Datacenter

Live Optics: IT inventory as a starting point for a strategic roadmap

28 January 2022

Technology review
Hybrid Cloud

You can't know where you're going until you know where you are. This truth also applies to organizations, their business and their IT infrastructure. Fortunately, these days there are handy tools available that companies can use to map their IT infrastructure rapidly and thoroughly. “Dell EMC's Live Optics is one such example of an online analysis tool,” states Davy De Bleecker. “And it's free, too.”

As Senior Solution Sales, Davy De Bleecker guides Inetum-Realdolmen's customers in their search for customized multi-cloud solutions. “Whether a specific solution is based on a private, public or hybrid cloud doesn't really matter – as long as it offers a suitable, satisfactory response to the customer's requirements. Every customer is different, after all, just as no two IT infrastructures will ever be entirely identical.”

Handling things strategically

“Companies have many challenges to overcome these days,” asserts De Bleecker. For example, a business's digital transformation is often accompanied by all kinds of new technologies and service models. “It isn't always easy for our customers to know what they want when there are so many options to choose from.” The important thing is for companies to be able to focus on their core business. These days, secondary activities such as IT management can take up so much time and energy that many companies are forced to shift this focus – sometimes to such an extent that it threatens their core activities. 

In the old days, existing IT infrastructure tended to dictate how a company did its business, recollects De Bleecker. Today, infrastructure is no longer definitive, and it is more likely to be the business that dictates the most suitable IT environment. “Within certain limitations, of course. Some custom applications simply cannot be adapted to work in the cloud and that's that. There will always be workloads that need to remain local. Some types of data have to be kept out of the cloud for legal reasons, for example. We aren't quite as bound by the existing IT environment, though. There's more flexibility now.”

Free online tool for analysis

It is a wonderful development, but also one that puts companies in greater need of external advice and support. “A company doesn't have the time or motivation day in, day out to explore all the options in search of suitable solutions for their business. This is our core business.” explains De Bleecker. “We help our customers with their plans for the future. We then help them build the infrastructure they need to achieve those plans.”

This is not something you can create out of thin air, by the way. “It all starts with an accurate analysis of what the customer already has. We recommend using the free Live Optics online analysis software for this purpose.” With this tool, you can automatically collect, visualize and share data about your IT environment and workloads. Live Optics maps your entire infrastructure: from servers, storage and backup systems to virtual machines and hypervisors, including processor performance (CPU), available working memory (RAM) and operating systems.

Though the tool was developed by Dell EMC, it is not linked to a single manufacturer. Live Optics collects all the necessary information, irrespective of the hardware, operating system or platform. This makes it very useful for multi-vendor and multicloud environments. You can also use the built-in ‘cloud calculator’ to weigh the advisability of moving your infrastructure to Amazon, Google or Microsoft's public cloud.
 

Roadmap starting point

“Of course, there are also other solutions that can help you inventorize your IT environment without burdening your IT department. However, with a solution such as RVTools, your overview will remain limited to your own VMware environment,” notes De Bleecker. The fact that Live Optics can also be used in highly heterogeneous environments is definitely a key advantage. Additionally, a great strength of Live Optics is the depth of the tool's analysis. It produces a highly detailed, comprehensive picture of your entire IT environment

The concrete result of this wide-ranging, deep analysis is a series of uniform reports. “They contain all the ingredients you need to prepare a new dish or adapt the old familiar one. The best thing is that you aren't just handed the ingredients; you also have a recipe stating the correct proportions of each one that you will need to make your meal a success.” That's where Inetum-Realdolmen helps make the difference. After all, these reports make a great starting point for the creation of an IT infrastructure roadmap. “Based on that strategic roadmap, we formulate recommendations for companies on how to adapt their IT infrastructure to best meet their business's changing needs,” De Blecker concludes.
 

Want to find out more?

What is Live Optics, what can it do for you, how does it work, and how can you get started? You can find out more here. Of course, you can also contact Davy directly.
 

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