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Akens Engineering Associates Gains Competitive Advantage with Enterprise-Grade SSD Solution
Download our story of success with Akens Engineering Associates
The Company
Civil Engineering and Surveying Company | 8 Employees
Akens Engineering Associates is a family-owned business centrally located in the greater Harrisburg area in PA. Akens Engineering Associates has been delivering design, permitting, surveying, and other services for subdivisions, land development, and mining since 1983. As a result, Akens Engineering required IT functions that helped source the right materials, support their local and remote teams, and go a degree further for their clients.
Company Objectives
Akens Engineering Associates needed to quickly support the growing global demand. The core goal was to extend their capabilities via a secure, scalable platform. In order to achieve maximum efficiency with the kind of superhero work they perform, they needed a first-class and up-to-date server network. Their computers, software, servers, cabling, and cybersecurity all needed to work together.
The Situation
Akens Engineering underwent an analysis, based on their current requirements and future growth plans, and we provided a range of options for them to consider. We were proactive with our recommendations to Akens Engineering and monitored the age of its devices. This was to prevent any potential server failure due to aging hardware and to ensure the client was benefitting from the productivity and efficiency benefits that come with running on up-to-date devices.
The Challenge
The demand for hosting services has grown rapidly in recent years. This increase in demand often leads to a larger requirement for storage to ensure that they can meet the needs of their clients. Sometimes this translates to the deployment of new on-premise servers or upscaling their existing servers.
Akens Engineering Associates was having some system availability and performance issues, and it was believed that a new server with SSD hard drives would help to alleviate the problems. The client’s experience with their current platform was frustrating for both local and remote users, as it had performance issues, connectivity issues, and data management concerns. In short, the current setup no longer suited the client’s needs.
The Solution
An example of the proactive support that the client needed was when Akens Engineering was informed that their previously reliable server was aging and a replacement was crucial. Balancing the objectives and requirements of Akens Engineering, MicroXpress recommended and installed a brand-new Windows 2019 server that would future-proof their operations. We planned the server installation around the needs of Akens Engineering to minimize downtime, and we were able to migrate all their data during the process. The end result was a smooth migration and better performance with the SSD hard drives.
The Results
Akens Engineering can now benefit from a more modern architecture with greater resilience. As their IT partner, MicroXpress appreciates Akens Engineering Associates’ willingness to go through this transformation that represents a major shift in their expectations of how their technology and IT infrastructure should work.
IT security is another aspect of the service that Akens Engineering received. Vice President of Akens Engineering, Rick Caranfa, expressed a need to reduce downtime wherever possible. Assessing the main areas of risk, Akens Engineering realized they needed a network of first-class security solutions around the business.
”We had a geotechnical firm that was hijacked when they were in the middle of one of our projects and lost all of their data.”
Bolstered by industry best practices in cyber security and IT strategy, Akens Engineering’s daily operations are running smoothly in the face of increased cyber risk. A key part of this was the implementation of a backup and disaster recovery plan. In addition to installing and configuring a high-performing backup strategy, MicroXpress manages and monitors Akens Engineering’s backups by ensuring they receive routine backups as standard, regular testing, and more.
“Making sure we have the right cybersecurity systems in place is extremely important. That’s one of the things they really helped us with; making sure that we’re safe.”
With versions of Akens’ Engineering server data backed up securely, their data is secured from human errors, on-site disasters, cyber threats, and accidental data loss. No matter the mistake or disaster, Akens Engineering can retrieve the latest backed-up version of their server data within a short period of time after being notified. This means they will always receive the maximum uptime.
As a small civil engineering company with about eight employees, Akens Engineering wanted to work with a partner that could help them manage their IT.
MicroXpress works with Akens Engineering in a managed service capacity, meaning their IT is monitored and supported around the clock. Akens Engineering is now supported by knowledge, experience, and skills.
”Every once in a while, somebody gets in there and does something and we need to pull a backup of AutoCAD file from the previous day, we’ll just call MicroXpress and tell them we need this restored, and they’ll take care of it. ”
MicroXpress makes complex IT simple. With years of high-end hosting experience, MicroXpress assists clients with complex infrastructure requirements by providing reliable and dedicated servers. MicroXpress ensures our clients are able to separate themselves from the competition by delivering a high level of service and continuously examining metrics associated with server performance. We continuously explore how technology innovations and IT investments can improve the services we offer our clients.
Aware of the benefits of adopting enterprise-grade SSDs across an infrastructure, MicroXpress explores how our offerings can improve the overall performance and experience. When companies are looking for an expert to help with performance challenges, they turn to PA-based managed IT provider MicroXpress. President Craig Beam has more than 30 years of experience delivering end-to-end IT services in the Central PA area. His team is often called in when companies have additional needs they can’t address alone in server performance and management.
For reference information or to learn more about this client and the managed IT services solution provided, contact us today.
MicroXpress has been providing professional IT services to Central PA businesses since 1989. Watch this brief video to find out the Top Five Reasons so many local businesses are switching to MicroXpress for their IT support.
