Question 1

What exactly is a Managed Service Provider?

Accepted Answer

Think of us as your outsourced IT department — one that shows up before things break, not after. We monitor your systems around the clock, push security patches before a vulnerability turns into an incident, and handle everything from "my printer is offline" to "we need to rethink our server setup." For most Italian SMBs, hiring a full-time IT person doesn't make financial sense. Bitwire gives you that expertise on a fixed monthly fee, with clear SLAs and no surprise bills every time something needs fixing.

Question 2

What's the actual difference between Silver, Gold, and Platinum?

Accepted Answer

Mainly response time and how many people you have. Silver covers businesses up to 20 employees with a 4-hour response window — solid for a studio or a small office that doesn't live and die by uptime. Gold (20–50 employees) tightens that to 2 hours and adds more active security monitoring. Platinum is for when downtime has real financial consequences: manufacturing lines, warehouses, clinics — 1-hour response, 24/7, no exceptions. All three tiers include proactive patching, threat monitoring, and a single point of contact who actually knows your environment.

Question 3

How much does it cost?

Accepted Answer

Honestly, it depends on your setup — the number of machines, how complex your network is, which tier makes sense for your situation. We don't post a flat number online because it'd be wrong for most people. What we do instead is a quick 30-minute call, look at what you have, and send you an itemized quote with no hidden costs. No per-ticket fees, no "that's outside scope" surprises. Call us at +39 0423 432770 or email hello@bitwire.it — we'll have something back to you within 24 hours.

Question 4

How long does onboarding take?

Accepted Answer

Usually 2–4 weeks, depending on how complex your environment is. Week one is discovery: we audit what exists, document it, and identify gaps. Week two we deploy monitoring agents, set up ticketing integration, and start proactive patching. By week three most clients are in a stable, monitored state. We don't go live until we've verified your backups are working correctly. You don't need to prepare anything special — we handle the transition.

Question 5

Can you take over IT you didn't set up?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it's the most common scenario. Most new clients already have something running — a mix of licenses, a server someone set up years ago, a firewall nobody fully understands. We start with an audit, document what exists, and take over from there. We'll tell you honestly if something needs replacing and why, rather than just migrating problems forward. The only thing that complicates onboarding is genuinely undocumented infrastructure — in that case we factor in extra discovery time at the start.

Question 6

What's the minimum contract length? Can we cancel?

Accepted Answer

Standard contracts are 12 months — typical for managed services, since it takes time to instrument an environment properly and the value builds over the contract period. If your situation genuinely changes, we talk it through: no one wins from a client locked into something that no longer fits. When offboarding, we hand over all documentation, credentials, and configurations to you or whoever takes over. We don't hold your infrastructure hostage.

Question 7

What is MDR and do I actually need it?

Accepted Answer

Standard antivirus blocks malware it already recognizes. MDR watches how things behave — a process quietly encrypting hundreds of files, credentials being tested from an unusual IP, traffic going somewhere it shouldn't. Platforms like SentinelOne or CrowdStrike catch this in real time, with human analysts behind the detections. If you store customer data, run Windows servers, or have been hit by phishing before, yes — you need it. It's not overkill anymore, it's the baseline. We include MDR in all our managed plans and size the coverage to fit what you actually need.

Question 8

What is the Bitwire Defense Grid IP Blocklist?

Accepted Answer

It's a free threat intelligence feed we maintain and publish on GitHub (github.com/bitwire-it/ipblocklist). Over 20 million malicious IPs — C2 servers, known port-scanners, Tor exit nodes, botnet infrastructure — updated every hour. Any firewall or SIEM that accepts IP blocklists can pull it in directly. Our managed clients on OPNsense get it applied automatically. The project is fully open: security teams, ISPs, and homelabbers around the world use it. If you spot a false positive, open a GitHub issue and we'll look at it.

Question 9

How does SentinelOne actually stop ransomware?

Accepted Answer

It doesn't wait for a signature match. The moment a process starts encrypting files at abnormal speed, touching shadow copies, or injecting into system processes, SentinelOne kills it — usually within milliseconds — without needing to phone home to a cloud server first. Then it automatically rolls back any damage using Storyline technology, restoring files to where they were before the attack. We deploy, tune, and monitor SentinelOne for every managed client. Combined with OPNsense network blocking and our Defense Grid blocklist, our clients have had zero ransomware incidents in the past twelve months.

Question 10

Is Bitwire GDPR compliant?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We're an Italian company (Bitwire SRL, VAT IT05594960261), our infrastructure runs in EU data centers, and we process client data under GDPR (EU 2016/679). When we act as data processor for your business, we sign a Data Processing Agreement that spells out exactly what we store, for how long, and what your rights are. If you have specific compliance requirements — NIS2 obligations, a due diligence questionnaire from a client, an audit to prepare for — send it over and we'll work through it together.

Question 11

What does NIS2 mean for Italian businesses?

Accepted Answer

NIS2 (Directive EU 2022/2555) became Italian law in October 2024. It applies to medium and large businesses in 18 critical sectors — energy, transport, healthcare, manufacturing, digital infrastructure, and others. If your company is in scope, you're required to implement risk management measures, report significant incidents within 24–72 hours, secure your supply chain, and ensure executive accountability. Non-compliance carries fines up to €10 million or 2% of global turnover. Most of the manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare companies we work with fall under NIS2. We help clients run a gap assessment, implement the required technical controls, and prepare the documentation.

Question 12

Do you work with our existing software and vendors?

Accepted Answer

Generally yes. We're not a closed ecosystem — we don't ask you to replace tools that are working just to use ours. If you use Microsoft 365, we manage it. If you have a specific ERP, CRM, or accounting software, we integrate around it. Where we have strong opinions is security: if your current antivirus is inadequate or your firewall is end-of-life, we'll say so clearly and explain why. But we document everything first before recommending changes. The goal is to make what you have work better, not to start over from scratch.

Question 13

What makes Bitwire different from other MSPs?

Accepted Answer

Most MSPs manage Office 365 and call it a day. We do that too, but our team grew out of enterprise IT operations and key-code.dev, a hardware and embedded systems firm. That combination matters: if you have a factory machine running 15-year-old firmware with no vendor support, we can actually fix it — rewrite the firmware, bridge it to your modern network, keep it running. We build our own OPNsense firewalls, run Proxmox private clouds, and bring in AI automation when it genuinely helps. In practice: a Treviso manufacturer cut downtime by 95% and costs by 40%; a Vicenza logistics company reclaimed eight hours of IT work per week.

Question 14

Do you really do firmware and embedded hardware?

Accepted Answer

Yes — it's genuinely unusual for an MSP. Through our key-code.dev background, we work in C, C++, and Rust on microcontrollers, bare-metal embedded Linux, and PCB design. Typical projects: custom firmware for industrial sensors, gateways that bridge legacy OT equipment to modern IT networks, hardware prototypes for automation clients. This is especially useful for Veneto manufacturers running older machinery with no vendor support — we can often extend or replace the embedded software rather than forcing an expensive hardware refresh. Email hello@bitwire.it with what you're trying to do and we'll give you an honest feasibility read.

Question 15

Where do you operate?

Accepted Answer

We're based in Castello di Godego, Treviso. On-site support covers Treviso, Padua, and Vicenza provinces — the industrial corridor from Valsugana to the Venetian plain. For remote-managed services, which is the majority of day-to-day work, we work with clients anywhere in Italy. If you're outside the Veneto area and need occasional on-site visits, we can include a travel arrangement in the contract. Reach us at +39 0423 432770, hello@bitwire.it, or open a ticket at helpme.bitwire.it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Services & Plans

Technology & Security

About Bitwire

Still have questions?