Request for a consultant

[LIH at cliffy.polaroid.com (Hsin-Yu Sidney Li)]

Hi,

Our department (in Cambridge, MA) is looking to install a new server
for our LAN, and are looking to hire a consultant for the job.  More
specifically, we are looking to buy a new computer and use it as an
email server, file server, and print server.  Personally I would like
to set up a Linux workstation for this, and could probably install it
myself.  But my boss wants to hire a "real" computer person to do this
(my real job is an Optical Engineer).  Although he doesn't much care
about what operating system or software we use (as long as it works
with the rest of the company), going with an outside vendor (so we
have somebody to blame and call for help in case something goes wrong)
is likely to mean that we end up with a (shudder) NT server.

The people we've talked to can only recommend NT consultants, and I
will probably have to interview a few just to keep my boss happy.  But
can somebody recommend a local Linux-centric vendor/consultant that is
interested in doing this in Linux?  For various reasons, we need it
set up in a hurry.

Although my boss(es) are reasonably flexible, they are going to need
some persuasion about going with a Linux solution, especially since
the rest of the corporation is going with the NT and MS Exchange, and
the email clients are going to be MS Outlook.  (Does Outlook work with
IMAP or POP3?)  I feel that a Linux sendmail+POP/IMAP+Samba solution
is cheaper and more efficient, but they want somebody to hold
accountable.

By the way, the job will include recommending the hardware.  As
expected, management wants to go with brand-name PCs, so that they
have somebody to call if something goes wrong.

Thanks.

Sidney Li
lih at polaroid.com
(781)386-8529
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