As an MSP, choosing “The Right Stuff” is key to ensuring smooth operations and performance for our clients.
We take great care in choosing equipment that meets the best balance of reliability, performance, manageability, and budget. Our approach allows us to deliver top-tier IT tailored to our clients, with the benefits of operating at a larger scale. In this blog post, we go into the principles guiding our selection of computing, networking, and software, highlighting why these choices matter for your business.
Network Equipment: A Foundation of Reliability and Performance
Wireless Access and Central Manageability
Our network equipment selection is about reliability, manageability and debuggability. We need a common foundation that has broad capabilities, as well as straightforward to manage, since any team member may have to dive in at any time.
For wireless access, we choose business-grade access points and routers that support central manageability and debugging.
Central manageability is generally a must – if you’re a single office, it’s not critical, but Pund-IT effectively has dozens of offices, so being able to see them all in one place, and have detailed historic information is critical.
Business-Grade Equipment for Business Needs
Having a debugging feature allows us to monitor various performance metrics, such as overall Wi-Fi experience, retries, signal strength, speed, disconnects, and reconnects. Having access to insights like this enables us to tailor optimal solutions and address any issues that arise promptly.
For example, we had a client who was getting terrible wifi performance in his office, despite an Access Point being right there. It turned out that he would walk through the office with his laptop open, and times when he walked by the reception desk, his laptop would switch to that Access Point, and “hang on for dear life”. We were able to see that in the statistics, and use the tuning options to force his laptop to switch to the one by his office. Had we used a less capable system, or where running a system we didn’t know as well, this could have been much harder to root cause.
Routers: Your Gateway to the World
Routers perform the critical task ensuring that computers in your office or home can access distant resources – such as other offices, online services and the internet in general, or making it so that you can “teleport” (VPN) into the office when you are elsewhere.
Similar to wireless, Pund-IT depends on business-class devices that not only do the core job, but also have central management, flexibility, performance, security abilities and debuggability.
Pund-IT has two major lines of routers/firewalls – a “Next Gen” Firewall, from our partners at Barracuda, which is one of the most capable firewalls known – and it’s backed by a world class threat detection network, so if a computer on the office network tries to access a “known bad” IP out there on the internet, the firewall has decent odds of know it’s bad, and just not putting that call through.
Another trend is a requirement that all network access requires 2FA, including VPN access – these Barracuda firewalls meet that requirement as well.
Pund-IT also works extensively with Mikrotik – again centrally manageable, very hackable to meet even the least expected of circumstances, available in a broad range of performance options. We use these in circumstances were the 2FA VPN or Threat Detection network won’t provide value, such as when they are just connecting an office to remote servers.
Either way, we are able to keep a central eye on things, make sure firmware updates are done, backup and revision control configurations, track performance and search logs for issues.
Hardware: Quality and Durability
Computers
Pund-IT is standardized on key partners for most of the computers we deal in – Lenovo and Dell – because they are vendors we know well, can be as sure as possible that when we order equipment, that it’ll come out the way we expect, and will perform as expected for years to come (and that we know how support works if there’s ever an issue!).
With new models coming and going on a monthly basis, it’s very difficult to develop a strong confidence or standardize on an exact model, so we work with product lines, such as ThinkPad and Latitude laptops.
Monitors
A great trend has been that large monitors are becoming very affordable – none of our eyes are getting younger, and having a big display can pay big dividends in comfort and productivity throughout the work day.
If you’ve been doing 20 or 24 inch monitors as a rule, consider checking out a 27 or 32 inch option next time you need to purchase new monitors – you may be surprised and delighted.
Monitors Arms
Many monitors these days come with very basic stand options, and prices go up fast if you need a height-adjustable stand included. Keep in mind that monitor arms are more affordable than you may think, and with a very wide range of options available (single, dual, triple monitors, various heights and ranges), can be a key ingredient to achieving great ergonomics.
We’ve got preferred options that we know are durable, high quality, adjustable, and cost-effective, just let us know if you’re interested in options.
Interested in getting your business to an IT standard? Contact us at: https://pund-it.ca/contact/
Software
It takes a lot of software to get the job done – for Pund-IT, there are three major categories – “internal” software we use to do our jobs for clients (such as backup software, our business system, anti-virus, anti-spam, etc), software we support under managed services (such as Microsoft and Google), and the software clients run for themselves (such as QuickBooks desktop accounting software).
As you’d imagine, the selection process is much the same – does it do a world class job, can we manage it at scale, do clients have a positive experience, can it be depended on to not cause problems?
The biggest things that we support for clients is the suite of Microsoft software – desktop and server operating systems, Microsoft 365 and its extensive suite of abilities, and similarly, Google Workspace. Many of us have more than a decade of experience on these platforms, we work with them every day, and they power all of our clients.
For client software, that clients run for their own business, the client ultimately needs to know how to use their software. We’ll ensure we know basic administrative tasks – how to back it up, how to apply updates, etc, and if it gets into trouble, we can “ride along” on support calls to make sure you get technically accurate support from the vendor. The key here is that it’s a good fit for the client business, which has its own priorities, just as Pund-IT has its key principles.
Conclusion: Tailored Equipment for Optimal Performance
At Pund-IT, our equipment choices are driven by the specific requirements of each type of hardware. For network equipment, we prioritize monitorability, central manageability, durability, and performance. For other hardware pieces, we focus on quality and durability to ensure long-lasting reliability for our clients. When you receive equipment from Pund-IT, you can trust that it has been carefully selected to provide the best possible performance and value.
Contributing Beyond Cybersecurity
In addition to providing top-tier IT solutions, Pund-IT is committed to giving back to the community. We continue our year-round food drive to support local families in need. You can drop off canned food and non-perishable items at our office or contact us for pick-up arrangements. Mark your calendars for the big pick-up day on September 27th, 2024, and help us make a significant impact.
Thank you for trusting Pund-IT with your IT needs. We look forward to continuing to serve and protect your business with excellence.
The Pund-IT Team
