IT infrastructure: the key to your company's growth

A company's IT infrastructure is, in a way, the skeleton that keeps all its organs running smoothly. The management of servers, data, storage, networks, hardware and software are all underlying issues, yet crucial if the company's business is not to be impacted by an information system that is too fragile.

With the digital transformation of businesses and the acceleration of virtualization challenges, the aim today is to guarantee users systems and tools that facilitate their work and boost performance.

But how? And with which tools? Appvizer answers this question throughout this article.

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IT infrastructure: definition

What is a company's IT infrastructure?

IT infrastructure is the sum total of a company's hardware and software equipment. All these elements, connected together, form the IT infrastructure.

It's also known as an IT system, IT architecture or IT network. This equipment needs to be properly installed and maintained , so that the company can make the most of it.

What equipment is involved? IT equipment includes

• workstations (desktops, laptops),
• screens
• peripherals (mouse, keyboard, etc.),
• servers (racks, towers),
• routers,
• telephone equipment, including smartphones,
• cabling,
• software,
• applications, etc.

The role of IT architecture is to give a company's employees easy, continuous and secure access to its applications and data. To simplify :

Poorly maintained IT infrastructure = a brake on your company's growth

Who manages the IT infrastructure?

Within the company, there's a job dedicated to IT infrastructure management: IT infrastructure managers, or IT infrastructure project managers, or systems engineers or network engineers.

Their mission is to ensure the smooth running and availability of the IT infrastructure for all users. They are the guarantors of hardware and software maintained in good working order, and of the technological evolutions affecting the company.

This involves :

• setting up an IT organization,
• defining and anticipating hardware and software requirements,
• installing IT equipment,
• maintenance of IT equipment,
• replacement of worn-out, damaged, out-of-use or obsolete equipment,
• user assistance,
• management of a department if the company has a team dedicated to IT infrastructure.

On premise vs. cloud

Not all companies have the same IT architecture requirements. Their size, their sector of activity or simply their business are all criteria that need to be taken into account to define the IT infrastructure that best suits them, and thus guarantee optimal access to data for all users.

When it comes to hosting, there are several solutions available to companies:

• on-premiseinfrastructure: all equipment (routers, servers, switches, etc.) is hosted on the company's premises;
• cloud infrastructure : the company subcontracts the installation, management and maintenance of this equipment to an external service provider, so that it is located outside the company's premises.

Note: physical infrastructures are gradually giving way to cloud infrastructures, but both offer advantages.

The role of IT infrastructure in the enterprise

The stakes are changing: the digital transformation of companies involves not only the tools they use, but also the management of their IT infrastructure.

Streamlining IT architecture management

In reality, the question is no longer so much which equipment to choose (servers, storage, network, etc.), but how to rationalize the management of IT architecture, which must support the company's growth.

IT agility: a criterion of competitiveness

The ability of companies to be agile in terms of their IT infrastructure is becoming a competitive criterion .

We speak of " IT agility": the aim is to offer "tools and methodologies to create, develop, supervise and secure applications and services quickly and easily" (source: Le Monde informatique, DSI agile : la vision globale d'IBM).

Equipment interconnection for an agile infrastructure

🛠️ The key to success: a complete interconnection between equipment and tools, whether located on the company's site or in the cloud. This includes APIs (application programming interfaces), which enable agile use of different software applications.

Intelligent data management

Intelligent data management is equally important:

1. storage,
2. use
3. and identification

must be at the heart of companies' preoccupations, so that they no longer multiply data, but rather facilitate its processing and reuse.

IT infrastructures and virtualization

Definition: what is virtualization?

Virtualization makes it possible to create a virtual version of physical equipment, such as servers, applications, storage systems or virtual networks. The aim? Rationalize and optimize the use of physical resources to bring flexibility and agility to users, all in a virtual environment.

This is known as a virtual machine, or VM. Each virtual machine has its own operating system, but several virtual machines can share the same physical infrastructure.

©️ Infhor

The advantage of virtualization is simple: a high-performance, flexible, available and secure IT system for all applications. This is made possible by the simplification of physical constraints.

Please note: virtualization is not synonymous with the cloud!

The benefits of virtualization

• Reduced costs :
  • installation,
  • and maintenance costs,
• Better load balancing,
• Simplified management of IT assets,
• Space savings (fewer physical servers required, for example),
• Energy savings, since less equipment is running simultaneously, which also means financial savings,
• Service continuity,
• Centralization of IT resources,
• Increased availability: migration or backup operations, for example, can be carried out during operation, without service interruption,
• Enhanced disaster recovery,
• Improved data backup in the event of an incident,
• Greater mobility for users, as applications can be accessed from any workstation or operating system,
• Enhanced security.

Example of a virtual IT infrastructure

QSP Systems has synthesized a virtual IT infrastructure model in the following diagram:

©️ QSP Systems

Note: every company has its own specific needs. It is difficult to generalize an example of IT architecture virtualization. This diagram is intended as an illustration to help you understand what we mean.

How do you make a solid, high-performance IT architecture?

How do you ensure that the whole company can rely on your infrastructure to deliver results, without a service discontinuity blocking them, for example?

The desired objective is a relevant infrastructure that meets your organization's specific needs in terms of availability, responsiveness and performance.

Here are a few points to bear in mind to achieve this.

Business continuity

Ensure that the network and data are accessible at all times. Have a disaster recovery plan in place so that, even in the event of a problem, users do not suffer the consequences, and business continues seamlessly.

Application performance

Loading time and system response speed are crucial factors affecting the use of applications, and can become a blocking factor for users if they are not sufficient.

The overall performance of the company therefore depends on application performance. This is also true for users outside the company: a poorly performing application tarnishes the company's image.

Flexible infrastructure evolution

It's important to anticipate future changes so that the IT infrastructure remains robust for users. As a company grows, so does its IT infrastructure, creating new needs in terms of equipment, storage capacity, speed of response and so on.

That's why the right applications and processes need to be put in place, so that the infrastructure can be modified without being overloaded, in order to keep pace with the company's evolution.

System security

The infrastructure must be built in such a way as to avoid security threats, which could lead to data loss, for example. Applications and physical equipment must be protected to avoid such threats and guarantee continuity of service under optimum conditions.

This can be achieved, for example, by standardizing access: minimizing entry points to applications by providing direct, secure access to users.

Storage capacity

Finally, make sure that storage capacity is sufficient for all the company's data, and that it increases as the business grows. Be careful that increasing storage capacity doesn't complicate the IT architecture to the point of slowing down performance.

IT trends: what's changing in infrastructure?

The Ten trends redefining enterprise IT infrastructure study conducted by Arul Elumalai, Kara Sprague, Sid Tandon, and Lareina Yee for McKinsey & Company, identified several trends that are revolutionizing enterprise IT architecture.

Some already familiar trends are accelerating, such as the use of the cloud, cybersecurity and consumption in the form of service (as a service) for both software and hardware.

The next trends to follow:

• the growth of DevOps for software development, but also for operations and IT infrastructure management;
• container-first architectures : container virtualization could become the leading deployment unit in the cloud, ahead of virtual machines;
• the exponential growth of artificial intelligence, with its ever-increasing data volumes and computing power.

Why use software to manage your IT infrastructure?

Business benefits

As with all business activities, IT infrastructure management - often the responsibility of the Information Systems Department or network engineers - can be optimized and automated with dedicated software.

You use a tool for your accounting, so why not do the same for your IT architecture? The advantages are

• better organization and allocation of hardware
• more precise tracking of hardware and software,
• better equipment maintenance ,
• anticipation of renewal needs ,
• hardware and software inventory ,
• orders and follow-up with suppliers,
• increased efficiency,
• improved performance .

Which software to choose?

We offer three software solutions to optimize the management of your IT infrastructure.

WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp Gold is a comprehensive, modular and highly intuitive network monitoring tool for SMBs and SMEs, helping you to supervise your entire IT infrastructure (peripherals, bandwidth usage, servers, applications...) in real time. Thanks to intelligent, scalable network monitoring functions, you can detect, isolate and resolve the slightest malfunction in just a few clicks.

WhatsUp Gold's key benefits :

• a real-time, up-to-date dashboard of all your interconnections,
• support for multiple scripting languages (VBscript, PowerShell, SQL queries, etc.)
• workload automation via powerful REST APIs, and much more!

Asset View Suite

Clarilog's Asset View Suite enables you to monitor your entire IT assets in real time, and simplify technical and administrative management. The software features a customizable dashboard for rapid monitoring of your indicators. Alarms make IT asset management more proactive, so you don't forget to replace certain equipment, for example.

Deployment is fast: less than two hours. The publisher also promises a rapid return on investment in less than a year.

Flex Infra

Flex Infra is developed by the Scriba group, and offers small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to manage their infrastructure with an IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) offering . The solution provides outsourced management of your cloud infrastructure, for worry-free information system governance.

The tool guarantees :

• proactive supervision of your infrastructure,
• an environment tailored to your number of users,
• hosting in France to ensure maximum security.

Scriba also offers on-premise, cloud and hybrid infrastructure management. Their suite of complementary tools manages backup, access filtering for secure data flows, and an anti-spam and anti-cyber-attack solution.

VMware NSX Data Center

Video in English with French subtitles

VMware NSX Data Center is designed for large enterprises looking to improve infrastructure management with a powerful, comprehensive tool.

It enables :

• virtualization of network and security functions,
• virtual cloud networking, a software layer that extends from the data center to the cloud,
• data center networking,
• network automation,
• native cloud applications for consistent, automated policies across all types of infrastructure.

Automation, operational efficiency and security are the three terms that best characterize VMware NSX Data Center.

The publisher provides users with high-quality documentation to make it easy to get started.

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Don't neglect the management of your IT infrastructure

As we've seen, a company's IT infrastructure should not be neglected. At first glance, its management may not seem to bring as much value to the company as any other department, but it is the foundation that enables the whole enterprise to work together efficiently.

Technologies evolve rapidly, and so do the solutions they bring to companies. It's all too common for IT management to be relegated to the background. Today, tools are available to simplify and automate IT management, with a rapid return on investment.

Improve the performance of your IT infrastructure, and your whole business will benefit!