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Software Supported

Cnik support many different software packages.  We predominantly support Microsoft server, operating systems and application software and that is where the majority of our knowledge and experience lies.  Cnik are a Microsoft Register Partner and a Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist.

Please click on each of the links below to get more details on the main software systems that Cnik support or go to the official Microsoft site from the links on the right of this page.  We support many other packages so please contact us for further information.

Individual Software Systems

Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS)

The Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) is a package of Microsoft Core Server Technologies aimed at delivering value for money and high levels of service for small to medium sized business. The standard edition delivers the core requirements of a Windows Server 2003 machine for data storage and security plus an email server (Microsoft Exchange 2003) and Intranet/Document Management server (WSS 3.0) to enable your business.  The Premium Edition adds an enterprise software firewall (Microsoft ISA Server 2004), and a Database Server (Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Workgroup edition).  Additional server applications such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM (SBS Edition), Terminal Services, financial application or enterprise AV products can added to the main server or installed on additional servers as required.

SBS enables all employees to communicate if they are in or out of the office by providing access to Microsoft Office Outlook data (emails, calendar and contacts) to laptops, PDAs, Smartphones, or home PCs.  It also allows access to files at work from home via its Remote Web Workspace feature.

SBS also offers an excellent administration console, reporting functions, and some extra business functions such as a network fax facility. Small Business Server is aimed at business with between 5 and 75 staff. If you have a previous version of SBS then Cnik can assist you with the upgrade to the latest version (SBS 2003 R2).  Cnik are a qualified Microsoft Small Business Server Specialist.

Microsoft Server 2003

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is the core Microsoft Server operating system. It delivers many of the core components that are required to run a network infrastructure for a medium sized business and comes in a number of different editions. The right edition for your business can be determined by analysis of your needs.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003/2007

Microsoft Exchange Server is Microsoft's enterprise class email server that integrates fully with Microsoft Office Outlook to give you email, calendar, contacts and tasks to help you communicate and organise you business day.  It is the Exchange Server that communicates with your laptop, PDA or Smartphone to give you full communications on the move and allows you to login to your email from home out of office hours.  It is an enterprise business tool that is also suitable for the small to medium business market because it is priced per employee.  As well as being an Enterprise server capable of managing the email system for thousands of staff it is also a core component of Microsoft Small Business Server allowing the same systems to be available to companies with as few as five staff.

Microsoft SQL 2000/2005

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is Microsoft's enterprise level database server. Many applications store data in a database to aid quick and intelligent retrieval of vital business information from applications such as financial systems or CRM systems.  Once a database such as Microsoft Access is used by more than five people or contains a large amount of data it can become very slow and the business suffers as a consequence.  Microsoft SQL Server is scalable to be able to handle millions of transactions a second and is highly available making it suitable for critical business systems.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is Microsoft's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application from their business systems team.  It is the first of the 'Dynamics' range of business system products to be built from scratch by Microsoft using their .Net framework.  Now at version 4.0 it is an ideal solution for companies running other Microsoft technologies and wanting to take better care of their customers while tracking and closing new sales.  CRM systems have had a bad press in some quarters since becoming the 'next big thing' a few years ago.  Many CRM system implementations failed to deliver on expectations and became white elephants but many of the reasons for this are similar to the reasons for other IT and IS failures: poor definition of the requirements for the system; too many bells and whistles; over complexity; lack of training of users; and poor project management.  Microsoft CRM tackles some of these issues by keeping the system relatively simple, using core Microsoft technologies and working like Microsoft Office does (so users are already familiar with how it works).  Microsoft CRM comes in a Workgroup Edition for Small Businesses of up to 5 Users and is competitively priced while it can also scale up to 25,000 users. 

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0)

WSS 3.0 is probably Microsoft's best kept secret, well perhaps not a secret, but it is the exception value it delivers for a free product is not very widely understood and is very hard to beat.  Did we say free?  Yes we did.  It is free in terms of the fact that you do not need to pay any additional licensing fees if you already have a Windows 2003 Server and you need only a simple or standalone installation. 

So what is Windows SharePoint Services then and how can it be any good if it is free? 

WSS 3.0 is the core product that supports Microsoft's range of applications for:

  • Document Storage and Management

  • Team Collaboration on projects or initiatives

  • Information Management and Communication

WSS 3.0 is the base product on which Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) sits and derives much of it's functionality but if you don't need the full licensed product then WSS 3.0 is still a very good product for small, medium or even large companies.

Cnik have staff qualified as Microsoft Certified Technology Specialists (MCTS) in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and can deliver Consultation and Implementation services to any company looking and implementing a SharePoint product for the first time or upgrading from a previous version.  Please see our detailed SharePoint page for more information.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007)

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is Microsoft's document management, team collaboration, Information Management and communications solution.  Please see our dedicated SharePoint page for further details.

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 is the current server based version of Microsoft's Virtualisation technology.  Virtualisation allows multiple 'virtual servers' to run on a single physical hardware server and thereby share the physical resources of that hardware server.  The 'virtual' servers act and appear on the network like physically separate servers and are ideal for hosting low resource intensive server applications, testing, legacy applications or for server consolidation.  For more information see the Microsoft Virtual Server site or contact Cnik.

VMware ESX Server and Infrastructure 3

VMware are the global leaders in server virtualisation.  Cnik are VMware VIP Professional Partners and can provide consultancy, software purchasing and support on VMware products.  Please see our dedicated VMware page for further details. 

Symantec Backup Exec

Symantec’s proven, award-winning solutions help ensure that information as well as desktops, laptops, and servers are always secure, well managed, and accessible in Microsoft Windows environments. And they make it easy to accommodate your changing business requirements.  There is a great range of products to suit all business needs including continuous data protection of all data via disk based backup options.  For more details contact Cnik with your requirements or see the Symantec website.

Sophos Antivirus Protection

Sophos are a premier Anti-Virus and anti-malware company little known outside the professional IT market and yet their products are some of the best regarded within the IT industry.  Sophos don't do consumer products but instead excel at focusing what businesses need and delivering excellent products with great customer service.  Sophos Small Business Security Suite is an excellent package of anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-spam services that protect the servers, workstations, laptops and email systems for small businesses whether they be windows, Mac, Unix or Linux based.  Sophos Endpoint Security and Control protects all aspects of larger businesses network endpoints for a single per user fee and additional products protect mail servers and web access.  For more information on how Sophos can help protect your business please contact Cnik.

For a 30 day free evaluation of Sophos Endpoint Security and Control click here

Websense

Websense is a premier web usage monitoring package that monitors, blocks and reports on user activity on the Internet.  It is excellent for blocking Social Networking sites like Bebo or Facebook and returning employees to productivity.

Related resources

Software comes in so many different forms that no one company can know all products well.  Cnik predominately supports Microsoft based software for the main business applications and enterprise systems but also has knowledge of other products so please give us a call and we'll let you know if we can support you.