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NETWORK ANALYTICS
for an optimum storage solution , will have predictable answers . Therefore , ICT analytical analysis services need to be focused in the following factors to deliver the optimum benefits to customers :
• Vendor independent analysis . Focus on a customer ’ s unique environment , and position a solutions lead approach .
• Gain control over vendor relationships . Focus vendor conversations based on a customer ’ s specific business objectives . This saves significant time and money in procuring infrastructure .
• Optimise existing infrastructure . Identify infrastructure optimisation opportunities , and establish principles for measurement of the benefits – ‘ sweat the assets ’, and ‘ do more with less ’.
• Independent capacity planning . Provide and out-task the delivery of capacity management and planning as a monthly service , enabling customers to predict capacity demands , and react to changing business needs .
As an example to how these types of services can be extremely beneficial , here are some brief case studies where tangible benefits were achieved :
• Working with a large global company who were outsourced , analytical and storage optimisation services were carried out over a period of six months . The results were that storage consumption and their associated costs were dramatically reduced resulting in a cost reduction of over £ 2 million per annum .
• A customer ’ s key workload running on 50 physical systems required virtualisation and a new storage infrastructure . Performance data was collected , and run through a simulation model to determine the best solution for their specific workload . Compared to solutions being proposed their incumbent suppliers , the new solution designed reduced the server count from 16 to two , lowered software licensing , and allowed lower cost storage to be exploited . The savings were in excess of £ 200,000 for a relatively small study .
• A large global company was upgrading their backup infrastructure at two sites from TSM to NetBackup . Data was collected , and detailed simulation models used to design architecture using both physical tape and VTL with de-duplication . The proposed solution , which was implemented , saved over $ 2.8 million when compared to the solutions being proposed by their current suppliers .
• A complex data migration project for a large European Bank was underpinned by detailed analytics , which allowed a large proportion of migration tasks including data volume mapping and replication to be automated . It also facilitated data transformation activities allowing re-tiering of storage volumes , and P2V of servers to further reduce costs . Critically , the solution also avoided the requirement to buy additional ‘ swing ’ equipment that was proposed as a pre-requisite by their disk vendor and was in excess of € 1.1 million .
• Project for virtual desktop infrastructure for 13,000 desktops and laptops . A detailed file classification study was run using automated data collection and analysis of all clients including detailed analysis of storage requirements . Based on the initial guesstimates that were being made prior to the study , the analysis showed that in excess of £ 600,000 could be achieved once all data profiles and their access patterns for over 1 billion files was understood .
One of the key areas to driving down costs in any environment is a detailed understanding of your ICT infrastructure . This understanding then supports the decision making processes ; should we migrate to the cloud , refresh the in-house infrastructure , outsource , or a combination of one or more ? It ’ s key that services are independent , and are not led by the vendors and suppliers of potential hardware , software and services . Huge benefits can be achieved by applying detailed analytical services and ‘ what if ’ modelling with the only agenda being to save an organisation money , find the best ways to optimise existing infrastructure , and design and migrate to new infrastructure . n
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