[18:50] <agroinno> Hello
[18:50] <agroinno> anybody here?
[18:51] <agroinno> I have some questions for this community
[18:51] <mneptok> yessssss?
[18:51] <agroinno> Hi
[18:51] <mneptok> 'allo
[18:51] <agroinno> aneptok
[18:51] <agroinno> Well, I work with a small organization in Albuquerque
[18:51] <agroinno> looking to upgrade its technological infrastructure
[18:52] <mneptok> OK ...
[18:52] <agroinno> I'm wondering if there are consultants/companies in the Albuquerque area that do that sort of thing, with a full understanding of FOSS principles
[18:52] <agroinno> So that the idea of free software is built into the company's philosophy and infrastructure
[18:52] <mneptok> why do you feel you need a consultancy?
[18:52] <agroinno> I is an upper management decision
[18:53] <agroinno> They have decided they'd like to go with a one-stop-shop kind of deal
[18:53] <mneptok> you need someone to convince upper management?
[18:53] <mneptok> oh.
[18:53] <agroinno> No...
[18:53] <agroinno> I need a company that can help us deploy IT infrastructure
[18:53] <mneptok> how big is this organization?
[18:53] <agroinno> but one that has an FOSS focus
[18:53] <agroinno> 14 people
[18:53] <agroinno> approximately
[18:54] <agroinno> between 14 and 18
[18:54] <mneptok> you don;t need a consultant. you need a good vendor.
[18:54] <agroinno> Could you explain more what you mean?
[18:54] <mneptok> if you were deploying 500+ desktops you would need a dedicated team to perform that roll-out.
[18:54] <agroinno> ok
[18:55] <mneptok> with 14 people, you just need a hardware vendor that is reposnive to you.
[18:55] <mneptok> *responsive
[18:56] <mneptok> IOW, there is nothing Albuquerque FLOSS Partners is going to do for a company of 14 people that Dell cannot do.
[18:56] <agroinno> well, we also have some custom software development needs
[18:56] <mneptok> for that, unless working on-site is requisite, i'd shop globally for a developer(s)
[18:56] <agroinno> ok
[18:56] <mneptok> look at System76
[18:57] <mneptok> small Ubuntu-only vendor 7h north in Denver
[18:57] <agroinno> system76
[18:57] <agroinno> we already have all the computers
[18:57] <agroinno> most of them
[18:57] <agroinno> but we need a crm solution
[18:57] <agroinno> perhaps a vpn
[18:57] <agroinno> a postfix based mail server
[18:59] <mneptok> management needs to understand that the things you are talking about are not installed like a new refrigerator. they will need ongoing maintenance.
[18:59] <agroinno> management understand that
[18:59] <mneptok> paying a consultant every time you need the mail server tweaked is not cost effective.
[18:59] <agroinno> won't be necessary
[19:00] <agroinno> i can tweak away
[19:00] <agroinno> and I'm an payroll
[19:00] <mneptok> so pardon, but why can;t you set this up?
[19:00] <agroinno> Is there an open source software vendor in albuquerque?
[19:00] <agroinno> this is my question
[19:02] <mneptok> i have no idea if there's one in the sense of an integrator. i work for a very prominent FLOSS project, and am based in ABQ. but we only care about your databases. ;)
[19:02] <mneptok> i have enough experience with SugarCRM to know that i'd rather hand over responsibilty for such assets to Salesforce. ;)
[19:03] <mneptok> and after fighting the spam wars, using Google Mail in small organizations gets more appealing.
[19:06] <agroinno> ok
[19:06] <agroinno> thanks
[19:08] <mneptok> if you need a VPN, a business-grade Internet router should have such functionality built-in
[19:09] <mneptok> good ones will offer both IPSec and PPPTP
[19:21] <agroinno> ok, thanks
[19:21] <agroinno> talk later
[19:21] <agroinno> bye
[19:54] <nick125> Good afternoon.
[20:15] <mneptok> heya