OMG, I think Cisco should be paying daniweb for marketing after this post!

Sorry I gove you the wrong like for the cisco partner view.

You want this one

http://tools.cisco.com/WWChannels/LO...er_locator.jsp

I don't know if I can be of much help considering this post is two months old. Anyways I will speak and hopefully be helpful to you.

#1 find a good IT consultant IE somebody that has experience designing, installing, configuring and maintaining networks, servers, workstations, etc. You want an experienced and passionate consultant or employee. After these things are discussed and you come to an agreement get the project underway in a written agreement and make sure the IT consultant is EXPERIENCED and answers all of your questions. Do NOT low ball the consultant or hire someone just because he or she has the lowest price. I have seen many IT consultants and IT firms low ball projects just to get hired and many of the super cheap are clueless and do a poor job....you get what you pay for. Myself can speak from experience of having to come in and re-design and re-configure poorly designed and configured networks that were setup by many local IT consultants - IT support companies and they were originally hired because of one reason....low low price.

#2 Meet with this person face to face and discuss all of your needs, requirements and budget considerations. Ask for photos and references from other clients this consultant has helped. Be sure to include a GOOD BACKUP - DISASTER recovery solution. Do NOT cut corners on server hardware or a backup solution. The golden rule I have followed is cheap is not good and good is not cheap.

#3 After the network - servers - workstations are in place, installed, configured and up and running you must have someone proactively maintain this equipment to help prevent problems from occurring.
Everyday: Check server and workstation logs, check hard drives for performance and storage performance, scan for viruses, verify all nodes have the latest security updates installed, schedule a time for reboots, and much more. Most importantly test the backup system and make sure it works correctly. A good IT consultant will offer to proactively maintain your equipment where a not so good consultant will usually just set everything up, get paid then disappear and wait for something to break down then charge an arm and a leg to get you back up again. NOTE: servers and computers should be proactively maintained to prevent problems from occurring in the first place.

#4 Do not try to figure everything out on your own right away.
Hire this person or company to get the job done and proactively maintain this for you. If you really want to learn then ask to help this person to explain and allow you to assist him or her.
Read books also and ask many questions.

If you have any specific questions or concerns you are welcome to contact me and I will offer to help you if you have specific questions or concerns.

Good luck and hope everything works out for you.

http://centralfloridacomputerengineering.com

Just my 2 cents worth. Your good intentions are honorable, and enterprising, and badly misplaced. Networking is a profession that many of us work at all of our working hours, and still walk away puzzled. You should seriously consider hiring a company to manage your network. In the end, it will be cheaper, and more reliable. You will retain your reputation, and your sanity. Your company will retain its life. Spend the money. Its cheaper!