Network setup for design agency

[banannaboat]

Hello,

I'd like some advice on the best solution for a design agency network with mixed platforms. The current setup is as follows:

5 x apple macs
4 x PC's

1 x SBS 2003 server
Gigabit switch
UPS
Broadband router with wifi
12 SCSI disk RAID storage array with fibre connection to server

Why do I want to change this? well simple really, the setup above was originally built for a more web/IT/programming environment but now the IT department has gone we are purely graphics based and we have no IT knowledge to be able to service the equipment and software.

What we need is a simple storage/file sharing option that will provide fast networking speeds as the Apple Macs work on files directly off the storage facility and not locally. We don't want any of the computers to be using the SBS2003 server for any email or web, we want to ge rid of it completely.

At the moment we have a rack which is taking up too much room, noisy and heats up our store room and all the kit is very old.

I've been looking at things like the Buffalo Terrastation and Netgear ReadyNAS with 1TB storage but i don't know how fast they will be or if they could coap.

Any advice would be greatly received.

[marc77]

we have no IT knowledge to be able to service the equipment and software.

In such a case, my best advise would be to hire an IT expert. Sorry to say this, but you will not be able to manage such a business-critical network without sufficient background knowledge. You may set it up - but at first chance something "bad" happens, you are lost (and your data too ;-)

Regarding the network storage, we have used Netgear products for some projects successfully. But at least here in Germany Netgear isn't a mainstream provider of such solutions.

But personally I would go with an Apple XServe - they come with pre-installed operating system that is ready-to-work and offers many groupware functionality that should allow you sharing data as desired.

And together with the Macs you are already using, you get a consistent network. Apple also has shipped own storage solutions, but now are working together with an other manufacturer (http://www.apple.com/server/storage/). Can't say something about the quality of this new solution, but if quality is as high as the price, these boxes will last for generations ;-)