Datacenter & Infrastructure Advisory
Datacenter projects fail when fabric design, operational readiness, and migration sequencing are treated as separate workstreams rather than one integrated plan.
Our Approach
Design the DC fabric, migration sequence, and operational model together — so the build team, ops team, and business all have a clear, risk-aware plan before a single rack moves.
What This Service Covers
Datacenter advisory for organizations planning a DC refresh, fabric replacement, consolidation, or migration to a hybrid edge/cloud model. The physical work stays with your team — this engagement delivers the architecture, sequencing, and risk management that makes that work succeed.
Engagements cover DC topology design, compute and storage platform selection, network fabric design (spine-leaf, collapsed core), cabling and physical layout guidance, vendor evaluation, migration sequencing, and operational readiness.
Scope areas
DC topology and fabric design Spine-leaf fabric design for modern DC (Cisco ACI, Arista, Juniper QFX, BigSwitch/Arista BCF). Collapsed core design for smaller environments. BGP underlay and VXLAN/EVPN overlay. Cumulus Linux and SONiC-based whitebox/Dell switch fabric. Out-of-band management network. Physical rack layout and cabling structured approach.
Compute and storage platform advisory Platform selection criteria (hyperconverged vs traditional, rack vs blade). Storage architecture guidance (SAN, NAS, object storage, all-flash strategy). Virtualisation platform alignment (VMware vSphere, Nutanix, Hyper-V). Capacity planning and growth modelling.
Vendor evaluation and procurement RFQ/RFP criteria development. Technical evaluation of vendor responses. PoC design and success criteria. Total cost of ownership comparison. Vendor shortlisting and recommendation report.
Migration planning Workload dependency mapping. Migration wave design and sequencing. Change windows and maintenance planning. Rollback procedures and contingency. Pre-migration and post-migration validation checklists.
Colocation and third-party DC Colo selection criteria and due diligence. Cross-connect and interconnect design. Remote hands coordination guidance. Power and cooling capacity review.
Delivery Models
Remote Consultation
Advisory for specific design decisions — fabric choice, vendor trade-offs, migration risk review. Half-day or full-day blocks. Deliverable: written recommendation after each session.
Architecture Review (Fixed Scope)
Review of a proposed or in-progress DC design. Structured findings report with risk ratings and recommendations. Typically 1–2 weeks.
Engineer Basis (Project)
Full DC advisory engagement: current state assessment, target architecture design, vendor evaluation support, migration plan, and operational readiness review. Remote-led; physical execution by your team or a partner. Typical scope: 4–10 weeks.
Typical Engagement Formats
| Format | Best for | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|
| DC Architecture Review | Validate a design before build begins | 1–2 weeks |
| Fabric Design | Greenfield or replacement spine-leaf design | 3–5 weeks |
| Migration Planning | Sequencing and risk planning for DC move | 2–4 weeks |
| Vendor Evaluation | RFQ criteria, scoring, and recommendation | 2–3 weeks |
| Full DC Advisory | End-to-end from design through go-live | 6–12 weeks |
Platforms and Technologies
Cisco (ACI, Nexus, UCS, Catalyst), Arista (EOS, BCF/CloudVision), Juniper (QFX, EX, MX), BigSwitch, Cumulus Linux, Dell (whitebox, PowerEdge), Mellanox, Palo Alto, VMware (vSphere, NSX), Nutanix, NetApp, Pure Storage, HPE. Certified: Cisco DC Core Specialist, Dell EMC Proven Professional, Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration.