Logicalis US Gives Enterprise CIOs Six Tips for Creating a Converged Infrastructure

NEW YORK, Oct. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Servers, storage, networks, applications and management – all the technologies the enterprise uses today – have evolved to the point where they can be converged into a single entity.  In effect, the capabilities that a converged infrastructure makes possible can turn a corporate IT department into a service provider rather than a cost center, though each organization is in a different stage of its IT transformation journey.  According to Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), the first step in figuring out how to get where a company wants to go is figuring out where it is today.  To help, Logicalis US has created a blueprint for IT transformation, a step-by-step guide to assist IT pros in determining where they are as well as where they're headed.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130828/MM71035LOGO-a)

(Link to "Blueprint for IT Transformation": http://www.ict-log.us/oZVJy)

"Logicalis recently worked with a customer who was challenged with managing servers, storage, and networking separately from their IT management as well as procurement and refresh cycles.  They approached Logicalis about how they could consolidate the way they purchase, manage and view their core infrastructure," says Brandon Harris, Vice President, HP Solutions, Logicalis US.  "Logicalis was able to leverage HP Converged Infrastructure to put together a complete solution with a single management software framework for their core infrastructure.  This provided the customer the ability to look at the environment more holistically, the ability to save time and money in the management of the environment, and the ability to deploy the infrastructure more quickly."

Six Tips for Creating a Converged Infrastructure

1. Define A Realistic Process: Most companies don't have an unlimited budget for IT, so there needs to be a realistic process in place that will enable the IT department to transform the company's current heterogeneous, often haphazard IT environment into a well-mannered converged infrastructure as time and actual budget allows.
2. Give Change a Chance: Don't be sold on moving the enterprise to a new infrastructure architecture without fully understanding the risks as well as the rewards.
3. Break Down the Walls: One of the biggest roadblocks to a unified infrastructure is not technology, but politics. Before it's possible to link the company's infrastructure together, IT is going to have to break through some silos from the top down.  The existing culture reflects the mindset that every application requires its own dedicated server, network interface, storage device, etc.  It's IT's job to get the entire organization to understand the "shared use" model that a converged infrastructure makes possible.
4. Don't Let the Company's Legacy Become Its Legacy: The time to address legacy systems and establish realistic milestones to replace them is now, before they cause problems.
5. Time to Take Out the Trash: Migration day is a great excuse to get rid of those things that just seem to be hanging on and taking up space – the old hardware, apps and data that no longer serve a purpose.
6. Change Like You Mean It: IT policies and procedures used to be geared to maintaining the status quo.  But today, people are more interested in business agility – the ability of a business to respond rapidly and cost efficiently to changes in the business environment.  A characteristic of business agility is that it makes change a routine part of organizational life.  In many ways, business agility is the business counterpart to a converged infrastructure; both have the feel of controlled chaos about them.  The policies and procedures that are put in place for a converged infrastructure must ensure that purposeful, constant, controlled change – not chaos – becomes the status quo.

Want to learn more?

• Learn more about Logicalis' blueprint for IT transformation
  (http://www.ict-log.us/oZVJy)
• Download a Logicalis eBook: "The Converged Infrastructure in Your Future"
  (http://www.ict-log.us/pSznt)
• Read a Logicalis feature story, "A Practical Strategy for Converged Infrastructure"
  (http://www.ict-log.us/pSzYQ)
• Thought Leadership Information on Steps 1 and 2 in the IT Transformation Journey
  (http://www.ict-log.us/pSAEC) and (http://www.ict-log.us/pSAw6)

About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international IT solutions and managed services provider with a breadth of knowledge and expertise in communications and collaboration; data center and cloud services; and managed services.

Logicalis employs nearly 3,500 people worldwide, including highly trained service specialists who design, specify, deploy and manage complex ICT infrastructures to meet the needs of almost 6,000 corporate and public sector customers.  To achieve this, Logicalis maintains strong partnerships with technology leaders such as Cisco, HP, IBM, CA Technologies, EMC, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.

The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.4 billion from operations in Europe, North America, South America and Asia Pacific and is fast establishing itself as one of the leading IT and Communications solution integrators specializing in the areas of advanced technologies and services.

The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg and London AIM Stock Exchanges, with revenues of over $5 billion.

For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.

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Media contacts:
Lisa Dreher, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Logicalis US
[email protected]
425-201-8111
www.us.logicalis.com

Karen Franse, Communication Strategy Group for Logicalis US
[email protected] 
866-997-2424
www.gocsg.com

SOURCE Logicalis US