Our clients get more value and work better with their tech by following our proven IT strategy. We have a clear guide that shows which technologies are supported and approved. This helps us and our clients understand each other better and work towards improving tech integration, productivity, support, and security. We work together with you to provide the best IT experience possible.
As partners, we each have our roles in making sure this happens. Our guide helps explain this partnership and what we expect from you when investing in technology. Even though tech can be complex, we have basic rules that help prevent problems, boost employee productivity, and quickly get things back on track if something goes wrong.
What These Labels Mean #
 Approved
This is our best and fastest experience. We have the strongest training, documentation, and repeatable processes for these solutions. These are the most common in our client environments and deliver the highest support quality. |
 Supported
We can and will support these solutions. We are familiar with them and have worked with them before. They may take a bit longer because they are not our primary, most standardized stack, but the outcome will still be solid. |
 Unsupported
Best-effort only (up to 15 minutes). These are not recommended because they can create security, reliability, compliance, and support-timeliness concerns. We typically recommend an upgrade or replacement to bring things back to standard. |
EMAIL PROVIDER #
- Manufacturer: Microsoft 365
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- Manufacturer: Microsoft Exchange (on prem), Google Workspaces
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- Manufacturer: Consumer grade (yahoo, gmail, outlook), any POP3/IMAP email service provider
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LINE OF BUSINESS APPS #
- Age: Supported version from manufacturer and be supported on “Approved Server & Workstation Operating Systems.”
- Must have software maintenance and support contract.
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- Age: Supported version from manufacturer
- Must have software maintenance and support contract.
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- Manufacturer: Self-developed software
- Age: Software that is not approved to run on installed OS
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FILE AND FOLDER Sharing (CLOUD Only) #
- Manufacturer: Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft SharePoint, Egnyte
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- Manufacturer: Google Drive, DropBox Business
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- Manufacturer: Consumer grade anything
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FILE AND FOLDER Sharing (LOCAL / HYBRID) #
- Approved approach: Azure Hybrid connectivity to local Domain Controllers / File Servers
- Authentication: Domain-based access (Active Directory) with group-based permissions
- Security standard: Least privilege access using proper Access Control Lists (ACLs)
- Best fit: Organizations that need local file servers (performance, legacy apps, large files, or on-site workflows) while staying aligned with modern identity and security.
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- Supported approach: Centralized workgroup file sharing (single server/location)
- Requirement: Proper ACL-based permissions and least privilege access
- Notes: Supported when access is controlled, documented, and managed (not ad-hoc).
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- Not supported: Ad-hoc file/folder sharing (random shares on PCs, peer-to-peer, “just share this folder”), Any file/folder sharing without proper ACLs and least privilege access
- Why: Creates security, compliance, auditing, and “everyone can see everything” risks. Slows down and complicates support.
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FIREWALL (Networking) #
- Manufacturer: Fortinet
- Age: Less than 5 years old
- Security subscription needs to be current.
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- Manufacturer: Sonicwall, WatchGuard, Cisco
- Age: Less than 5 years old
- Security subscription needs to be current.
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- Manufacturer: ISP provided router, consumer grade router
- Age: Greater than 5 years old
- Does not have IDS/IPS capabilities.
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SWITCH (Networking) #
- Manufacturer: Fortinet
- Age: Less than 5 years old, 100/1000 or higher
- Switches need to have the ability to be managed.
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- Manufacturer: Dell, HP, Sonicwall, Cisco, Ubiquiti
- Age: Less than 7 years old, 100/1000 or higher
- Switches need to have the ability to be managed.
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- Manufacturer: Consumer grade
- Age: Only supports 10/100
- No management capabilities.
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WIRELESS ACCESS POINT (Networking) #
- Manufacturer: Fortinet
- Age: Less than 5 years
- WAP’s need to have the ability to be managed/accessed remotely.
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- Manufacturer: Aruba, Sonicwall, Cisco, Ruckus, Xirrus, Ubiquiti
- Age: Less than 5 years
- WAP’s need to have the ability to be managed/accessed remotely.
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- Manufacturer: Consumer grade
- Age: Older than 5 years
- No management capabilities.
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Workstation Hardware #
- Manufacturer: HP
- Age: Less than 5 years
- Recommended warranty for at least 3 years, but not required for desktops/laptops. OS under active support by Microsoft.
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- Manufacturer: Dell, Lenovo, Apple
- Age: Less than 5 years
- Recommended warranty for at least 3 years, but not required for desktops/laptops. OS under active support by Microsoft.
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- Manufacturer: Retired desktop machines with unsupported OS or Linux OS
- Age: Greater than 5 years
- Machines that are not running Pro or Enterprise licenses
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WORKSTATION OPERATING SYSTEM #
- Manufacturer: Microsoft Windows 11 Professional & Newer
- Age: Still under active support by Microsoft
- Licensing: SPLA, Volume, Enterprise, non-OEM
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- Manufacturer: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro & Home (or newer), Apple macOS 12 (Monterey or newer)
- Age: Still under active support by OS vendor
- Licensing: Any
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- Manufacturer: Microsoft Windows 8/7/XP and older, Linux OS
- Age: Past EOS
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SERVER Hardware #
- Manufacturer: Dell
- Age: Less than 5 years old
- Production servers need to be under hardware warranty from manufacturer.
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- Manufacturer: HP, IBM
- Age: Less than 5 years old
- Production servers need to be under hardware warranty from manufacturer.
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- Manufacturer: Whitebox, end user assembled
- Age: Greater than 5 years
- No hardware warranty.
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SERVER OPERATING SYSTEM #
- Manufacturer: Microsoft Server 2019 & Newer
- Age: Still under active support by Microsoft
- Licensing: SPLA, Volume, Enterprise, non-OEM
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- Manufacturer: Microsoft Server 2016 or newer
- Age: Still under active support by OS Vendor
- Licensing: Any
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- Manufacturer: AS400, Linux
- Age: Past EOS (server 2012R2 and older)
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STORAGE AREA NETWORK (SAN) OR NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE (NAS) #
- Manufacturer: Dell PowerVault, Synology
- Age: Less than 5 years old
- Production SAN’s need to be under hardware warranty from manufacturer.
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- Manufacturer: Dell/EMC, Dell/EqualLogic’s, IBM DS Series, HP, Lenovo, Qnap, Buffalo
- Age: Less than 5 years old
- Production SAN’s need to be under hardware warranty from manufacturer.
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HYPERVISOR #
- Manufacturer: VMware
- Age: Actively licensed and supported version from manufacturer (vendor).
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- Manufacturer: Microsoft, Zen Server
- Age: Actively licensed and supported version from manufacturer (vendor).
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- Manufacturer: Linux based hypervisor
- Unlicensed (no active vendor support) or unsupported (EOL/EOS) versions.
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THIN CLIENTS #
- Manufacturer: HP
- Age: Less than 7 years
- Must have central management capabilities.
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- Manufacturer: Dell, Lenovo, Wyse, ZERO Client
- Age: Less than 7 years
- Must have central management capabilities.
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- Manufacturer: Retired desktop machines with unsupported OS or Linux OS
- Age: Greater than 7 years
- Does not have central management.
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UNINTERRUPTABLE POWER SUPPLY (UPS) #
- Manufacturer: APC
- Age: Less than 5 years
- Remote management, monitoring, and reporting require a network or USB connection along with the necessary cloud management and monitoring licenses.
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- Manufacturer: Dell, Eaton, Cyberpower, HP, Liebert, Tripp Lite, Emerson
- Age: Less than 5 years
- Remote management, monitoring, and reporting require a network or USB connection along with the necessary cloud management and monitoring licenses.
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- Manufacturer: Consumer grade
- Age: Greater than 5 years
- No remote centralized management capabilities.
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