Now that
Hercules has provided us with a clear understanding of your data center topography—both horizontally and vertically—we can boldly begin to design and plan a new strategy, knowing that we understand exactly where every IT asset is located, what is does, how it interacts with other assets and what it costs the organization. Nothing is overlooked—giving us a foundation of knowledge on which we can confidently build an improved, streamlined data center approach that meets OMB requirements—and your own unique mission needs.
During this phase, ThunderCat and Knight Point Systems will:
Deliverables:
- Transition plan
- Project plan
- Work breakdown structure
After we define the potential approaches for a given application, we will thoroughly design and test that approach. For example, if an application looks like a good candidate for the cloud, we will design how that would be migrated to the cloud and then test it in that environment. The same holds true for an application that may be virtualized.
This is where all of the previous efforts begin to come together. The transition plan will fully define and explain how each application will be moved from its current physical state to a virtualized state or to the cloud. It will also discuss the transition of hardware, including upgrades and end-of-life and shared services. Finally, it will detail specifically how cloud and virtualization technologies will be used to transform the data center.
The project plan, along with the work breakdown structure (WBS), will detail down to the smallest detail how the transition will take place, with a timetable and achievable milestones. It will also include geographic location and real estate recommendations.