How a Comprehensive IT Hardware Audit Revolutionised Operations at DataCore Solutions
In today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape, maintaining a cutting-edge data centre is crucial for organisations seeking to stay competitive. For DataCore Solutions, a regional data hosting provider, escalating hardware maintenance costs, ageing infrastructure, and performance bottlenecks were becoming critical challenges. Determined to build a more efficient, reliable, and scalable operation, the company embarked on a transformative IT hardware audit of its primary data centre.
The Challenge: Ageing Infrastructure and Mounting Costs
DataCore Solutions faced a tough reality:
- Over 30% of its servers were more than five years old, with many operating outside vendor support contracts.
- Outdated networking hardware created security vulnerabilities and single points of failure.
- Legacy storage systems were nearing capacity, lacking modern efficiency features like deduplication.
The need for an overhaul was urgent, but where to begin?
A Strategic Approach to Change
The IT hardware audit aimed to cut through the complexity, focusing on:
- Hardware performance and condition assessment.
- Identifying devices nearing end-of-life (EOL) or warranty expiration.
- Highlighting opportunities for resource consolidation and cost savings.
Through a methodical approach combining expert insights, cutting-edge tools, and rigorous data analysis, the audit delivered actionable results.
Key Findings: A Snapshot of Inefficiencies
The audit uncovered some striking realities:
- Underutilised servers consumed 20% of total power, with CPU usage averaging below 15%.
- Ageing storage arrays lacked capacity and efficiency, creating risks for mission-critical workloads.
- Outdated switches and routers with obsolete firmware posed security risks and performance limitations.
Transformative Recommendations
The roadmap for modernisation was clear:
- Server Consolidation: Decommission underutilised servers and implement virtualisation to optimise resources.
- Modern Storage Solutions: Expand capacity with all-flash or hybrid systems, integrating advanced features for better data management.
- Network Redundancy: Replace obsolete networking devices and implement redundancy to ensure uninterrupted operations.
- Lifecycle Management: Establish proactive replacement policies and centralised IT Asset Management (ITAM) software to stay ahead of EOL risks.
The Results: A New Era of Efficiency
By embracing the recommendations, DataCore Solutions achieved remarkable outcomes:
- 20% cost savings by decommissioning underutilised servers and reducing energy consumption.
- 30% faster processing times with modernised hardware.
- Significantly reduced risks through network redundancy and updated firmware.
- A scalable infrastructure, enabling 50% operational growth without major investments.
The Power of Proactive Management
This case highlights the critical role of regular IT hardware audits. By identifying inefficiencies, embracing modernisation, and planning proactively, DataCore Solutions transformed its data centre into a powerhouse of efficiency, scalability, and reliability.