Network security, properly done.
Your firewall is the front door of your business, and your wifi is how everyone gets in and out all day. This page walks you through how we survey, design, install and tune a secure network: what each phase involves, when the price is fixed, what happens on cutover night, and why the first fortnight afterwards is deliberately called tuning.
Six phases, one quiet cutover.
The mapThe conversation
30 to 45 minutesNo chargeWhat is driving this: an office move or fit-out, wifi dead spots, kit that is out of support, an insurance or audit requirement, or a security review that named the network as a gap. The driver shapes the design, so we start there.
Survey & audit
On siteWe walk the site and map what is really there: every switch, access point and cable path, what is plugged into what, and how wifi actually performs room by room. On the security side we review the current firewall's rules and age, and what is exposed to the internet that should not be.
- The physical network: switches, cabling, comms cabinet, access points
- Wifi coverage and interference, measured, not guessed
- Current firewall rules, age and support status
- What is on the network that nobody remembers installing
- Site access and a look inside the comms cabinet
- A floor plan if one exists, even a rough one
- The wifi complaints. All of them
Design & scoping: the plan and the price
Price is fixed hereWe design the target network: the firewall platform and its security services, wifi coverage with access points placed from the survey rather than hope, and the network separated into zones so a compromise in one place cannot roam everywhere. The design becomes a fixed-price scope covering hardware, licensing and labour.
- Hardware, itemised: firewall, access points, switches, cabling work
- Security subscriptions and their renewal costs, up front
- Network zones: staff, guests, servers and devices kept apart
- The cutover window and the rollback plan
- The go decision on the design and price
- Anything unusual we must keep working: EFTPOS, door controllers, CCTV, machinery
Nothing is ordered until you approve. Hardware lead times are included in the plan, so the dates you approve are dates that hold.
Staging
Off-site, zero disruptionThe new firewall and access points are configured and tested on our bench before they come anywhere near your office. Rules, zones and wifi networks are built from the design, and tested against the odd things your site needs to keep working. Your network is untouched during this phase.
- Firewall configured and its rules tested off-site
- Access points pre-configured for their planned positions
- The cutover checklist written: every step, every test, the rollback
Installation & cutover
Agreed windowUsually out of hoursPhysical installation, then the switch: internet moves to the new firewall, wifi comes up on the new access points, and everything on the test checklist is proven before we leave. The old firewall stays racked and ready as the rollback until the new network has earned your sign-off.
- New kit installed, old kit left in place as the fallback
- Every zone, wifi network and critical device tested
- EFTPOS, printers, door controllers and the awkward devices proven working
- Site access for the window, and a contact we can reach
- The new wifi password shared with your team, once, properly
Tuning & handover
The first fortnightA new firewall is deliberately strict, so the first fortnight is a tuning period: if something your team legitimately needs gets blocked, that is a quick, expected fix, not a fight. Wifi gets a second measurement pass under real use. Then the documentation is finished and the network joins your managed environment: monitored, patched and watched from here on.
- Blocked-but-legitimate requests fixed fast during tuning
- Firewall and access points monitored, updated and managed
- Security subscriptions renewed on schedule, never silently lapsed
- The network documented in your runbook, not in someone's head
One-off, and ongoing.
Named at scopingNetwork projects have a one-off build cost and a small set of ongoing costs. Both sit in the scope, so the decision you make at phase 3 is the whole picture.
One office, and many.
Sample plansWhat you can hold us to.
Both ways- A design based on measurement, not guesswork
- A fixed price, with subscription renewals stated up front
- Everything staged and tested before your site is touched
- The old firewall kept as the rollback until you sign off
- Blocked-but-legitimate requests treated as quick fixes, not arguments
- Site access, and the truth about the wifi dead spots
- The list of unusual devices that must keep working
- A contact during the cutover window
- Patience during the tuning fortnight, and every report of something blocked
Start with
the survey.
A conversation costs nothing, and the survey tells you what you are actually working with, whether or not you go ahead.
