Experts-on-Demand
Sometimes incisive technical insight can be exactly what's needed to solve complex IT Architecture problems or get a struggling project back on track. Bringing in an experienced Subject Matter Expert can make all the difference in the world! Our company provides Senior IT Consultants on an on-demand basis. We ensure top technical skills, advanced industry knowledge, and depth-and-breadth of experience are available when you need it, without draining your IT budget!
Storage Infrastructure Stabilization
Your Production data storage equipment may be functional, but is it stable? All IT equipment tends to suffer "creeping disorganization" over time. Passwords aren't updated, obsolete data is not removed., I/O paths become unbalanced, naming conventions overlooked, security patches not installed, etc. Our Storage Infrastructure Stabilization Assessment goes back-to-basics and ensures all configuration and features have been properly implemented and are operating at maximum efficiency.
SAN/NAS Capacity Assessment
Data Center Enhancements Inc. offers a comprehensive analysis program for evaluating storage, capturing key growth and performance metrics, analyzing data, and presenting the results in a coherent and professional document. This review usually entails a detailed examination of all storage components, design configuration, performance, power consumption, policies and procedures, physical resource consumption, support costs, skills requirements, and other aspects of the infrastructure.
Data Center Assessment
Data Center Enhancements provides a thorough, in-depth review of all aspects of a data center including but not limited to: underutilized servers/storage, power consumption, cooling, floor space, rack space, useful lifespan of equipment, regulatory compliance, security, and other aspects of the production environment, to name a few. The issues we identify help reduce IT expenses and improve operational efficiency. We provide industry-leading senior consultants to perform all of our assessments. Our consultants provide a complete review of the IT operating environment with technical, performance, and financial considerations in mind, and deliver consolidation and virtualization recommendations to reduce total cost of ownership.
Disaster Recovery Readiness Assessment
Organization, preparation, regular testing, and frequent updates to include any changes are the keys to DR planning success. Due to the unpredictability a disaster event can bring your company, a DCEI Disaster Recovery Readiness Assessment will help ensure you are ready. Our Disaster Recovery Readiness Assessment is designed to identify areas where critical business processes need protection, and recommend alternative approaches that allow your company to meet both Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs). It will outline steps necessary to ensure business resiliency in the event of a local or regional catastrophe.
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Data Center Consolidation
Containing data center sprawl is a never-ending challenge. Company growth, new mergers and acquisitions, emerging technologies, and special projects (like e-Discovery, GIS mapping, joint ventures, etc.) relentlessly expand new computing operations and the underlying infrastructure necessary to support it.
The signs are easily recognizable:
- Gradually increasing equipment purchases (CAPEX)
- Higher facilities and energy costs
- A growing head-count for IT administration, operations, and support
- Challenges managing and monitoring the IT environment
- Rapidly expanding data communications costs
- An embarrassingly out-of-date disaster recovery plan
Most IT operations exist in an extremely dynamic environment, and are constantly being forced to accommodate changing business needs, more powerful technologies, greater functionality, rapidly expanding data storage, and a host of other demands like CyberSecurity, Regulatory Compliance, Social media, Mobile computing and many other must-have capabilities. Over time your well-designed IT operation starts to suffer from creeping inefficiency.
Challenges:
At some point, an IT consolidation project becomes necessary. Done correctly, a data center consolidation project can yield tremendous savings, reduced complexity, greater agility, and protection from obsolesce. Done incorrectly, it can turn into your worst nightmare.
IT consolidation projects have a lot of moving parts and require a proven process, experienced staff, and meticulous attention to detail. If delays are incurred, it can pose a threat to business operations and the company's revenues. While your company may pride itself on its outstanding IT staff, chances are they have little or no experience managing a project of this size, complexity, or potential for impacting the entire company. This is where unfamiliarity and inexperience can result in very damaging, expensive, and unexpected outcomes.
Our Solution:
Data Center Enhancements Inc. will deploy a core group of experienced senior IT specialists with extensive training, knowledge, and experience in large data center consolidation. We do not attempt to provide all technical staff for the project, but focus only on project planning, management, and coordination. Our role is to exclusively ensure a successful consolidation program is completed according to defined objectives, timeline, and budget.
This type of project requires many different objectives and interests be pulled together and skillfully blended to achieve a singular purpose. Some of the important players whose input must be considered include:
- Executive sponsors
- Stakeholders representing a broad cross-section of the company
- Business process analysts
- Applications and database developers
- Server, storage, and infrastructure specialists
- Internal users and external customers
- Vendor product specialists and subject matter experts
- Regulatory Compliance experts
This diverse group presents an array of complex and differing viewpoints that must be identified, analyzed, discussed and integrated. This is neither a simple nor easy task. Even though your organization may already employ the best and brightest, it is highly likely they'll need highly experienced assistance bringing all the requirements together and getting the project moving in the right direction. When some information is not forthcoming or provides a confusing and conflicting story, project cohesiveness can quickly be lost. Our core team of technical specialists will focus on coordinating and clarifying all key aspects of this project.
We can provide:
- Experienced IT project experts dedicated to high-level planning and coordination
- A proven methodology specifically created for data center consolidation
- An array of tools and utilities specifically designed to simplify critical activities
- Individual and organizational accountability for the success of the engagement
- A consistent, methodical approach with an emphasis on attention-to-detail
Once engaged, we come to the project with no hidden agendas. We do not sell equipment or software, lobby incessantly for increasing the IT consulting head-count, or continually seek out unrelated project opportunities. Nor do we face any personal pressure to justify past architectural or deployment decisions. Our singular commitment is to ensure the timely and successful completion of the data center consolidation project at hand.
Next Steps:
Many of our competitors begin with a comprehensive equipment inventory. We don't. There are certain aspects of this program that require a go / no-go decision in advance of execution (such as budget, market dynamics, unique operational issues, pending litigation, regulatory changes, and other factors.) Our first step is to examine your objectives at a holistic level and validate the feasibility of the project before large expenditures are made and production operations disrupted.
We also place a greater emphasis on initial planning. Failure to plan completely is second only to communication breakdowns as reasons why major projects fail. Time and money invested in the planning phase will pay excellent dividends further down the road.
Contact:
If you're ready to move ahead with a data center consolidation effort, please give us a call at (630) 513-9747. However if you know consolidation is needed, but are struggling with how to get started, we have several assessment programs that can provide the information necessary to make good decisions. Give us 30-minutes to help bring clarity to this complex decision.
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