Hardware
ITBG specialises in Server, Midrange, Storage, Backup and Networking Hardware. ITBG are brand independent but only deal with the major manufacturers i.e. - Dell, HP, IBM, Sun, 3Com, Cisco.
Servers
Whether you are a small company or a multi-national corporation, all businesses with a need to share data between users run on servers.
The traditional use of servers has been to assign one task to one server, but increasingly the complexity and cost of managing server sprawl has led to organisations focusing on what they want their business needs to achieve from their servers and how best to configure, deploy and manage them.
This is where ITBG can help
ITBG will evaluate your projected requirements and suggest strategic IT targets. Whether you need to scale out (running an increasing number of smaller servers linked or clustered together) or scale up (concentrating your processing power, memory and storage into one unit, invariably through virtualisation) there is a progressive increment in servers with a wide and varied configuration available. Some situations do not require the latest technology, in this instance ITBG can offer previously owned servers which we configure to your specific needs, thus reducing capital expenditure.
In addition ITBG can provide various software management tools, such as Tivoli Storage Manager and IBM Director which could help you make the most of your investment.
Storage
The largest growth area in the management of information is that of shared and archived data, with the need for more storage set to double year on year.
To store data on individual servers networked together creates not only the issue of data integrity but dramatically increases the cost of storing that data.
At ITBG we can help you manage your data and storage from a centralised console using systems such as Direct Attached Storage, Network Attached Storage or a Storage Area Network and software such as VMWare, Tivoli and IBM. There is also a choice of protocols open to you, SATA, i-SCSI, SAS or Fibre Channel, with the Fibre Channel being able to handle an intermix.
Once the priorities within your organisation have been identified ITBG can help you deliver the performance that your business demands whilst keeping your costs to a minimum And as all the systems are modular, we can easily expand the infrastructure to support your growing business demands in the future, at minimal cost and interference.
Virtualisation
Virtualization is a proven strategy which will save your business time & money. VMWare is without doubt the leader in virtualisation software. ITBG is a VMWare partner and as such can help you transform your network from the physical to the virtual in one or more of the following ways:
Server consolidation & containment
With a virtualised network, several servers can be consolidated into one physical system running different operating systems and applications managed from a central console. Thereby reducing your costs in terms of hardware expenditure; floor space & power consumption. More importantly, it saves you time and money in terms of deployment and manageability.
Testing, fault resolution & development
It is not only in server consolidation and containment that VMWare can reduce your costs. With the relevant module you can create a library of complex configurations for testing, fault resolution and development which can be used within a virtual environment and called upon within minutes.
Desktop applications
By using VMWare in your desktop infrastructure, you can use the resources of one physical machine to run a host of operating systems and their applications and intermix Microsoft, Linux and Mac in separate virtual machines. VMWare centralises the management of the desktop, making it easier to manage and deploy. In addition if you employ contractors or have users who work away from home, VMWare can encapsulate the live data that they ‘need to know’ without the need to invest in a separate PC and its time delineation features can be controlled by you.
Business continuity
VMWare can protect you against the lose of your systems & data by balancing Virtual servers and storage across your entire hardware estate. If during a routine maintenance or upgrade of a physical system a problem occurs VMWare can ‘hot swap’ your virtual infrastructure and intelligently balance the load across other systems until the failed system is back and running with no interruption in the service to your business.