EMC Consulting Solution Brief
Classification for Infrastructure Alignment
Part of the Classification and Policy Solutions Family
EMC® Consulting’s Classification for Infrastructure Alignment solution helps IT organiza-
tions reduce costs, improve service levels, and tackle the explosive growth of informa-
tion by confirming the service requirements for business information and aligning infra-
structure to deliver the right business service at the right price.
Business Objectives
Cost optimization is a top priority on executive agendas today, but many IT organizations
Challenges are still unable to accurately account for how much they spend on storage or how well
Variety of Applications Deemed they manage this class of assets. IT shops often fail to manage information based on its
Critical to the Business business value—they either lack appropriate service catalogs or they provide services
• Different needs of different busi- based on platform capability. Aligning IT infrastructure capabilities to information serv-
ness units using various applica- ice-level requirements (e.g., performance, recoverability, compliance, and continuity)
tions, each with its own level of should be a primary IT goal. The way IT managers close this gap determines how effec-
requirements tively and efficiently they respond to their customers’ specific service-level needs.
Regulatory Standards Ever-
Solution Framework
Expanding
EMC Consulting addresses people, processes, and technology in delivering comprehen-
• HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC
sive, end-to-end infrastructure alignment engagements. This approach is based on a
solution framework for Classification and Policy that follows the Plan-Build-Manage
Downtime Can Be Costly
phases of the IT lifecycle.
• $1.6M/hr to $6.5M/hr in lost
revenue across industries
(Source: Meta Group)
Plan Build Manage
Capacity Misplacement
Service Catalog Infrastructure Continuous Improvement
Can Be Costly Gap Analysis Implementation & Testing Monitoring
• 47% of open systems capacity Operations
Strategic Service Design
available in the wrong place Implementation & Testing
(Source: Strategic Research
Implementation & Service Deployment
Corporation) Business Plan & Stabilization
Program Management & Integration
Plan Build Manage
• Analyze business service • Implement and test • Monitor infrastructure
requirements, compare infrastructure that meets to ensure capability
to current IT service capability design requirements, business
delivery. requirements. goals are met.
• Design conceptual infra- • Implement and test
structure and opera- operational environment
tional design to meet to optimize implemented
service requirements. infrastructure.
• Plan implementation, • Prepare an application
develop business case to for implementation with-
achieve business goals. in enterprise’s service-
specific capability and
deploy it.
Solution Value
The EMC Classification for Infrastructure Alignment solution leverages best practices to
help you categorize your information to build an aligned, optimized IT infrastructure. EMC
Consulting’s business-oriented approach to assessing your infrastructure means that:
• Your IT infrastructure becomes aligned to agreed-upon service levels.
• Business requirements drive all alignment initiatives, with technology as an enabler.
• Information is managed according to its value to your business over time.
The benefits to your organization when implementing this solution include:
• Service levels are aligned with business requirements by facilitating appropriate
trade-offs between costs and capabilities.
• Storage-related costs are reduced by deploying data to the most cost-effective platform.
• Unnecessary storage purchases are eliminated as a result of improved capacity
allocation and utilization.
• Service levels can be improved for disaster recovery, operational availability, and
compliance.
Why EMC
EMC understands that simplifying complexity in your environment requires more than
aligning the services delivered by IT with your business information. It involves getting
the most value from information, at the lowest cost, at every point in its lifecycle. To
accomplish this, EMC Consulting draws on its deep experience designing and imple-
menting enterprise tiered infrastructure and on its comprehensive set of methodologies,
tools, and skills. Examples of successful EMC Consulting engagements include:
Without effective storage management tools, the client had outsourced the function,
Leading Pharmaceutical thus incurring excessive costs. The client also lacked a suitable business continuity
Company strategy. EMC Consulting supported the CIO’s initiative to reduce storage, server, and
outsourcing costs by:
Classification assessment identified
a three-year $10 million cost avoid-
• Classifying key applications, including SAP and Documentum® in the U.K. and
ance in the U.K. alone.
Sweden, and PeopleSoft and 40 other applications in the U.S.
• Building a high-level business case highlighting how the proposed tiered architecture
supports cost reductions.
Prior to the engagement, the client had trouble sharing content cross-functionally, which
hurt their ability to leverage the value of their information. The disparate infrastructure,
Worldwide Broadcasting where data was not centrally managed, protected, and shared, was expensive and man-
Company aged inefficiently. EMC Consulting helped by:
The solution will provide savings of
$7.5 million over a five-year horizon. • Conducting an assessment to understand the customer’s existing storage infrastruc-
ture and future requirements.
• Designing and developing a four-tier storage architecture.
• Developing a storage strategy business case.
Getting Started
EMC Corporation
For a complete list of Classification and Policy solutions, visit the EMC
Hopkinton Consulting section of www.EMC.com or contact your EMC account manager or
Massachusetts
01748-9103 your EMC Consulting representative.
1-508-435-1000
In North America 1-866-464-7381
EMC2, EMC, Documentum, and where information lives are
registered trademarks of EMC Corporation. All other trade-
marks used herein are the property of their respective owners.
© Copyright 2006 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
Published in the USA. 5/06 Solution Brief
H1988.1
www.EMC.com