DataCenter

May 13 2008   4:06PM GMT

To be done: an acquisition/merger checklist

Posted by: Troy Tate
howto, CIO, DataCenter, DataManagement, email, Microsoft Windows, Networking, LAN, WAN, Security, antivirus, malware, Monitoring, anti-virus, metrics, reporting, research, tools

An acquisition or merger is not a frequent event for my organization. However, it seems like in the past year or so we have worked on a number of these activities. So, it seems like it may be time to create a formalized checklist for the IT department items that need to be addressed during an acquisition.

To get the ball rolling, I am listing some items that I consider to be important to the infrastructure/security folks like me. I know this list is not exhaustive or complete. It is a work in progress and will need to be refined for each event since they are all different. Some of these may be done in the due-diligence but the rubber hits the road during the implementation.

So, without further ado:
Absorbing a new acquisition - to do list (general & incomplete)

• Private WAN connectivity - 30-90 days or more lead time depending on location
• flexible IP addressing scheme to absorb devices on new network(s)
• Internet firewall changes - ports, source addresses, NAT, etc.
• DNS ownership and management
  • changing registrars
  • changing DNS nameservers - use a dig tool to get information concerning current configuration - MenAndMice
• Network hygiene - how clean are the devices and what personnel habits need to be changed?
• Device inventory - what effort will it take to do this?
• Software licensing inventory
• What about handling loss of staff & knowledge?
  • Documentation of processes, procedures, configurations?
• Phone list sharing
• E-mail addressbook sharing
• E-mail system integration
  • anti-spam/anti-virus
  • calendar sharing
• ERP process integration
• Resource access permissions
• Financial reporting integration - accounts payable, receivable, tax, etc.
• Staff reporting structure
• Other HR activities - benefits, payroll, etc.

I welcome your insight and experience on the many other activities you feel is important to address during a merger/acquisition.

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!

Apr 29 2008   5:11PM GMT

I can’t get no technical (support) satisfaction

Posted by: Troy Tate
CIO, DataCenter, Linux, Microsoft Windows, troubleshooting, Networking, Security, Monitoring, tools

My apologies to the Rolling Stones for munging their classic song.

How many times have you encountered a situation in your organization where something needs to be done yet either IT is not able or willing to support your business related efforts. There are lots of reasons for this to happen in the business world.

One division of our business is electronics manufacturing solutions where we assemble parts designed by the customer. I recently encountered a situation where a customer has some onsite testing gear to measure QA data on devices we manufacture for them. The testing gear was not for our engineers but for the customer. According to the supporting engineer, his IT department was not interested in supporting these test devices. So, the engineer was asking my organization to support the test hosts.

Well, our side of the story now… these test devices run linux as the operating system. My IT organization typically does not support linux because our focus is on Microsoft Windows systems. So, here’s the conundrum… who supports this engineer and his manufacturing requirements? The test hosts are owned and designed by the customer, yet the hosts are at my organization’s facility.

Tough situation for sure! Right now our answer is to do our best effort in supporting this engineer and the engineer is going to talk to his in-house IT department to see if they will support his requirements. It seems to be a shame that this engineer cannot find support from his own organization. He really could use this when in the end, these test systems are there to support the quality of his organization’s product.

What are your thoughts on this situation? Does your IT organization have to support third-party systems within your facility? If so, what protections have you put into place for your organization?

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!

Apr 8 2008   2:21PM GMT

VoIP, IPT, QOS, COS, on and on - Oh My!

Posted by: Troy Tate
howto, DataCenter, LAN, Monitoring, VoIP, Performance

Well, well, well, so you want to implement voice over IP or IP telephony. You have heard it is going to give you some great cost savings and make your life easier. Hmmmm… upon further thought, the idea of implementing this technology frightens you and I totally understand why.

I have implemented VOIP at four of my sites now. One in Europe that is a small office serviced by a Cisco CallManager Express implementation. My Asian site is a full CallManager cluster solution. My two sites in North America are implemented in a different configuration yet. One of the North American sites has the CallManager cluster like Asia and the second North American site is a SRST (Survivable Remote System Telephony) managed by the other North American site.

So, as you can see, my organization has a good amount of experience in this area and I hope to share some of that with you and help you through this process if you should require this technology in your environment.

Let’s start with some of the reasons some folks say IPT should be implemented.

• Capital investment costs: This really depends on the solution that you choose. Remember all of the necessary infrastructure elements that are required to support IPT. IPT implementations may add 30% or more in infrastructure equipment replacement or additions.

• Voice service costs savings: The home consumer may see some cost savings (think Vonage), but the enterprise may already be receiving long distance rates in the two cents per minute or less range. However, other operational costs may offset the savings that IPT appears to offer. More to follow on other costs/issues in a future blog entry.

• Operational savings: This may be the “real deal” when it comes to cost savings to an organization. IT becomes the owner/operator of the system as it shares the data network infrastructure and operational management.

Some future elements to follow in our discussion will include capacity planning, troubleshooting, partner selection. The volume of information to share is almost endless.

Your continued interest is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!