Logicalis US to IT Pros: Create a Blueprint for IT Transformation

NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As cloud computing makes its way to the top of CIOs' priority lists, Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), says a well-implemented virtualization plan can be the key to success.  Virtualization can lead to a truly converged infrastructure that is more efficient, adaptable to changing business requirements, and easier to maintain and support.  Unfortunately, a surprising number of enterprise IT departments don't have a plan in place that clearly defines the goal for their virtualized IT environment or any next steps beyond virtualization. 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)

Often described as a journey in itself, virtualization has taken IT to new heights from which whole new sets of opportunities come into view. Simply put, IT pros can do things they couldn't before – centralized control of a distributed environment, for example.  Levels of disaster recovery that would have been prohibitively expensive become affordable with virtualization. Run-of-the-mill Windows machines and the services they provide now inherit high availability and fault tolerance by being part of a virtualized framework.

(Read "Seven Best Practices for Virtualization": http://www.ict-log.us/oZVTP)

"Logicalis recently helped a large services company move from a completely component-based architecture to an entirely virtualized environment," says Brandon Harris, Vice President, HP Solutions, Logicalis US.  "After a thorough assessment of the client's existing environment, Logicalis designed and implemented a virtualized solution that included VMware vSphere software, HP's VirtualSystem Converged Infrastructure, and Logicalis Professional Services.  In addition to the design and implementation of the solution, Logicalis also handled the migration of the client's applications from the physical to the virtualized environment.  By leveraging a predefined, converged infrastructure like HP's VirtualSystem, we were able to reduce the implementation and migration time from months to weeks."

Eight Answers to the Question "Why Virtualize?"

(1)   Virtualization offers dramatic savings from server and storage consolidation; it's a compelling technology that allows technology pros to do the same things better, faster and cheaper, resulting in improvements in performance and management as well as savings in money and energy.

(2)   Virtualization makes it possible to reduce the number of physical servers needed by an average of 15-to-1 and ensures that all servers are running at appropriate load levels.

(3)   Systems that would have taken months to deploy in the physical world can be deployed in weeks in a virtualized environment.

(4)   The relative ease and affordability virtualization offers when implementing improved disaster recovery (DR) strategies with better recovery times is of particular appeal to IT directors who have been leaving the office every day for years with their fingers crossed, worrying about how long their companies would be down in the event of an emergency.

(5)   When the hardware layer is separated and abstracted with virtualization, IT won't need to deal with all of the details of specific device drivers for one machine or another, or patching from one vendor to another.  The hardware layer becomes much further removed and a less significant part of the overall management strategy.

(6)   Physical servers, by virtue of becoming virtual servers, inherit the high availability with failover redundancy that the virtualization layer provides in a virtualized environment.

(7)   With virtualization tools like VMware, which made it possible to consolidate the very Wintel platform that opened the Pandora's box to rapid IT decentralization in the first place, there is no element of the IT environment – including servers, storage, desktop and networks – that cannot be reconfigured in a more effective and efficient form.

(8)   The level of centralized control that virtualization makes possible takes systems management to an entirely new level. Today's IT pros are implementing dynamic data center environments consisting of pools of high-performing computing resources that can be centrally managed, readily automated and efficiently maintained. Security and compliance are built in instead of bolted on, and the upgrade path is evolutionary instead of disruptive.

Want to learn more?

• Learn more about Logicalis' blueprint for IT transformation
  (http://www.ict-log.us/oZVJy)
• Download a Logicalis eBook: Elements of Design - How the Data Center of Today Can Be the Data Center for Tomorrow
  (http://www.ict-log.us/p14FX)
• Read a Logicalis feature story, "Virtual Game Changer"
  (http://www.ict-log.us/p149c)

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