supawat1

If you are interested in Do IT Yourself then you have should investigate into Asterisk, FreePBX and Elastix and SIP Trunking. I use SIP Trunk, Broadband, Wideband Ethernet, and MPLS Services for Installers and Integrators for SIP Trunking and Asterisk Hardware, Phone Systems, IP Phones & VoIP Equipment - VoIPon Solutions for hardware

Hi Abaddon, Please check your section 10. whether the salary figure is correct or not .

I am not sure whether you have written any documents to the Head or the Business Manager to secure your IT funding? If not, I would recommend creating a proposal on improving the infrastructure and a project plan for the next 3 three years. Justify your recommendation on the system clearly, I am sure, they will think about it and approve it at the end.

What I've been reading about wireless solution in this forum so far, it's quite rare that someone would recommend any Netgear kits.

There is no IT suite at my school for a couple years now, because we have very limited space. I have to admit that I spent quite a lot of money on our infrastructure and now 70% of our devices are based on wireless. Also, mobile devices will help you get a better mark on OFSTED inspection compared to IT suite, this is according to the Head Teacher, she's also an OFSTED inspector.

You do not give a lot of details on your question there so I assume that your => WiFi Internet is Wireless Access Point; => Internet Fibre optics is your Internet connectivity; => RM server is based on CC3; => Cloud is Virtualisation? It seems that your Local Area Network is quite small anyway, so in terms of Server hardware, this should not be costing too much e.g. HP Proliant ML380e, 16GB of RAM, RAID5 SAS HDD If you do upgrade to RM CC4 then you probably have to purchase RM CC4 upgrade licences + Installation and migration fees, which could be around £5k In terms of Wireless connectivity, I assume you have un-managed wireless kits, you may need to consider wireless kits that support 11n. You should consider Wireless Access Point manufacturer such as Ruckus, Unify, Meraki, Meru, this depends on your budget. You should consider your network infrastructure also, so that you have a robust network connectivity for both wired and wireless. You may need to consider managed switches e.g. HP Procurve E series or Cisco Catalyst. £2k - 3k. In terms of visualization your server, you may consider Thin Client to replace those 30 desktops. But again, you have to invest in a more powerful server.

I wonder why the previous manager got a new job.

I am doing BSc in Information Systems & Computing and most of my modules are Business related. You do not have to choose purely Computing modules, you can choose other modules within optional modules options. Obviously compulsory modules are IT related, but it's not the end of the world if you have to learn Java or C++. It's not as hard as you think. You were mentioned about Network Manager. I believe most of Manager job vacancies required you to have some sort of Degree or at least HND with x amount of work experiences. I am the IT Manager and I've found what I've been studied very helpful especially business related modules. So, you do not have to study Computer Science for you to become a Network Manager. You can do other courses such as Business & Management, Engineering and IT. Otherwise get a job and study part time and your future employer might be able to pay for you. Goodluck

You said you have worked with hundreds of schools. Could you please give me those school contact details or at least school name? Thank you

£500 for a managed wireless system is unbelievable cheap, but you have to consider reliability also, TBH you want to have a system that once it's installed, it just there and work. We use Ruckus at school after stripped out many many Netgear unmanaged wireless access points that I inherit from the previous person. It's not cheap though, but you have to persuade someone who is in charge the budget. Apart from the wireless system itself, you should consider other cost as well e.g. Network cabling installation, extra switches and labour cost, etc.

Does anyone use Air Con Server Cabinet (Orion Air Conditioned Cabinets) or similar (APC NetShelter CX)? Could you make any suggestions, please? Thanks

Apology for starting the conversation with salary. But they seem to devalue the IT profession and I feel the Job Title does not reflect the salary as compared to other job adverts, and at the same time, they wanted to recruit a well-qualified, experienced, hands-on Director of ICT Services. However, they did not specify how qualified the person should be, as I could not find any more details apart from advert on their website. I was trying to download an application form (the link is located on the top right of the page), but instead got an Error 404 page. In my opinion, this is a high profile job, which will lead to the school IT/ICT strategy, but they do not seem to take care of how to approach and attract the best IT professional. I do not normally feel frustrated, but on this occasion, I really do.

I do not mean to be disrespectful to this job post. I like the job title, but I thought the Director should be at 40K or above? Do not you think?

We use KM at our school, and it's quite good. But I guess Sharp is cheaper, because they want to tap into Education sector.

You can just buy any PCs that you want and then add relevant drivers into Drivers section with RM Management console. I stop purchasing RM hardware and planning to move away from RM soon as the support cost is quite high.

If you live around London, have a look at Birkbeck College, they are specialize in part time courses, I used to register for a few modules at OU, but never had a chance to finish those modules due to lacking of motivation!

I would recommend you to assess your current skills first and then think about what sort of career that you want to be in e.g. Technical or Management. If you want to be in Technical field then gain some certifications i.e. MCSE, CCNA, VMWare, etc But if you want to be in Management field then you probably want to start with HND, BSc and ITIL, these sorts of qualification will help you step into the field, while you are having some technical skills as an IT Technician.

Don't get me wrong, but Sales person always say "Fear not we won't do a sales pitch", but at the end of the day, you want to sales something

Have you used https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/ ? If it's failed, I would recommend you to contact CLEO. I'm not sure whether they manage your DNS, if they do ask them to update your TXT Value and CNAME whether it's autodiscover.

You are totally correct, without no network connectivity, there is no point of having any networks at all. Why were they dreaming of having everything based on cloud, but they can not even afford a couple of decent network switches, an internet access and a router? You can only do so much and It's no point of stress yourself out if there is no IT strategic to support your work.

My advice is to get your Network Switch sort out ASAP and check your network cable whether this is based on CAT5 or CAT5e. If you have a good network infrastructure then you can move into AD, DNS and DHCP and File Server, Web Server etc.

Be patient and listen to them carefully when they say "My projector is not talking to the whiteboard"! Or I could not remember where I saved my file

Could anyone give me some advice on setting up an Asterisk Telephone System, please? So far, I have successfully installed the actual Elastix Asterisk software onto my small server. I have got a SIP Trunk account from VoIP Unlimited and using our existing broadband connection via our EiS Broadband - Kent Service Public Network. I think I have entered all details correctly, but it does not seem to be registered with the SIP Trunk account at VoIP Unlimited. I have asked the technical team at EiS to open the UDP 5060 port and allow VoIP Unlimited server IP addresses range to pass through. My internal IP address for the PBX Server is 10.57.24.50 and DNS is set to 127.0.0.1 and default gateway is 10.57.24.1 The communication between internal phone calls are connected successfully, but not outside. Are there any other settings that I need to configure or consider both internally and externally? Thank you very much for your suggestions in advance, Supawat

Ceiling/wall data Socket for your Projector. A nice to have for your projector's management system

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