NS Optimum

[torvalds]

I've started work at a large secondary school, coming from IT support in the private sector, and am shocked to see the rubbish quality equipment NS optimum supplies.
I've suggested other well known companies available, who, from past experience, supply excellent quality, to the network manager, but she still insists that we use NS Optimum (maybe she has shares in the company?!).

Problems experienced so far....

Staff Laptops (ASUS rebrands) less than a year old are falling to bits - chassis cracks, motherboard failures, drive failures, to name a few.

Desktop Computers - no metal 'blank plate' behind plastic one, so kids are sticking their hands in disconnecting cables, stealing RAM.

Appaling Network Installations - CAT5 cable!, rubbish non-screwed-to-wall trunking, not labeling data points, going home half way through a job.

Warrenty on their products - No ETA when items will be returned, products returned with same fault, etc...

So as you can see, few problems so far!!!!

Rant over!

[Geoff]

who is 'she'?

[torvalds]

The Network Manager

[Geoff]

Document the problems and confront her about it once you have amassed enough evidence.

[Ric_]

Surely some form of tendering has been used at some point since the order value will have been above the threshold for requiring three bids. Best value should then have been used - this does not mean cheapest, it means a balnce of quality and cost.

There is also good reason to question whether the number of problems is increasing the team's workload unnecessarily.

[Midget]

I was an NSO customer, and found them to be pretty good for alot of things, never tried their laptops though.

Originally Posted by torvalds

Desktop Computers - no metal 'blank plate' behind plastic one, so kids are sticking their hands in disconnecting cables, stealing RAM.

Was that the Black and Silver cases? They are a bit 5h1t3, which is why they are changing them in the next few months and they do offer other cases which are better.

Originally Posted by torvalds

Appaling Network Installations - CAT5 cable!, rubbish non-screwed-to-wall trunking, not labeling data points, going home half way through a job.

Who did you get to do that? Was it a guy called Craig by any chance? I had the same problem, and he's since left the company.

Originally Posted by torvalds

Warrenty on their products - No ETA when items will be returned, products returned with same fault, etc...

I never had any problems like this.

Who is your account manager?

[ChrisN-0123]

We used NSO years ago and they were really good quality for desktop/tower computers. Motherboards were Intel own brand and had proper intel heatsinks etc.

I cannot comment on latest equipment as we are using Dell now since I took over as NM.

*shudder* at your problems, that is really shoddy. Your NM would have to do a lot of work to change suppliers so maybe she just doesnt like that for that reason? Also staff are friendly at NSO.

Hopefully NSO will improve for you since they're not too bad. State your issues to them when you call to return faulty equipment. And mention to your NM about the unlabelled network sockets as she will have to deal with that.

[Diello]

Bad experiences with them are par for the course: Existing thread NS Optimum

[laserblazer]

They appear to have a new Rep. who claims he hasn't seen the instructions to remove our details from their database. Luckily the staff who would have given him my mobile number are on strike today.

[torvalds]

Another problem that we have with NS Optimum, is that they choose to use cases which have power packs that include the 'voltage selector switch'. They state that they are a 'Total ICT Solutions Provider For Schools And Colleges', so surely supplying power packs without this 'damaging' feature is a no-brainer!!! From past experience, both Viglen and RM can manage to do this!

[Alis_Klar]

Hi,

We used NSO to outfit 2 rooms. The bigger case they do are great, very sturdy but the narrow cases are pants. The picture we saw before purchase did not show the huge ventilation holes to the top that kids could drop things into. Fortunately this rooms is monitored by a teacher who takes looking after the room seriously. I take the point about best value not meaning cheapest as NSO was not my choice unfortunately i made the mistake of shortlisting them and them my boss simply picked the cheap (and nasty) option (i wanted to get an all in one or HP Workcenter solution as desktop footprint was a big issue). We are now paying the price as we have sent back 9 out of the 25 machines with faulty power supplies in the 1st year.

[torvalds]

We have both those types of cases in our school, both, I believe, are not suited for the school environment. We have had problems in the past with the 'large type', in that the rubber feet come off instantly if they are moved by the kids, and also the problem with the weak front plastic blank plate. I also have a problem with their build quality, in that they don't use cable ties for 'excess' internal cables - they just tie them into knots!!

[cookie_monster]

@ Alis_Klar: A2Z Computer supplied us with some of those cases three years ago and they're still untouched, they seem to be very tough. I wouldn't have them without a CDROM to use as a blanking plate though as the alternate blanking plate was very flimsy.

@ torvalds: i agree about the feet the little rubber jobs are fine normally but students just will not stop moving the computers around and they just fall off. Why they need to move the base uuit when the flat screen monitor will swing and direction


So far Stone seem to provide the best cases but even they haven't persuaded a case manufacturer to fit metal blanking plates, surely if they did they could shift a million + cases to the education sector every year.

[torvalds]

I agree that the students shouldn't be moving the computers, it's a classroom management issue! The best machines we have had in the past were the 'Viglen Contenders' - the cases they used were extremely robust (re-engineered chieftec), with a metal blanking plate behind the platic one, and no 'blowable' power pack. Unfortuantely, Viglen stopped using them a couple of years ago, and now use the company (Chenbro) that supplies cases to Stone and RM. Maybe NS Optimum should start using this manufacturer !?!