Platypus Group offers affordable UNIX system administration... starting at $150/mo per server!

We support Linux (all distributions), FreeBSD and Solaris.

We welcome per-task requests (need any applications installed? removed? want a full security audit? custom firewall solution?) ... starting at $35/hr (on average most requests are done in less then an hour).

We also offer technical support services; we'll become support@yourcompany.com and handle all of your technical support requests... for as little as $125/mo.

for $125/mo you will answer any problem of my clients? with 24/7 support?

he is offering himself as a sysadmin, not tech support guy!

Originally posted by EdgeWise

We also offer technical support services; we'll become support@yourcompany.com and handle all of your technical support requests... for as little as $125/mo.

not tech support ?

They'll do your tech support for you.

phugo: Yes, we'll answer all of your clients requests, even pre-sales questions if that information is made available on your website, otherwise we'll forward those to you. This is a 24/7 service.

Hm ... this is rather low price, isn't it? Especially with no limit on the number of support ticket answered and 24/7 support too?

Wow ... but it's hard for me to believe this will bring quality support. If it will, then it's really great offer.

No limit to tickets? What? :) Every plan has a set number of tickets and the ability to buy more. ie, the $125/mo "CustomerCare Basic" plan includes 250 tickets.

EdgeWise:

There little contact info on your site...

Where are you located?

Upstate NY

I don't know how good the service is yet but I can tell you I sent up a couple of "support/sales" questions in the middle of the night over the weekend and got an answer within 10 minutes. I am not sure if that proves anything but they did respond very quickly & very friendly. :D

Robert

hay man your website doesn't really work...u don't seem to have any products page....:confused:

EdgeWise

Do you have extensive expertise on setting up software on Plesk 2.5 boxes without breaking things?

Softwares like:

- MIMEDefang 2.16
- SpamAssassin
- Updating IMP

Thanks.

jhcashman: The website isnt broken, that section is just reserved for software products only, and since we're not offering any quite just yet that section is unreachable. Products - software (and eventually hardware) products; Services - technical and consulting related services.

jeanjerome: upgrading plesk is no problem; to give clients a piece of mind we first backup your server, upgrade to 2.0.1, do a psadump (another backup...), then go from there to 2.5.0 to 2.5.3.

We can also install/upgrade the applications you've listed.

Anybody try these guys yet? If so what are your experiences.

I’ve been working with Kevin since May of 2001 and everything I have asked him to do he has been able to do quickly and correctly. He does all of the system administration on my server (freeBSD) and I have not had one problem or complaint to date (over a year). He is fast, courteous and has bargain prices. I recommend him and think these new services of his are defiantly worth checking out.

fishy.......i fear downtime, and crappy service.. Price is TOO Low..

1 excuse.. These guys families are some rich people.

just my opinion

Anarchy-Host - Our prices are competitive and affordable, but I really wouldn't consider them low - for our servercare service the average monthly maintaince is 4 hours to get everything secure and doing misc administrative tasks, so with our servercare basic service is $150 / 4 = 37.50/hr.

As for our customercare services, those prices won't be that low for much longer, we just rolled out that service this past month to gain a larger market while trying to compete with bobcares.com and others, our goal was to get some clients then slowly raise the prices so that we're not losing money off the service, and keeping current clients at their previous (sign-on) rates, because once we had clients our hope was that if they were happy enough with the service that they'd allow us to use them as references (and perhaps allow us to put their website/company logos on our website) and then use word of mouth to justify our slightly higher prices then bobcares and others.

I hope that made sense.

Afterall, honesty is our biggest policy...

- kevin

Hello,

Just would like to ask you if you can post some of your current clients list here so at least we can contact them an get some feedback from your work.

Your quick response is highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Here are two clients which have allowed us to use them as references:

OpenXL.com: tvkill@openxl.com (you may read his post above)
3Wminds.com: info@3wminds.com

I'll compile a larger list in a few days and put them on the Platypus Group website...


- kevin

We signed up about a week ago after seeing this ad on wht. I am very impressed with them so far I have to say. A ticket we just had there (I was watching to see how fast it got answered =) 15 minutes!
When you see people singing praises on here with low posts like me :) you always think "hmmm yeh right" .. they do seem really good (and yes weve tried the other options, we all know what they are =)

What would be the price for support tickets, not the system administration. So things like security updates, software updates etc. wouldn't be dealt with by yourselves, just support tickets.

Sorry, forget my last post, I missed the section on your site :)

Also, when and if we provided you with root, do you sign an NDA or how does it work?

I sent an email about 3 days ago and still no reply.

rochen: If you provide the NDA we'll have no problem signing it, thus far we've been given root in terms of "good faith"... though it's understandable if that is not enough for some.

Owned: If you could PM your ticket ID and i'll see what the status on it is...

- kevin

PM sent... I didn't include a ticket number though as I deleted the auto-reply. It was only a sales inquiry as I am interested in your services :)

GO UVA!

Still no reply :(

Got a PM.. thanks :)

Incorrect thread.

I sent an email to their sales address about 16 hours ago.. still nothing, that's enough to keep me away :(

We have replied your sales request. :) Sorry, sales is by far the slowest channel we currently have because of the amount of requests we get to it and it being a less priority then our current customers.

- kevin

I got your reply earlier today, thanks.

I figured you guys would say something like that :).. Clever :).. I would hope that to be true anyway :D..

If you guys offer a night only support method perhaps I can consider that, I do want to do customer support.. but right now im on vacation and cannot provide phone support to my customers (ugh, how annoying).. email/aim and stuff is still online, but I still feel like I need to be home working...

That's why if I did go with you guys for night support only, then decided to leave a week to go somewhere... I'd assume we could work something out where I'd pay you a premium that month for the week I was gone.

Who knows :).. Lot's to think about.. Either way I wish you guys luck.. but I'd keep an eye on the sales tickets.. Alot of people will judge your response time by that.. Even if its not accurate.

How fast are ticket turnarounds? Is that speed guaranteed?

Is that the next Bob Cares? :D

Spryrex, sure email me directly at ksb@platypusgroup.com so we can work something out.

tribby, our turnarounds are 6 hours (max) from 9am to 5pm, 10 hours (max) from 5pm to 9am. We offer a 30 day money back guarantee.

timechange, that is insulting. Instead of bashing others why not use your time more wisely and put it torward doing something more protective? Just a suggestion.


thanks,
- kevin

I am sorry, but I don't see what about Timechange's comment was insulting. It does seem that you are patterning a service similar to bobcares and if you are as successful in building a client base as they have been, I believe you would be quite happy. And, we can only benefit from more competition in the outsourced support market where bobcares has led the way. (Yes, I know cylynx was first, but they are generally outside the price range of most WHT hosts).

Incognito, I find it insulting because most of our clients we have had come from using them and have had nothing pleasant to say about them. So being classified as even being in the same league as them is... insulting. :)

As for having as many clients, i'd rather have fewer clients that are happy, then greater clients that are not.

I hope you understand.
- kevin

Kevin ,
Here's a small suggestion replace timechange with Edgewise below...
-------------------------
timechange, that is insulting. Instead of bashing others why not use your time more wisely and put it torward doing something more protective? Just a suggestion.
-------------------------

timechange did not try to bash you but from the above post . At the same time, I feel you are trying to show you are good at our expense. That is very unethical...

As far as being in our league is concerned I'm sure it'll take ages for you to be there...... ;)

Anyway, I wish you the very best....

Have a great day :)

Regards
Amar

bobcares, i'm sorry, and you're right. I took that comment by timechange badly and responded defensively, while in the process contradicting myself and I should not of. The point I wanted to make was that your company and ours are not the same, while we may offer similar services, in the end bobcares.com is bobcares.com, and Platypus Group is Platypus Group. I'm sorry if I have offended you, for that I apologize. I'd rather be on good terms with you then bad, and i'm sure if we talked we could both learn a thing or two from eachother... :)

- kevin

apolgy accepted... :)
I too was a bit harsh and I'm sorry about that...
I just felt sad seeing the post. Whenever I see a company doing a similar work I feel happy as I feel that an industry is being created and people start accepting the outsoure support market as a regular solution rather than an alternative or cheap solution....

I wish you the very best...

Have a great day :)

Regards
Amar

Group Hug :D

Originally posted by EdgeWise
bobcares, i'm sorry, and you're right. I took that comment by timechange badly and responded defensively, while in the process contradicting myself and I should not of. The point I wanted to make was that your company and ours are not the same, while we may offer similar services, in the end bobcares.com is bobcares.com, and Platypus Group is Platypus Group. I'm sorry if I have offended you, for that I apologize. I'd rather be on good terms with you then bad, and i'm sure if we talked we could both learn a thing or two from eachother... :)

- kevin

Whoah, I just came back to this thread.

I was not trying to insult your services. As Incognito pointed out, Bobcares is very successful in their range of services and it's interesting to see competition aspiring to duplicate their success.

If you are getting dissatisfied customers of Bobcares, that happens in every industry; you can't keep them all happy.

So to sum it all up, I was not insinuating that Bobcares provides inferior support and that you are doomed to match it; au contraire, :D I was hinting that the business you are embarking on has room to grow.

I hope that settles the argument.

Hi all,

I just thought I would throw in my 2 cents...

I have been having a sendmail issue (or at least I thought it was a sendmail problem) that I have been working on for about a week. After reading this ad - post I gave up and contacted Kevin. He was very professional right from the start. He responded quickly and worked diligently. Kevin was able to quickly and very affordably resolve my problem which turned out to be suexec.

If anyone is considering using his services, I would highly recommend him. Also feel free to contact me at any time for a reference, I will surely use his services in the future when I am can't do it myself.


Thanks,

Nathan Schwaber :D