Design and Implementation
Before starting 4L Communications Ltd in 1998, Ronan Mullally was Network Manager for Ireland On-Line (IOL) from it's inception in 1992. During this time IOL grew from a small back-room operation to Ireland's largest ISP, with a 27-node nation-wide dialup network and over 50,000 users. The lessons learned and experience gained during this rapid growth formed the foundation of 4L's design and implementation methodology.
4L offer a comprehensive, customised design and implementation service for projects from small roll-outs and system upgrades through to high-end ISP and ASP solutions.
Solutions focus on key criteria such as:
- Availability - engineering robust solutions for anything from 99% to 99.99%
- Security - hardened systems, employing security in depth
- Cost-effectiveness - realistic budgets, using commodity solutions and open-source software where appropriate rather then expensive, high-end 'prestige' products
- Scalability - in line with cost-effective design, solutions can start small and grow quickly with little or no impact on service availability
- Easy management - solutions are designed for 'lights out management' in a co-lo environment. Proactive system administration and monitoring ensure low day-to-day management overhead
Over the past eight years 4L have been responsible for a number of ISP and ASP systems. Recent projects include:
- 800,000 user Email system - 4L provided key components to Sonas Innovation's successful bid to implement and operate an email system for 800,000 Irish students
- Imagine Telecommunications - 4L designed and implemented the Systems and Network infrastructure to support this broadband ISP
- Redesign, re-implementation and on-going support of the Email infrastructure for a major Dublin Hospital
- Audit, re-design and re-implementation of network and server infrastructure for a Dublin-based online-storage provider
- Design, implementation and ongoing operation of a white-label managed email service for ASPs and content providers