Network Services Department, Haris Al Afaq

News

A General background.
Description of the services offered.
Tools used n the Service
Benefits of Network Services to users.
Closing notes / miscellaneous Points for you to think about.

Background of HAA Network Services

Software

The Haris IT division came into existence way back in 1970's, when Savant Accounting software was designed and developed. This software was designed for our internal use on Unix PDP11 machines. As a ''C' application, it was ported to the Apple Macintosh in 1985 and also released commercially as a Multi-user and Multilingual business application. Savant grew in popularity in 1980's along with the MAC OS.

Eventually reaching 180 sites in 18 countries ranging from Thailand to Cyprus. It remains in use today in a variety of sites that swear by it and is supported by Haris Al Afaq. After many upgrades, this package remains compatible with all Mac CPUs & flavors of the Mac OS i.e. System 6, 7, 8/9 as well as OSX. Still under continuous development, it remains is one of the fastest, friendliest and powerful software packages that has come out of the Arab world.

As one of the major developers for Apple in the '80s Haris also developed custom and commercial communications packages to enable Arabic communications between incompatible computer systems such as Apple, DOS, Data General, NCR and DEC. TransFile and TransFileX were the resulting utilities, directly distributed by Apple Computer to their distributor network in the Middle East and Africa.

Hardware

Haris Al Afaq, since the early ''80s, has also been selling and supporting Test & Measurement tools to the UAE market. These T&M tools have also evolved to require heavy software support and integration, which resulted in Haris setting up a Technical Center to provide services (i.e. Calibration, Support & Repair) towards the T&M field.

In the early 1990's, with the explosion of the Internet, one of our major suppliers, Fluke Corporation entered the Network Test Tool arena, with a series of Cat 5 testers for network cables. Since then, they have grown into one of the top Network Test Suppliers and their offerings have grown to include Ethernet and Token Ring Analyzers, Cat 6 testers, OneTouch Analyzers for 10/100 Ethernet, XDSL Testers, ATM Testers, Network Monitoring Software and Protocol Analyzers.

These products were all in demand by Haris' existing customer base i.e. Industrial, Government, Education, Defense, Oil & Gas customers. Since then we have extended penetration into the Computer & Networking Vendors as well as the Financial Sector. Since we were in contact with a whole new set of people, as distinct from the traditional T&M customers,

Haris has since branched out into several other complimentary products apart from Fluke Network Tools and is also continually looking for new offerings in the area.

The Result

To consolidate the above a "Network Products & Services" Department was created.

Network Services

According to Infonetics Research " Productivity losses due to down and poor performing Networks were around US$ 328,0000 in USA alone in 1997". This could be the case with your Network too! How would you know the status of your Network? Are there any Network Tools which could provide you confidence in your Network performance and reliability? Does anyone know how to use them?

Haris Al Afaq offers a service with which Network Administrators can take advantage of the fact that Haris has in it's possession the most advanced and sophisticated Network Test Technologies available today. And we know how to use them!

Therefore, without an investment in money (to buy tools) or time (to learn to use them) a Network Administrator can contact Haris Al-Afaq to provide essential services to keep his network up and running effectively.

Professionally qualified Engineers who can take up various Network Service assignments perform this service. All the team members are experienced and equipped with high end Network Test Tools and Software from manufacturers such as Fluke, CA and AGGroup, together with a library of shareware and other utilities.

These services are primarily aimed at Administrators or Network owners that need prompt, efficient analysis of their Networks for present and future applications needs. Network Services fall into four classes:

Network Health/Audit Services (Includes health of OSI layers).
Cable (Copper & Fiber Optic) certification services.
Network Troubleshooting services.
Network Security Assessment and consultancy.

All the services include a detail report and conclusions after network service and testing. Sample reports can be provided on request.

This service of immense importance to companies who do not wish to invest heavily in manpower, Test Tools and Training.

Tools used during the services

FLUKE Enterprise LANMeter 685 with SwitchWizard, Wide Area and Remote Control options.
FLUKE One Touch Series II 10/100 Mbps Network Assistant.
Cable analyzers like FLUKE DSP-100 & DSP 4000 CAT 6 Digital Cablemeter (with Fiber Optic Test Kit)
Our own in-house software is also used.
Other specialist software tools from Fluke, ISS and Triticom and various other public utilities are used in the security audit and assesment, or in the troubleshooting phase.

Benefits of Network Services to users

All the Network Test Tools (Hardware as well as Software Tools) are connected at customers for at least one 24-hour period for complete Analysis, Monitoring and Reporting purpose.

This will result in:

Summary of the Network.
Complete documentation of Network hosts (i.e. MAC address, IP address and names if DNS server is installed)
Network reports of utilization, errors, broadcasts and various other parameters etc.
Switch Utilization reports on a per-port basis.
We could generate reports and tests according to your specific requirements or problems.
A summary report, conclusions and recommendations.

Closing notes / miscellaneous Points for you to think about.

1. Today's Networks are "Mission Critical" ? if your Network fails your organization may be paralyzed ? no printing, no email, no web serving...

2. Haris Al Afaq is "Vendor independent". i.e. we are not tied to any vendor and therefore have no axe to grind. We treat all Network Software and Hardware independently on their own merits or de-merits.

3. In our experience 90% of seemingly "happy" networks have serious problems that manifest themselves as occasional glitches, and, as we all know, these "glitches" always show up at the most inopportune moment!

4. Just like a person's physical health, take the time to check your Network's Health and be pro-active about problem solving rather than waiting for a disaster and then reacting!

A list of Reference Sites and more information is available upon request.