The Technology Behind a Network You Don't Have to Think About
Most small and mid-sized businesses don't fail because they picked the wrong vendor. They fail because nobody is making the vendors work together.
Markgraf Consulting runs a deliberately curated technology platform — the same enterprise-grade tools the Fortune 500 uses, engineered and operated for businesses that can't afford a 50-person IT department. Every product on this page was chosen for one reason: it makes your network more secure, more available, and easier to support when something goes wrong at 2 a.m.
This isn't a catalog. It's how we keep our clients running.
Why We Standardize on a Single Technology Platform
Most managed service providers will support whatever showed up the day they signed you. That sounds flexible — until you're paying for five overlapping tools, three of them are misconfigured, and nobody on the support desk has trained on any of them in a year.
We took a different approach. We chose a focused stack of best-in-class platforms, then trained our team deeply on every one of them.
The result:
- Faster resolution. Our engineers see the same products every day. When your firewall throws an alert, we've already seen it fifty times this quarter.
- Stronger security posture. A consistent stack means consistent hardening — no forgotten device running default credentials.
- Predictable cost. Volume relationships with our partners get passed through to you. You get enterprise pricing without enterprise headcount.
- One throat to choke. When something breaks, you call us. We own the outcome — not the finger-pointing.
The technology below isn't a list of logos. It's a system, deliberately engineered to keep your business operating while you focus on running it.
Network Security — Fortinet
Your firewall is the front door of your business. We deploy Fortinet next-generation firewalls because they consistently rank at the top of independent NSS and Gartner testing for threat prevention — and because their Secure SD-WAN lets us connect your offices, warehouses, and remote workers without sacrificing inspection at the perimeter. Centralized policy management means every site enforces the same security rules, not whatever the local installer happened to remember.
DNS Filtering — DNSFilter
Most phishing and malware never reach the firewall — they get stopped at the DNS lookup before the connection ever opens. DNSFilter sits between your users and the internet, blocking malicious domains, newly-registered phishing sites, and inappropriate content categories in real time. It's the cheapest, highest-impact security control most organizations are still missing.
Switching — Dell, Aruba & Fortinet
A network is only as reliable as the switch ports underneath it. We standardize on Dell Networking inside the server room for high-throughput east-west traffic, Aruba switching at the edge for campus and wireless integration, and Fortinet switches where unified security policy from the firewall down to the port matters most. All three deliver Layer 2/3 segmentation, VLAN isolation, and redundancy out of the box — the kind of resilience that turns a failed switch into a non-event instead of an outage.
Servers & Storage — Dell Technologies
Your data deserves better than a tower in a closet. Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell SAN/NAS storage form the compute and storage backbone of every infrastructure we deploy — engineered for virtualization, business-critical applications, and high-availability clustering. Every deployment includes a documented backup and disaster recovery design, so a hardware failure becomes a process, not a panic.
Workstations — Dell
The device on your desk is where work actually happens. We standardize on Dell OptiPlex desktops, Latitude laptops, and Precision workstations because they're built to be supported — with consistent imaging, enterprise warranties, and next-business-day parts. One vendor, one warranty desk, one image to maintain across your entire fleet, so a hardware failure means a swap, not a project.
Microsoft 365 & Azure Identity
Email, files, identity, and collaboration aren't three different problems — they're one. We run our clients on Microsoft 365 with Entra ID (Azure AD) at the center, giving you single sign-on, conditional access, and MFA enforced consistently across every app your team uses. Exchange Online and SharePoint Online round out a productivity environment that scales from five users to five hundred without re-architecting.
Voice & Collaboration — Microsoft Teams & 3CX Phones
Your phone system shouldn't live in a different decade than the rest of your business. Teams or 3CX phones replaces aging PBX hardware with cloud-based calling integrated directly into the collaboration platform your team is already using. One identity, one app, one bill — on the desk, in the browser, on the phone in your pocket.
Wireless — Fortinet & Aruba
Wi-Fi is no longer a convenience; it's the network for most of your users. We design wireless coverage the way it should be designed: with surveys, controllers, segmented SSIDs for staff, guests, and IoT devices, and the same security policies your wired network enforces. Coverage that works in the corner office, the back warehouse, and the parking lot.
Endpoint Security & Management — CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, ThreatLocker & NinjaOne
The endpoint is where most breaches actually begin. We deploy CrowdStrike or SentinelOne — both leaders in independent EDR testing — for behavior-based threat detection and response. ThreatLocker layers application allowlisting and ringfencing on top, so unknown software simply cannot execute on your endpoints regardless of what an end user clicks. NinjaOne handles patch management, software deployment, and compliance reporting across the fleet. BitLocker enforces full-disk encryption on every Windows device. Together, these tools give us continuous visibility — and active control — over every device that touches your data.
Managed Detection & Response — Huntress
EDR alerts only matter when someone is watching them. Huntress provides 24x7 managed threat hunting with a human SOC behind every alert — they investigate, validate, and escalate so we get a phone call when something matters, not a queue full of noise. For SMB clients, this is the difference between owning enterprise-grade security tools and producing an enterprise-grade security outcome.
Monitoring & Management — NinjaOne & PRTG
You shouldn't find out from a customer that your server is down. We monitor every device, circuit, and critical service 24x7 with NinjaOne and PRTG, with automated alerting wired directly into our ticketing system. Most issues are detected, opened, and assigned before anyone in your office notices a slowdown — and you get a monthly performance report that proves it.
Backup & Disaster Recovery — Veeam & Dropsuite
Backups only matter when they restore. We use Veeam for on-premises and hybrid workload protection and Dropsuite for cloud-native Microsoft 365 backup, because a ransomware event or accidental deletion in M365 isn't covered by Microsoft. Every client gets a documented RTO/RPO plan — and we test restores on a schedule, so the first time we recover your data isn't the day you actually need it.
Power Protection — APC & Eaton
A perfect IT environment is still down when the power blinks. We design power protection around APC and Eaton UPS systems, sized to your actual load and runtime requirements, with network management cards that let us monitor battery health, trigger graceful shutdowns, and replace batteries before they fail. Power is the most-ignored layer of business continuity — and the easiest one to get right.
Print & Document Imaging — Canon
Printing is the one device on your network most providers ignore — until a copier becomes the breach point or a contract auto-renews at 40% over market. We deploy and manage Canon multifunction devices with secure print release, scan-to-cloud, and consumables tracking, so your print environment is as monitored, secured, and accountable as any server on your network.
See How Your Current Stack Measures Up
Most environments we audit have at least one critical gap the incumbent provider never flagged. Our free IT Health Check benchmarks your infrastructure against the platform above and gives you a prioritized list of fixes — no obligation, no sales pressure, just a clear picture of where you stand.