IT Infrastructure Solutions & Service Management

Infrastructure & Cloud Services

Cloud Services deal with all solutions, tools and processes that are necessary to provide the defined IT infrastructures and applications.

Cloud Services contain the following sub-topics:

• Virtualization and Platforms
• Big Data
• Infrastructure Outsourcing

Virtualization and Platforms

This topic deals with:

• All kinds of virtualization, which is now the core of all IT infrastructures, regardless of whether it is Server Virtualization (including product specific knowledge in VMware VSphere, Microsoft HyperV, Citrix Xenserver), Client Virtualization (including product specific knowledge in VMware Horizon) or Network Virtualization (including product specific knowledge in VMware NSX).
• The design and setup of platforms. Platforms (which can be created on the server operating system, client, database or middleware level) are used to deliver highly qualified and very flexible services “upstairs” with minimized infrastructure costs. They also enable easier data center automation. Platforms do not only cover a technical aspect but also include standardized processes as well as support the whole organization.

Big Data Management

This topic deals with important tools that are necessary to handle Big Data, e.g.:

• The MarkLogic NO-SQL database where we have a strong partnership
• Splunk, Graylog2 and Logstash for Logfile Management
• Elastic for complex searches in big data stores and logfiles
• Hadoop/HadoopFS as the base storage which becomes more commonly used

Infrastructure Outsourcing

We provide infrastructure outsourcing consulting for all sizes of customers and infrastructure outsourcing for small to medium-sized companies. We can also assist in all aspects surrounding the creation of private or hybrid clouds and the migration of public, private or hybrid clouds.

Infrastructure outsourcing consulting:

• deals with the question “what should I outsource”
• helps in the search for the best outsourcing partner
• supports the setup of the corresponding internal controlling organizations
• supports migration projects

Infrastructure outsourcing enables small to medium size customers to outsource the whole server and application landscape to us. If the customer is a financial institution, we can deliver a one-stop-shop outsourcing, where we are not only responsible for the server landscape, but also for the application landscape, including the 1^st level support and application as well as the 2^nd level technical support.

We achieve this through a combination of all topics within the IT infrastructure and Service Management and all other business areas within the whole company.

• Virtualization and Platforms enable us to move your server landscape regardless of whether the target is another owned data center, shared white space, shared rack space or a cloud provider.
• IT Service Management enables us to setup or migrate all tools and processes to manage your server and application landscape wherever they will be in the future.
• The business-related areas of front-2-back-office, market-data, commercial/ retail-banking and cash-management / payments deliver all the application specific knowledge that is necessary to plan, build and run the new setup from an application point of view.
• Infrastructure outsourcing consulting controls and manages all the tasks and people to deliver an integrated solution tailored to the needs of a specific customer.

IT Service Management

With the introduction of outsourcing and cloud services, the need for IT Service Management (ITSM) is more prevalent. Outsourcing often makes ITSM more critical, more complex and more difficult, as many solutions are not fit for the purpose in an IT environment in which information is incomplete and scattered over outsourcers, cloud providers and internal IT solutions.

We offer you a complete spectrum of consulting services covering the full life cycle of all ITIL processes and functions. We have the extensive know-how and experiences and a proven track of record in change management, configuration management, release and deployment management as well as monitoring and service impact management.

Change, Configuration and Release Management

Irrespective of their integration levels, Change, Configuration and Release Management as well as the Deployment are important elements of the technical framework of application platforms or any other development / runtime environment. No single solution available on the market today can fully deliver the functionality required in the state-of-the-art application development and delivery processes and environments. Currently, this can only be achieved by “buy and make” solutions: a semi-bespoke integration and extension layer that is built on top of the standard solutions.

In this area we have carried out a large number of integration projects successfully, which comprised both technical and processual integration.

Additionally, we provide product specific know-how in solutions including BMC ITSM suite, BMC Bladelogic for servers and clients, Microsoft SCCM and SCOM, HP Asset Manager, iET, Bootix BMA, Puppet, Salt, Spacewalk, and Satellite.

Service Impact Management and Monitoring

Service Impact Management (SIM) is a function and process in which events are mapped to services. It provides information about ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ services are impacted, allowing derived activities to start in order to reduce downtimes and minimize impacts. There are several critical activities that decide whether an implemented SIM solution is really a benefit and a step forward or not.

The importance of SIM has grown since recent years, as many companies migrate to service-based offerings. Thus, monitoring is required both on a component- and service level.

Most outsourcing and cloud projects once again require comprehensive and flexible SIM. Outsourcing and cloud projects have two important Service Impact Management characteristics: firstly, the speed of changes in the infrastructure increases; secondly, elements of monitoring activities are considered to be a “black box”, since they are responsible for the outsourcer. Nevertheless, the overall responsibility for the services lies firmly with the customer.

In addition to the art of monitoring and SIM, we have the product specific knowledge for SIM solutions, including not only IBM Netcool family, BMC Truesight family and Leuteks ZIS family, but also more traditional monitoring solutions, such as BMC Performance Manager, IBM Netcool, Nagios and Zabbix.

In collaboration with our colleagues from the business-related areas, we also provide in-depth know-how related to the integration of critical applications into monitoring and SIM processes.

Your Benefits

We have a proven track of record in creating solutions which are well integrated into a wide range of IT environments. They meet and exceed functional requirements and are cost-effective and flexible. A key ingredient of the success is the high abstraction level of the implementations, which are designed to keep pace with the changing conditions in the IT landscape. Cost-efficiency and flexibility are two sides of the same coin, thus striking the right balance is key.

You will see a rapid and sustainable return of your investment, even in a fast-changing environment. We create solutions that are neither a “one-hit wonder” nor a “promise of an ever-receding golden future”.