End of Life & Beyond

Extending the life of your IT Assets

For organisations looking to save money, delaying the procurement of new assets can be a logical step. However, it can be a tricky balancing act to squeeze as much life as possible out of existing assets without risking hazardous downtime.

Here are some tips for boosting life expectancy without putting the enterprise at risk;

• Take advantage of Virtualisation

One approach to extending IT asset life expectancy is virtualisation.  Along with that strategy, IT managers will have to focus on larger efficiencies, as well, such as implementing a more efficient storage strategy.   

Virtualisation has consistently been shown to produce cost savings within an IT infrastructure. Routinely the number of servers within an environment can be reduced at a ratio of 10:1.  However, certain applications use more resources than others so it is important to understand which applications and have an idea of the hardware resources you need to keep all applications running efficiently within a virtual environment.

Abtech UK's capacity planning service uses a combination of industry tools and skilled consultants to produce a report on the levels of utilisation of your existing physical servers. This information allows us to size the virtual infrastructure and provide return on investment values for implementing virtualisation.

Click here for further information on Abtech UKs' virtualisation offerings.

Click here for further information on Capacity planning services from Abtech UK.

• Focus on power & cooling

There’s always plenty of discussion about power and cooling issues in the IT industry, and for good reason.  Ensuring optimal efficiency in these areas can bring enormous boosts in energy efficiency and also prolong the life of IT assets.  Concentrating on power and cooling—especially as high-density equipment is integrated into a datacentre more often—can keep IT assets not only running longer, but also working harder.    

Datacentre managers should look at co-ordinating lighting, fire suppression, equipment placement, cable pathways and air distribution.  Focusing on how cooling and airflow affect the entire datacentre can cause less strain on specific IT assets and prolong the life of that equipment as a result.    

Call us today to discuss your options around power and cooling optimisation.

• Keep it running and supported

When we maintain your IT equipment we’ll aim to reduce your costs by extending the life of your existing IT investment beyond normal manufacturers’ warranties; and refurbishing or re-engineering your equipment.  We help you do more, for less.  Our post warranty support services allow you to keep your legacy systems running beyond their normal end-of-life dates.  This helps you squeeze better returns on your IT investments, is less disruptive to your users and so long as performance of your systems is managed adequately, there will be no drop in service.

Additionally, Abtech UK offers Software & System Administration contracts. This service provides the user with a technical resource on a secure remote connection to perform many system administration day to day tasks as well as a monthly report to a named contact. If you want a cost effective method to maintain your legacy systems, talk to our specialists today.

• Plan, Replace or Redeploy and Recycle

One sacrifice that has to be made when extending IT asset life is the time it takes to do more planning, monitor systems, and ensure that assets are being maximized without risk to the goals and objectives of the organisation.    

In addition to monitoring, time must be spent focussing on lifecycle management, including the creation of end-of-life tracking for every asset. Although virtualisation, proper cooling, and extended support and system administration services can extend an asset’s life, there does come a time when keeping an asset running past its expected end date can put a datacentre at risk. 

Click here for further information on Asset Management services from Abtech.

Call us on 0845 456 2393 or email us via our contact page for further information