Brokers & Fixers

Over the last 30+ years, Cambridge Computer has evolved a business model that provides a unique value proposition for technical leaders and decision makers, allowing us to prioritize your technical and business objectives.

Our business is a broker-agent model. We provide resources, ideas, and expertise in innovative ways when our clients are evaluating technical direction, vetting products and technologies, and purchasing hardware, software, subscriptions, and professional services. Our team consists of industry analysts, technologists, hands-on consultants, and entrepreneurs, who all continually invest in building relationships with industry players and learning technologies and products, so you can treat us as an extension of your IT team. The longevity of our business and the breadth of our experience in the higher education, research computing, bioinformatics, media & entertainment, and technology industries helps us cross-pollinate best practices and lessons learned in these particularly challenging environments.

We​ can​ help you compare technologies​ and design, vet​, deploy and document​ multi-vendor solutions​. We also identify niche solutions unique to your business or industry​.​​ We invest in understanding your requirements, team, and IT environment so we can anticipate your needs and bring new, relevant technologies to your attention. ​We work to augment ​your​ direct vendor relationships. You can benefit from our relationships and experience by having us help with purchasing, or you can work directly with vendors. We use our technical expertise, knowledge of your environment, and executive relationships to enhance manufacturer-direct support​ on your behalf​.​

The best part about our approach is that it comes at no additional cost to our clients. Vendors typically compensate us directly when we enable transactions because we accelerate their supply chain, reduce their cost of sale, and facilitate transactions through a myriad of contract vehicles. So contact us and see the difference we can make for you!

Commercial Enterprise IT Leaders

After decades of relatively little innovation, the storage industry has suddenly exploded with new technologies. Where there used to be only one way to solve a problem, there are now many possible approaches. Also, as organizations look for ways to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and increase scalability, cloud computing, and virtualization are playing a vital part in their IT strategies. These new technologies also present new challenges for organizations. Cambridge Computer has been a leader in delivering physical and cloud-based infrastructure, storage, and security solutions to clients in a variety of industries across North America. We help our clients identify their needs, devise long-term storage management strategies, and compare technologies from different hardware and software manufacturers. Supported by a highly skilled staff of consultants, we provide professional services in the areas of project consulting, integration, project management, and knowledge transfer.

Our clients include leading corporations, major financial and healthcare institutions, media and entertainment, law firms, as well as small to medium-size businesses. We understand the unique IT challenges faced in different industries and have the expertise to help navigate these challenges. Cambridge Computer can help you ask the right questions, give you the tools to find the answers, and then tailor a solution that fits your industry and your specific requirements.

Research & EDU Leaders

Cambridge Computer has extensive experience meeting the needs of research and academic clients. We are very familiar with the budgetary and technological pressures unique to these institutions. We have assisted colleges and universities around the country in fitting large solutions into small budgets, designing modular solutions around small influxes of grant money, and figuring out palatable ways to pool the resources of multiple research groups to make better use of collective funding. Technologically, we understand that universities often manage thousands of home directories and research projects that may be of a highly scientific nature or have other characteristics that differ from typical corporate data.

Our clients include K12, small liberal arts colleges, leading universities, research institutions, medical schools, and DOE national laboratories.​ We actively support communities like EDUCAUSE, NERCOMP, CLAC, AJCU, Merit, OHEC, ACCS, UNC Cause, MEEC, and Rock Eagle, many of which we have relationships going back over a decade..

Cloud Service Providers

Cambridge Computer supplies cloud infrastructure and solutions to some of the world’s largest cloud services. We serve as the broker-agent for major OEMs, which eliminates traditional middlemen. We have expertise in:

  • Object storage
  • Bulk, white-box storage
  • Enterprise, cloud-scale storage
  • Networking
  • Endpoint solutions

Industry Influencers

Investors occasionally recruit us for advice before financing a technology. We have the experience to guide early-stage startups; we can help expand their beta customer pipeline, move proofs of concept (POCs) to sales production, and develop a go-to-market strategy. Industry analysts engage with our technologists to bounce off ideas and leverage our feedback for industry reporting. We welcome these discussions. Let’s have a conversation!

After decades of relatively little innovation, the storage industry has suddenly exploded with new technologies. Where there used to be only one way to solve a problem, now there are many possible approaches. Also, as organizations look for ways to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and increase scalability, cloud computing and virtualization increasingly play a vital role in their IT strategies. These new technologies also present new challenges for organizations. Cambridge Computer has been a leader in delivering physical and cloud-based infrastructure, storage, and security solutions to clients in a variety of industries across North America. We help our clients identify their needs, devise long-term storage management strategies, and compare technologies from different hardware and software manufacturers. Supported by a highly skilled staff of consultants, we provide professional services in the areas of project consulting, integration, project management, and knowledge transfer.

Our clients include leading corporations, major financial and healthcare institutions, media and entertainment, and law firms, as well as small to medium-size businesses. We understand the unique IT challenges faced in different industries and have the expertise to help navigate these challenges. Cambridge Computer can help you ask the right questions, give you the tools to find the answers, and then turn the answers into a coherent solution that fits your industry and your specific requirements.

Cambridge Computer has extensive experience meeting the needs of research and academic clients. We are intimate with the budgetary and technological pressures unique to these institutions. We have assisted colleges and universities around the country in fitting large solutions into small budgets, designing modular solutions around small influxes of grant money, and figuring out viable ways to pool the resources of multiple research groups to make better use of collective funding. Technologically, we understand that universities often manage thousands of home directories and research projects that may be of a highly scientific nature or have other characteristics that differ from typical corporate data.

Our clients include K12, small liberal arts colleges, leading universities, research institutions, medical schools, and DOE national laboratories.​ We actively support communities like EDUCAUSE, NERCOMP, CLAC, AJCU, Merit, OHEC, ACCS, UNC Cause, MEEC, and Rock Eagle, many of which we have worked with for over a decade.

Cambridge Computer supplies cloud infrastructure and solutions to some of the world’s largest cloud services. We serve as the broker-agent for major OEMs, which eliminates traditional middlemen. We have expertise in:

  • Object storage
  • Bulk, white-box storage
  • Enterprise, cloud-scale storage
  • Networking
  • Endpoint solutions

Investors at times recruit us for advice before financing a technology. We have the experience to guide early-stage startups; we can help expand their beta customer pipeline, move proofs of concept (POCs) to sales production, and develop a go-to-market strategy. Industry analysts engage with our technologists to bounce around ideas and leverage our feedback for industry reporting. We welcome these discussions. Let’s have a conversation!

Areas of Expertise

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Data Protection

  • Backup software
  • Tape libraries, drives, media
  • Replication
  • Business Continuity (BC)
  • Disaster Recovery (DR)

Cloud

  • IaaS, SaaS
  • BC/DR as a service
  • Cloud orchestration (OpenStack)
  • Cloud storage

Network & Security

  • Software Defined Networking
  • Wireless
  • Switches and routers
  • Endpoint protection
  • Threat assessment services

Research and HPC

  • Hadoop
  • Lustre and GPFS
  • Bulk storage
  • IB and switching
  • Data lake

Enterprise IT

  • SAN/NAS
  • HDD, PCIe, SSD
  • Servers
  • Indexing and classification
  • Asset management

Virtualization

  • VMware
  • VDI
  • Host-based caching
  • Performance management
  • Hyper-converged systems
  • Hyper-V

Data Life Cycle Management

  • Archive
  • Governance
  • Hierarchical storage management
  • Virtual file systems
  • Rich metadata
  • Digital library

Professional Services

  • Implementation and upgrades
  • Strategic consulting
  • Technical consulting
  • Knowledge transfer and documentation
  • Assessments & audits