USB sticks doing the rounds. Then the part that's usually missing: no single office password. Each person has their own account and sees what their work needs; whoever joins gets access on day one, whoever leaves loses it the same day. It isn't only tidiness: the GDPR requires controller and processor to ensure that "any natural person acting under the authority of the controller or the processor who has access to personal data does not process them except on instructions from the controller" (Article 32). With per-person permissions that rule becomes easy to respect; your own case is discussed in the quote.
The management software shouldn't live on somebody's PC. As long as it runs on the computer of whoever uses it most, every ailment of that machine — an update, a fault, a replacement — stops the program for everyone. The clean route is virtualisation: inside the server we create a virtual machine, a computer made of software, dedicated to that one program, switched on with the server and tied to no desk. It stops only when you decide; before an update we take a full copy of the machine, so if something goes wrong it steps back in minutes, not days. The boundary is declared, though: the software belongs to its vendor, and installing and supporting the program stays their job. We prepare the machine — memory, disks, access — and we do the coordinating with the vendor, so you're not the switchboard between two technicians.
A power cut shouldn't cost you an archive. A server switched off badly can corrupt the very files it was guarding: that's why the design always includes a UPS, the battery unit that holds the machine up when the mains drop. And we size it honestly: its job is to cover the right few minutes and shut the server down in good order, not to keep you working through a blackout — if you need that, it's a different project and a different price, said beforehand. The same frankness goes for disks: RAID, the paired disks copying each other, protects you from one disk failing. Full stop. It won't save you from a deletion, ransomware, theft or fire: that is the trade of backup, a chapter of its own. And new sockets, the fuse board and mains work stay with your electrician: written in the quote, not discovered mid-job.
A healthy server is a watched one: many faults announce themselves, if someone is listening. A disk starting to mis-read, space running low, a nightly copy that didn't run: warnings, not damage yet. Monitoring is that listening — automatic checks, and a message when something drifts, so the fix comes before the standstill. It's also the practical reading of one measure the GDPR sets out for anyone processing data: ensuring, on an ongoing basis and among other things, the "availability and resilience of processing systems and services" (Article 32) — lawyers' words for saying the place your files live must stay standing. You can keep watch yourself, handover map in hand, or leave the watch to us with ongoing support, take-up times written into the contract. A server is only as good as the network carrying it to the desks; the three ways of engaging us are on business services.
| Data and growth | sized on today's files and how fast they grow: disks, RAID and memory are chosen there |
|---|---|
| NAS, server or cloud | three routes with different costs: decided on your data, the programs to run and the line into the building |
| Software and virtualisation | if the management software needs a virtual machine, memory, disks and vendor coordination all change |
| People and permissions | how many accounts, who sees what, who connects from outside: every permission is a choice, written into the handover map |
| UPS and power | the UPS is sized to shut the server down properly; new sockets and fuse-board work belong to the electrician |
| Care after handover | monitoring and alerts: on call by the hour, or an ongoing agreement priced in the quote |
What genuinely moves the quote for this service: how many workstations and people, what is already in place, what must stay up. Agreed together before we start — and the quote, numbers included, arrives by email: one-off jobs by the hour, ongoing support priced to fit.
ElectrONIK Lab is an independent workshop: it is not an authorised service centre and is not affiliated with the manufacturers. The trademarks named here belong to their respective owners and are used only to identify the devices we work on. Your statutory consumer rights towards whoever carries out the repair are unaffected.
A free consultation, a clear quote up front and a written report after every job.