System Administration is one of the three main divisions of Quipu GmbH. A team of highly motivated certified technicians carry out all the tasks involved in ensuring that Quipu’s worldwide IT infrastructure functions smoothly. In this context, our range of services comprises the following: provision and maintenance of a uniform domain structure; internal and external e-mail and collaboration solutions; a Voice-over-IP solution spread across 10 time zones; provision of testing and development environments for Quipu’s Software Development and Processing Centre divisions; web services; VPN solutions; user support; backup structures; networking and firewalling solutions; and, not least of all, SQL-database administration and performance tuning.

In order to be able to provide all of these functionalities and services with minimum downtime, permanent monitoring of all of the components involved is absolutely essential. For this purpose, Quipu’s technicians have implemented a network-wide monitoring solution allowing us to keep a constant watch on every single component. This means that, at any given time, we can accurately determine the status of all servers, routers, switches, firewalls and data transmission lines and are thus fully informed about any potential issues long before they become problematic.

The high technical standard of Quipu’s infrastructure and the quality of its technicians can only be maintained through continuous professional development. Accordingly, we at Quipu System Administration attach top priority to permanent training and to the testing of new technologies. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, we have access to new Microsoft products well ahead of their ultimate release date, which enables us to prepare for product migrations and upgrades in a timely manner. This makes it much easier to implement migrations not only within Quipu but also and above all for our clients, since it enables us to eliminate virtually all possible sources of error.

Another important area of activity for Quipu’s System Administration division is customer support. As outlined in the introduction, our customers are the head offices of IPC GmbH and ProCredit Holding AG, the ProCredit Academy and the banks belonging to the worldwide ProCredit group. For these companies, we plan and implement networks and domain infrastructures, and develop solutions to meet all of the IT-related requirements of a commercial bank. Here we collaborate closely with the other two main divisions of Quipu GmbH, the Processing Centre and Software Development. We also provide regular training for the banks’ local system administrators, partly on site at their own institutions and partly at Quipu’s headquarters in Frankfurt.

All of these activities taken together have enabled Quipu to qualify for the title “Microsoft Gold Certified Partner”. Quipu technicians have earned the distinction “Microsoft Advanced Infrastructure Solutions Competency” by demonstrating their specialist skills and expertise in Active Directory and Identity Management. This identifies us as an experienced partner fully qualified to deploy Microsoft’s identity management solution, which features fully integrated directory and security services; single sign-on to multiple applications, web sites and services, automated account provisioning and de-provisioning, and interoperability with other platforms and applications.

Another distinction earned by Quipu is the Networking Infrastructure Solutions Competency, certifying that we have proven our proficiency in implementing solutions based on Microsoft Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. These implementations include crafting solutions that connect Windows-based servers, PC locations and the Internet, and installing server farms.

Furthermore, we have earned the Microsoft Data Management Solutions Competency with the Database Management specialization, which is awarded to Microsoft partners that focus successfully on delivering migration tools and services, database administration tools and services and performance tools using SQL Server technology.

At Quipu System Administration we are always willing to pass on the knowledge we have acquired. We therefore offer apprenticeships in the area of IT and system integration, in order to give young people the chance to gain a solid grounding in this fascinating profession.