Infrastructure

In December 2004 I discussed the need for a degree of formal IT governance in organisations that spent a minimal amount on IT and could not see the benefit of spending more. Where a business was trading profitably not only would formal IT governance seem to them add little value but it would also seem to cost them more. I used as an example, a recent acquisition we had integrated into our network ...

Survey results are now reinforcing anecdotal evidence and supporting vendor marketing claims by showing that, when it comes to choice of an operating system platform for an ERP system, there is still a degree of choice. This is in marked contrast to the reduced choices available in ERP systems themselves. Linux will provide a very viable alternative to the entrenched Unix variants and the u...

New server assessment and acquisition practices are often ignored in preference to a "speeds and feeds" focussed, "hardware is cheap" mentality. This focus is supported by the constant bragging by server vendors about their latest and greatest TPC1 Benchmark figures. Unfortunately, these benchmarks and the technologies that enable them have little impact on most workloads. A better purchase ...

Unless organisations develop and implement comprehensive Email Management Guidelines and insist on total compliance, the hidden cost of processing emails will continue to escalate.

Technologies to support the consolidation of rampant servers continue to make marked advances. Server virtualisation is an approach that can make a consolidation exercise faster, easier and safer. Microsoft''s announcement of Virtual Server 2005 broadens the market and will bring lower licensing costs from the existing alternatives. If VS05 is of interest, then be aware of its limitations and cost...

In March of this year I wrote of our plans to upgrade our wide area network by taking advantage of infrastructure supplied by our subsidiary company, Nextgen, who have the capability of providing significantly higher inter capital bandwidth, at a much lower cost, than either Optus or Telstra. After several months of reworking and finalising our network design, protracted negotiations with Nextgen ...

We have always looked at ADSL with a healthy suspicion preferring to build our corporate network on what we considered a more solid base of Frame Relay or ATM. We reasoned that although ADSL was significantly cheaper, inferior SLAs, inability to ensure quality of service, limited availability and sometimes erratic performance could not provide the robust environment that our business needed. Our a...

IT organisations that build systems and software piecemeal fashion, using the so-called "Best of breed" components on the market from different vendors, should be aware that "Best of breed" is a dying breed. The increased complexity and cost of these systems rarely can demonstrate the incremental benefits over "Good Enough" solutions to justify the time, effort and expense

A critical factor in the successful management of PC leasing contracts is the availability of accurate and consistent data that will facilitate the tracking and management of the assets. This factor is frequently overlooked in a Lease vs. Buy decision that is typically focused on TCO and NPV. In most cases, asset information can only be obtained from multiple sources.

During 2002 it was becoming increasingly evident that our data integrity processes, in particular on our project sites, were inadequate and we were considerably exposed should the loss of a mission critical server occur.