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Your Home Should Be a Castle!Yes, businesses thrive on efficiency, but should that adaptability stop at the office door? Many of the tools and technologies that benefit the work world can also benefit you at home. We use the term "smart house" to refer to an environment that adapts to make your life more comfortable, easier or better in some way--usually based on digital technology. This adaptability can include climate control, home entertainment, security, lighting, and communications. Each of these different services come together in a common digital environment, a process called "convergence." Yes, computers can be wonderful things, and networks a godsend... when they work correctly. When they stop, things get ugly. At home, you don't have a computer wizard on staff to help make things all better. We can be your wizard on call. Even better, we can look over your set-up and prevent many disasters before they happen! As your wizards, we can diagnose and repair many hardware and software problems, recommend and install upgrades that will enhance your computing experience, implement or extend a network, develop a plan to help you take the best possible care of your computer, and even specify or build a new PC. (Our expertise has limits however, and we currently can support only computers running the Microsoft Windows or Novell NetWare operating systems.) The cost for these services is reasonable, and while working with computers is a constant learning experience, we make it a point not to learn on your nickel! Built-in audio, or distributed audio/video is coming soon to a home or office near yours.
Reclaim expensive floor space with built-in equipment and it sounds even better,
while enhancing the resale value of your property. The convergence of computer
control, digital media, and entertainment, is here now and finally able to live
up to its long-standing promise. The only problem remaining is finding the gear
– neither your local home improvement warehouse, nor the nearby stereo store
offer much in the way of built-in gear for the enthusiast. The best stuff has
(until now) only been available from a closed priesthood of specialty
installers. Not a good situation for the devoted do-it-yourselfer or
budget-minded buyer. (Actually not good for anyone – I was inspired to enter
this business when I couldn't get my calls returned from the alleged
professionals already in this trade.) I'll help you choose a system, assist with
as much or as little of the installation as you'd like, acquire the equipment at
a fair price, provide instructions that mere mortals can understand, and offer
technical support for the inevitable questions that come up. I'll show you
cost-effective ways to get million-dollar results for substantially less coin!
You get the "golly, gee whiz" factor without the pain of being on the bleeding
edge! ProductsThe best solutions are dictated by the problems to be solved not by force-fitting whatever parts happen to be on hand. For both homes and businesses, we have a special love for products that just...plain...work! We'd like to tell you about a few of those items.Server Appliances
Download more information by clicking on this Snap 1100 Datasheet link. This capability requires Adobe Acrobat, which you can get from Adobe's website, or by clicking on the link near the bottom of this page. Contact us for pricing, or to get information on other SnapAppliance models. TelephonyUsually associated with businesses, many homes can also benefit from a more capable phone system, especially if you work from home or have multiple phone numbers. We've been impressed with the Talkswitch products from Centrepoint Technologies. The Talkswitch works with the conventional telephones that you already have and brings you virtually every phone feature you can imagine, including:
For more information on the Talkswitch products, you can view or print the following documents simply by clicking on the item you wish to see. This capability requires Adobe Acrobat, which you can get from Adobe's website, or by clicking on the link near the bottom of this page.
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There are a vast number of
possibilities for distributing entertainment throughout your house, and
Niles Audio has most of them covered. At the simple end, remote
speakers are connected to your existing sound system via a switch box
(to assure that the load on the amplifier or receiver falls within
acceptable limits. Niles has the speakers, the switches, even the
high-quality remote volume controls. You may choose to
connect your distant listening areas with infrared (IR) remote controls.
Niles has you covered there, too. A big step up is the Niles
award-winning Intellipad, which centralizes remote control of your
existing components (and any new ones you add) in a sleek in-wall
touchpad.
When you're ready to go all out, Niles has a pair of 6 zone receivers, controlled by in-room panels (or LCD touchpads) in each listening area. Listening zones may be "slaved" together in a party mode, or all zones may be turned off from a single location, simply by holding the program selection (or "off") button for several seconds. Multiple receivers may be "chained" together, and additional amplifiers may be added for larger homes or commercial installations. (Under the terms of the standard distribution agreement with Niles Audio, we cannot advertise or sell their products over the Internet. Castle Creative Services offers Niles Audio products either as part of our full-service engagements, or for delivery to within North and Central Georgia. The references contained here are for illustration purposes only.)
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One drawback of the connected home or office is that you become acutely aware of just how dependent you are on the reliable flow of electricity coming out of the wall outlet. The momentary blackout that require you to reset 28 clocks is annoying; the flicker of the air conditioner cycling on that loses today's installment of the Great American Novel may cause you to scream in frustration; and the lightning-induced surge that barbecues your expensive electronics and toasts your disk drives is a disaster in the making... and preventable.
Recognizing the need
for consistent, quality electricity to power today's smart home, Castle
Creative recommends and represents the products of American Power
Conversion (APC), including surge suppression and battery backup for
sensitive electronic equipment of all sizes. Because even a
momentary power glitch plays havoc with sensitive electronics, we
believe that every computer should be
protected with an uninterruptable power supply and surge supression.
As a global leader in power availability solutions, APC sets the
standard in its industry for quality, innovation and support. As
an APC Reliability Provider, Castle Creative Services receives training
and special tools to assure that our customers get accurate advice and
the products that precisely meet their needs. |
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Download more information about APC's power protection products by clicking on this APC Catalog link. This capability requires Adobe Acrobat, which you can get from Adobe's website, or by clicking on the link below.
The items above represent only a tiny fraction of
what we have available. At Castle Creative, we maintain fast-ship
relationships with numerous vendors representing over 170,000 different items.
It can be a bit overwhelming, so put our expertise to work for you!
Click this
line to get the free Acrobat reader
from Adobe's site.
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We offer network server appliances
(about the size of a hardcover book) from SnapAppliance that you plug
in and push the "on" button. That's it! These machines are
versatile, small, quiet, energy efficient, affordable, and so reliable
that I have yet to see one broken! Available in sizes from 80
Gigabyte up to 30 TB, these devices can function as standalone file
servers, web servers, backup storage, or network attached storage.
All but the smallest support RAID, with hot swappable drives, redundant
power supplies, and other enterprise-quality features on the larger
models. The smallest, the The Snap Server™ 1100 is the most
popular device in the workgroup market and equally well-suited to small
office/home office users. Powered by SnapOS™ v4, it is available
in configurations of 80GB, and 250GB and offers: 
