1. | |JULY 2014
1CIOReviewJANUARY 2016 1
JANUARY- 2016
it
Reforming Network
Industry with
Open Source
Technology
Reforming Network
Industry with
Open Source
Technology
Lloyd Carney,
CEO
$10
In My Opinion
Insights
Jeff Archer,
VP-IT,
Tijuana Flats
Herb Zien,
CEO,
LiquidCool Solutions
Ann Neidenbach,
CIO,
Convergex
ITINFRAWORLD.COM
Brocade
[NASDAQ: BRCD]
Brocade
[NASDAQ: BRCD]
ITINFRAWORLD
44790S.GrimmerBlvd
Suite202,
Fremont,CA94538

2. | |JULY 2014
2CIOReview JANUARY 20168
I
nfrastructure is a very extensive topic that has
many different facets and can go in-depth and
many different areas. I am going to be talking in
generalities and concepts not details and deep dives.
So here we go-
Infrastructure, why is it important for you to
be concerned about it?
The IT infrastructure is what your
computer systems are built upon.
Be it server infrastructure, network
infrastructure, storage infrastructure,
and so on, these are what your
systems need to survive if you will. If
you think of the system infrastructure
in terms of a human body, you can
understand you cannot live without
any vital parts that make the whole
body work. This is the same with
IT infrastructure for computerized
systems, be it a website, hosted
application, mobile application
and the list goes on. The major
items you need to be aware for any
computerized infrastructure is a well architected infrastructure
built with security, speed, flexibility, and features that meet the
needs of your organization and what it is trying to accomplish.
One major item that people tend to forget is how the
infrastructure is going to be monitored and maintained. Just as
when you are born you have a lifetime of checkups and things
you need to do to keep you healthy so do you need to remember
any piece of infrastructure that goes into your organization,
you have to figure out how to keep it as healthy as possible
throughout its lifespan. There is a term “from cradle to grave”
and that is what you need to think about whenever you put an
infrastructure component into your system,
it is not enough to think that I put something
into production to solve a bottleneck or
problem but what is needed to maintain the
change throughout its lifespan.
If I continue the theme as the body is an
infrastructure and relate it to a computerized
infrastructure, we will start at the top
and outside and work our way down and
internally. Your skin can be thought of as
security for your infrastructure, blocks the
bad things and let’s only lets certain things
out. This is a very important part of the
infrastructure so we should not gloss over its
importance. Security should be top of mind
in anything you put into your environment.
Especially now days with PCI (Credit Card
requirements), SOX (Sarbanes and Oxley), and other regulations
you need to have a secure environment at all times.
Next, let’s go to the head which we use for computing,
thinking, logic, this in turn are the servers / processor
infrastructure you have in your environment for computing.
By Jeff Archer, VP-IT, Tijuana Flats
In My Opinion
IT Infrastructure
—Human
Similarities?

3. | |JULY 2014
3CIOReviewJANUARY 2016 9
Things you should think about for the computerized
infrastructure is- How much computing do we need for peak?
Do we have excess or need more? Do we have a way to share
computing power across the organization when needed? There
are many more but this is a good start.
When it comes to processing as with other infrastructure
items always plan for peak usage. Some newer processing
solutions allow for scaling up and down the processing power
as needed, especially in hosted environments in the cloud or
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
If we move down and inside further, we can think of the
blood vessels, heart and nervous system is like the network
infrastructure as the communications that goes through cables,
fiber and wireless which connects the systems together so
does the blood vessels and nerves sends signals and provide
life giving oxygen. Network infrastructure entails all the
connectivity between all the systems and to the end users.
Without the network infrastructure there would be no use for
many of the other infrastructures.
As we go down to the next level our stomach stores and
processes our food so does the storage infrastructure houses
all the data that we need along with the database infrastructure
provides ways to access the data.
Now we go to the extremities, and now we are talking
software infrastructure, things like software user interfaces,
web site pages, mobile applications which allows the data to be
accessed and used. The software is what we mostly interface
with. As I am typing
this article, I am
interacting with the
Word program, typing,
making edits, and son
on, and there is an
infrastructure behind it
supporting my actions
both on the keyboard
and how it looks on
the screen all brought
to you via the software
infrastructure.
In the end all these,
infrastructures provide
one basic thing-ways for humans to access, process, disseminate
data, information and knowledge to others. Without the pieces
and parts that play the different roles in the overall infrastructure
we would still be in the world of paper and pen not fingers to
keyboard. So next time you are at your office, home or your
mobile phone think about all infrastructure parts it takes to get
the data that you typed into the computer, through the software,
out the wires, to where the data is processed and stored back
out to where other people can access it. It gives you a greater
appreciation of all the hard working people who supports the
computerized infrastructures of the world which allows you to
do the computer things you like to do.
Jeff Archer
Network infrastructure entails all
the connectivity between all the
systems and to the end users