For many organizations heavily dependent on critical infrastructure, there exists a dual challenge—ensuring seamless functionality and simultaneously future-proofing to meet tomorrow’s evolving demands.
But aging equipment, outdated technology, and inefficient systems may stand in the way of success. As your business grows and evolves, so must your critical infrastructure. This is where retrofitting comes into play.
Retrofitting is the process of updating, modifying, or replacing existing equipment and systems to improve efficiency, extend their lifespan, and ensure they can meet the needs of your business.
But retrofitting isn’t something you should do on a whim. Retrofits should be done with a strategy at the forefront.
So, what does a blueprint for a successful critical infrastructure retrofit look like?
Enhancing Delivery
While it’s essential to consider your current infrastructure landscape, it’s equally important to understand its limitations. Focusing on your flaws, helps you identify gaps where your systems are falling short.
We recommend a three-step approach to help you enhance delivery:
- Assess: Perform an assessment of your current infrastructure. What equipment is being underutilized? What equipment is not performing as expected? What are your environment’s strengths, limitations, and potential for expansion?
- Evaluate Options: Once the assessment phase is completed, what opportunities exist for consolidation, modernization, or expansion? This could include upgrading individual components, implementing new systems, or even a complete overhaul.
- Plan and Prioritize: Once you’ve evaluated the options, it’s time to create a detailed plan outlining your retrofit journey. Prioritize which areas need immediate attention and which can be phased out over time.
Do you need ideas on how to enhance delivery in your environment? Let’s connect. The Donwil team has a wealth of experience helping organizations achieve their retrofit goals.
Reinventing Your Infrastructure
Instead of maintaining inefficient, outdated systems or “frankensteining” components, seize the opportunity to reimagine and reinvent your environment. You can unlock new levels of scalability, flexibility, and resilience.
Here’s what reinventing your infrastructure can do for you:
- Embrace Technological Advancements: Older infrastructure may not be equipped to handle the latest innovations. Reinventing your infrastructure allows you to incorporate new technologies such as AI and automation that can improve efficiency and performance.
- Plan for Scalability: As your business grows, your infrastructure needs to be able to scale accordingly. Reinventing your infrastructure can make it more scalable, allowing you to easily expand or modify it as needed.
- Build Resilience: Modernizing your infrastructure can make it more resilient to cyber-attacks, natural disasters, or equipment failures. This can help minimize downtime and ensure business continuity when the unexpected happens.
- Ensure Compliance: Regulations and standards for infrastructure are constantly evolving. Reinventing your infrastructure can help you remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations.
Maximizing Space
Tangled network closets, and defragmented IT spaces – all of it can cause headaches and waste precious time.
By redesigning your infrastructure space, you can maximize its use, ensuring that every area serves a purpose and contributes to efficiency.
- Scalability: A redesigned space can accommodate future growth and changes in technology, ensuring that your infrastructure remains relevant and adaptable over time.
- Improved Workflow: A well-designed space can improve workflow, making it easier for employees to collaborate and access the resources they need.
- Cost Savings: An optimized space offers cost savings by reducing waste, improving energy efficiency, and minimizing the need for additional space.
Adopting innovative racks, cabinets, and enclosure storage solutions, reconfiguring layouts, or implementing modular designs can unlock unused potential within your existing infrastructure.
Optimizing Efficiency
You should always look for more efficient and effective ways to enhance and support critical digital infrastructure. And retrofits give you the perfect opportunity to do so.
To address areas of efficiency in your environment you should consider the following:
- Thermal Management: With the increasing density of components in critical infrastructure, managing temperatures is a non-negotiable. Consider implementing cooling solutions such as economization or liquid cooling systems to prevent overheating and extend the lifespan of your equipment.
- Real-Time Monitoring Solutions: Keep a close eye on your infrastructure with real-time monitoring solutions that provide detailed insights into key performance metrics. This proactive approach allows businesses to identify potential issues before they escalate, minimizing downtime and maximizing efficiency.
- Energy Management with UPSs: Inefficient Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) can cause more harm than good. By upgrading your UPS units, not only can you decrease energy consumption, but also minimize excess energy usage, leading to significant cost savings on the energy bill. Newer UPS models have advanced features such as remote monitoring, automatic voltage regulation, and battery management. Try out our UPS Selection Tool to discover what kind of UPS might be best for your environment.
- Regular Maintenance Schedule: The best way to extend the lifespan of equipment, is to ensure you implement a lifecycle management strategy. A routine maintenance schedule can help you frequently assess whether your infrastructure performs as expected or needs improvement.
Partnering for Success
Embarking on a critical infrastructure retrofit journey is not a one-person job. It requires collaboration and partnership with experts who can align your business needs with the right technology solutions. At Donwil, we bring more than just technical expertise to the table. We take the time to understand your business objectives, provide strategic guidance, and support you throughout the retrofit process.