Services
Six areas, one practice. The work is scoped in writing before it starts and documented before we leave, whether the environment is a data center or a back office.
IBM Power and IBM i
Senior hands for the platform most shops can't hire for.
Power Systems running IBM i and AIX, FlashSystem storage, and the Fibre Channel fabrics that tie them together. We handle the work that needs someone who has done it before: upgrades, migrations, relocations, backup and recovery, and the health checks that keep a quiet system quiet.
Typical work
- Upgrades and migrations (hardware refresh, OS release, storage moves)
- Backup and recovery design, tape and virtual tape, BRMS
- FlashSystem and SAN attach, zoning, multipath cleanup
- Rack builds, re-racks and relocations with controlled shutdown and bring-up
- Health checks, performance and capacity reviews, documentation of an inherited environment
- Subcontract engineering for IBM Business Partners and services firms
Good fit when you have a project, a gap, or a deadline and no one on staff who has done it before.
Related: OpenVTL, our open-source virtual tape library for IBM i.
Storage and data center engineering
Cabled, labeled, documented.
SAN and Fibre Channel design and cleanup, enterprise storage, virtualization, and the servers underneath. Physical work included: rack builds, moves, and the rat's-nest cleanups nobody wants to own. Every job ends with labels on the cables and a document that matches them.
Typical work
- Fibre Channel fabric design, zoning, firmware and cleanup
- Storage provisioning, migration, and decommission
- Virtualization on VMware, Proxmox, and Hyper-V; Linux and Windows servers
- Rack and cabinet builds, relocations, cable management and labeling
- As-built documentation, diagrams, and runbooks
Good fit when something has grown without a plan, or something has to move without going down.
Network and security foundations
The fundamentals that keep everything else standing.
Firewalls and segmentation, remote access, DNS, email authentication, backups, and hardening. This is the practical baseline a business should have in place before it buys a security product or sits for a compliance audit.
Typical work
- Firewall and VLAN design, replacement, and cleanup
- VPN and remote access staff will use without calling you
- DNS, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and edge protection (Cloudflare)
- Backup design and restore testing
- Hardening and patch baselines for servers and network gear
- Wi-Fi and cabling for offices and small sites
Good fit when you've never had it looked at, or you're about to grow.
Advisory and second opinions
Independent advice with no hardware to sell you.
Assessments, roadmaps, quote and proposal reviews, disaster recovery planning, and help choosing vendors and implementation partners. We don't resell equipment and we hold no vendor quotas, so nothing rides on which answer you get.
Typical work
- Infrastructure assessments and gap analysis
- Roadmaps and lifecycle planning (what to replace, when, and why)
- Independent review of vendor quotes, proposals, and support renewals
- Disaster recovery and continuity planning
- Vendor and partner selection; owner's representative during projects
Good fit when you're about to spend real money and want someone on your side of the table.
Small-business IT for Pensacola and the Alabama line
Enterprise habits at a small-business scale.
For businesses, practices, and organizations from Pensacola north through Escambia County and across the line to Atmore. Setup, cleanup, troubleshooting, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, backups, networks, and the occasional emergency, on an hourly or prepaid basis with no contract required.
Typical work
- New office setup and moves
- Workstation, server, and network troubleshooting
- Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 setup, migration, and cleanup
- Backups you can actually restore from
- Wi-Fi, cabling, printers, point-of-sale and line-of-business systems
- Prepaid hour blocks for ongoing help without a monthly agreement
Good fit when you'd rather call one person who knows your setup than a help desk that doesn't.
Automation and applied AI
Practical automation, judged by hours saved.
Practical automation for the work your people do over and over: intake, routing, reporting, document handling. Built around the systems you already run, self-hosted where it makes sense, and left alone where it wouldn't pay for itself.
Typical work
- Workflow automation between existing systems (tickets, email, files)
- Self-hosted or private AI assistants for internal knowledge and documents
- Scripted operations for infrastructure teams
- A straight answer on where AI helps and where it doesn't
Good fit when there's a task everyone dreads and nobody has time to fix.
How we engage
Written scope first, then whichever shape fits the work.
Time and materials
Hourly, with a written scope and estimate first.
Prepaid hour blocks
For small businesses that want help on call without a monthly agreement.
Fixed-scope projects
Statement of work, milestones, and a price agreed before we start.
Subcontract and white-label
Engineering under a partner's agreement and brand, invoiced cleanly through Emerald Coast Technologies LLC.
Advisory retainer
A standing number of hours a month for planning, reviews, and questions.
Travel for on-site work outside the local area is quoted with the project.
Where we work
- Based in Pensacola, Florida. Local work runs north through Escambia County to Atmore.
- On site across Northwest Florida and South Alabama.
- Remote nationwide, and on site anywhere in the United States for enterprise engagements.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us what you're working on. We'll tell you plainly whether we're the right fit, and what it would take.