It’s never too early to start reflecting on New Year resolutions for 2013, including those that relate to business infrastructure services and planning. With a new year, there is a sense of starting with a clean slate and having the opportunity to improve over prior years. Often, the goals and objectives remain the same, but a fresh approach may deliver results that ultimately hit the mark. Goals such as reducing infrastructure costs, improving network performance and increasing resource efficiency tend to rollover from year to year. Consider these proposed resolutions to help you achieve your business infrastructure goals and move forward.
Resolution #1: Create a detailed inventory of company servers and business applications.
- What are server types, quantity, use and location?
- What is the utilization per server?
- What disaster recovery environments exist for mission critical applications?
Resolution #2: Assess critical needs and identify infrastructure services required to meet them.
- What are the development, web, mission critical, disaster recovery needs?
- What are the network performance requirements for key applications and users?
- How quickly does a new server need to be provisioned and for how long will it be used?
- What are the needs related to the physical location of a server? Is nearby colocation an option? Does distance matter?
- Is it necessary to retain management of servers or is managed hosting a viable option?
- Is cloud computing an option for certain needs?
Resolution #3: Identify opportunities to consolidate and decommission infrastructure and applications.
- What applications are able to reside on the same server?
- Are multiple applications serving the same or similar needs?
Resolution #4: Survey the market to evaluate the benefit that is derived from infrastructure service providers such as Internap.
- Consider cost savings that result from the right mix of services and resources, e.g., hybrid solutions.
- Consider patented technologies that are available such as Internap’s Managed Internet Route Optimizer™ (MIRO) that optimizes network performance and solves latency issues.
- Consider premium colocation that results in economies of scale in a secured environment along with a portfolio of ancillary services.
- Consider the ability to meet diverse needs with a single provider, from colocation to managed hosting to cloud services.
Resolution #5: Set up a system to track infrastructure assets and services on an ongoing basis.
- Establish a periodic review to manage infrastructure assets and delivery.
- Identify tools to assist with asset management and control.
- Utilize tools that are provided by IT Infrastructure services providers such as Internap, which include device visualization, monitoring and remote management capabilities.
To learn more about how Internap can set your business infrastructure up for success, contact us today.
