Intelligent Servers: BlogBloghttps://intelligentservers.co.uk/Fri, 29 Mar 2024 13:27:34 GMTurn:store:1:blog:post:47https://intelligentservers.co.uk/andy-hughes-selected-for-insider-medias-yorkshire-42-under-42Andy Hughes Selected for Insider Media's Yorkshire 42 Under 42<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/42 Under 42 Blog Images.png" alt="Page Header 42 Under 42" width="100%" height="Auto" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Intelligent Servers is delighted to announce that our very own, Andy Hughes, has been highlighted as one of Yorkshire’s 42 Under 42!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The night is for a select audience of successful entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders at what is one of the best events for unearthing young business talent. Insider provides the evening to try and pre-empt who will be the leading business figures in ten years’ time, as the average age of Insider’s Power and Rich List is 52.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Andy has helped to make fantastic strides within the refurbished IT hardware field. As an IT manager, Andy has experienced first hand what a tedious process it can be to build up your server specs by comparing data sheets to find out which components are compatible! As a result, he decided to create a tool that would do all the leg work for the customer.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Intelligent Servers online configuration tool, that Andy built, checks all compatible components with your chosen hardware and allows you to select from a drop down and build your configuration within the blink of an eye!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MUF3Any0yIrtSwns3baa8xLNA7vhBLt6Y2JHPqSm9gV2SBE8exNQh30on0L5232p1cmvZ_i2t_FoKrvrqwmpUcGd5wf4bsAP427W5luLHc7KwrLL7rbQaLlNz11XbzH9OXrq9A7pfp7Z2dNxDw" alt="Config Tool" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not only this, but Andy’s efforts and hard work have made Intelligent Servers Europe’s leading supplier of refurbished HPE 3PAR Storage! It won't be long before we’re Europe’s leading supplier of all refurbished IT hardware, as Andy continues to push the team to be the very best in the game.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Andy is thrilled to have been selected; “Intelligent Servers wouldn’t be where it is today without the present and past staff, who have given their best and most to support the success of the company!&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We’re very lucky to be in our office now - Intelligent Servers began in my mum’s front box bedroom and the servers used for company emails, file services and accounting were running up in her attic. She nearly killed me when the electricity bill came to £450 for the month!&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Fortunately, she let me stay so that the company could grow to the successful business it is now.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The event took place on 27th April 2022 at the Royal Armouries, Leeds.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/42 Under 42 Blog Images (2).png" alt="Event Images 42 Under 42" width="100%" height="Auto" /></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:46https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-finalists-for-it-europa-channel-awardsIntelligent Servers Finalists for IT Europa Channel Awards<p><img src="/images/uploaded/2.png" alt="" width="100%" height="Auto" /></p> <p dir="ltr">We are delighted to announce Intelligent Servers have been shortlisted as a finalist for the IT Europa Channel Awards.&nbsp;</p> <p>The IT Europa Channel Awards recognise and reward excellence in European software development and IT and telecoms solutions. It highlights companies across Europe who have demonstrated their ability to provide industry-leading solutions for their customers.</p> <p>Intelligent Servers have been shortlisted finalists in both <strong>Enterprise Solution of the Year</strong> and <strong>Best CSR Model</strong>.</p> <p>Intelligent Servers have been nominated for our work during the pandemic, to aid a video conferencing company that required more data centre infrastructure and bandwidth to deal with the influx of conference calls and ensure 99.99% uptime.&nbsp;</p> <p>The company was looking for the same M1000e Enclosure and M620 Blade configurations they already had in their data centres, so the new hardware could quickly and easily integrate with their current infrastructure.&nbsp;</p> <p>As the customer needed to implement the changes during lockdown, they were finding other companies' lead times were too long. However, with Intelligent Servers having over 250,000 parts in stock we were able to configure, test and deliver within 2 days of their first order.&nbsp;</p> <p>Being so impressed by the first order, the company made a total 7 more orders to deploy in their data centres across the UK.&nbsp;</p> <p>The final orders consisted of eight refurbished Dell PowerEdge M1000e Enclosures each housing sixteen Dell PowerEdge M620 Blade Servers resulting in a total of 128 Blades. The total cost for all of the refurbished hardware was £160,000 inc vat.&nbsp;</p> <p>Finally, the customer got a 3 year warranty on all orders and components, as well as remote set-up and support, so they can contact our team with over 10 years of experience any time they need, even for the smallest problems!&nbsp;</p> <p>By choosing quality refurbished hardware from Intelligent Servers, the video conferencing company saved hundreds of thousands of pounds on the project compared to if they had gone directly to Dell for new hardware. This included a 70% cost saving on Memory and a massive 93% saving on SSDs. Our team also includes Dell hardware experts who are able to give professional technical advice and support.</p> <p>Furthermore, buying refurbished hardware from Intelligent Servers offers a sustainable solution to preventing tech waste – as 85% typically goes to landfills. Reusing IT hardware prevents it from going to landfill and reduces the requirement to extract raw materials necessary to create new products. This helps to contribute to our <strong>Corporate Social Responsibility</strong>, by encouraging businesses to make both economical and environmentally friendly purchases for a more sustainable future.&nbsp;</p> <p>The awards event takes place at<strong> Royal Lancaster, London on 19th May 2022.</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:45https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-introduces-freshdesk-remote-support-serviceIntelligent Servers Introduces FreshDesk: Remote Support Service<p dir="ltr"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/2.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have recently launched a new ticket system for customer support with FreshDesk! This new system will allow for our customers to browse support articles with frequently asked technical questions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not only this, but any customer with a 3 year warranty will be able to create a ticket for quick support from our technical team including deploying, configuring, connecting or migrating your hardware. The ticket will be answered by a specialist of that specific hardware!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2 dir="ltr">Meet the Technical Team</h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So you might be thinking - who will be running to my aid when I need technical support? Well, you’ll be in the very capable hands of either <strong>Dave</strong>, <strong>Bryn</strong>, <strong>Owain</strong> or <strong>Andy</strong>.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/FreshDesk Blog Image.png" alt="" width="100%" height="Auto" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What products/ brands do you have the most knowledge about?&nbsp;</span></h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Dave:</strong> HPE and Dell are my specialist areas!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Bryn:</strong> Whilst my knowledge covers a broad range of products we sell and isn’t vendor or product specific, if I had to pick my strongest areas it would probably be HPE and Dell! I particularly thrive when working with HPE Servers and Storage (SAN or DAS).</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Owain:</strong> Whilst I have a wide range of product knowledge and like to dabble in a bit of everything, I mainly work with Cisco and HPE servers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">How have you developed that knowledge?&nbsp;</span></h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Dave:</strong> I learnt quite a bit from Andy (our CEO), but I’m also self-taught and did a lot of my own research due to my general interest in IT and hardware! I took ADV GNVQ IT in the 90's - and now refreshing my knowledge by doing Cisco CCNA.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Bryn:</strong> Even though I took an IT A-level, I have learnt from asking as many questions as I can and through troubleshooting. Once I had heard out the proper procedure I could then get my hands on the hardware and carry out the proper actions. Saying that, every day can be very different in the technical world, so you always need to be flexible - and a great problem solver! I’m also working towards my CCNA Networking Qualification as there’s always more to learn. Not to mention, Andy has been a great mentor and provided help with professional and personal growth!&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Owain:</strong> I have taken advantage of the training courses available at Intelligent Servers with CCNA as well as some internal training courses. However, I have always taken a keen interest in PCs and playing with them at home.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">How long have you worked for Intelligent Servers?</span></h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Dave:</strong> About 5 years</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Bryn:</strong> 2 and a half years</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Owain:</strong> 3 years</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What got you interested in IT?&nbsp;</span></h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Dave:</strong> I’ve always been interested in IT from a young age - I was in fact the one to get Andy into IT!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Bryn:</strong> I have always had an interest in IT throughout school, particularly the physical and the troubleshooting aspects. I built my first home storage server at 19 and have been hooked on Enterprise Hardware since!&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Owain:</strong> I’ve always loved gaming and building my own PC at home since my teen years, and I have been playing with PCs and compute hardware ever since!&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What sort of requests from customers have you had on our new FreshDesk system?&nbsp;</span></h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Dave:</strong> I mainly handle queries regarding Dell and HPE, but these can cover a wide range! We get a lot of set-up queries and requests for assistance when something doesn’t seem to be working as expected. I mainly handle troubleshooting. As all our products go through rigorous testing before they leave us, so we always have their tests to reflect back on to help with what might be the problem!&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Bryn:</strong> These can range from customers just needing advice on what they need to go forward and get their solution back up and running, to customers wanting remote setup and guidance (e.g. OS installations Raid Configurations). Some customers may even need us remote into their server or solution and diagnose an issue and provide a solution for them. As long as it’s within their 3-year warranty, we can help them with anything they need!&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Owain:</strong> Everything from latest firmware upgrades to help with configuring the servers they have bought from us.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">How many tickets have you answered so far?</span>&nbsp;</h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Dave:</strong> More than I can count!&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Bryn:</strong> The FreshDesk system is still new to me so not too many! At this point in time I would say around 10.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Owain:</strong> So far I’ve answered about 20 tickets!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:44https://intelligentservers.co.uk/how-to-make-the-perfect-work-from-home-setupHow to Make the Perfect Work From Home Setup<p><img src="/images/uploaded/WFH Blog images (1).png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Like many others over the last couple of years, you may have found yourself within the tango of hybrid working.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So, you have most likely felt the disappointment of returning to your single-screen home set up, possibly restrained to the sofa, laptop in, well, lap, sneaking in a few peaks at Netflix, but ultimately not getting a whole lot done? We feel your pain.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Fortunately, that’s exactly why we’re here - to give you all the best tips and tricks, and help build your best WFH set up for your needs.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h2><strong><span style="font-size: 26pt;">How to create your setup</span></strong></h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We know getting your latest binge show in and having snacks nearby is nice, but a table and chair is a must have. Slouching over your laptop in bed might be a treat, but it can cause strain on your back, neck and eyes!&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ensure that you have a chair that provides good lumbar support, and the top of your monitor is at eye level, ideally 50cm away.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">WFH can definitely be distracting! To avoid being too tempted by distractions, taking regular breaks around every 30 minutes to stretch or drinking some water is recommended.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now for the good part…</span></p> <p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/WFH Blog images (2).png" alt="Ralph likes to make WFH a little difficult... Including moving my second screen for more sitting room" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p>&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 9pt;">Ralph likes to make WFH a little difficult... Including moving my second screen for more sitting room.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Laptops</span></h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Laptops are great when you're on the go - with a system, monitor, mouse and keyboard in one! An absolute score for the average hybrid worker. They can be easily moved and worked from in transit (long commutes are definitely to be taken advantage of), but easily hooked up to a second monitor for the ideal home set-up.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h3 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dell Latitude Series</span></h3> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Dell Latitude series is proof that business notebooks aren't all the same! The 14-inch productivity laptop is one of the sleekest of its kind, with a slim and lightweight, 3.4-pound chassis that makes the device an excellent companion on the road.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Dell Latitude series is industry leading security, manageability and reliability, a 14” business-class laptop.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With features like 9-hour battery and Express Charge, which gives workers up to an 80% charge in less than an hour, workers can seamlessly move between their desks and meetings.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These laptops come with an Intel Core i5 processor and Windows 10 64-bit pre-installed and fully activated, making it perfectly capable of handling your workload.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/laptops">Browse the Latitude Series</a></span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HP Elitebook Series</span></h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The HP Elitebook Series comes with an ultrathin design, whilst still being a professional, business class laptop.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Its sleek design makes it easily transportable, empowering users to create, connect, and collaborate, using enterprise-class performance technology that helps keep you productive in and out of the office. It also has an extended battery life, making it great for on the go!&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These laptops come with an Intel Core i5 processor and Windows 10 64-bit pre-installed and fully activated.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">(Also, you can get up to 50% of battery life in just 30 minutes of charging with an HP fast charging battery!)</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-laptops">Browse the Elitebook Series</a></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /><br /></span></p> <h2><strong><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Desktops</span></strong></h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We know that some of you love a good old PC. But, WFH certainly raises some limitations with space. In which case, you can’t go wrong with a desktop Mini PC. These take up minimal space and can immediately be hooked up to dual monitors with a USB Keyboard &amp; Mouse. This certainly creates the ultimate office-from-office feel!&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h3><span style="font-size: 26pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HP EliteDesk 800 G2</span>&nbsp;</span></h3> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The HP EliteDesk 800 G2 allows you to blast through your most demanding workloads thanks to the uncompromising performance of 6th Gen Intel Core, Intel HD 530 Graphics, and optional high-end discrete graphics and HP Turbo Drive.</span>&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You will also have the reassurance of a PC that goes through 120,000 hours of HP Total Test Process and is designed to pass MIL-STD testing.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Plus, by buying through Intelligent Servers you can configure your own desktop to have powerful SSDs or more memory, depending on your requirement!&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All Desktops come with Windows 10 Pro 64-bit pre-installed and fully activated.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-elitedesk-800-g2-sff-pc">Browse the HP EliteDesk 800 G2</a></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Workstations</span></h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Workstations certainly pack a punch. As they are much bigger by design, they are not the most ideal for a WFH set up! However, with the extra power they hold, they are suited to more demanding workloads, such as video editing or engineering.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p> <h3 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dell Precision Tower 7910</span></h3> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Whilst workstations may have a larger chassis, you’ll be able to power through even the most demanding workloads with the Dell Precision Tower 7910</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The split chassis design allows for better airflow, with improved acoustics, making the serviceability unbeaten.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Dell Precision Tower 7910 has undergone rigorous testing, so that there’s no software applications that cannot be run. Your workload will know no bounds.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/dell-t7910-workstation-v3">Browse the Dell Precision Tower 7910</a></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <h3 dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HP Z840 Workstation</span></h3> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The HP Z840 Workstation will expand your capabilities, with a system that lets you configure and reconfigure with ease to create your perfect solution. Allow yourself to concentrate on your work, not your workstation, as you experience powerful performance, whisper-quiet computing, and tool-less access in a conveniently compact design.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Build the HP Z840 Workstation the way you want with multiple SATA and SAS RAID configuration options that support a wide range of high-performance, high capacity storage solutions.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Always know you’re a step ahead with eight DDR4 DIMM slots, delivering up to 1TB and integrated 2400MHz memory.</span></p> <p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/WFH Blog images (3).png" alt="Jax hates working from home...But it's nice to have extra time together! " width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Jax hates working from home...But it's nice to have extra time together!&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Which is right for you?</span></h2> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You’ll want to think about your space and mobility limitations, as well as what is necessary for your workload.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you are still finding yourself scratching your head about which to choose, that’s where we come in!&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Just give our team of specialists (with over 10 years of experience) a call or email and they’ll be able to talk you through the options and put through your purchase.</span></p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d7d35c1e-7fff-8fa0-c634-ecfe98d87850" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /><strong>Call</strong>: 01423 223430 &nbsp; <strong>Email</strong>: sales@intelligentservers.co.uk &nbsp; <strong>Live</strong> <strong>chat</strong>: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm</span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:43https://intelligentservers.co.uk/humanitarian-aid-for-ukraineHumanitarian Aid for Ukraine<p dir="ltr"><img src="/images/uploaded/Ukraine Blog images (1).png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With the current situation in Ukraine, the team here at Intelligent Servers have been eager to do what we can to help. After racking our brains about what we can do to aid, one of our old colleagues, Roman, who grew up and still had family living in Ukraine, reached out to ask for assistance.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Roman has been collecting as much funds, food, medical supplies, and camping equipment to donate to a Polish humanitarian depot which will directly support Ukrainians affected by the war.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After hearing from Roman, we wanted to do anything we could to help. As a result, we decided to set up a food drive in the office.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Everyone chipped in with cash donations, and a couple of office volunteers headed to the shops to get as much as possible&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="/images/uploaded/Ukraine Blog images (2).png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The team managed to raise enough to buy a car full of supplies, and in total, Roman collected 31 palettes of supplies. We also had enough money left over to help cover the costs of shipping the goods to Ukraine and donated the use of our vans to help Roman collect and transport more supplies.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We are glad to have gotten involved in these donations, but sincerely hope that all Ukrainian people are safe and that support for the cause continues.</span></p> <p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Ukraine Blog images (3).png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:42https://intelligentservers.co.uk/network-configuration-by-intelligent-servers-to-be-rolled-out-to-19-data-centres-around-the-world-2Network Configuration by Intelligent Servers to be rolled out to 19 Data Centres around the World<p>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Network Configuration by Intelligent Servers to be rolled out to 19 Data Centres around the World-lo.jpeg" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We’ve just completed a new Network Topology POC this week, for an existing customer, that will now add hardware and connectivity redundancy from the customer’s ISP (Cogent) to the customers’ existing HPE C7000 Chassis, that are full of HPE BL460c Gen8 Blade Servers, located across 19x Data Centres around the world.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Current Setup</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The customer’s current setup consisted of 10Gbit Cogent ISP Links directly connected into the back of the HPE Virtual Connect Switches with a static route, routing a /24 public address range down each 10Gbit link.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The customer’s current setup offers no hardware or routing redundancy if the customer has a 10Gbit ISP Link, HPE Virtual Connect Switch, Cable or SFP failure.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For example, when a HPE Virtual Connect Switch failure occurs, which has happened recently, the Data Centre Remote hands have to be called and then have to physically move the 10Gbit link from the failed HPE Virtual Connect Switch, into a spare port on the working HPE Virtual Connect Switch. The customer then has to temporarily reconfigure the HPE Virtual Connect Domain Server Profiles for each HPE BL460c Gen8 Blade Server that are connected to the VLAN Network on the failed switch.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once the failed HPE Virtual Connect has been replaced, Data Centre Remote hands have to swap the 10Gbit link back into the replacement HPE Virtual Connect Switch. The HPE Virtual Connect Domain Server Profiles have to be reconfigured again, back to the original VLAN Network.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All of the above causes long periods of downtime to each HPE BL460c Gen8 Blade Server connected to the failed HPE Virtual Connect Switch.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>New Setup</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The customer came to Intelligent Servers and asked if we could redesign the network configuration to allow for hardware, Layer 2 and Layer 3 routing failure, ensuring that each HPE BL460c Gen8 Blade Server has a redundant path, to and from the Internet, in the event of hardware or ISP Uplink failure.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With the customers’ requirements in mind, we created and tested a new network topology using Cisco Nexus 3064PQ-10GX acting as the Core switches for each Data Centre location, with the following features enabled:</span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Inter-VLAN Routing</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">LACP (Link Aggregated Control Protocol)</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">vPC (Virtual Port Channel)</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol)</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/New-network-Config-diagram_1000.jpeg" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With these features enabled and configured correctly, the customer can now afford to have a single hardware failure, or multiple uplink failure at both the ISP (Cogent), Core (Cisco Nexus Switches), and/or the Access Layer (HPE Virtual Connect Switches).</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/networking-config-diagram_1000.jpeg" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Switch Hardware, ISP 10Gbit Uplink, HPE Virtual Connect Uplink, Layer 2/Layer 3 redundancy and ECMP (Equal Cost Multi-Pathing) is now in place, because of the configurations listed below, that have been tested using a Virtual Lab (EVE-NG) as well as been tested using the same Physical Hardware in our Intelligent Servers test facility:</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Cogent (ISP) have created LAG (Link Aggregation Group) bundles of the 10Gbit ISP Links which provide both Uplink Failure Redundancy and ECMP (Equal Cost Multi-Pathing) from Cogent to the customer’s core Cisco Nexus Switches.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Cogent (ISP) now routes the customers /24 Public IP Subnets to the VRRP Virtual Gateway IP Address of the 10Gbit WAN Peering Links /29 Subnet configured on the Cisco Nexus Switches.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Each customer /24 Public Subnet now has an SVI VLAN Interface on each Cisco Nexus Switch, with the first IP address of the /24 subnet configured as the VRRP Virtual Gateway IP Address for the customers HPE BL460c Gen8 Blade Servers to use as their Default Gateway.</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Cisco Nexus vPC (Virtual Port Channel) groups have been created at the Cisco Nexus Switch end between the Cisco Nexus Switches and the HPE Virtual Connect Switches, to protect against Core Switch and Uplink Failure. VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol) complements vPC to enable ECMP (Equal Cost Multi-Pathing) load balancing across the Uplinks between the ISP, Core (Cisco Nexus) and Access Layer (HPE Virtual Connect) Switches.</span></li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This configuration was created and tested by our in-house Cisco CCNA engineer with input from our in-house Cisco CCIE engineer. If you have something similar that you would like to achieve for your own network infrastructure, please get in touch with us via our main phone number +44(0)1423 223430 or speak to your existing Sales Account Manager who will arrange a call with one of our Cisco Certified engineers.</span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:41https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-come-third-in-charity-golf-dayIntelligent Servers come Third in Charity Golf Day<p><a href="/intelligent-servers-come-third-in-charity-golf-day"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Chairty-golf-day-read-more-min.png" alt="Harrogate charity golf day businesses oakdale golf course" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If there is one thing the Intelligent Servers team are good at other than creating first-class IT hardware solutions, it’s golf! This week 8 members of the Intelligent Servers team took part in the annual Harrogate Business Golf Day, hosted by Impulse Decisions at Oakdale Golf Course.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The team competed against 30 other businesses to complete the 18 holes, with the first prize being £1,000 to charity! There was also an evening dinner with a silent charity auction and the football legend Dean Windass as a guest speaker.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Harrogate-chairty-business-golf-day-min.png" alt="Harrogate charity business golf day " width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Members of the Intelligent Servers team bid on entertainment such as Formula 1 hospitality tickets and luxury trips to the Shard to raise further funds for local charities.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Andy, Mike, Tom, Jack, Jake, Blaine and Luke showed off their golfing skills by coming third overall in the competition, winning Slingsby Gin and bottles of wine!</span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:40https://intelligentservers.co.uk/telecoms-company-reaps-the-benefits-of-refurbished-hardware-with-their-blade-server-upgrade-projectTelecoms Company Reaps the Benefits of Refurbished Hardware with their Blade Server Upgrade Project<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/telecomes-blade-server-case-study-intelligent-servers-min.png" alt="Telecoms refurbished blade server case study" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A new Telecoms customer based in Africa approached Intelligent Servers 6-months ago looking to upgrade their ageing VMware ESXi vSphere Virtual Machine infrastructure. They needed a solution that would meet the following requirements:</span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ESXi Host Server Redundancy</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Site to Site VMware Virtual Machine Migration</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">SAN Storage Redundancy</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Site to Site SAN Replication over a 30Km 10Gbit Ethernet Dark Fibre Connection</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Industry: </strong>Telecommunications</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Hardware: </strong>HPE Synergy 12000 Frame, HPE Synergy 480 Gen10 Compute Nodes, HPE 3PAR 8450 Array, Cisco Catalyst 3850 Stack, HPE BrocadeSn4000 Fabric Extender Switch Cluster</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Location: </strong>West Africa</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Objective: </strong>Upgrade ageing VMware ESXi vSphere Virtual Machine infrastructure</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>The Solution</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Intelligent Servers technical team built and tested the following solution across two sites.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Site A</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1x HPE Synergy 12000 Frame with 4x HPE Synergy 480 Gen10 Compute Nodes, comprised of 24-Core CPU’s and 512GB RAM in each Compute Node</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1x HPE 3PAR 8450 “All-Flash” Array with 50TB Usable Storage comprised of 3.84TB SAS SSD Hard Drives</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1x Cisco Catalyst 3850 1Gbit/10Gbit Ethernet Switch Stack, comprised of SFP+ and RJ45 Media Types with 10Gbit Uplink Modules</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1x HPE Brocade SN4000 Fabric Extender Switch Cluster</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Site B</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1x HPE Synergy 12000 Frame with 4x HPE Synergy 480 Gen10 Compute Nodes, comprised of 24-Core CPU’s and 512GB RAM in each Compute Node</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1x HPE 3PAR 8450 “All-Flash” Array with 50TB Usable Storage comprised of 3.84TB SAS SSD Hard Drives</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1x Cisco Catalyst 3850 1Gbit/10Gbit Ethernet Switch Stack, comprised of SFP+ and RJ45 Media Types with 10Gbit Uplink Modules</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1x HPE Brocade SN4000 Fabric Extender Switch Cluster</span></li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Case Study Pages/54483S.png" alt="3PAR Cisco Switches refurbished IT hardware" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>&nbsp;</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Both HPE Synergy 12000 Frames were configured with 2x HPE Synergy 40Gbit Virtual Connect Switches, giving the HPE Synergy 480 Gen10 Compute Nodes at each site, 20Gbit Ethernet Downlink connectivity as well as 6x 40Gbit Ethernet Uplink connections using QSFP+ to 4x SFP+ Breakout Cables to their 10Gbit Cisco Catalyst Core Switch Stacks. 2x HPE Synergy 40Gbit Virtual Connect Switches were used in the back of each HPE Synergy 12000 Frame to give the VMWare ESXi Host Servers “Network Redundancy” using the HPE Synergy 3820C Dual Port 10/20Gb Converged Network Adapters in each HPE Synergy 480 Gen10 Compute Node Server.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Each HPE Synergy 1200 Frame has 2x HPE Synergy Brocade 16Gbit Fibre Channel Switches, providing</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">16Gbit Fibre Channel Connectivity from each HPE Synergy 480 Gen10 Compute Node Server, to the HPE 3PAR 8450 All-Flash SAN Storage Array.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This HPE 3PAR 8450 All-Flash SAN Storage Array provides the storage for the VMware ESXi 7.0 Virtual Machines that will be running on the HPE Synergy 480 Gen10 Compute Node Servers. 2x HPE Synergy Brocade 16Gbit Fibre Channel Switches were used in the back of each HPE Synergy 12000 Frame to give the VMWare ESXi Host Servers “Fibre Channel SAN Storage Redundancy” using the HPE Synergy 3830C 16Gb Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters in each HPE Synergy 480 Gen10 Compute Node Server.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For the SAN Storage, we recommend the HPE 3PAR 8450 “All-Flash” Array due to HPE 3PAR’s rich feature set and impressive IOPS performance compared with other midrange and enterprise-class SAN Storage Arrays.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A key requirement for the Telecoms company was SAN Replication, which the HPE 3PAR 8450 provides using the “HPE 3PAR Peer Persistence” SAN Replication feature. HPE 3PAR Peer Persistence will instantaneously replicate data written to the “Active” LUN volumes on the primary SAN at Site-A, over to the secondary SAN at Site-B, 30Km away using the 16Gbit RCFC (Remote Copy Fibre Channel) Ports on the back of each HPE 3PAR 8450 Node Controller.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If the primary HPE 3PAR 8450 failed at Site-A, “Peer Persistence” will detect the SAN Array failure at Site-A and automatically change the “Copy LUN” on the secondary SAN at Site-B from “Read-Only”, to “Read/Write”, allowing the VMWare ESXi Host Servers to carry on servicing I/O from Site-A, via the HPE Brocade SN4000 Fabric Extender Switch Cluster, over the single 30Km Site-to-Site 10Gbit Ethernet Dark Fibre link, using a very clever protocol called “FCIP – Fibre Channel over IP”.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The HPE Brocade SN4000 Fabric Extender Switch Cluster encapsulates Fibre Channel Frames using FCIP, into Ethernet Frames. These are then sent to the local Cisco Catalyst 3850 Switch Stack at Site-A and are sent over the Site-to-Site 10Gbit Ethernet Dark Fibre Link from Site-A to Site-B. They are then de-encapsulated by the HPE Brocade SN4000 Fabric Extender Switch Cluster at Site-B and then sent to the secondary HPE 3PAR 8450 SAN Storage Array, in their original Fibre Channel Frame state, allowing the HPE 3PAR 8450 at Site-B to service I/O requests from the VMware ESXi Host Servers at Site-A.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once the primary HPE 3PAR 8450 SAN Storage Array at Site-A is fixed and brought back online, “Replication Synchronisation” automatically takes place for the replicated LUN’s, and I/O is then switched back to the primary HPE 3PAR 8450 SAN Storage Array at Site-A, automatically, with no interruption to the VMWare ESXi Host Servers or any active I/O taking place on the Host Servers and/or SAN Storage Array at either site.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The solution had a total cost of £300k, creating huge savings by choosing our quality refurbished hardware as opposed to new. All hardware was backed with a three year warranty, including remote set up and support, with our technical team on hand to provide support throughout the installation and configuration of the new infrastructure.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This setup was designed in house by our Pre-Sales technician Andy Hughes and can be visually studied in the below diagram. If you have an upcoming IT project with similar requirements, Andy would be happy to help.<strong>&nbsp;</strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Key Benefits</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Configured to exact technical requirements</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HP and Cisco hardware experts available to give professional technical advice</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Exceptional after-sales service from fully trained and experienced team</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Three year warranty including remote set up and support</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>&nbsp;</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Intelligent Servers is one of Europe’s leading refurbished Server, Storage, Networking and Component resellers, specialising in HPE, Dell and Cisco. All hardware comes with a three year warranty including remote setup and support. If you’re looking into your next IT infrastructure project, please&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/contactus">get in touch</a>&nbsp;with the team on 01423 223430.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/case-studies">Read more of our client case studies here.</a></span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:39https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-raises-1200-for-yorkshire-air-ambulance-by-completing-the-yorkshire-three-peaksIntelligent Servers raises £1200 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance by completing the Yorkshire Three Peaks<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/3-peaks-intelligent-servers-min.png" alt="Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge Completed" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">WE DID IT! Last weekend seven of the Intelligent Servers team (Amber, Hayley, Andrew, Lee, Bryn, Matt and Mike) completed the challenging Yorkshire Three Peaks to raise money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">🚶 They walked 25 miles / 40km / 61,000 steps</span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 🗻 Climbed 5200ft of ascent</span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 🕥 It took the team 10 hrs 55 mins (1 hour under target)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Most importantly, we raised £1225 for&nbsp;Yorkshire Air Ambulance!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/3-peaks-photos-min.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>What is the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge?</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge takes on the peaks of Pen-y-ghent (694m), Whernside (736m) and Ingleborough (723m) in under 12 hours. Groups usually finish the route between 9-14 hours, with the Intelligent Servers team completing the circular route in an impressive 10 hours and 55 minutes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The team set off from Harrogate at 5am to get the walk started by 7am and make the most of the September sunlight. The team had completed a number of practice walks throughout the summer to train for the main event.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hayley who completed the challenge said, “We knew the walk would be tough, but we could never have prepared for how tough it really was! By the time we were going up the last peak, everyone was aching all over. Four days later and we’re all still hobbling around the office.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It is great to know we’ve raised so much money for such a great cause. I would like to do it again next year to see if we can beat our time whilst raising more money for charity.”</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Yorkshire Air Ambulance</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yorkshire Air Ambulance is an independent charity providing a lifesaving rapid response emergency service to 5 million people across the whole of Yorkshire. To keep both of their Air Ambulances maintained and in the air, they need to raise £12,000 every single day, which is the equivalent of £4.4m a year.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A spokesperson from Yorkshire Air Ambulance said, “A huge well done and thank you to the team from Intelligent Servers for completing the Yorkshire 3 Peaks at the weekend and raising an amazing £1225 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Your support makes a massive difference and helps to ensure that we can keep flying and saving lives.”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/yorkshire-air-ambulance-montage-min.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Our JustGiving page will be open for just a bit longer so if you would like to donate you can do so here &gt; <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/intelligentservers">https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/intelligentservers</a></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:38https://intelligentservers.co.uk/railway-company-rents-servers-storage-and-networking-to-support-data-centre-migrationRailway Company Rents Servers, Storage and Networking to support Data Centre Migration<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/rent-it-hardware-case-study-intelligent-servers-min.png" alt="" width="860" height="300" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A British Railway company approached Intelligent Servers when they were looking for a cost-effective hardware rental solution for their 10-week project, which involved decommissioning their current 10-rack communication room at Head Office, and moving their Server, Storage and Networking hardware to a Data Centre 500 yards away.</span></p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Industry: Railways</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Business size: 2500+ employees</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Location: Derby, UK</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Hardware: HPE DL360 Gen9 Servers, Cisco Network Switches, </strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>HPE 3PAR StoreServ</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Budget: £20k</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Objective: Cost-effective rental of IT hardware to enable the easy </strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>transition to new infrastructure</strong></span></p> </td> <td> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">casestudy</span></p> </td> <td><span style="color: #ffffff;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Node4-data-centre-min_1000.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="334" /></span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Using Rental IT Hardware to Support Data Centre Migrations</span></h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The company required HPE 3PAR SAN Storage and HPE ProLiant Servers to be able to migrate all of the VMware Virtual Machines from their current Production Servers and SAN over to the HPE ProLiant Servers and HPE 3PAR SAN Intelligent Servers provided. They were then able to shut down and move their Production Servers and SAN to the NODE4 Data Centre over the road.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The rental agreement included five HPE DL360 Gen9 Servers, each configured with dual Intel Xeon E5-2650v4 Processors, 512GB of Memory, 292GB Storage, along with Controllers, Adapters, Power Supplies and Rail kits. They also required HPE 3PAR StoreServ 7450C Storage Arrays with 36 920GB SSDs, as well as two Cisco Nexus 93108TC Network Switches. &nbsp;The build came with all the Adapters, Converters, Rail Kits, SFPs and Cables required for a complete installation. All of the hardware was fully configured by our HP Specialists and thoroughly tested, before being sent as a same day dispatch, meaning the company could start on their project immediately.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/IT-Hardware-Rental-Case-Study-min.png" alt="IT Hardware Rental" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once the Production Servers and SAN were back online within the Data Centre, the company was then able to migrate Virtual Machines over their WAN Connection from the rented HPE 3PAR SAN and Servers, back onto their Production Servers and SAN within the Data Centre.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We know that integrating IT systems into new infrastructure is not always a simple task however, all hardware was backed by a warranty for the full duration of the project, with our team of technical trained experts on hand to provide support if there were any issues.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The total cost of renting the hardware came to £20,000, whereas if the company was to buy the equipment it would have cost over £80,000. Choosing to rent our quality, refurbished hardware saved them tens of thousands of pounds; meeting their project requirements at only a fraction of the cost.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Easy &amp; Affordable Rental Solutions from Intelligent Servers</span> </strong></span></h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">At Intelligent Servers, we offer a range of rental options for long, medium or short term IT hardware requirements. Our rental options are a cost-effective way of meeting your business needs in a number of situations, such as for data centre relocation, to cope with fluctuating capacity, reduce costs for short term project requirements, or stay up to date without the huge initial outlays of buying IT hardware.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The British Railway company saved thousands of pounds by choosing to rent professionally refurbished hardware from Intelligent Servers for their short term project. With the hardware dispatched the same day and ready to deploy, they were able to get started on their project straight away.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The rental agreement was tailored around their specific hardware and project requirements, with the option to extend the rental agreement if their project overran. And, with no worries about depreciation or selling the equipment, as once their project had finished, we simply collected the hardware.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Key Benefits</span> </strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Thousands of pounds saved by choosing to rent quality refurbished hardware</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Configured to their exact requirements and ready for immediate deployment</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fast configuration and same day dispatch ideal for mission-critical requirements</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Over 250,000 IT parts in stock, ready to ship</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; HP hardware experts available to give professional technical advice</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>&nbsp;</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you would like to find out more about our IT hardware rental services, please get in touch with our team on 01423 223430 or email <a href="mailto:sales@intelligentservers.co.uk">sales@intelligentservers.co.uk</a>.</span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:37https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-named-as-finalists-in-dcs-awardsIntelligent Servers named as Finalists in DCS Awards Upgrade Project of the Year for Second Year in a Row<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/DCS-Awards-finalists-intelligent-servers-min.png" alt="DCS Awards finalist" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Just weeks after we were named as finalists in the CRN Awards, Intelligent Servers is proud to have also become finalists in the DCS Awards for a second year in a row!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Data Centre Upgrade Project of the Year</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Nominated within the Data Centre Consolidation/Upgrade/Refresh Project of the Year category, Intelligent Servers has been recognised for its work with the South West Essex Community Education Trust. The trust responsible for six schools approached Intelligent Servers when they were tasked with a large infrastructure overhaul project. The project included replacing the entire fibre and copper Network Switch infrastructure as well as upgrading all of the current Server infrastructure.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Intelligent Servers configured a solution including Cisco Catalyst Switches, Dell PowerEdge R620 and R820 Rack Servers and Dell PowerVault SAS Storage SAN which came with our industry leading three-year warranty including remote setup and support. The schools were able to save over £300,000 by choosing professionally refurbished IT hardware from Intelligent Servers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can read the full case study here &gt; <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/case-study-multi-academy-trust-saves-almost-300k-with-refurbished-network-and-server-overhaul">Multi-Academy Trust saves over £300k with refurbished Network and Server Overhaul</a>.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>What are the DCS Awards?</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The DCS Awards aims to celebrate and recognise exceptional projects, innovations and individuals within the data centre and IT industry. We know that our team are the best in the business, being highly skilled, hugely talented and incredibly passionate about data centre upgrade projects, but it’s wonderful when they gain some national recognition.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Vote for us to win!</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Public voting has now commenced. If you have a spare second, we would be very grateful if you voted for us here:&nbsp;https://dcsawards.com/vote by selecting the ‘Data Centre Consolidation/Upgrade/Refresh Project of the Year’ category, then hovering over the Intelligent Servers logo and choosing ‘vote’. Voting closes on 15<sup>th</sup> October 2021, with the winners being announced at the awards ceremony on 28<sup>th</sup> October.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IntelligentServers.co.uk is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe. All of our hardware is sold with a market-leading three-year hardware and remote support warranty.</span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:36https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hdd-vs-ssd-which-is-the-best-storage-solution-for-your-businessHDD vs SSD – Which is the Best Storage Solution for your Business?<p><img src="/images/uploaded/HDD vs SSD Banner.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>Are you running low on storage space or noticing slower speeds? It could be time for you to look at a hard drive update. When it comes to the world of <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hard-drives">hard drives</a>, one of the big questions is whether to opt for an HDD or an SSD.</p> <p>Enterprise Hard Drives are designed to provide speed and reliability for a range of demanding applications. Both HDDs and SSDs will store your data, but they differ in how they store and access it. Which option is best for you will come down to your technical and budget requirements. In this post, we take a look at what each has to offer and the differences.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/hdd v ssd image.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <h2><strong>HDDs </strong></h2> <p>Introduced by IBM in 1956, Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) have been relied on as a cost-effective means of storing data for decades.</p> <p>Hard Disk Drives hold your data and unlike random access memory (RAM), it isn’t lost when powered down, it’s non-volatile. It relies on spinning disks or platters to read and write data, spinning from 7.2K to 15K rpm. The higher the speed, the quicker it reads and writes your data.</p> <p>HDDs are most suited to ‘cold’ data; they are ideal for keeping your data stored and accessible when you don’t need it to read and write the data multiple times a day. If your requirements lend to this, and you need masses of storage capacity that’s budget-friendly, a HDD could be for you.</p> <p>Whilst they are known for being less energy-efficient and can’t compete with the speed of an SSD, they’re a reliable and cost-effective option for many workloads, with an abundance of capacity.</p> <p><strong>Advantages:</strong> Storage Capacity and Affordability</p> <p><strong>Disadvantages: </strong>Slower Speeds, Use More Power</p> <h2><strong>SSDs</strong></h2> <p>A Solid State Drive (SSD) also holds your data but has no moving parts. It functions on flash memory which stores the data even when there’s no power flowing through them, whereas an HDD writes to a physical disk. As one of its defining characteristics, this means the SSD can load information at winning speed. Put simply, an SSD will do the same as an HDD but much quicker.</p> <p>An SSD is an ideal option if you need your hard drive to cope with high performance processing at top speeds. Moreover, with no moving parts it is reliable in harsh environment conditions whilst running more efficiently and cooler. However, the benefits of its speed, flexibility and durability come with a price tag. Opting for an SSD would be a pricier option than the capacity you could get with an HDD. But if you need a drive that will be used for read-intensive workloads and have the budget, an SSD could be for you.</p> <p><strong>Advantages:</strong> Speed, Efficiency and Durability</p> <p><strong>Disadvantages: </strong>Pricier option</p> <h2><strong>Which is right for you? </strong></h2> <p>Which is the best solution for you comes down to your requirements and budget. Both SSDs and HDDs have their purpose and place in the world of hard drives. The right option for you depends on what you require from your hard drive; are you going to be reading and writing large files? Or do you need hundreds of gigabits or even terabytes of storage space?</p> <p>If you’re looking for an affordable solution with large storage capacity, an HDD is a great option. If you’re needing speed, performance and have the budget, an SSD might be the right fit for you. It’s also worth remembering that whichever you chose, upgrading is always an option as your technical requirements grow and evolve down the line.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>You can browse our range of professionally refurbished Enterprise HDDs and SSDs <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hard-drives"><strong>here</strong></a>, or if you have any questions <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/contactus">get in touch</a> with our friendly team.</p> <p><strong>Call</strong>: 01423 223430&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Email</strong>: <a href="mailto:sales@intelligentservers.co.uk">sales@intelligentservers.co.uk</a>&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Live chat</strong>: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr /> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:35https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-create-new-jobs-following-600k-government-backed-investmentIntelligent Servers create new jobs following £600k government backed investment<p><img src="/images/uploaded/£600k Investment-Banner.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>Intelligent Servers is proud to announce that we have received a £600,000 government-backed loan from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).</p> <p>The great news spread across the industry and local area, with news and media outlets such as; <a href="https://www.smeweb.com/2021/08/23/cash-boost-for-it-firm-that-thrived-in-lockdown/">SME Magazine</a>, <a href="https://thestrayferret.co.uk/harrogate-electronics-firm-receives-600000-northern-powerhouse-loan/">Stray Ferret</a>, <a href="https://www.insidermedia.com/news/yorkshire/refurbished-it-supplier-secures-npif-fw-capital-backing">Insider Media</a>, <a href="https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/news/2080075-investment-creates-jobs-at-refurbished-computer-equipment-specialist">The Business Desk</a>, <a href="https://bdaily.co.uk/articles/2021/08/23/yorkshire-it-business-set-to-create-new-jobs-and-accelerate-growth-with-600k-investment">Bdaily</a> and <a href="https://www.techfortechs.co.uk/post/intelligent-servers-create-new-jobs-following-600k-government-backed-investment">Tech for Techs</a>, shining a light on Intelligent Servers success!</p> <p>Harrogate-based Intelligent Servers Ltd was founded in 2011 by its Managing Director, Andrew Hughes, and is one of Europe's leading refurbished server, storage, networking and component resellers, specialising in HPE, Dell and Cisco.</p> <p>Since its establishment, Intelligent Servers has experienced year-on-year organic growth and now generates revenue levels in the region of £8m a year, delivering refurbished products to a portfolio of over 3,000 clients, including the likes of the BBC, Canon and Manchester United FC.</p> <p>Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Intelligent Servers continued to grow. They experienced a 1600 per cent increase in Laptop orders compared to the previous year due to the huge rise in people working from home. They also worked on many larger IT projects to rapidly increase bandwidth for video conferencing companies and supported schools to move teaching online. In a time when millions were laid off or on furlough, Intelligent Servers grew their staff numbers by 50 per cent.</p> <p>This NPIF investment will be used to fund the planned growth of Intelligent Servers by improving purchasing power, facilitating stock growth, expansion of the warehouse and an increase in staff. The funding has safeguarded 50 jobs and led to the creation of a further 23 roles.</p> <p>The deal was facilitated by FW Capital Deputy Fund Manager Keith Charlton, supported by Assistant Investment Executive Alex Brown, following an introduction by Mel Nally of Skipton Business Finance.</p> <p>FW Capital Assistant Investment Executive Alex Brown said: “We are delighted to back Intelligent Servers, a business with a great track record of growth and a proven management team. Our investment will assist Intelligent Servers in achieving their growth strategy through maintaining higher stock levels and improving purchasing power. Best of all, this growth strategy will support significant job creation.”</p> <p>Andrew Hughes, Intelligent Servers Managing Director, said: “Due to the demand for cheaper and more affordable IT equipment, our professionally refurbished equipment is now highly desirable. We include our own bespoke three year hardware replacement warranty and our three year remote setup and support service with all our products, along with savings of up to 80 per cent available. This funding will allow us to grow and deliver our exceptional service to more customers while supporting us to create 23 exciting new positions at our company.”</p> <p>Mel Nally, Regional Sales Director for Skipton Business Finance, said: “From our first involvement with Andrew and his team in 2019, it became clear that the business had significant potential for growth, so long as it could maintain the required stock levels to meet an ever-increasing demand.</p> <p>FW Capital provides loans of £100,000 to £750,000 to businesses based in the NPIF region with a focus on the North West, Cumbria and Tees Valley.</p> <p>The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.</p> <hr /> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe. Visit: IntelligentServers.co.uk Call: 01423 223430 Email: sales@intelligentservers.co.uk Live chat: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm.</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:34https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-proudly-sponsors-striker-at-thackley-afc-for-upcoming-seasonIntelligent Servers proudly sponsors Striker at Thackley AFC for Upcoming Season!<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Thackley AFC Banner.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" />We are proud to announce that we will be sponsoring a member of the Intelligent Servers team, Albert, in the upcoming season at Thackley AFC!</p> <h2><strong>About Thackley AFC </strong></h2> <p>Thackley AFC is a football club based in West Yorkshire. We are delighted to have the opportunity to support a local Yorkshire football club and help in supporting the funding of training and growth of the club.</p> <p>Thackley AFC has played in the Premier Division of the NCRL (Northern Counties East League) since 1982. Impressively, Thackley AFC has never been relegated from this division in the league’s history!</p> <p>Albert is a striker for Thackley AFC, off to a great start already having scored a goal this season! Albert joined the Intelligent Servers team 3 years ago in early 2019, starting in the warehouse where he built up his knowledge of IT hardware before moving into our end-user sales team where he supports our customers around the world.</p> <h2><strong>What does this mean for Intelligent Servers? </strong></h2> <p>Being a sponsor for Thackley AFC is an exciting opportunity for Intelligent Servers. It presents a fantastic opportunity for our brand to be shared within the club’s promotional materials such as social media accounts and the match day programme. It also gives us the opportunity to attend the Thackley AFC’s Business Club, a quarterly meeting that allows discussion from Club Officials and gives sponsors of the club have a chance to meet!</p> <p>Don’t forget to keep an eye out on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IntelligentServersHG2">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/IntelligentBHG2">Twitter</a> for more updates throughout the season. All of us at Intelligent Servers wish the best of luck to Albert and the rest of the Thackley AFC team!</p> <hr /> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe. Visit:&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/">IntelligentServers.co.uk</a>&nbsp;Call: 01423 223430 Email: <a href="mailto:sales@intelligentservers.co.uk">sales@intelligentservers.co.uk</a> Live chat: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm.</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:33https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-named-finalists-for-best-lockdown-project-in-the-crn-channel-awards-2021Intelligent Servers named Finalists for Best Lockdown Project in the CRN Channel Awards 2021!<p><img src="/images/uploaded/CRN Awards Banner.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>We are excited to announce that we have been named Finalists in this year’s CRN Channel Awards for the Best Lockdown Project category!</p> <h2><strong>What are the CRN Channel Awards? </strong></h2> <p>Now in its 28<sup>th</sup> year, the CRN Channel Awards celebrate the ‘Power of the Channel’, recognising the innovations, projects and exceptional service of companies in the IT industry.</p> <p>A record number of entries were made this year, so we are delighted to be shortlisted! Being named Finalists reflects the whole team’s hard work and ambition that makes us one of Europe’s leading hardware suppliers.</p> <h2><strong>Why have we been shortlisted? &nbsp;</strong></h2> <p>We have been shortlisted for our entry for the Best Lockdown Project category, designed to recognise the innovation and exceptional projects of those that went out of their way to keep the country running during such a challenging and unpredictable year.</p> <p>Our nomination was from our March 2020 project where we supplied Eight Dell PowerEdge M1000e Enclosures each housing sixteen Dell PowerEdge M620 Blade Servers to a video conferencing company at the start of the Lockdown. The company urgently needed more data centre infrastructure and bandwidth to deal with an influx of calls and to maintain a 99.9% uptime. Intelligent Servers were able to support the video conferencing company whose IT requirements unexpectedly and rapidly changed during the pandemic. You can read the full Case Study <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/keeping-the-world-connected-through-lockdown">here</a>.</p> <h2><strong>What’s next?</strong></h2> <p>The final winners for the CRN Channel Awards will be announced at the Awards Ceremony later this year on 11<sup>th</sup> November. Don’t forget to keep an eye out on our <a href="https://twitter.com/IntelligentBHG2">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-servers">LinkedIn</a>&nbsp;for updates to see if we win!</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <hr /> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe. Visit:&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/">IntelligentServers.co.uk</a> Call: 01423 223430 Email: sales@intelligentservers.co.uk Live chat: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm.</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:32https://intelligentservers.co.uk/20-intelligent-servers-employees-are-doing-the-yorkshire-three-peaks-for-yorkshire-air-ambulance20 Intelligent Servers employees are doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks for Yorkshire Air Ambulance<p><img src="/images/uploaded/3 Peaks-header.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>Intelligent Servers are taking part in the exciting and rewarding challenge of tackling the famous Yorkshire Three Peaks this September to raise money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance!</p> <p>The challenge involves walking the route of the Yorkshire Three Peaks; Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside, and Ingleborough within a 12 hour period. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>With a total walking distance of 39.2km (24.5 miles), the walk includes varied terrain with various steep ascents and descents. We will have to climb the three peaks of Pen-Y-Ghent (694m), Whernside (736m), and Ingleborough (723m).</p> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Who’s taking part? </strong></h2> <p>So far, 20 members of staff from all departments, including Amber, Andrew, Andy, Ben, Blaine, Bryn, Danny, Ted, Hayley, Jake, Laura, Lee, Leigh, Liam, Louie, Matt, Mike, Sarah, Scott and Shelley are signed up to take part!</p> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Who are Yorkshire Air Ambulance? </strong></h2> <p>Every penny that we raise from the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge will be donated to Yorkshire Air Ambulance.</p> <p>Founded in 2000, Yorkshire Air Ambulance is a rapid response air emergency service that serves approximately 5 million people across Yorkshire. Their mission is “to provide, deliver and develop with integrity, transparency and pride, state-of-the-art emergency response air ambulances for the protection of human life across Yorkshire and its environs”.</p> <p>Yorkshire Air Ambulance have an impressive dispatch time of 2 to 3 minutes and transfers their patients to the nearest trauma centre at speeds of up to 160mph.</p> <p>Yorkshire Air Ambulance relies solely on the support and generosity of individuals and organisations to help save lives across Yorkshire, which is why we have chosen to raise awareness and support such a fantastic and local cause!</p> <p>To find out more about Yorkshire Air Ambulance, you can visit their website <a href="https://www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk/">here</a>.&nbsp;</p> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Intelligent Servers Get Practicing</strong></h2> <p>To help us get into shape and prepare for the challenge, we are aiming to complete a few practices before the challenge in September and will tackle one Peak at a time.</p> <p>As our first practice, we recently completed the Pen-Y-Ghent walk. As the lowest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks at 2,277 feet (694m), it was a good place to start. It was a steep climb, but full of beautiful scenery which we admired on the descent!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/3 Peaks-body.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Sponsor Us </strong></h2> <p>If you would like to sponsor us for the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge and help raise money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, you can <strong><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/intelligentservers">find our Just Giving Page here</a>.</strong> Any donations are hugely appreciated!</p> <p>Don’t forget to keep an eye out on <a href="https://twitter.com/IntelligentBHG2">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-servers">LinkedIn</a> for updates as we prepare for the challenge in September!</p> <hr /> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe. Visit:&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/">IntelligentServers.co.uk</a> Call: 01423 223430 Email: sales@intelligentservers.co.uk Live chat: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm.</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:31https://intelligentservers.co.uk/3-ways-to-make-your-it-budget-go-further3 Ways to Make Your IT Budget Go Further<p><img src="/images/uploaded/3 Ways-Blog Banner.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>We understand that it can be a struggle to balance increasingly tight budgets with your IT hardware needs. That’s why we’ve put together a breakdown of three simple ways you can make your IT budget go further without&nbsp;sacrificing performance or reliability.</p> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Save up to 80% with refurbished</strong></h2> <p>The ultimate benefit of choosing refurbished hardware is that it offers massive cost savings compared to new, so you can get more for less out of your budget. IT hardware loses its value as soon as the box is opened, but you can save up to 80% without sacrificing performance by choosing refurbished hardware for your business.</p> <p>We recently shipped two BLc700 enclosures configured with 32 BL460c Gen8 Blade Servers. The Blade Servers were configured with dual 10-core Intel Xeon E5 processors, 512GB of memory, HBAs and FlexFabric Adapters. Our customer also bought some HP Virtual Connect Switches. The full order came in at under £40k, saving the company hundreds of thousands of pounds compared to if they had chosen the new retail equivalent hardware.</p> <p>We consistently see our customers making huge savings by choosing refurbished hardware, with many of our customers using their left over budgets to go towards other IT projects. That’s future opportunities for your business created simply through choosing refurbished!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/3 Ways-Body.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Sell your used IT hardware</strong></h2> <p>Some businesses choose to bin their old IT hardware, or even pay people to take it away! But did you know you could sell your used IT hardware to us whenever you come to refresh or upgrade your IT inventory? Making us your IT disposal partner means you can generate revenue from your redundant hardware. &nbsp;</p> <p>We bought over 100 HPE ProLiant DL360 Gen9 and GL360p Gen8 Servers from a Data Centre in London. We collected the servers free of charge and erased all Hard Drives with industry leading software. The servers were then disassembled, tested and refurbished by HP Specialists to be put into stock.</p> <p>Our <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/it-asset-disposition-services">IT Asset Disposition (ITAD)</a> is a safe, sustainable, secure and cost effective method of recycling IT assets. We provide IT disposal, computer recycling, data destruction, data shredding, installation and decommissioning services for clients all over the world using our own security cleared drivers and a fleet of satellite tracked CCTV fitted vehicles. We safely eliminate all personal data and ensure compliance with data protection legislation.</p> <p>Ultimately our goal is to keep your business and your customer’s safe by eliminating the risk of theft or fraud resulting from data and security breaches. You can sell to us with confidence, knowing that your data security is our priority.</p> <p>Our end-to-end service saves you time, hassle and provides you with capital to fund your next IT project. If you have any used IT hardware you no longer need, get in touch withthe Intelligent Servers ITAD team at <a href="mailto:purchasing@intelligentservers.co.uk">purchasing@intelligentservers.co.uk</a></p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/3 Ways-Body-2.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Upgrade don’t replace </strong></h2> <p>Many organisations opt to replace their IT infrastructure every 3 years. But since IT hardware has a life expectancy of ten years, choosing to upgrade rather than replace can provide your business with huge cost savings without a reduction in quality, reliability or performance.</p> <p>You can easily upgrade your IT infrastructure by upgrading parts such as memory, hard drives and processors to increase speed, boost performance and adapt to new business environments.</p> <p>All of our hardware is put through high performance testing to ensure it performs as good as new. In fact, due to this thorough testing refurbished hardware is known to have lower RMA rates than new hardware!</p> <p>If knowing there’s a cost saving and performance you can rely on isn’t enough, refurbished suppliers like Intelligent Servers stock thousands of parts that OEMs no longer stock. For instance, we stock Server parts from G5 right up to Gen10 making it easy to upgrade parts of your servers rather than replacing the whole unit. You can configure a professionally refurbished HPE ProLiant Gen9 Server to perform as well, and in some cases better than the latest Gen10 Server range, at up to 80% less of the price. What a way to get more for your budget!</p> <p>If you can’t quite find the hardware you’re looking for, would like a quote or need some technical advice, please get in touch with our professional and friendly team at <a href="mailto:sales@intelligentservers.co.uk">sales@intelligentservers.co.uk</a></p> <hr /> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe. Visit: IntelligentServers.co.uk Call: 01423 223430 Email: sales@intelligentservers.co.uk Live chat: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm.</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:30https://intelligentservers.co.uk/1600-increase-in-laptop-orders-here-are-3-of-our-most-popular-laptops1600% Increase in Laptop Orders – Here are 3 of our most Popular Laptops<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/increase-in-laptop-demand-blog-post.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>With millions of workers and students forced to stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic, global sales of laptops shot to their highest levels in six years with a global increase of 13% on the previous year.</p> <p>The immense uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic including how long it is going to last as well as how much it is going to financially impact businesses, schools and people meant refurbished laptops become an even more popular option than ever before. Professionally refurbished Laptops, like those available from IntelligentServers.co.uk are available at up to 80% cheaper than the new equivalents.</p> <p>During this period, we saw an unbelievable 1600% increase in our laptop sales compared to the previous year. Our extensive network of suppliers, large stock holding and technical ability meant we were able to continuously supply our customers with the laptops they needed to keep their operations running as normal as possible, while many IT resellers struggled to source laptops and keep up with demand.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/covid-increase-in-laptop-demand.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>Just over 12 months on from the start of the pandemic in the UK, we’ve highlighted three of the most popular laptops customers requested over the past year, and luckily for you, we still have plenty in stock!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2><strong>Dell Latitude E7470 Laptop</strong></h2> <p>The Dell Latitude E7470 is proof that business notebooks don't have to be boring. The Dell E7470 offers business users a crisp display, a comfy keyboard and long battery life in an attractive, durable design. It is perfectly capable of handling business workloads, with a speedy Intel Core i5 processor and a 9-hour battery built for a full day of crunching away.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/laptops"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurbished-Dell-E7470-Laptop.png" alt="Refurbished Dell Latitude Laptop" width="100%" height="auto" /></a></p> <p>In March 2020, some of the customers who chose the Dell Latitude E7470 included two Citizens Advice Bureau centres who bought 66 Dell Latitude E7470 i5-6300U 8GB 256GB SSD Laptops for all of their employees who needed to complete their vital work from home. One Construction consultancy also bought 40 of these laptops. Being in the construction industry, it was important that their workers were able to run powerful CAD engineering software on their laptops at home.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/laptops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shop Dell Laptops &gt;&nbsp;</a></strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2><strong>HP EliteBook 840 G3 Laptop</strong></h2> <p>One of the biggest rivals to the Dell Latitiude E7470, the HP EliteBook 840 G3 is HP’s answer to the business laptop. The EliteBook 840 G5 is a brilliant business laptop, providing a comfy keyboard, strong performance and amazing sound in a stylish design. Combining high performance technology with a long battery life, Windows 10 Pro and 6<sup>th</sup> Gen Intel Core processors, the EliteBook 840 G3 is ideal for you most demanding business applications and provides fast access to data.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-laptops"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurbished-HP-Elitebook-Laptop.png" alt="Refurbished HP Elitebook Laptop" width="100%" height="auto" /></a></p> <p>A large Law Practice based in Salisbury initially bought 5 HP EliteBook 840 G3 i5-6200U 8GB 128GB SSD Laptops for their Solicitors. They were delighted with the quality of the laptops so later bought an additional 30. In Autumn last year, as stricter measures were put into place in Malta, one Maltese Bank ordered 15 HP EliteBook 840 G3 Laptops.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-laptops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shop HP Laptops &gt;&nbsp;</a></strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2><strong>Microsoft SurfaceBook 2 Laptop</strong></h2> <p>Featuring an extremely long battery life and lightweight design, the stunning Microsoft SurfaceBook 2 is one of the best 2-in-1 laptops on the market and can effortlessly handle graphic design and PC gaming.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/laptops"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurbished-Microsoft-Surfacebook-2-Laptop.png" alt="Refurbished Microsoft Surfacebook 2 Laptop" width="100%" height="auto" /></a></p> <p>An IT service provider bought 25 Microsoft Surface Book I5-8350U 8GB 256GB SSD Laptops in November 2020 then an additional 30 in December. The beautifully sleek Microsoft SurfaceBook 2 has also been popular amongst our employees due to its detachable tablet, face recognition and beautiful design which is comparable to the MacBook Pro, but without Apple price tag!</p> <p><strong><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/laptops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shop Microsoft SurfaceBooks</a></strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2><strong>Shop Laptops from Intelligent Servers </strong></h2> <p>All Laptops from Intelligent Servers come with Windows 10 Pro 64-bit pre-installed and fully activated. Refurbished Laptops are available at up 80% off compared to new and come with a three year warranty.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/laptops"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurbished-Laptops.png" alt="Refurbished Laptops" width="100%" height="auto" /></a></p> <p>If you can’t find what you’re looking for, have any questions or would like a quote, please get in touch with our friendly team on 01423 223430, email <a href="mailto:sales@intelligentservers.co.uk">sales@intelligentservers.co.uk</a> or speak to us on live chat.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr /> <p>IntelligentServers.co.uk is one of Europe's leading refurbished Server, Storage, Networking and Component resellers, specialising in HPE, Dell and Cisco. With over 10 years’ of experience refurbishing all aspects of used enterprise IT hardware, you can trust in Intelligent Servers to deliver your IT hardware on time and to a grade A refurbished standard. Our website and ethos has been designed around the IT technician. We understand the strict deadlines and project commitments an IT Manager has to deal with a day to day basis, this is why we've become a very successful competitor within the refurbished enterprise computer hardware industry, and we'll continue to strive to become the best in our game.&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:29https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-donates-it-equipment-to-the-national-museum-of-computingIntelligent Servers Donates IT Equipment to the National Museum of Computing<p><img src="/images/uploaded/museum-of-computing-blog-post.png" alt="Donation to Museum of Computing" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>In collaboration with <a href="https://www.godeploy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go Deploy</a>, Intelligent Servers recently donated 17 Desktop PCs and a Tower Server to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tnmoc.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The National Museum of Computing</a> in Milton Keynes. The PCs will be used by school children and other group trips during their visit to the museum whilst learning about the history of computers.</p> <h2>Intelligent Servers collaborate with Go Deploy to Donate IT Equipment</h2> <p>Go Deploy is a Microsoft official online labs hosting provider. As a long-term customer of Intelligent Servers, Go Deploy decided to reach out to us when the project at the museum came up. The museum required a new Server and 17 Workstations and Monitors for one of their classrooms.</p> <p>After establishing what hardware was required, Intelligent Servers and Go Deploy decided to split the costs for 17x HP EliteOne 800 G2 All-In-One Personal Computers configured with Intel Core i5 6500 Processors, 8GB of Memory, 256GB SSD and Windows 10 Pro preinstalled, as well as keyboard and mice. We also donated a Dell PowerEdge T320 8LFF Tower Server configured with an Intel Xeon E5-2407 Processor, 8GB of Memory, Dell H310 6Gb Raid Controller, 2x 146GB Hard Drives and 2x 750W Power Supplies.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Computer Museum Donation.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <h2>The National Museum of Computing</h2> <p>The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) is an independent charity in Milton Keynes is home to the world's largest collection of working historic computers, including the rebuilt Colossus, the world’s first electronic computer and the WITCH, the world's oldest working digital computer. The museum enables visitors to follow the development of computing from the ultra-secret pioneering efforts of the 1940s through the large systems and mainframes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and the rise of personal computing in the 1980s and beyond.</p> <p>The museum runs a highly successful Learning Programme for schools and colleges and promotes introductions to computer coding amongst young people, especially females, to inspire the next generation of computer scientists and engineers.</p> <p>Intelligent Servers is delighted to have supported this fantastic charity in their effort to educate the next generation about the history of one of the greatest inventions in human history!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr /> <p>&nbsp;Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe. Visit: IntelligentServers.co.uk Call: 01423 223430 Email: sales@intelligentservers.co.uk Live chat: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm.</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:28https://intelligentservers.co.uk/same-faces-new-nameSame Faces, New Name!<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/We're Officially ISO Certified! (12).png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>As we reach the end of the financial year, I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our suppliers and customers for their continued support! Despite a global pandemic and Brexit, Intelligent Servers has performed better than ever this year, supporting thousands of businesses worldwide with their changing IT requirements and shrinking IT budgets!</p> <p>We couldn’t have got here without our fantastic team of 45 Sales, Purchasing, Marketing, Admin and Warehouse staff. Despite an unpredictable year, the team have continued to work hard to ensure all of our customers receive their orders on time and receive our top class, Enterprise 3 Year Remote Setup and Support services free of charge, as and when they needs it, which is included with any product a customer purchases from us.</p> <p>In January 2021, we celebrated our tenth birthday!</p> <p>As many of our long-term term customers and suppliers will know, over the past ten years our legal name has been ‘Intelligent Brokerage Limited’. Whilst running our trade division under this name, we also started operating in the end user market five years ago under the ‘Intelligent Servers’ brand name.</p> <p>On our tenth birthday in January 2021, we decided to start running both our end user and trade divisions using the more descriptive brand name, Intelligent Servers.</p> <p>From the 1<sup>st</sup> April 2021, our legal business name has changed to Intelligent Servers Limited.</p> <p>We believe the Intelligent Servers name provides a clearer image of what we buy and sell. Operating under one name also allows us to have more consistent branding as our business grows to be one of Europe’s leading suppliers in the refurbished Enterprise IT market.&nbsp;</p> <p>If you have any questions about our name change, please get in touch with your account manager!</p> <p>Once again, I would like to thank you for your continued support. Here’s to another successful 10 years!</p> <p>Andy Hughes, Managing Director</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/IMG_5844_1000.jpeg" alt="" height="250" /></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:27https://intelligentservers.co.uk/top-10-funniest-comments-on-our-viral-postTop 10 funniest comments on our viral ‘How it started: How it’s going’ post from people in IT!<p><br />In the age of TikTok, where dancing teens can get a million views in a day, maybe our post with a few hundred likes and 40,000 views isn’t exactly ‘viral’... However, we do love it when the IT community go mad for one of our techy social media posts, so we couldn’t help collating some of the hilarious comments from people who work in IT! If you didn’t see the post, there is a screenshot below!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/how-it-started-how-its-going.png" alt="" width="509" height="471" /></p> <h2>1. Damn Users&nbsp;</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/10.png" alt="" width="498" height="184" /></h2> <p>You know you’ve had a good week if you get through it without swearing at someone!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>2. How it started… how it’s going… how it ends!&nbsp;</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/14.png" alt="" width="520" height="97" /></h2> <p>You’re going to give us nightmares, Lewis!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>3. Too Sober</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/11.png" alt="" width="507" height="79" /></h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>We felt this one. Just wait until the pubs are back open!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>4. Service desk training&nbsp;</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/13.png" alt="" width="487" height="287" /></h2> <p>We could start an under 18’s IT company!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>5. Entry level job requirements&nbsp;</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/16.png" alt="" width="511" height="113" /></p> <p>We can relate!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>6. Hair loss&nbsp;</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/17.png" alt="" width="492" height="77" /></h2> <p>Bald and wrinkly before he’s even a teenager!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>7. Child labour&nbsp;</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/7.png" alt="" width="529" height="158" /></h2> <p>Unfortunately, EMC is in the year 3 syllabus!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>8. Retired by 15&nbsp;</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/12.png" alt="" width="511" height="96" /></h2> <p>15?? More like sick to death by the time he’s ten!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>9. 4 year old techies&nbsp;</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/4.png" alt="" width="498" height="97" /></h2> <p>Never too young to be splicing fibres!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>10. Teaching the teachers&nbsp;</h2> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/19.png" alt="" width="510" height="113" /></h2> <p>I’m sure some of the IT professionals reading this remember being the go-to IT person in their class!</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <p><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Follow us for more fun IT content like this! &nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/IntelligentServersHG2"><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Facebook</strong></span></a><strong>&nbsp; -&nbsp; </strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-servers"><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>LinkedIn</strong></span></a><strong>&nbsp; -&nbsp; </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/IntelligentBHG2"><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Twitter</strong></span></a><strong>&nbsp; -&nbsp; </strong><strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/intelligentservers"><span style="color: #000000;">Instagram</span></a></strong></span></p> <hr /> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe. Call: 01423 223430 Email: sales@intelligentservers.co.uk Live chat: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:26https://intelligentservers.co.uk/ultimate-guide-to-it-hardware-acronymsUltimate Guide to IT Hardware Acronyms<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/IT-acronyms-blog-post-min.png" alt="IT Hardware Acronyms" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>Do you know your GBICs from your GPUs? Your DAS from your DIMMs? Moving into a career in IT can be like learning a new language. There are acronyms for almost everything, which can seem a little overwhelming if you’re starting out. Even if you’ve been working in IT for years, the continuous technological advancements, upgrades and new product releases can be a mind field! That’s why we’ve created a breakdown of the common acronyms you’ll come across to help give a better understanding of your devices and how they work.</p> <p>Many of the below acronyms you may have heard of but might not be sure of their exact meaning. In this guide we list all of the acronyms you need to know when working with IT hardware.</p> <h2>Acronyms of some of our main products</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">.&nbsp;</span></p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/cpu-min.png" alt="CPU" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>CPU – Core Processing Unit</strong></strong></span></p> <p><em>Also referred to as: Processor</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Also referred to as a processor, the CPU is the primary component of a computer that processes instructions from hardware and software running on the computer.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/processor">Shop CPUs</a></p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/das-min.png" alt="DAS" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>DAS – Direct Attached Storage</strong></strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-hpe-das-storage">DAS</a>&nbsp;is storage directly attached to the computer accessing it, rather than accessed over a computer network. Examples include hard drives, solid-state drives, optical disc drives and storage on external drives.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-hpe-das-storage">Shop DAS</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Memory-min.png" alt="ram" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>DDR – Double Data Rate</strong></strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Also referred to as: double pumped, dual-pumped, double transition</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/ddr4-memory">Double Data Rate</a>&nbsp;is the advanced version of synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) which can transfer data twice as quickly, by transferring data on both the rising and falling edges of the clock signal. SDRAM sends signals once per clock cycle. DDR (double data rate) transfers data twice per clock cycle.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/memory">Shop Memory&nbsp;</a></p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Memory-min.png" alt="ram" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>DIMM – Dual In-Line Memory Module</strong></strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>A module containing a circuit board comprising of a series of dynamic random access memory circuits, designed to be used in personal computers, workstations and servers.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/memory">Shop Memory&nbsp;</a></p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Memory-min.png" alt="memory" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>ECC – Error Correction Code</strong></strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Error correction code is used to verify data transmissions by locating and correcting errors, commonly used by random access memory (RAM) chips.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/memory">Shop Memory&nbsp;</a></p> </div> </div> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">.&nbsp;</span></p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Fiber-channel (2)-min.png" alt="fiber channel" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>FC – Fibre Channel</strong></strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A Fibre Channel is a high-speed data transfer protocol primarily used to connect computer data storage to servers in storage area networks (SAN).</span></p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/sfp-min.png" alt="sfp" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>GBIC – Gigabit Interface Converter</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>A&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-sfp-sfp-gbic-transceivers">transceiver</a>&nbsp;that converts electrical optical signals to electrical currents and vice versa, typically used in Ethernet and fibre optic systems. It acts as an interface for high-speed networking, enabling network devices such as a router or switch to have support for different connections.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-sfp-sfp-gbic-transceivers">Shop GBICs</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/gpu-min.png" alt="gpu" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>GPU – Graphics Processing Unit</strong></strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>A processor designed to manage and boost the performance of graphic operations, including 2D and 3D graphics.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/refurbished-graphics-cards">Shop GPUs</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/hba-min.png" alt="hba" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>HBA – Host Bus Adapter</strong></p> <p><em>Also referred to as: Host Controller, Host Adapter.</em></p> <p>A&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-hba-controllers">Host Bus Adapter</a>&nbsp;connects a computer, which acts as a host system, to other network and storage devices.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-hba-controllers">Shop HBAs</a></p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/hdd-min.png" alt="HDD" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>HDD – Hard Disk Drive</strong></strong></span></p> <p><em>Also referred to as: Hard Drive</em></p> <p>A&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hard-drives">Hard Disk Drive</a>&nbsp;is a non-volatile data storage device, typically installed internally in a computer attached directly to the disk controller of the motherboard connected using an ATA, SCSI or SATA cable. A HDD is made up of spinning magnetized disks determining the speed your computer is able to access information.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hard-drives">Shop Hard Drives</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">.&nbsp;</span></p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/dell-idrac-min.png" alt="iDRAC" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>iDRAC – Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller</strong></p> <p>Designed for secure local and remote server management, an Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller is used to help deploy, update and monitor servers.</p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/HPE-ilo-min.png" alt="HPE ILO" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>ILO – Integrated Lights Out</strong></p> <p>A remote server management processor embedded on the system board of&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/servers">HP ProLiant</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hpe-hp-blade-servers">Blade Servers</a>&nbsp;to allow remote controlling and monitoring of servers.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/ip-phone-min.png" alt="IP Phone" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>IP Phone – Internet Protocol Phone</strong></p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/cisco-ip-phones">IP Phone</a>&nbsp;is a method of delivering voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the internet.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/cisco-ip-phones">Shop IP Phones</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Memory-min.png" alt="lrdimm" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>LRDIMM – Load Reduced Dual In-line Memory Module</strong></p> <p>A load-reduction dual in-line memory module (DIMM) used in servers containing a memory buffer (MB) chip that increases the speed of the memory, reduces the load on a server’s memory bus and reduces power consumption.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/memory">Shop Memory</a></p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/MSA-min.png" alt="MSA" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>MSA – Modular Storage Array</strong></p> <p>A storage array, also called a disk array, is a data storage system for block-based storage, file-based storage, or object storage. Rather than store data on a server, storage arrays use multiple drives in a collection capable of storing a huge amount of data, managed by a central management system. Modular storage arrays are typically based on two controllers, which are kept apart from the unit’s disks. In essence, this ensures that, if one controller experiences a failure, the second will take over from the first automatically.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/storage-arrays">Shop MSAs</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">.&nbsp;</span></p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/nic (2)-min.png" alt="nic" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>NIC – Network Interface Card</strong></strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Also referred to as: &nbsp;Network Adapter and Ethernet Card&nbsp;</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>A&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-nic-cards-2">Network Interface Card</a>&nbsp;is a component that connects a computer to a computer network using an Ethernet cable.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-nic-cards-2">Shop NICs</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/NVME (2)-min.png" alt="NVME" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>NVME – Non-volatile Memory Express</strong></strong></span></p> <p>A hardware interface for Solid State Drives (SSDs) designed to accelerate the transfer speed between enterprise and client systems using a computers Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) bus.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/psu-min.png" alt="psu" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>PSU – Power Supply Unit</strong></p> <p><em>Also referred to as: Power Supply, P/S and PS.</em></p> <p>A&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-power-supplies-2">power supply unit</a>&nbsp;is a component that converts main AC to low-voltage regulated DC power for the internal components of a computer.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-power-supplies-2">Shop PSUs</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/RAID-controller-min.png" alt="RAID Controller" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>RAID Controller – Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks</strong></p> <p>A&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/storage-controllers-raid">RAID Controller</a>&nbsp;is a system of data storage that uses multiple hard drives to store data. Various storage techniques can be used to achieve different levels of data redundancy, error recovery and performance improvement.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Memory-min.png" alt="ram" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>RAM – Random Access Memory</strong></p> <p><em>Also referred to as: primary memory, main memory and system memory.</em></p> <p>RAM is a high-speed component that allows information to be stored and retrieved on a computer. It temporarily stores data which can be accessed randomly quickly, unlike a hard disk drive (HDD). RAM is volatile meaning it retains data as long as the computer is on, but is lost once it is turned off.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/memory">Shop Memory</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">.&nbsp;</span></p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/SAN_1000.png" alt="SAN" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>SAN – Storage Area Network</strong></strong></span></p> <p>A&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-hpe-san-storage">SAN</a>&nbsp;is a high-speed network of storage devices that connects servers with storage devices such as disk arrays, RAID hardware and tape libraries, providing a shared pool of storage space.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-hpe-san-storage">Shop SANs</a></p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/SAS-min.png" alt="SAS" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><strong>SAS – Serial Attached SCSI</strong></strong></span></p> <p>A type of serial transmission protocol that moves data to and from computer storage devices such as hard disk drives and tape drives.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/SATA_1000.png" alt="SATA" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>SATA – Serial Advanced Technology Attachment</strong></p> <p><em>Also referred to as: Serial ATA</em></p> <p>A computer bus interface used to connect a host bus adapter to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives (SSD).</p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/SCSI_1000.png" alt="SCSI" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>SCSI – Small Computer System Interface</strong></p> <p>An SCSI is a set of parallel interface standards used for connecting and transferring data from peripherals such as disk drives to computers.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Memory-min.png" alt="ram" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>SDRAM – Synchronised Dynamic Random Access Memory&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>SDRAM is Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) with an interface that is synchronous with the system carrying bus data, coordinated by an externally supplied clock signal.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/memory">Shop Memory</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">.&nbsp;</span></p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/sff-lff-min.png" alt="sff" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>SFF – Small Form Factor / LFF – Large Form Factor</strong></p> <p>Hard Drive form factor relates to the size of the drive and determines the physical compatibility with the drive bays in a storage array, enclosure or server.</p> <p>The most common form factor for enterprise class hard drives are large form factor and small form factor. SFF Hard Drives are 2.5inch long. LFF hard drives are 3.5 inches long.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hard-drives">Shop Hard Drives</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/sfp-min.png" alt="sfp" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>SFP – Small Form-Factor Pluggable</strong></p> <p><em>Also referred to as: Transceiver</em></p> <p>A device used to transmit and receive optical or electrical signals between network devices. They connect network cables to a variety of devices with media converters, network routers and switches.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-sfp-sfp-gbic-transceivers">Shop SFPs</a></p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/SODIMM-min.png" alt="SODIMM" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>SODIMM – Small Outline Dual In-Line Memory Module</strong></p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/sodimm-laptop-memory">SODIMM</a>&nbsp;is a type of computer memory built using integrated circuits; a smaller alternative to a DIMM used in desktops and PCs.</p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-3"><img class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/ssd-min.png" alt="ssd" width="200" height="200" /></div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p><strong>SSD – Solid State Drive</strong></p> <p>A storage medium that uses non-volatile memory to hold and access data. Internal Solid State Drives connect to a computer using IDE or SATA connections. Unlike a hard disk drive (HDD) an SSD has no moving parts, allowing it to access data quicker and have a lower power consumption.</p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hard-drives">Shop SSDs</a></p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="row mb-4"> <div class="col-md-9"> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe. Call: 01423 223430 Email: sales@intelligentservers.co.uk Live chat: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:25https://intelligentservers.co.uk/5-reasons-to-choose-refurbished-hardware5 Reasons You Should Choose Refurbished Hardware from Intelligent Servers<p>&nbsp;<img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/5-reasons-refurb-page-min.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>We could probably give you 100 reasons why we believe refurbished hardware is better than new, but we know you’re busy, so for now here are 5!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Save up to 80% on the price! </strong><strong>💷</strong></span></li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Without a doubt, the number one reason to choose refurbished is the massive cost savings available compared to new!&nbsp;Just like a car loses its value as soon as it leaves the forecourt, IT hardware loses its value as soon as the box is opened. <br /><br />We've had schools save hundreds of thousands of pounds and IT service providers save millions by choosing refurb!&nbsp;Many of our customers have been able to bring other IT projects forward due to having money left over from their initial budget.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/refurb-new-comparison-min.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol start="2"> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Three year warranty </strong><strong>🏆</strong></span></li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Many people worry about not getting the same warranty agreements with refurbished, but we're so confident in the quality of our refurbished hardware that we offer a free 3 year warranty, including remote setup and support on all hardware. That matches and often beats OEM (original equipment manufacturer) warranties.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>“After a lot of researching, I decided to purchase my HP Z600 from Intelligent Servers largely due to them having a 3-year hardware warranty with the system despite it being refurbished (most only offer 3-6 months if any). The system arrived in less than 48 hours after purchase and was extremely well packed for its journey.” – Dave Saunders, Review left on Trustpilot </strong><strong>⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol start="3"> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Performance is as good as new!&nbsp;</strong><strong>📈</strong></span></li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>We put all of our hardware through high performance testing to ensure it is performing as good as new! In fact, refurbished hardware is known to have lower RMA rates than new hardware due to every piece being tested before shipping, whereas when hardware comes straight off the factory line, it is only spot tested.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/professional-testing-hardware-min.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol start="4"> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Source parts no longer available from the OEM </strong><strong>🔍</strong></span></li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Just a few weeks ago, we were able to source 10x HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen10 Blades for a bank, which have become increasingly difficult to come by since HPE switched to Synergy. After contacting dozens of suppliers, including HPE, Intelligent Servers was the only supplier able to source the Blades!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Many of our customers have had similar situations where they only need to replace one part of a Server, but they can no longer buy the parts through the OEM. If refurbished wasn’t an option, they would need to replace the entire Server!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol start="5"> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Environmentally friendly </strong><strong>♻</strong></span></li> </ol> <p>Refurbished IT is not just good for the pennies, it's good for the planet too! Global ewaste has risen 21% in the past 5 years, with over 50 million tonnes of ewaste being produced every year.</p> <p>Choosing refurbished hardware prevents useful equipment from going to landfill and reduces the demand to mine raw materials for new IT equipment.&nbsp;The average age of the hardware we sell is just three years old, while the average lifetime of a Server is over 10 years.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/ewaste-trio-min.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>What refurbished IT equipment can you get from Intelligent Servers? </strong></p> <p>✓ <a href="/servers">Refurbished Servers</a>: <a href="/hpe-hp-rack-servers">HP Rack</a>, <a href="/hpe-hp-blade-servers">HP Blade</a>,&nbsp;<a href="/hpe-hp-tower-servers">HP Tower,</a>&nbsp;<a href="/dell-rack-servers">Dell Rack</a>,&nbsp;<a href="/dell-blade-servers">Dell Blades</a><br />✓ <a href="/storage-arrays">Refurbished Storage</a>: <a href="/hpe-3par-storage">HP 3PAR</a>, <a href="/hp-hpe-das-storage">DAS</a>,&nbsp;<a href="/hp-hpe-san-storage">SAN</a><br />✓ <a href="/networking">Refurbished Networking</a>: <a href="/hp-procurve-switches">HP ProCurve Switches</a>, <a href="/hp-san-switches">HP StorageWorks Switches</a>, <a href="/cisco-switches">Cisco Catalyst Switches</a>,&nbsp;<a href="/cisco-routers">Cisco Routers</a><br />✓ <a href="/components">Refurbished Components</a>: <a href="/hard-drives">Hard Drives</a>, <a href="/processor">Processors</a>, <a href="/memory">Memory</a>, <a href="/networking-components">Networking Components</a>,&nbsp;<a href="/storage-components">Storage Components</a><br />✓ <a href="/workstations">Refurbished Workstations</a>: HP Z Series, Dell Precision, Lenovo ThinkStations<br />✓ <a href="/desktops-laptops">Refurbished Desktops and Laptops</a>: HP Elite Book, Dell Latitude, Lenovo ThinkPad, HP EliteDesk</p> <p>And much more! If you can’t find the hardware you’re looking for, would like a quote on a bulk purchase or need some technical advice, our professional team is waiting to hear from you...</p> <p><strong>Call</strong>: 01423 223430 &nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>Email</strong>: <a href="mailto:sales@intelligentservers.co.uk">sales@intelligentservers.co.uk</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>Live chat</strong>: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm</p> <hr /> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:24https://intelligentservers.co.uk/60000-sales-over-the-past-ten-years-here-are-6-of-our-favourites60,000 Sales over the past ten years – here are 6 of our favourites!<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/60000-blog-posts-min.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>A couple of weeks ago we were fortunate enough to have received our 60,000<sup>th</sup> sale! Over the past decade, we’ve dealt with every type of business under the sun… from schools to banks, IT companies to charities.</p> <p>We’ve shipped to over 100 countries from Switzerland to Singapore… Australia to Canada.</p> <p>And we’ve built custom configurations for our clients to meet their IT hardware needs, whether that’s to increase bandwidth, provide backups, virtualisation or for CAD engineering …</p> <p>Whatever the company, country, or configuration… we’ve probably done it! So to bring back some nostalgia, we’ve decided to identify 6 solutions that are our favourite!</p> <ol> <li> <h2><strong>School saves £300k with refurbished hardware </strong><strong>💷</strong></h2> </li> </ol> <p> </p> <p><strong>Location</strong>: Essex, UK<br /> <strong>Hardware</strong>: <span style="color: #800000;"><a href="/cisco-switches"><span style="color: #800000;">Cisco Catalyst Switches</span></a>, <a href="/dell-rack-servers"><span style="color: #800000;">Dell PowerEdge R620 and R820 Rack Servers</span></a>,</span> Dell PowerVault SAS Storage SAN<br /> <strong>Budget</strong>: £120,000<br /> <strong>Key selling points</strong>: Exceptional customer support, designed a complete solution that fit the customers’ requirements and budget.</p> <p>An IT Manager who works for a multi-academy trust responsible for the IT infrastructure of six schools approached Intelligent Servers when he was tasked with a large infrastructure overhaul project. The project included replacing the entire fibre and copper Network Switch infrastructure as well as upgrading all of the current Server infrastructure.</p> <p>The Trust had a few resellers quote new HP ProCurve/Aruba solutions, with most quoting over £350,000. Intelligent Servers came in at £80,000 using Refurbished Cisco Catalyst 6509’s at the Core, giving the customer multiple media types. Since the Trust saved over £200,000 on Networking, the IT Manager had budget leftover to upgrade his ageing Dell R610 Servers to 11 Dell PowerEdge R620’s and R820’s. Again, they saved over £90,000 by choosing refurbished from Intelligent Servers instead of new direct from Dell.</p> <p>It wasn’t just the huge savings for the customer that made this order so notable, but the review that the IT Manager left us on Google is probably our favourite review! You can read the five-star review below.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/5-star-review.png" alt="" width="684" height="637" /></p> <ol start="2"> <li> <h2><strong>Our first Synergy solution out the door</strong> <strong>🚚</strong></h2> </li> </ol> <p><strong>Location: </strong>Madrid, Spain<strong><br /> Hardware: </strong>Synergy 12000 Frame, Synergy 480 Gen10 Blade Servers, <span style="color: #800000;"><a href="/hpe-3par-8000-series"><span style="color: #800000;">HPE 3PAR 8450 StorServ</span></a></span><strong><br /> Budget: </strong>£70,000<strong><br /> Key selling points: </strong>Huge savings when choosing refurbished from Intelligent Servers compared to new retail from HPE.</p> <p>When Intelligent Servers was founded (as Intelligent Brokerage) over ten years ago, G6 was the latest and greatest HPE hardware. Overtime we have seen many different types of hardware come and go, and a few months ago, we were fortunate enough to ship our first Synergy solution.</p> <p>Being available on the market for over three years, we are starting to see HPE Synergy solutions flood into the refurbished market.... and of course, there is no better storage solution to pair it with than 3PAR!</p> <p>A global telecoms company approached Intelligent Servers looking to upgrade their current infrastructure to a Synergy and 3PAR configuration for their data centre in Spain.</p> <p>The Synergy configuration included the Synergy 12000 Frame and four Synergy 480 Gen10 Blade Servers, each configured with dual Intel Xeon Gold 6152 CPUs, 128GB of Memory, 600GB of Storage, Network Adapters, HBAs and Controllers. The Synergy was paired with 1x HPE 3PAR 8450 23TB All-Flash SAN Storage Array that has 2x additional HPE 3PAR 8000 Range SFF Disk Enclosures to enable “Cage Redundancy”.</p> <p>The company was initially being pushed by HPE directly to buy new retail HPE Synergy with a HPE Primera SAN Storage Array, but the customer choose refurbished through IntelligentServers.co.uk, enabling them to spend the remainder of their budget on other essential infrastructure upgrades which they wouldn’t have been able to do if they bought new from HPE.</p> <p> <img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/synergy-3par-min.png" alt="Synergy 3PAR" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <ol start="3"> <li> <h2><strong>Leading European Poker Champion configures 6.1TB of RAM </strong><strong>♠️</strong></h2> </li> </ol> <p><strong>Location</strong>: London, United Kingdom<br /> <strong>Hardware</strong>: HPE ProLiant DL580 Gen9 Rack Servers<br /> <strong>Budget</strong>: £40,000<br /> <strong>Key selling points</strong>: The technical knowledge of our account managers meant the client was able to say what he wanted to achieve, and our technical experts designed an IT solution specific to his exact requirements.</p> <p>Earlier this year, we shipped a HPE ProLiant DL580 Gen9 4U Rack Server to one of the best poker players in Europe. Requiring something more powerful than his current Workstation, the poker player was looking for significantly more RAM and CPUs with higher cores to slash the time it takes to solve solver trees.</p> <p>The Server was configured with 96x 64GB DDR4 <span style="color: #800000;"><a href="/memory"><span style="color: #800000;">Memory Modules</span></a></span> for a massive 6.1TB of RAM and four <span style="color: #800000;"><a href="/intel-xeon-e7-series"><span style="color: #800000;">Intel Xeon E7 processors</span></a></span> supporting up to 96-cores. The Server is being used to support poker solver software including Monker and Pio, to find optimal plays in online poker games.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/dl580-min.png" alt="DL580 Gen9" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <ol start="4"> <li> <h2><strong>Intelligent Servers is the only supplier able to source Gen10 Blades for Bank </strong><strong>🏫</strong></h2> </li> </ol> <p><strong>Location</strong>: South Africa<br /> <strong>Hardware</strong>: HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen10 Blade Servers<br /> <strong>Budget</strong>: £65,000<br /> <strong>Key selling points</strong>: Ability to source IT equipment no longer available from the manufacturer.</p> <p>Cost savings are not the only reasons businesses choose refurbished… Intelligent Servers extensive stock holding really pulled through for one South African bank! We were able to source 10x BL460c Gen10 Blades for the bank, which have become increasingly difficult to come by since HPE switched to Synergy.</p> <p>After contacting dozens of suppliers, Intelligent Servers was the only supplier able to source the Blades, which will seamlessly integrate into their data centre (not even Hewlett Packard Enterprises were able to source the hardware!). The ability to source IT equipment no longer available from the manufacturer is yet another reason why refurbished hardware can be a huge benefit for small businesses and billion pound enterprises alike.</p> <p>The icing on the cake of this order was that the bank invited Intelligent Servers to the invitation only <a href="/we-are-fsqs-registered"><span style="color: #800000;">FSQS certification</span></a> programme, which we passed with flying colours. This now means other banks and financial services can buy from Intelligent Servers with fewer hurdles to jump through due to strict measures in place on financial service suppliers.</p> <p> </p> <ol start="5"> <li> <h2><strong>Our largest ever single sale 🚀</strong></h2> </li> </ol> <p><strong>Location</strong>: Bedfordshire, United Kingdom<br /> <strong>Hardware</strong>: <span style="color: #800000;"><a href="/hpe-3par-storage"><span style="color: #800000;">HPE 3PAR StorServ</span></a></span> and <span style="color: #800000;"><a href="/hpe-bl460c-gen8-v1-blade-server"><span style="color: #800000;">HPE BL460c Gen8 Blade Servers</span></a></span><br /> <strong>Budget</strong>: £500,000<br /> <strong>Key selling points</strong>: Good experience with Intelligent Servers on numerous occasions led to this multi-million-pound business choosing Intelligent Servers for their largest IT projects.</p> <p>We were proud to complete our biggest ever single sale in the middle of the pandemic when a repeat business customer came back to us to buy more refurbished HPE 3PAR 7000's and refurbished HPE BLc7000’s configured with HPE BL460c Gen8 Blade Servers.</p> <p>The order total was just under £500k! If the customer decided to buy new retail HPE Gen10 and HPE 3PAR 8000 Series from HPE, they would have forked out a whopping £4.7millon. That’s a saving of £4.2millon!!</p> <p>The customer that runs their own private cloud infrastructure was so pleased with their initial purchase of four refurbished HPE 3PAR StoreServ 7400c Storage Arrays and two refurbished HP BLc7000 Blade Enclosures; they decided to come back for more! But this time, it was five HPE 3PAR 7450c All-Flash Arrays configured with over 1,193TB (1.19Petabytes) using HPE 3PAR MLC 1.92TB SSD Drives and six HPE C7000 Blade Enclosures built with 96 fully configured HPE BL460c Gen8 Blade Servers including 49TB of RAM!</p> <p>All of the hardware is covered by our 3 year hardware replacement warranty and 3 year remote setup and support services, free of charge! This and many other examples prove that it’s not just businesses with small IT budgets that see the benefits of refurbished. Companies that spend millions of pounds on IT a year also love refurb!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/3par-blades-min.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <ol start="6"> <li> <h2><strong>Porn site requires hardware for growing members 🍆</strong></h2> </li> </ol> <p><strong>Location</strong>: Netherlands <br /> <strong>Hardware</strong>: <span style="color: #800000;"><a href="/hpe-dl380p-gen8-rack-servers"><span style="color: #800000;">HP ProLiant DL380p</span></a></span> and <span style="color: #800000;"><a href="/hpe-dl360p-gen8-rack-server"><span style="color: #800000;">DL360p Gen8 Rack Servers</span></a>, <a href="/cisco-switches"><span style="color: #800000;">Cisco Switches</span></a></span><br /> <strong>Budget</strong>: £60,000<br /> <strong>Key selling points</strong>: Three year warranty including support, able to ship in a ready to deploy condition</p> <p>Although it's been all doom and gloom in the headlines, there are some industries that have benefited from the nationwide lockdown... It's no surprise that one porn website required lots of new servers this year.</p> <p>The popular website, which you may or may not be familiar with, has ordered 15 fully configured HP ProLiant DL380p and DL360p Gen8 Rack Servers along with some Cisco Switches. The main reasons the IT manager chose to work with Intelligent Servers is due to our three year warranty including remote setup and support. Configuring all the hardware to their specifications, testing and shipping in a ready to deploy condition also saved him a lot of time when deploying the equipment.</p> <p>The website assured us that they will require more hardware in the future to accommodate their growing members.</p> <p> </p> <p>If you would like to join over 5,000 happy customers from over 100 countries who have saved millions of pounds on their IT hardware, please get in touch on 01423 223430, email <a href="mailto:sales@intelligentservers.co.uk">sales@intelligentservers.co.uk</a> or speak to an agent on live chat.</p> <p>Intelligent Servers is one of Europe’s leading refurbished Server, Storage, Networking and Component resellers, specialising in HPE, Dell and Cisco. All hardware comes with a three year warranty including remote setup and support.</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:22https://intelligentservers.co.uk/we-are-fsqs-registeredWe are FSQS registered!<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/fsqs-is.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>We are proud to announce that Intelligent Servers has been certified as a fully registered Financial Supplier Qualification System (FSQS) supplier, representing our commitment to security and compliance.</p> <p><strong>About FSQS </strong></p> <p>FSQS is a community of financial institutions including banks, building societies, insurance companies and investment services, collaborating to agree a single standard for managing the increasing complexity of third and fourth-party information.</p> <p>It provides a standard mechanism for collecting and managing supplier compliance assurance information across the sector, in an increasingly complex and regulated environment.</p> <p>It helps introduce responsible business practices through collaboration with multiple financial institutions.</p> <p><strong>What does this mean for Intelligent Servers? </strong></p> <p>To gain certification, Intelligent Servers took part in a rigorous audit process against key compliance areas, including:</p> <ul> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Anti-Bribery</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Operational Risk</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Complaints Handling</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Customer Treatment</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Products &amp; Sales</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Anti-Money Laundering</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Health &amp; Safety</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Whistle Blowing</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Physical &amp; People Security</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Information Security</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cyber Security</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Data Privacy &amp; GDPR</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Diversity &amp; Inclusion</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Environment</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Responsible Business &amp; Governance</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Social Media</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Financial &amp; Legal</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Insurance</li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tax Compliance</li> </ul> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Validating body, Hellios, reviews all submitted information against strict guidelines. Supplier information is then published on the secure FSQS system. In turn, buyers can then use this to access suppliers.</p> <p>FSQS creates a simpler route to demonstrating compliance to our customers, has a tailored approach to increase efficiency, and identifies customer requirements for continued business improvement.</p> <p>Achieving FSQS certification demonstrates an extra layer of assurance and creates a smoother process, demonstrated through due diligence and collaboration.</p> <p>To find out more about FSQS, visit here <a href="https://hellios.com/fsqs/">https://hellios.com/fsqs/</a></p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IntelligentServers.co.uk is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Blog posts you may be interested in:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-sponsors-charity-golf-day">Intelligent Servers sponsors charity golf day&nbsp;</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-named-finalists-in-dcs-awards-data-centre-upgrade-project-of-the-year">Intelligent Servers named finalists in DCS Awards!</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/were-officially-iso-certified">Intelligent Servers becomes ISO accredited&nbsp;</a></span></li> </ul>urn:store:1:blog:post:21https://intelligentservers.co.uk/10-years-in-businessCelebrating 10 Years in Business<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/10-years-on-page.png" alt="10 year anniversary" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>Tuesday 19th January marks our tenth birthday! In the ten years that Intelligent Servers has been operating, we have helped thousands of businesses from over 100 countries save time, money and hassle with refurbished IT hardware.</p> <p>This year, despite a global pandemic and Brexit, Intelligent Servers has performed better than ever, supporting thousands of businesses with their changing IT requirements and shrinking IT budgets further establishing our company as a leader in refurbished IT hardware.</p> <p><strong>10 cool things we have done in the last ten years!</strong><br /> <br /> 👉🏻 Shipped to over 100 countries!<br /> 👉🏻 Built approximately 20,000 hardware configurations!<br /> 👉🏻 Shipped approximately 75,000 orders!<br /> 👉🏻 Achieved 4 government-backed accreditations!<br /> 👉🏻 Erased data from over 100,000 hard drives!<br /> 👉🏻 Became leaders in the refurbished hardware market!<br /> 👉🏻 Retained 20% of our staff for more than 5 years!<br /> 👉🏻 Received thousands of 5-star reviews!<br /> 👉🏻 Eaten over 1,000 Domino's pizzas!<br /> 👉🏻 Survived one global pandemic!</p> <p><strong>New Logo</strong><br /> We have also decided to mark the occasion with a new logo… Let us know what you think!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/new-logo.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>We would like to say a huge thank you to all of our employees, customers and suppliers for the last ten years of support, some of which have left us some lovely messages below!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/congrats-1.png" alt="congratulations" width="486" height="105" /></p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/congrats-2.png" alt="Congratulations " width="489" height="119" /></p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/congrats-3.png" alt="congrats" width="490" height="109" /></p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/congrats-4.png" alt="congrats" width="486" height="123" /></p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/congrats-5.png" alt="congrats" width="493" height="105" /></p> <p> </p>urn:store:1:blog:post:20https://intelligentservers.co.uk/brexitIntelligent Servers Brexit Information<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Brexit-info-blog-post.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>The UK officially left the European Union on January 31st 2020 with a transition period lasting until December 31st 2020. From January 1st 2021 there will be some changes to shipping and billing on orders from the European Union.</p> <p><strong>Summary</strong></p> <p>Orders placed by our EU customers from 1st January 2021 will no longer be charged UK VAT. This will be reflected at the checkout when placing website orders and for orders placed with our sales team.</p> <p>We will continue to ship orders as normal with our couriers on DAP (Delivered at Place) terms. Once your order has been dispatched you will be contacted by the courier to collect the relevant VAT charges and import rates that apply to your country. VAT registered businesses can still reclaim VAT from their own local authority.</p> <p>Customers will be responsible for paying any duty or taxes that may be incurred at the point of import. All of the products we sell carry a 0% duty rate so there it is unlikely that there should be any duty to pay.</p> <p>At Intelligent Servers, we are committed to continuing to provide the best possible service for our customers in Europe. We are prepared for this change in invoicing and shipping and aim to ensure a smooth transition for all orders from 2021.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>What Brexit means for British Businesses </strong></p> <p>When the UK left the EU it became a ‘third country’. This means that there are extra administration tasks required for those who trade between the EU and the UK.</p> <p>Import and export declarations have to be completed for all shipments and duties may have to be paid. Incoterms define whether the buyer or seller is responsible for the extra burdens.</p> <p><strong>What are Incoterms?</strong></p> <p>International commercial terms, or ‘Incoterms’, define where the responsibility lies between the buyer and the seller. Incoterms set rules for the delivery of goods between trading partners and are recognised globally. These rules help to clarify; who is responsible for the costs involved in the delivery of goods such as insurance, freight/shipping, disbursement charges, and duty as well as who is responsible for the import/ export declarations and the associated filing costs.</p> <p>The latest version of incoterms, Incoterms 2020, came into effect on 1 January, 2020. There are 11 incoterms in Incoterms 2020 and at Intelligent Servers, we use Delivered at Place (DAP) when sending orders to Europe.</p> <p><strong>Delivered at Place (DAP)</strong></p> <p>The exporter (Intelligent Servers) arranges carriage and delivery of the goods, ready for unloading at the buyer’s address. The seller (Intelligent Servers) is required to unload the goods at this destination.</p> <p>The buyer is responsible for paying import duties and any applicable taxes, including clearance and local taxes, once the shipment has arrived at the specified destination.</p> <p><strong>Useful Resources</strong></p> <p>If you are ordering from outside of the UK, please contact us if you have any questions regarding extra tasks, taxes and duties you may encounter. We have linked some websites below which you may also find useful.</p> <ul> <li><span style="color: #800000;">         <a href="https://iccwbo.org/resources-for-business/incoterms-rules/"><span style="color: #800000;">International Chamber of Commerce Incoterms rules</span></a></span></li> <li><span style="color: #800000;">         <a href="https://www.great.gov.uk/"><span style="color: #800000;">Department for International Trade – Exporting is Great</span></a></span></li> <li><span style="color: #800000;">         <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-brexit-transition-communications-resources"><span style="color: #800000;">HMRC Brexit transition communications resources</span></a></span></li> </ul> <hr /> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:23https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-20-highlights-from-2020Intelligent Servers 20 Highlights from 2020<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/2020-highlights-page-min.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p>2020 has been a funny old year! But despite all the doom and gloom that has come with a global pandemic, we are delighted to present to you 20 of our biggest achievements from the year 2020</p> <p><strong>1.&nbsp;</strong><strong>3 New accreditations</strong></p> <p>In 2020 our team worked hard to become certified for ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO 14001 for environmental management and ISO 27001 for information management! These certifications demonstrate our rigorous quality standards and commitment to continuously improve our business processes. <a href="/accreditations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read more about our accreditations here</a>.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Accreditations/ISO 9001 Icon.png" alt="" width="100" height="100" /><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Accreditations/ISO 14001 Icon.png" alt="" width="100" height="100" /><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Accreditations/ISO 27001 Icon.png" alt="" width="100" height="100" /></p> <p><strong>2. 1 Award nomination</strong></p> <p>In 2020 we were extremely excited to nominated for our first award! Intelligent Servers was named a finalist in the DCS Awards for Data Centre Upgrade/Refresh Project of the Year. The nomination comes from the March 2020 project where we rapidly supplied eight Dell PowerEdge M1000e enclosures each housing sixteen Dell PowerEdge M620 Blade Servers resulting in a total of 128 Blades to a video conferencing company as lockdown hit the UK.&nbsp;<a href="/intelligent-servers-named-finalists-in-dcs-awards-data-centre-upgrade-project-of-the-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read more about our award nomination here!</a></p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Accreditations/DCS Awards Data Centre Project Finalist.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></p> <p><strong>3. Our largest ever single sale</strong></p> <p>We smashed our biggest single sale when a repeat customer that runs a private cloud infrastructure came back to us to buy more refurbished&nbsp;<a href="/hpe-3par-storeserv-7000-storage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HPE 3PAR 7000's</a> and refurbished HPE BLc7000’s configured with <a href="/hpe-bl460c-gen8-v1-blade-server" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HPE BL460c Gen8 Blade Servers</a>.</p> <p>The order total was just under £500k! If the customer decided to buy new retail HPE Gen10 and HPE 3PAR 8000 Series from HPE, they would have forked out a whopping £4.7millon. That’s a saving of £4.2millon!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>4. 1 new website</strong></p> <p>Our old website has been hugely successful over the last four years, however this year we decided to launch a new and improved IntelligentServers.co.uk which allows us to be much more flexible with our pricing, enhances the user experience, features tonnes of new content and has a completely restructured navigation.</p> <p><strong>5. Warehouse size increased by 25%</strong></p> <p>By extending two mezzanines we've managed to increase our warehouse space by 25% this year meaning we can stock more products than ever!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Case Study Pages/warehouse.png" alt="" width="500" height="250" /></p> <p><strong>6. Over 18,000 hard drives wiped</strong></p> <p>This year we used the world’s most certified data erasure software to erase all data from over 18,000&nbsp;<a href="/hard-drives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hard drives</a> and <a href="/hp-25-ssds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">solid state drives</a>! If all those hard drives were stacked on top of each other, they’d be the height of 10 Big Bens!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/hard drives_1000.jpeg" alt="" width="375" height="500" /></p> <p><strong>7. Shipped to 85 countries</strong></p> <p>We shipped orders to 85 countries… everywhere from Belgium to Brazil… Switzerland to Singapore!</p> <p><strong>8. 14 wonderful new employees</strong></p> <p>We hired 14 new team members this year across almost all of our departments including Marketing, IT, HR, Accounts, Goods In, Goods Out and our Technical team making our team a total of 42! <a href="/meet-the-team" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Find out more about our team here</a>.</p> <p><strong>9. 2.78% staff turnover rate!</strong></p> <p>We’ve also worked out that we had an exceptional staff turnover of just 2.78%! Not bad compared to the UK national average of 15% and an industry average of 18%!</p> <p><strong>10. 3500 hardware configurations built!</strong></p> <p>Our technical experts have completed over 3500 hardware configurations this year. We’ve configured everything from <a href="/servers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Servers </a>for data centres, <a href="/workstations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Workstations </a>for engineers, <a href="/laptops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Laptops </a>for small business owners and&nbsp;<a href="/storage-arrays" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storage Arrays</a> for billion pound businesses.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/5_1000.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="334" /></p> <p><strong>11. 100+ 3PAR configurations</strong></p> <p>We’ve configured over 100 HPE 3PAR StoreServ builds this year all backed with a three year warranty including remote setup and support which we believe makes us one of the leading suppliers of refurbished 3PAR in the UK.&nbsp;<a href="/hpe-3par-storage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Find out more about our refurbished 3PAR here.</a></p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Case Study Pages/3PAR images_1000.png" alt="" width="1000" height="313" /></p> <p><strong>12. Over 500 five star reviews&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>We love getting feedback from our customers and are delighted to have received over 500 positive reviews this year across our platforms including <a href="https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/intelligentservers.co.uk?utm_medium=trustbox&amp;utm_source=MicroReviewCount" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trustpilot</a>, Google Reviews and Ebay. Below are a few of our favourites!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/warranty reviews_1000.png" alt="" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p><strong>13. 5 charities supported</strong></p> <p>With such a difficult year for so many industries, in 2020 we made sure to support more charities. We supported the Harrogate Easier Living Project by donating laptops to their remote workers. We also took part in a charity golf day to raise thousands of pounds for children’s charities Harrogate Candle Lighters and Variety Yorkshire.</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/The golf day team.png" alt="" width="860" height="300" /></p> <p><strong>14. 250 pizzas eaten</strong></p> <p>Okay so maybe not our proudest achievement… but pizza Thursdays are the best day of the month at Intelligent Servers and whilst this year has been so isolating and lonely at times, we’ve learned to appreciate the feasts we could have together more than ever!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/PIZZA_1000.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="334" /></p> <p><strong>15. 5,000 new social media followers</strong></p> <p>We’ve been putting more effort into our social media profiles this year which is why we’ve gained over 5,000 new followers across our <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-servers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IntelligentServersHG2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/IntelligentBHG2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter </a>and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/intelligentservers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram </a>accounts. Now we’ve mentioned it, why not go give us a follow!</p> <p><strong>16.&nbsp;</strong><strong>We’ve worked with 25 billion pound businesses this year</strong></p> <p>It’s not just SMEs that feel the benefit of refurbished, this year more than ever, micro-businesses right up to billion pound businesses have chosen to save money with refurbished IT hardware from Intelligent Servers.</p> <p><strong>17.&nbsp;</strong><strong>We worked with more than 250 schools and universities this year&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>From the University of Cambridge to local primary schools, we’ve worked with over 250 schools, colleges, academies and universities this year. One of the best projects we worked on was when an IT Manager responsible for the IT infrastructure of six schools approached Intelligent Servers when he was tasked with a large infrastructure overhaul project.</p> <p>They had a few resellers quote new HP ProCurve/Aruba solutions with most quoting over £350,000. Intelligent Servers came in at £80,000 using refurbished Cisco Catalyst 6509’s. Since the trust saved over £200,000 on Networking, the IT Manager had budget leftover to upgrade his ageing Dell R610 Servers to 11 Dell PowerEdge R620’s and R820’s. The IT manager left us this wonderful review below!</p> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/review-1.png" alt="" width="600" height="482" /></p> <p><strong>18. 40% Sales growth – that’s one of the highest growth rates in the UK!</strong></p> <p>Despite the uncertainty brought about from coronavirus, we’re delighted to be on track for around 40% revenue growth since the previous financial year. We’re delighted that 40% makes us one of the fastest growing companies in the UK!</p> <p><strong>19.&nbsp;</strong><strong>10,000 Orders shipped</strong></p> <p>We’re proud to have shipped a whopping 10,000 orders of refurbished hardware this year to thousands of businesses around the world!</p> <p><strong>20. 1 global pandemic survived</strong></p> <p>Every business that has survived through 2020 amongst lockdowns, redundancies, furloughed staff and illnesses should be proud and we’re delighted to be one of them!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco and have supplied thousands of businesses across Europe.</p> <p>Blog posts you may be interested in:</p> <ul> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-sponsors-charity-golf-day">Intelligent Servers sponsors charity golf day&nbsp;</a></li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-named-finalists-in-dcs-awards-data-centre-upgrade-project-of-the-year">Intelligent Servers named finalists in DCS Awards Data Centre Upgrade Project of the Year!</a></li> <li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/were-officially-iso-certified">Intelligent Servers becomes ISO accredited&nbsp;</a></li> </ul>urn:store:1:blog:post:18https://intelligentservers.co.uk/laptop-donation-lockdownIntelligent Servers Donates Laptops to Local Charity during Lockdown<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Donation-Blog-Header-Central.png" alt="Laptop donation " width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Research suggests that the coronavirus crisis will cause a £6.4 billion loss of income for charities over the next six months, just as demand for extra services are needed more than ever. Smaller local charities are especially exposed to the crisis with studies suggesting two-thirds have had to make significant cuts to services.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The loss of income and increase in need is not the only way charities have been affected. With the sudden shift of employees required to work from home, charities have struggled to cover the costs of supplying IT equipment for their team to work remotely effectively.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <h2>Harrogate and District Community Action</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><a href="https://hadca.org.uk/" target="_blank">HADCA (Harrogate and District Community Action)</a></strong> is a local charity with a focus on helping older and vulnerable people in the Harrogate area. Their <strong><a href="http://www.helpharrogate.org.uk/" target="_blank">HELP (Harrogate Easier Living Project) services</a></strong> support these people by collecting prescriptions, carrying out shopping and giving regular befriending phone calls.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A big part of their work also includes connecting people to local sources of support including charities such as Mind, citizen’s advice, food agencies and the appropriate council. They also host an online volunteering directory, a ‘Where to turn’ directory and keep community organisations informed about relevant news and grants.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <h2>Intelligent Servers donates laptops to HADCA</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HADCA put out an appeal for laptops for their employees who are now working from home. Intelligent Server’s finance director saw the appeal through a friend who works at the charity and knew we could help! Intelligent Servers quickly organised some of the Lenovo ThinkPad laptops we had in stock for HELP’s Chief Executive Frances to come and collect.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Lenovo Thinkstation Laptops.png" alt="Lenovo ThinkPad laptops" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“On behalf of all our clients, volunteers and staff at HADCA we would like to thank Intelligent Servers for the very generous donation of four laptops to support our work.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“In line with government guidance, our small team is now working from home. This provides an immense challenge in terms of IT as we simply do not have enough laptops for our staff. Your amazing donation means we now have fit-for-purpose laptops to replace the very old ones some of our staff have been struggling on with. This will facilitate more efficient home working and help us support the increasing number of people turning to us.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“As we don’t receive funding for any equipment, your donation will make a tremendous difference to our work. Thank you again.” – Frances Elliot, CEO of Harrogate and Direct Community Action</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <h2>Can you help?</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HADCA are always on the lookout for people willing to donate their time, money or equipment, so if you think you could help, please contact <a href="mailto:help@hadca.org.uk">help@hadca.org.uk</a> or visit the <strong><a href="https://hadca.org.uk/" target="_blank">HADCA website</a></strong> to find out more.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <p> </p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IntelligentServers.co.uk is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Blog posts you may be interested in:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">         <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-sponsors-charity-golf-day">Intelligent Servers sponsors charity golf day </a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">         <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-named-finalists-in-dcs-awards-data-centre-upgrade-project-of-the-year">Intelligent Servers named finalists in DCS Awards Data Centre Upgrade Project of the Year!</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">         <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/were-officially-iso-certified">Intelligent Servers becomes ISO accredited </a></span></li> </ul>urn:store:1:blog:post:17https://intelligentservers.co.uk/welcome-to-our-new-and-improved-websiteWelcome to our New and Improved Website!<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/New-Website-Blog-Post.png" alt="Intelligent Servers New Website Blog" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website! We loved our old website, but we felt like it was time for an upgrade!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Our old website has been hugely successful over the last four years, however our new website allows us to be much more flexible with our pricing, enhances the user experience, features tonnes of new content and has a completely restructured navigation.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <h2>Price Drop!</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The main reason we changed our website was to allow for easier management by our dedicated website team. The new website means we can be much more competitive within the market when pricing. In fact, with the launch of the new website, <strong>over 60% of our products have reduced in price!&nbsp;</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;"><strong>.</strong></span></p> <h2>Sleek New Design and Navigation</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With so many products in one place, we have spent lots of time organising the hardware into categories which makes what you are looking for easier to find. We now have almost 300 categories within our core product offerings of <strong><a href="/servers">Servers</a></strong>, <strong><a href="/storage-arrays">Storage Arrays</a></strong>, <strong><a href="/networking">Networking</a></strong>, <strong><a href="/components">Components</a></strong>, <strong><a href="/hard-drives">Hard Drives</a></strong>, <strong><a href="/workstations">Workstations</a></strong>&nbsp;and <strong><a href="/desktops-laptops">Desktops &amp; Laptops</a></strong>.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Our <strong><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/">homepage</a></strong>&nbsp;has also had a complete make-over to help you find the products you’re looking for!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Website-Screenshot_1000.png" alt="Intelligent Servers Navigation " width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <h2>Tonnes of New Content</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With the new site, we have added lots of interesting content pages to help you get to know more about Intelligent Servers. This includes a regularly updated <a href="/blog">blog</a>&nbsp;which will feature new techie posts every month including hardware reviews, comparisons, updates and news! If you like reading about IT hardware, you will like our blog!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Check out some of our favourite pages below!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <div class="row"> <div class="col"><a href="/about"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/about-intelligent-servers.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/about"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">About Us</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="col"><a href="/meet-the-team"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Blog Meet the Team.png" alt="Matt Ware intelligent servers" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/meet-the-team"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Meet the Team</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="col"><a href="/blog"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/blog-on-laptop.png" alt="Ben Gray Intelligent servers" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/blog"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Blog</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col"><a href="/case-studies"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Blog Case Studies.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/case-studies"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Case Studies</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="col"><a href="/online-build-tool"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/blog Online Build Tool.png" alt="Matt Ware intelligent servers" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/online-build-tool"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Online Build Tool</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="col"><a href="/accreditations"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Blog-accreditations.png" alt="Ben Gray Intelligent servers" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/accreditations"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Accreditations</span></strong></a></p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2><span style="color: #ffffff;">.</span></h2> <h2>Over 2,000 New Products!</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the process of developing our new website, we have added over 2,000 new products with hundreds more to come. This includes the latest <strong><a href="/dell-rack-servers">Dell Gen14 range</a></strong>&nbsp;such as the <strong><a href="/dell-r740-rack-server">PowerEdge R740</a></strong>, <strong><a href="/dell-r640-rack-server">PowerEdge R640</a></strong>&nbsp;and <strong><a href="/dell-r540-rack-server">PowerEdge R540</a></strong>&nbsp;which are fully configurable online.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We also have a <strong><a href="/hpe-3par-storage">HPE 3PAR Storage</a></strong>&nbsp;page featuring the <strong><a href="/hpe-3par-storeserv-7000-storage">3PAR 7000</a></strong>&nbsp;and <strong><a href="/hpe-3par-storeserv-8000-series">3PAR 8000 series</a></strong>. Intelligent Servers is the UK’s leading supplier in refurbished 3PAR Storage, so you can expect to see 3PAR featured more and more over the next few months on IntelligentServers.co.uk.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have also added hundreds of refurbished <strong><a href="/hard-drives">Hard Drives</a></strong>, <strong><a href="/processor">Processors</a>, <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/memory">Memory</a></strong>&nbsp;and <strong><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/refurbished-graphics-cards">Graphics Cards</a></strong>&nbsp;ideal for upgrading your current Server infrastructure.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #000000;"><strong><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Shop Now</span></strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Market-leading <strong><a href="/three-year-warranty">three year warranty</a></strong>&nbsp;including remote setup and support</span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><a href="/shipping-returns-2">Free shipping</a></strong>&nbsp;to anywhere in the world on all orders, no minimum spend</span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Industry <strong><a href="/online-build-tool">leading online build tool</a></strong>&nbsp;which allows you to easily customise Servers, Storage Arrays, Workstations, Desktops, Laptops and Networking equipment online.</span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><a href="/contactus">Live chat</a></strong>&nbsp;support from hardware specialists ready to answer all your technical questions!</span></p> </li> </ul> <div class="row"> <div class="col"><a href="/hpe-hp-rack-servers"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurb-Rack-Gen9.png" alt="Refurbished Rack Servers" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/hpe-hp-rack-servers"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HPE Rack Servers</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="col"><a href="/dell-rack-servers"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurb-Dell-Rack-Servers.png" alt="Dell Rack Servers" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/dell-rack-servers"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dell Rack Servers</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="col"><a href="/hpe-hp-tower-servers"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurb-HP-Towers.png" alt="Refurbished Tower Servers" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/hpe-hp-tower-servers"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HPE Tower Servers</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col"><a href="/workstations"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurb-Workstation.png" alt="Refurbished Workstations" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/workstations"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Workstations</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="col"><a href="/laptops"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurb-Laptop.png" alt="Refurbished Laptops" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/laptops"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Laptops</span></strong></a></p> </div> <div class="col"><a href="/hard-drives"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Refurb-Hard-Drives.png" alt="Refurbished Hard Drives" width="200" height="200" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/hard-drives"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hard Drives</span></strong></a></p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We would love to hear any feedback you have! Please email <a href="mailto:marketing@intelligentbrokerage.co.uk">marketing@intelligentbrokerage.co.uk</a> or let your account manager know what you think of the new website, or what you would like to see in the future!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To celebrate the launch of our new website, sign up to our&nbsp;<strong><a href="/subscribe-newsletter">newsletter</a></strong> to get 10% off and don't forget to follow us on social media to keep up with the latest news. Happy shopping!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-servers" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Intelligent-Servers-LinkedIn-min.png" alt="LinkedIn Intelligent Servers" width="50" height="50" /></a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/IntelligentServersHG2" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/IntelligentServers-facebook-min.png" alt="Intelligent Servers Facebook" width="50" height="50" /></a>&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/IntelligentBHG2" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Intelligent-Servers-Twitter-min.png" alt="Twitter" width="50" height="50" /></a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKarmyPFgaiIFv38__Nygyw?" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Intelligent-Servers-YouTube-min.png" alt="YouTube Intelligent Servers" width="50" height="50" /></a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/intelligentservers/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Meet the Team/instagram icon red.png" alt="YouTube Intelligent Servers" width="50" height="50" /></a></strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> </div> <hr /> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IntelligentServers.co.uk is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With over 10 years experience refurbishing all aspects of enterprise IT hardware, we help businesses maximise their IT budgets whilst boosting performance. All of our hardware is sold with a market-leading three year hardware and remote support warranty.</span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Blog posts you may be interested in:</span></strong></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="/intelligent-servers-sponsors-charity-golf-day">Intelligent Servers sponsors charity golf day&nbsp;</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="/intelligent-servers-named-finalists-in-dcs-awards-data-centre-upgrade-project-of-the-year">Intelligent Servers named finalists in DCS Awards Data Centre Upgrade Project of the Year!</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="/were-officially-iso-certified">Intelligent Servers becomes ISO accredited&nbsp;</a></span></li> </ul> </div>urn:store:1:blog:post:15https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-named-finalists-in-dcs-awards-data-centre-upgrade-project-of-the-yearIntelligent Servers named finalists in DCS Awards Data Centre Upgrade Project of the Year!<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Blog Post.png" alt="DCS Awards Data Centre Project of the Year" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We are extremely excited to announce that Intelligent Servers&nbsp;has been named a finalist in the DCS Awards for Data Centre Upgrade/Refresh Project of the Year!</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>What are the DCS Awards?</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The DCS Awards aims to celebrate and recognise exceptional projects, innovations and individuals within the data centre and IT industry. Being selected as finalists recognises the whole team at Intelligent Servers and all the hard work everyone puts in to make us one of the best refurbished IT hardware suppliers in Europe!</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>Why have we been nominated?</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The category we’re finalists in recognises notable refresh/upgrade projects resulting in significant benefits to the end-user organisation concerned. The nomination comes from the March 2020 project where we rapidly supplied Eight Dell PowerEdge M1000e Enclosures each housing sixteen Dell PowerEdge M620 Blade Servers resulting in a total of 128 Blades to a video conferencing company as lockdown hit the UK. Our quality, speed and technical knowledge meant the company was quickly able to increase the network capacity and bandwidth as video conferencing popularity boomed. You can read the full case study here.</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <h2>Vote for us to win!</h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Voting is open from the 20<sup>th</sup> Oct - 20<sup>th</sup> Nov 2020 with the winners being announced at the virtual award ceremony on the 10<sup>th</sup> December. If you've had a good experience with us in the past, we would be really grateful if you could scroll down to our category and vote for IntelligentServers.co.uk to win the Data Centre Consolidation/ Refresh/ Upgrade Project of the Year on the <strong>DCS Awards website</strong>.&nbsp;Please also follow us on <strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/IntelligentServersHG2">Facebook</a></strong> and <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/51600751/admin/">LinkedIn</a></strong> to find out if we win.</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IntelligentServers.co.uk is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All of our hardware is sold with a market-leading three year hardware and remote support warranty.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Blog posts you may be interested in:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="/were-officially-iso-certified">Intelligent Servers is ISO certified!</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="/keeping-the-world-connected-through-lockdown">Keeping the world connected through lockdown: Intelligent Servers supplies 128 Blade Servers to video conferencing company</a></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="/intelligent-servers-sponsors-charity-golf-day">Intelligent Servers sponsors charity golf day</a><br /></span></li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:9https://intelligentservers.co.uk/intelligent-servers-sponsors-charity-golf-dayIntelligent Servers Sponsors Charity Golf Day<p><span style="color: #ffffff;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Charity Golf Day Post.png" alt="Harrogate Charity Golf Day" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On Friday 2<sup>nd</sup> October, Intelligent Servers had two teams take part in the Harrogate Business Golf Day at Oakdale Golf Club organised by Impulse Decisions and raising money for Harrogate Candlelighters and Variety Yorkshire.</span></p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Supporting Local Charities</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/">IntelligentServers.co.uk</a> was delighted to sponsor the golf balls (which we think look pretty cool!) and the event raised thousands of pounds for the local children's charities. Harrogate Candle Lighters supports families facing children’s cancer in Yorkshire with donations helping to pay for everything from Chemo ducks to equipment on the wards and clinic. Variety Yorkshire exists to improve the lives of disable children and children living in poverty providing wheelchair and specialist equipment grants whilst also donating to children’s hospitals.</span></p> <h2><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></h2> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/The golf day team.png" alt="Intelligent Servers Golf Team" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 26pt;">Intelligent Servers get into the Swing of Things!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Having "one of the best games of their life", Blaine, Fatlum, Jack and Luke came third out of seventeen teams! The Intelligent Server’s second team also did great placing tenth. Some of the other teams taking part included Singsby Gin, GH Brooks builders merchant and McCormicks Solicitors.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Well done guys for representing Intelligent Servers and raising money for charity in the process!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IntelligentServers.co.uk is a leading refurbished Server, Storage, Networking and Components reseller. We specialise in HPE, Dell and Cisco supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With over 10 years of experience refurbishing all aspects of enterprise IT hardware, we help businesses maximise their IT budgets whilst boosting performance. All of our hardware is sold with a market-leading three year hardware and remote support warranty.</span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:6https://intelligentservers.co.uk/were-officially-iso-certifiedWe're Officially ISO Certified!<p><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/ISO Certified blog post image.png" alt="ISO certification" width="100%" height="auto" /></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We are pleased to announce that the Intelligent Brokerage Group is now an ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO27001 certified company!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is an important milestone for Intelligent Brokerage. This certification demonstrates our rigorous quality standards and commitment to continuously improve our business processes. Quality hardware and an exceptional customer experience remain our highest priority and we are proud to say that we excel at both. This is reflected in our repeat business and high customer satisfaction ratings.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The ISO (International Standards Organisation) is an independent, not for profit, international organisation who promote worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial standards. In the United Kingdom, there are currently less than 3,000 businesses who are ISO27001 certified, 12,000 who are ISO14001 certified and 25,000 ISO 9001 certified. With over 2.5 million businesses registered in the UK, ISO certifications highlight the top 1% of businesses that can demonstrate their product or service meets the expectations of their customers.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>ISO 9001</strong></p> <p>✓ Strive to exceed customer&nbsp;expectations<br />✓ Competent, empowered and engaged employees at all levels<br />✓ Ongoing focus on improvement</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>ISO 14001</strong></p> <p>✓ Compliance with environmental regulations<br />✓ Encourage better environmental performance from suppliers&nbsp;<br />✓ Commitment from leadership&nbsp;and&nbsp;proactive initiatives to protect the environment</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>ISO 27001</strong></p> <p>✓ Continually examine information security risks taking into account threats, vulnerabilities and impacts&nbsp;<br />✓ Implementation of comprehensive security controls to protect customer, supplier and employee data<br />✓ Ensure the safe management of information security assets</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff;">.</span></p> <p><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/meet-the-team"><br /><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Accreditations/ISO 9001 Icon.png" alt="ISO 9001 accreditation" width="200" height="200" /></a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/accreditations"><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Accreditations/ISO 14001 Icon.png" alt="ISO 14001 accreditation" width="200" height="200" /></a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/online-build-tool"><img src="/images/uploaded/Content Pages/Accreditations/ISO 27001 Icon.png" alt="ISO 27001 accreditation" width="200" height="200" /></a>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #ffffff;">&nbsp;.</span></p> <div class="post-body"><hr /> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IntelligentServers.co.uk is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With over 10 years experience refurbishing all aspects of enterprise IT hardware, we help businesses maximise their IT budgets whilst boosting performance. All of our hardware is sold with a market-leading three year hardware and remote support warranty.</span></p> </div>urn:store:1:blog:post:13https://intelligentservers.co.uk/multi-academy-trust-saves-over-300k-with-refurbished-network-and-server-overhaulMulti-Academy Trust saves over £300k with refurbished Network and Server Overhaul<p><a href="/case-study-multi-academy-trust-saves-almost-300k-with-refurbished-network-and-server-overhaul"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/edutech case study blog image.png" alt="Refurbished hardware case study" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">An IT Manager who works for a multi-academy trust responsible for the IT infrastructure of six schools approached Intelligent Servers when he was tasked with a large infrastructure overhaul project. The project included replacing the entire fibre and copper Network Switch infrastructure as well as upgrading all of the current Server infrastructure.</span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="color: #c61f42;"> <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/case-study-multi-academy-trust-saves-almost-300k-with-refurbished-network-and-server-overhaul">Click here to read the rest of this case study</a></span></span></strong></p> <p><strong><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</span></strong></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:12https://intelligentservers.co.uk/cost-effective-disaster-recovery-solutions-with-3par-2Cost-effective Disaster Recovery Solutions with 3PAR<p><a href="/cost-effective-disaster-recovery-solutions-with-3par"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/3par case study blog image.png" alt="Refurbished 3PAR Case Study" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have all heard the horror stories of simple mistakes that lead to costly business disasters. Having an IT disaster recovery plan is a critical business need to prevent serious financial impact, loss of customer confidence or damage to a company’s reputation. From IT hardware failure, human error to natural disasters, planning for the unknown can be difficult, but having enough funds to implement an IT disaster recovery plan can seem close to impossible.</span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="color: #c61f42;"> <a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/cost-effective-disaster-recovery-solutions-with-3par">Click here to read the rest of this case study</a><br /></span></span></strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:8https://intelligentservers.co.uk/will-the-after-effects-of-covid-19-affect-your-it-budgetWill the after effects of COVID-19 affect your IT Budget?<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/COVID IT budget Blog post.png" alt="COVID IT budget" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Since the COVID-19 break out in December 2019, we’ve seen whole industries decimated in terms of revenue and product sales; particularly the airline, hospitality and retail sectors. It certainly highlights how the impact of a worldwide lockdown - which has only been in place 6-weeks - can completely destroy years of growth and progress within any industry sector.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Even with the various grants and furlough support packages that the Government have put in place; analysts are predicting a potential 30% increase in liquidations and insolvencies for the most impacted sectors due to downturn in sales from COVID-19; but most notably a large percentage will be SMEs that are the lifeblood of any growing economy.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As CEO and CTO of my company IntelligentServers.co.uk T/A Intelligent Brokerage Limited both myself and my sales team sell a wide range of refurbished/used enterprise computer and networking hardware manufactured by the three main vendors, HPE, Dell and Cisco to a wide ranging customer base; from small start-ups, established SME’s, as well as the large corporate PLCs and Blue-chips. We also sell to a good range of public sector organisations like schools, councils, government bodies and charities.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IT Budgets Slashed by up to 90%</span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We’re hearing more and more, as COVID rattles on, from IT Managers that we sell our products and solutions to that they expect; and have already had their budgets; slashed by up to 90% over the next 12-18 months whilst the business focuses on stopping the haemorrhage of cash and somewhat regaining control of cash flow. Existing projects have been cancelled and new products have been put on the back burner. One IT Manager I speak to quite frequently even told me that his company might struggle to support hardware failures for ‘out of warranty’ critical infrastructure because the, already minute IT Purchasing budget, has been cut completely. In the event of a server or storage failure, he has been told to “squeeze more out of other servers and storage” by migrating Virtual Machines off failing hardware onto other working cluster servers, which will push his VMware cluster farm to the limit; most notably impacting UX and disaster recovery RTO.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Using Refurbished IT Hardware to Maximise IT Budgets&nbsp;</span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With all this in mind and the effects of COVID-19 set to cascade and ripple through most industry sectors throughout 2020 into 2021; now is an even better time to explore the benefits of ‘Refurbished Enterprise IT Hardware’ over buying New.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Over the last 7 years, both myself and my sales team have sold a large range of Servers, Server/SAN, Server/DAS solutions and Networking solutions to over 6000 customers worldwide. All of our hardware, along with our packaged solutions are covered by our ‘Free 3 Year Hardware Replacement Warranty’ and our ‘Free 3 Year Remote Hardware Setup and Support’. This is the same 3 Year Warranty you would get from the vendors, but we go one step further by throwing in our free 3 Year Remote Setup and Support package.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One of the key benefits comes from the price different between ‘refurbished hardware’ and ‘new hardware’ usually above and beyond 80% cheaper when buying refurbished/used as opposed to ‘new’.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Companies&nbsp;who have Experienced the Benefits of Refurbished&nbsp;</strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For example, a good spec’d&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hpe-dl380p-gen8-rack-servers">HPE DL380p Gen8</a></span>&nbsp;with 2x E5-2650 8-Core Intel Xeons, 256GB DDR3 PC3-14900R RAM, 8x 900GB 10K SAS (7.2TB Raw Storage Capacity) and 2x 460W Power Supplies, will give you 32x logical cores, a boat load of RAM and a sizable amount of storage to store and easily run 20-30 virtual machines using VMWare, XenServer or Hyper-V and will set you back £1500 ex VAT. If you bought the a similar spec’d ‘New’&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hpe-dl380-gen10-rack-servers-1">HPE DL380 Gen10</a></span>, you’d be easily paying over £10k without any real benefit in performance, efficiency or resiliency.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you were looking for a Clustered Server/SAN Storage setup that’s a bit more recent in terms of age you could go down the route of 4x&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hpe-dl360-gen9-rack-servers">HPE DL360 Gen9 Servers</a></span>&nbsp;with a similar spec as the Gen8 configuration above with 2x E5-2630L 8-Core Intel Xeons, 256GB PC4-2133P RAM, 2x 600GB 10K SAS (RAID-1 Operating System) along with a&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">HPE 3PAR 7400c that has nearly 100TB of “All-Flash” Storage using 1.92TB SSD Hard Drives</span>&nbsp;- all for just over £35k ex VAT. A solution like this, new from HPE would cost well over £500k.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We had a school down in Essex purchase a large Cisco Network/Firewall solution from us in the first quarter of 2019. The school wanted to upgrade their existing&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hp-procurve-switches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HP ProCurve</a></span>&nbsp;infrastructure that consisted of 1Gbit at the Core and 100Mbit at the Edge. The IT Manager wanted to upgrade the lot with 10Gbit at the Core and 1Gbit at the Edge. They had a few Resellers quote New HP ProCurve/Aruba solutions with most quoting over £350k. We came in at £80k using Refurbished Cisco Catalyst 6509’s at the Core, giving the customer multiple media types by using 1Gbit RJ45, 1Gbit SFP and 10Gbit X2 Line Cards; and Cisco Catalyst 4948-10GE’s at the Edge for 1Gbit RJ45 endpoint connectivity and 10Gbit Uplinks back to the Core Cisco Catalyst 6509’s. As we’d saved the school over £200k, the IT Manager had left over budget capital to upgrade his aging Dell R610 Servers to Dell R630’s, again saving over £90k by buying ‘Refurbished’ from us instead of ‘New’ direct from Dell.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These are just snippets from some of the cost saving examples that our customers have benefited from when they’ve taken the leap into refurbished hardware and continue to benefit from as they come back for more.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Why should you partner with Intelligent Servers?&nbsp;</span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All of the hardware and the solutions mentioned above are supported by our ever growing technical team, free of charge, throughout the span of the ‘Free 3 Year Remote Hardware Setup and Support’ package that comes free of charge with any hardware part or solution that is purchased from IntelligentServers.co.uk and Intelligent Brokerage Limited. Most customers that buy our HPE 3PAR Solutions have never used or experienced the benefits that HPE 3PAR gives in terms of performance and resiliency, let alone how to set the thing up! This is where we step in and hold the customers hand once they’ve purchased and racked the hardware they’ve bought from us. Our engineers will login to the IT Managers workstation or laptop using AnyDesk and run the ‘Out of the box procedure’ with the customer as he or she is watching on. We will then configure the SAN into the customers’ existing 10Gbit Ethernet iSCSI or 8Gbit/16Gbit Fibre Channel infrastructure. IF the customer needs a hand integrating the 3PAR SAN or any of the Servers into their existing Hyper-Visor infrastructure, we’ll do all the leg work whilst they watch on, free of charge.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With all of the above in mine and the threat of COVID-19 decimating the global economy and IT Infrastructure budgets way into 2021, now more than ever, is a great time to think of new ways to squeeze more out of an ever dwindling budget and give ‘Refurbished’ a try.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Andy Hughes</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">CEO/CTO – IntelligentServers.co.uk T/A Intelligent Brokerage Limited</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr /> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IntelligentServers.co.uk is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With over 10 years experience refurbishing all aspects of enterprise IT hardware, we help businesses maximise their IT budgets whilst boosting performance. All of our hardware is sold with a market-leading three year hardware and remote support warranty.</span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:11https://intelligentservers.co.uk/keeping-the-world-connected-through-lockdown-intelligent-servers-supplies-128-blade-servers-to-video-conferencing-company-2Keeping the world connected through lockdown: Intelligent Servers Supplies 128 Blade Servers to Video Conferencing Company<p><a href="/keeping-the-world-connected-through-lockdown"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/lockdown case study blog image.png" alt="Lockdown IT case study" width="100%" height="auto" /></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As the coronavirus lockdown in March 2020 led to a surge in video calls, video conferencing companies around the world urgently required more data centre infrastructure and bandwidth to deal with the influx of conference calls. This is where the quality, speed and technical knowledge of Intelligent Servers benefited one video conferencing company that urgently required more network capacity to support new users.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Since launching operations in 2013, the global provider of video conferencing services has surpassed $100 million in sales and has grown to have nine offices across five continents. The company guarantees its enterprise customers 99.99% uptime, so when the coronavirus pandemic hit, and in turn the surge in video conferencing, it was essential they received a quality solution to their growing infrastructure requirements quickly to minimise disruption.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><strong><span style="color: #c61f42;"><a href="/keeping-the-world-connected-through-lockdown">Click here to read the rest of this case study</a></span></strong></span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:7https://intelligentservers.co.uk/coronavirus-update-from-intelligent-brokerageCoronavirus Update from Intelligent Brokerage<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/COVID Blog Post.png" alt="COVID update" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Good afternoon customers,</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Day to Day Running</strong></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Our office staff including the purchasing, sales and accounts teams have been given all the tools required for them to successfully work remotely. There will always be someone to answer the phone, respond to emails, provide technical advice and take orders as usual between 9am-5.30pm Monday to Friday. Our warehouse will be operating as normal and we are currently not experiencing any shipping delays across Europe. We are taking extra steps to ensure customers are updated if their delivery times are expected to change.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Additionally, based on recommendations by government and health agencies, all employees have been briefed on the importance of hygiene, on-site deep cleaning has been ramped up and we have protocols in place for appropriate quarantine procedures for employees showing any Flu or Cold like symptoms.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Supply Chain</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have analysed and confirmed that we hold at least 5+ parts in our current inventory for each part number that is still under warranty across all customer Sales Orders, minimising possible disruption any warranty claims. Over the past decade, we have built up a trusted network of over 3,000 stockholders across the globe including three suppliers within a 14 mile radius holding millions of pounds worth of inventory. This significantly reduces the risk of us not being able to source IT parts. We also have access to same day courier services within the UK, bypassing mainstream courier services from the likes of DHL, TNT, UPS, DPD and FedEx.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Customer Advice</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We supply a wide range of customers with varying requirements, but we are recommended that if you have the facilities to do so, you should hold stock within your facilities to dilute reliance on the supply chain. We would also appreciate any visitors to our site including customers collecting orders to follow government advice such as regularly washing hands when on-site to reduce the spread of Coronavirus.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Please get in touch if you have any questions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Many thanks,</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Andy Hughes</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This blog post will be updated if significant changes in our Continuity Plan are made.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IntelligentServers.co.uk is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. As part of the Intelligent Computer Brokerage Group, we specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.</span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:10https://intelligentservers.co.uk/research-company-configures-workstations-for-data-miningResearch Company Configures Workstations for Data Mining<p><a href="/case-study-research-company-configures-workstations-for-data-mining"><span style="font-size: 26pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/workstations case study blog image.png" alt="Z600 Workstations case setudy" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Data is fundamentally changing the way companies do business, driving demand for data scientists and increasing the complexity in their workflows. Getting the performance required to transform massive amounts of data into insights is what one Swedish Research company was looking for when they came to Intelligent Servers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Since 2005, the Swedish Research company has become a global provider of survey feedback systems hosting a comprehensive platform for data mining. Counting billion-dollar TV networks and consumer electronics companies amongst its key clients, the company was one of the first in the world to offer survey technology that could be used on mobile devices. Today, the research company’s suite of tools includes 14 software solutions supporting 28 languages.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="color: #c61f42;"><a href="/case-study-research-company-configures-workstations-for-data-mining">Click here to read the rest of this case study&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;</span></span></strong></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:5https://intelligentservers.co.uk/refurbished-hpe-dl360p-gen8-rack-server-built-configured-and-ordered-on-intelligentserverscouk-Refurbished HPE DL360p Gen8 Rack Server built, configured and ordered on IntelligentServers.co.uk<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/DL360p Gen8 Blog Post.png" alt="DL360p Gen8 Customer story" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Today we had a HPE Proliant DL360 Gen8 LFF (Large Form Factor) Server order that a customer built on our website using our online configurator - <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/online-build-tool">https://intelligentservers.co.uk/online-build-tool</a></strong></span>.&nbsp;Unlike many other refurbished IT hardware websites, you can configure everything with all the popular refurbished options you'll find listed on the manufactures quick specs or data sheets. With the Dl360 Gen8, the online build tool lets you configure compatible components&nbsp;including&nbsp;Processors, Hard Drives, Memory, Controllers, Batteries, Power Supplies, Adapters and Rails.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Matthew, one of our technicians built, tested and firmware upgraded the HPE DL360p Gen8 prior to shipping.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Another happy customer taking advantage of our website configurator instead of having to go back and forth via email or phone call with a Sales Account Manager.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>urn:store:1:blog:post:4https://intelligentservers.co.uk/another-refurbished-3par-7400c-configured-and-delivered-to-a-happy-customerAnother refurbished 3PAR 7400c configured and delivered to a happy customer!<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/3PAR Blog Post.png" alt="refurbished 3PAR" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Another busy day at IntelligentServers.co.uk. We've just recently built, tested and firmware upgraded a HPE 3PAR 7400c SAN Storage Array for a customer. One of our technicians logged in remotely to run the "Out of the box procedure" after the customer racked, cabled and powered up the array at their Data Centre. This is all part of sale "3 Year Hardware Replacement Warranty" and "3 Year Remote Hardware Setup and Support!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 16px;">Benefits of 3PAR 7000 Series</span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">HPE 3PAR StoreServ 7000 Series offers enterprise Tier 1 storage at a midrange price. Spend less time managing storage, get more features for less money and do it all without sacrificing performance or future scalability. The HPE 3PAR 7000 Series provides high performance and guarantees to double your virtual machine density. With hardware assisted thin storage it is the only platform that guarantees a 50% reduction in capacity requirements. HPE 3PAR StoreServ is also the first product family with a common architecture capable of six nines availability that meets SMB needs and spans to the largest global enterprise giving you access to the same features as the world's largest service providers. You can start small and grow without painful upgrades down the road.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Looking for a refurbished 3PAR supplier?&nbsp;</span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you’re looking to upgrade your current SAN infrastructure, we can certainly help here at&nbsp;<a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk" data-attribute-index="0">IntelligentServers.co.uk.</a>&nbsp;We’re specialists in HPE 3PAR 7000 and 8000 SAN Storage Arrays and we love them!<br /><br />We’ve sold just over 50 HPE 3PAR SAN configurations this year, ranging from All-Flash configurations, full of&nbsp;1.92TB&nbsp;SSD Hard Drives, to Multi-Tiered configurations with mixed SLC and MLC SSD’s (Tier0), 10K and 15K Spinning Disk SAS (Tier1) and&nbsp;7.2K&nbsp;Near-line Spinning Disk SAS (Tier2).<br /><br />We’ve also sold several Disaster Recovery solutions to customers that wanted to take advantage of Remote Copy and Peer Persistence features. This enabled our customers to replicate their Active SAN to their Standby SAN which were located in two different Data Centres.<br /><br />If you’re looking to turbocharge your SAN Storage and/or include enterprise class redundancy, get in touch on 01423 223430 or email&nbsp;<a href="mailto:sales@intelligentbrokerage.co.uk">sales@intelligentbrokerage.co.uk</a><a href="mailto:sales@intelligentbrokerage.co.uk." data-attribute-index="3">.</a></span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:3https://intelligentservers.co.uk/refurbished-hpe-msa-2040-san-storage-array-intelligentserverscoukRefurbished HPE MSA 2040 SAN Storage Array | IntelligentServers.co.uk<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/MSA 2040 Blog Post.png" alt="Refurbished MSA 2040" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We've finally managed to upload the HPE MSA 2040 SAN Storage Array into our configurable product catalog.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Choose from either hard drive form factor chassis, large form factor 3.5" or small form factor 2.5" and then configure and choose from every possible option that's available for the HPE MSA 2040 SAN Storage Array.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Pick which controllers you want in your HPE MSA 2040, either SAN Controllers (10Gbit iSCSI or 8Gbit/16Gbit Fibre Channel) or SAS Controllers (12Gb SAS), and then choose from a large range of HPE MSA spinning disk hard drives and/or HPE MSA SSD hard drives.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://intelligentservers.co.uk/hpe-msa-2040-san-storage-array">IntelligentServers.co.uk - Refurbished HPE MSA 2040 Storage Arrays</a></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We stock every part that's available from the HPE MSA 2040 SAN Storage Array product drop down boxes, which means we can have your refurbished HPE MSA 2040 built and tested to the spec you choose within 1 working day and then shipped to anywhere in the world, free of change using DHL, TNT or FedEx which all collect daily from our UK warehouse.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you have any technical questions surrounding your HPE MSA 2040 design and build, you can get in touch with our technical team on 01423 223430 or email websales@intelligentservers.co.uk</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thanks for looking!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Andy</span></p>urn:store:1:blog:post:2https://intelligentservers.co.uk/configuring-your-refurbished-hp-server-intelligentserverscoukConfiguring your refurbished HP Server | IntelligentServers.co.uk<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Online Build Tool Blog Post.png" alt="Online Server Build Tool" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hi all.... It's Andy Hughes here, the owner of IntelligentServers.co.uk</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Firstly I'd like to thank you for taking the time to visit the site. We hope you'll enjoy the look, feel and functionality of it and I hope you find what you're looking for.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I thought I'd write a small blog explaining some of the sites perks with the aim of making you, the IT Manager or IT Technicians life that bit easier when purchasing refurbished servers, storage and networking equipment for your infrastructure.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Over the years I've seen a lot of refurbished and new retail, IT hardware eCommerce websites popping up all over the place, but been a techie myself, I was beginning to become frustrated with the fact that none, or very little of these websites give you the option to configure your server, storage or networking hardware that you're to build, all on the same page.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I'd spend hours having to add separate components to my shopping kart or having to buy things for multiple websites, but worst of all, usually forgetting a integral piece hardware needed to complete the build.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is where I had the bright spark in my head, the light bulb moment! to create a site, exactly how I would want it to be!..... A year and a half later, lots of late nights and a frustrated wife, It's finally live!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One of the first servers I added to the site was the refurbished HP Proliant DL360 G7 1U Rack Server. If you click the link above you'll be taken straight to the page where you can choose your options.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">From the first two drop down boxes you can add the refurbished CPU's you need. As you can see, all the popular Intel Xeon models are there including the high end editions.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Next up is the memory. You can configure the memory exactly how you like. Whether you want it full of 4GB, 8GB or even 16GB Dimms, virtually every configuration is available.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you're looking for additional refurbished HP PCI Express cards, you can configure your server with a large range of HP NIC, Fibre Channel, Storage HBA or Storage Array Controllers all at cheap, competitive prices.</span></p> <p><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Next up are the hard drives. You can configure each of the 8x 2.5" Hard Drive bays that come standard with our refurbished HP Proliant DL360 G7 servers. All the industry standard SAS /SATA hard drives are available or if you're looking for some serious I/O performance, you can choose from a number or HP branded refurbished SSD hard drives, all tested by our thoroughly trained technicians.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can then finally choose from a range of Hot Plug Power Supplies and whether you want a rack rail kit or not.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All this at cheap, competitive refurbished prices. And to make things even better, all of our hardware is backed by a IntelligentServers.co.uk 3 Year Next Business Day or 1-3 Working days Hardware Replacement Warranty, free of charge! We'll even throw in free telephone and remote support if you're having a tough time configuring something or connecting your new hardware to your existing infrastructure.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With the above in mind, feel free to give us a call, drop us an email or talk to us on the live website chat. We're open 9AM till 5:30PM, Monday through Friday.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I hope you enjoy the site as much as we do.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thanks for reading.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Andy</span></p> <p> </p>urn:store:1:blog:post:1https://intelligentservers.co.uk/welcome-to-intelligentserverscouk-newly-revamped-websiteWelcome to Intelligentservers.co.uk newly revamped website!<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img src="/images/uploaded/Blog/Old website blog post.png" alt="New website" width="100%" height="auto" /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Welcome to our newly revamped website where you can custom configure any of our refurbished servers, storage and networking equipment.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We've spent nearly 2 years making sure the site has all the possible options available for each refurbished server, storage array, network switch and network router.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are also many refurbished components to choose from ranging from Memory, NIC Cards, Fibre Cards, Array Controllers, Storage HBA Controllers and Hard Drives.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We also have a large list of HP refurbished Tape Drives and Tape Libraries. You can configure what drives you want to use when selecting a HP refurbished Tape Library...</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The best thing about our new site though is our new 3 Year Hardware Replacement Warranty program. If any of your hardware fails within a 3 year period, we'll replace it free of charge using our preferred couriers on a next business day service for UK customers and a 2-3 business day service for European customers. How great is that!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Anyway, we hope you enjoy the site. If you have any questions please email websales@intelligentservers.co.uk or give us a call for a chat on +44 01423 223 430</span></p> <p> </p>