Infrastructure design and deployment

Exosphere can design, implement, and support a technical infrastructure tailored to your company's needs. We can look at your company's current and future business requirements and design a network to accommodate them.

We work with and recommend best-of-breed products from vendors such as HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Checkpoint, VMware, Sun, Dell, APC and Blackberry.

Design documentation produced to PRINCE2 standards and can follow frameworks such as TOGAF if this is required.

Consolidation and virtualization

Exosphere has experience of migration, infrastructure refresh and power-reduction projects which incorporate the principles of consolidation and virtualization.

Broadly speaking, consolidation allows you to maximise use of existing infrastructure by bringing together related elements, which usually reduces management cost and overheads as well as software license and maintenance charges.

Virtualization is a method of reducing the number of physical servers so that older server functions are consolidated, usually on larger pieces of new infrastructure, with the minimum of migration effort. This technique can be used effectively when migrating servers between sites, when looking to drastically reduce power consumption or to create floorspace in a busy datacentre.

Network & security design

There are several aspects to designing a network infrastructure. Each of the following items are considered during the infrastructure design.

• Connectivity Solutions
• Network Equipment Selection
• IP Telephony Design
• Firewall Design
• Directory Services & Replication Design
• Server Configuration
• UPS Design
• Cabling & Electrical Design
• Workstation Design
• OS and Software Deployment Solutions

Physical Connectivity options include: OC12, T3/OC3, T1/E1 , ADSL, SDSL and ADSL2, Cable Modem and Satellite Links.

Exosphere can help you choose the appropriate connectivity solution based upon needs for bandwidth, service levels, and expense. If your business involves multiple sites, we can establish site-to-site communications using a solution that best meets your requirements.

Consistent with our overall approach, Exosphere only specifies best-of-breed, industry standard equipment to be used at the core and the perimeter of your network.

Technical Design Authority

Exosphere can work with your IT department's design, senior technical staff or subject matter experts to establish a standardized infrastructure architecture and approach. TDA meetings can be arranged ad-hoc or an a regular basis to support larger-scale projects.

The overall aim of the TDA process is to ensure that designs submitted for review are steered towards compliance with agreed architectural and design principles already established which over time, increases confidence in the solutions delivered to the business.

Systems Integration

Systems Integration is the process of extending your technology investment to incorporate new features or solutions, working at the interface level. A simple example is ensuring that your databases are correctly shutdown and restarted in order for your data backups to complete successfully - a more complex example would involve full integration of a new CRM system such as SAP or Peoplesoft with your existing company databases and directory services, while maintaining your existing third party connections to essential service providers, e.g. BACS.

Exosphere's consultancy expertise begins at the project specification stage to ensure that the process is carried out in a reasonable timeframe, with all risks mitigated and all costs understood.

Our experience in project planning, procurement and coordination of installation work ensures that your integration project will be designed and implemented to your satisfaction.

Systems Healthchecks

A 'healthcheck' is intended to identify issues with the implementation of a solution or service. The reasons for requesting a healthcheck to be performed could be increasing confidence or 'rubber-stamping' a solution or could be because issues are already being perceived in an implemented solution which is actively being used by the business.

Healthchecks can be tailored to your needs, but as a general rule will usually focus on the following aspects of a technology or solution:

• Optimal configuration
• Correct sizing for stated number of users
• Network configuration
• Security configuration/hardening
• Performance aspects
• Compliance with vendor recommendations

Project management & specification

Exosphere has experience of organizing and managing resources in such a way that the project is completed within defined scope, quality, time and cost constraints.

A project is usually undertaken to provide a new product or service, which brings about beneficial change or added value. The production of a solution is usually accompanied by improved and documented processes which allow the solution to be properly managed and maintained, ongoing. Exosphere employs the principles of the OGC standard, PRINCE 2 in order to correctly specify project goals and milestones and then transform the requirements into granular tasks required to produce the solution in a reasonable timeframe.

A well managed project has defined milestones at which point the client agrees that another key objective has been met which allows delivery of the solution to progress smoothly onto the next stage, until an agreed final milestone is reached and project closedown can begin.

Exosphere has experience of handing over a project into support by your own organisation , sometimes with ongoing support from ourselves, but always with a full schedule of technical documentation and handover services delivered to the client.

Mentoring, training & staff selection

Exosphere's long experience of the IT industry allows us to offer our services to improve or complement those of your IT department. You may need a senior consultant to assist with the implementation of a difficult project, have a technical 'brick wall' that you need to overcome, or simply need quality resources on hand, quickly.

You might need to train a group of staff on the use of a new application, provide a technical overview of a new technology to support staff or maybe you need someone to handover a new Blackberry to your Chief Executive? Either way, Exosphere could be your new training partner of choice...

Staff selection can be very time consuming and fraught with problems. A recruitment agency may claim to 'pre-vet' candidates before submitting them for interview - sometimes this is true ... Furthermore, technical tests exist to prove aptitude in a particular area ... but what about the candidate's overall suitability?

Exosphere offers a fixed cost candidate review service, intended to offer the client peace of mind after a first or second interview has been conducted. Exosphere can also optionally conduct a thorough 'third interview' going into details of the candidate's past experience before submitting a final report to the client.

Support services

Exopshere's consultants have varied experience of providing support and implementing support services and procedures across a number of industries. These services include:

• Helpdesk setup and support services
• 3rd/4th/5th line engineering
• Off-site specialist support
• Management of outsourcer arrangements
• Management reporting
• Production or review of support documentation
• Training of support staff

our services

Click on a service to the left to learn more.

Current and past clients of Exosphere and its consultants have used these services to get their multi-million pound projects completed successfully.

Exosphere offers a good track record of successful engagements and prides itself on delivering a high level of service to its client base.

Contact us to see how we can help your organisation move up to the next level.