Infra Matters

(Published on behalf of Atul Kumar)

With the deadline for extended support for Windows XP coming up fast (April 2014), migrating away from Windows XP is a high priority program for most organizations. However, migration to a new operating system (OS) does not come without expense and hassle. One of the tough questions organizations need to answer is - How can applications on Windows XP make the trip to the newer versions of Windows i.e. Windows 7 and/or Windows 8?

Typical enterprise deployment can take 12-24 months depending on the business complexity. If you are starting migration from XP to another OS, it is crucial that you begin rationalizing the enterprise application list and then perform application compatibility testing on the target OS. In most cases, 70% of the organization's transactions run from legacy applications, and there are thousands of applications installed across distributed network. This means that the migration to a new OS can be treated as an opportunity to vet the current state of the application repository.

This scrutiny may lead you to discover applications that are sitting idle and not utilized by business. Once these applications are filtered out and the application compatibility tests are completed, you can identify the applications which can be moved as-is and the applications that need remediation. Remediation can then be done through strategic method (source code changes) or tactical method (tool based environment or configuration changes). Tool based testing and remediation approach can help reduce the effort required to remediate incompatible applications.

Organizations started planning for Windows 7 migrations when Microsoft announced the release way back in 2009. While some did a wait-and-watch, there were few early adopters.  Reach, a Hong Kong based telecommunication provider was one of the early adopters and engaged with Infosys to transform its end-user computing (EUC) environment. The client faced several challenges including a distinct lack of standardization of desktops and applications, security due to localized data, high IT support costs and poor user experience due to legacy hardware.  These problems had started impacting them on multiple fronts- cost, speed, efficiency, productivity and performance.
Infosys started with the assessment of their current infrastructure and provided a roadmap to address the gaps. We rationalized and reduced the future-state application count by 90% and introduced new technologies like SCCM, AV and firewall, self-backup and recovery, email archival, App-V and Outlook web access while migrating to Windows 7. This was surely a herculean task, but it resulted in a host of benefits for the client such as reduced downtime, faster recovery, improved IT management and productivity and performance gains.

Click here to read the detailed case study.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Published on behalf of Shalini Chandrasekharan)

In their ever present struggle against time and resources, Automation, is one of the most potent weapons being harnessed by CIOs. Small wonder then, to see organizations such as Morgan Stanley plan to spend as much as $ 250 Mn on automation software in order to improve overall customer experience. 

However, simply investing in automation software may not be enough. While basic automation strategies for common repetitive tasks especially monitoring alerts, ticket handling and troubleshooting may be in place for most organizations, an expert system based tool could actually help automate the whole process of automation itself leading to even more efficiencies. The staff engaged in routine activities can be reassigned to high value activities.

It is with this backdrop, that Chandrashekhar Kakal, SVP, and head of Business IT Services unit at Infosys, talks about the implications of autonomics for IT operations in his blog piece on the InfyTalk.

Click here to read the full post.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Posted on behalf of Shalini Chandrasekharan)

In less than 12 months, that most perfect and benign operating system named Windows XP, will be officially laid to rest.

A number of ardent XP supporters will agree with me when I say that filling in the gaps left behind by Windows XP is likely to be a long and arduous process. However, the impact of staying on with Windows XP after the deadline of April 7, 2014, may not be a good idea at all.

This infographic highlights exactly what it would cost to stick on with Windows XP and the kind of challenges that come up in migration.

What do you think?

Continue reading "Are you ready for a future without Windows XP?" »

Posted by Guest Blogger at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Posted on behalf of Debashish Mohanty)

Last month, a site called "Exposed.Su" published social security numbers, previous addresses, and birthdates of a range of well-known people, including former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. This incident got me thinking - while there are plenty of product announcements and incessant declarations of the "Next Big Thing" in data protection, how much has really changed over a decade?

Those were the good ol' days
In the halcyon days of the mainframe, application developers carried paper tape or punch cards to copy data.  Over time, the economics of magnetic tape has remained compelling as a backup media - it is still in use today!
But with the explosion of personal computing, this has changed.  In fact, users may have actually failed to protect their data by being unaware of the intricacies of application consistency and constraints of backup windows.

The Tired Back up Admin
Organizations definitely liked the certainty of the technology when data was copied from primary disk storage to tape media. However, sequential access to this media and lack of visibility into what's on each tape invariably led to difficulties in satisfying recovery time objectives.
I really like this quote from the SNIA blog on trends in data protection - it sums up the challenges faced by the 'valiant' back up administrator - "Like the soldier who fights battles that seem to have little overall significance, the backup administrator slogs through a routine, hoping the company's valuable data can be protected and recovered as quickly as possible ".

Continue reading "Ring in the new, ring out the old - trends in data protection" »

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Posted on behalf of Atul Kumar)

Much has been said about the adoption of Windows 8 by enterprises. There is no doubt that Windows 8 is a brilliant platform and comes with a multitude of stunning features. However, every time a new operating system comes into the market, the first question you ask is "what about system requirements?" Or "do I need to get rid of my PC?" 

While most operating systems do not require a major hardware overhaul, Windows 8 is packed with features that are likely to necessitate changes. And, if you are migrating from an older version - Windows XP, the entire hardware stack may need to be upgraded.

Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 can all be upgraded to Windows 8, but there is a limit on how much hardware can be carried forward. Essentially, enterprises that are on Windows 7 can take off for Windows 8 any time, but it is recommended that the hardware should have higher specifications to run additional programs effectively and to provide a better user experience. 

 
This article from Microsoft, explains in detail, the system requirements for Windows 8.  Windows 8 is the first operating system with the ability to support mobile computing in an enterprise environment. This is a significant achievement for organizations dealing with the increasing infiltration of mobile computing and employee owned devices in the workplace as it will enable them to standardize their operating environment. One of the key issues inhibiting the adoption of enterprise mobility has been the lack of a standard operating environment that would allow organizations to control the environment. And the launch of Windows 8 offers a way to integrate traditional desktop and mobile computing in the enterprise.

However, there are several inconspicuous requirements and recommendations that one should be aware of. For instance, there are major changes in the licensing norms for Windows 8 for virtual machines as per Microsoft's Purchase Use Rights (PUR) document. This will impact the licensing costs associated with Windows 8.

In the paper titled -'Is your IT Infrastructure ready for Windows 8?' we explore six important considerations to evaluate the readiness the IT infrastructure for the move to Windows 8. The article can be accessed here. 

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Posted on behalf of Niyati Kamthan)

Did you know that 90% of the data in the world has been created in just the last two years?  Walmart's warehouse itself handles 2.5 petabytes of information. Roughly equal to half the letters delivered by the US Postal department in 2010! As our world gets digitized, we are creating stupendous amount of data. Whenever we need information on anything under the sun we get it at one click and it appears within seconds on our screen.
And, all the information we use today sits somewhere in giant facilities called data centers. There are tens of thousands of data centers using computing power day and night to make information available to us at lightning speeds. However, these data centers are increasingly becoming a curse than a boon.

Continue reading "How green is your data center?" »

Posted by Guest Blogger at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Software Defined Datacenter (SDDC) chatter is seemingly everywhere. Think about the possibility of virtualizing network and storage in a manner similar to how we have virtualized CPU & memory (compute).Think of  virtually managed computing, networking, storage, and security delivered as a service. The provisioning and operation of the infrastructure could entirely be automated by software leading to Software Defined Datacenter.

Most of today's networking and storage gears mix data and control functions, making it hard to add or adjust network and storage infrastructure when adding virtual machines (VMs) to enterprise data centers. By adding a well-defined programming interface between the two, networking hardware and storage hardware will become progressively more commoditized, just as servers (compute and memory) have become commoditized.

This will occur because all the value associated with configuration and management will get sucked out of the hardware and into other layers. This means is that in the new world, the manageability, control and optimization would sit at a layer above the actual hardware - leading to a software defined, software managed and software controlled enterprise compute, storage and network!

We can expect independent software appliances or current hypervisors (VMware, Hyper-v) to come with the ability to abstract and centralize the management functions to deliver provisioning, configuration management, automation, performance optimization, capacity utilization and reporting. Then there is absolute certainty that the SDDC will require a completely new management stack - one suited to the highly dynamic nature of an environment in which every key resource (CPU, memory, networking and, storage) is abstracted from its underlying hardware.

Among the many things we might need to see in the new management stack include data protection, security, configuration management, performance management and automation. The key feature that I would like to see here is that of datacenter analytics, as every layer of management software for the SDDC will be generating data at a rate that will demand a big data store just to keep up with and index the data so that bits from the various sources can in fact be compared to each other at the right time - Big Data for data center management!!

SDDC offers challenges and opportunities for product vendors, IT organizations, service providers and integrators alike. The journey has already started. Have you reconsidered  your data center strategy yet? Let me know your thoughts.

Posted by Renjith Sreekumar at 1:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Published on behalf of Vivin George)

Did you know that the etymology of word "April" is from the Latin "aperire", meaning "to open"? It is the season when trees and flowers begin to "open".  However, it is ironic that the month of April in 2014 would be known for the 'closure' of Windows XP.

We all agree that Windows XP has been a great success for Microsoft and users alike, but I guess every good thing comes to an end for the next best thing. This article from the Microsoft blog explains in great detail, the impact of not migrating from Windows XP.  You'll be amazed by the figures quoted in this article.
The biggest whopper- If you stay on Windows XP beyond 2014, it is likely to cost 5 times more than running Windows 7 - consider the hole that is going to create in your IT budget!

But the death of Windows XP is not the only thing we have to deal with. In October 2012, Microsoft launched a new and radically different platform - Windows 8. With its release, now we have two options to choose from - Windows 7 and Windows 8. Both of these platforms have their own pluses and minuses. This calls for a good analysis of what you want from your operating system (OS).
Windows 8 is a product which could mean remarkably different things to organizations, based on usage, budget and user demographics. If yours is the kind of organization where mobility and social media have been infiltrating the workplace, you can leverage Windows 8 to integrate mobile computing with traditional desktop based computing.

On the other hand, Windows 7 is an excellent platform and is popular with consumers, especially enterprises. It has been around for four years and is a stable OS with most independent software vendors (ISV) having certified their applications for this platform. If you are looking for faster upgrade, reduced risk and standardized computing environments, Windows 7 is a way to go.

Given that Windows 8 has plenty of new features and needs ample support from the hardware perspective, it is clear that migration from Windows XP to Windows 8 is a big jump.  Moreover, most of the folks involved in the last rollout have either retired or are now part of the C-suites today!

So, it is imperative that organizations do a careful evaluation of business and technical factors to ensure the success of migration.
There cannot be a single solution or a thumb rule to migrate from Windows XP. In fact, this migration can open a "window" of opportunity for organizations to mull over how they see themselves in the next 10 years. Can this migration be combined with the cleanup of legacy systems or applications? Should the organization embrace enterprise mobility and BYOD? When organizations think through these basic questions, they can pick and choose the platform that fits the bill.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the most difficult challenges is in identifying where does the onus lay on driving Service Excellence? Should it be driven using a top-down approach or a bottom-up approach? In an IT service scenario, most of the service delivery governance or management teams are involved in 'fixing' operational defects and people management. Driving Service Excellence is largely reactive - it gets triggered only when something goes wrong.

The challenge increases manifold if the service provider embarks on a journey towards service excellence by managing a multi-vendor environment. The main challenge here is to align the path of achieving Service Excellence with the client's organizational priorities and objectives. IT delivery teams that work as individual silos in hope of achieving such objectives end up impairing the process of achieving Service Excellence itself. One has to be vigilant in identifying 'improvement opportunities' and carry out the necessary due diligence in understanding the impact. If the impact is widespread and positive for client business operations, then such desirable opportunities should be quickly exploited.

For a large program where Infosys embarked on the journey of achieving service excellence, the focus was on bringing transparency into service performance and we emphasized the value delivered by explicitly linking the efforts spent by IT delivery teams and the business outcomes.

Our next set of posts will reveal more on where to focus and how to overcome challenges. Watch this space for more!

Posted by Rajat Maini at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

 In my last post, I spoke about the three available options of relocation, replication and rebuild in the case of migrating data centers.  In this post, I will explore is the concept of data center relocation. Relocation essentially means the movement of the same hardware from the old data center to the new one.  All the components of the data center are basically shifted lock, stock and barrel to a new facility.
Sounds simple - right? Well it is. 
  

Typically, a relocation may take place because of any of the following reasons:

• Lease tenure is ending or contractual obligations
• Inadequate budgets for a full scale transformation program
• Legacy applications and dependency on legacy hardware or platforms

Continue reading "Smart Moves" »

Posted by Sumeet Sharma at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)