What Is IT Infrastructure & Why It Is Important?

IT Infrastructure is an integral part of tech companies like Google, Amazon, IBM, etc.

Cloud, hardware, software, and whatnot, all combine to make an effective infrastructure. This allows these companies to create and run custom software, apps, and other solutions.

Now, there are a lot of start-ups who want to establish their own infrastructure or tech companies just getting started. In any case, if you want to learn more about IT infrastructure, this blog is for you.

Here, we shall be discussing everything related to that and more. So, read till the end, and let’s get right into it, starting with:

What is IT Infrastructure?

Infrastructure refers to a physical or digital structure made to serve a purpose and/or enable a function. Well, infrastructure is all around us and this word is through around a lot.

But the question is; what is IT Infrastructure?

Often also known as the technology infrastructure, it refers to a digital as well as a physical structure built for companies to develop, run, and maintain software or mobile application that becomes the foundation of the organization.

For instance, in the case of a tech company, all the computing, network, workplace, data platform, and edge capabilities are handled by Infrastructure.

Now, there are various different types of infrastructure that deal with hardware, data centers, software, apps, and so on. (We shall be discussing different types in detail later on.)

With modern tech, cloud-based ones have also been introduced which become really popular as it enables SaaS app development.

This is how one defines IT infrastructure. Now, with this out of the way, it’s time to look at the

Why is IT Infrastructure Important?

What makes IT Infrastructure important?

The world is going through extreme technological advancements. In recent 50 years, when he saw more technological development than the entire combined history of the western world.

Since every business is being driven by the technology in Industry 4.0. Whether it is communication, workstation, streamlining workflow, keeping data, record management, or revenue management, technology handles it all.

This is why Infrastructure becomes very important.

Firstly, all the technical aspects, from computers in the office to the system connecting them together, and the base of the organization’s custom software development solution based on infrastructure.

Now, if the infrastructure allows flexibility, is reliable, and offers great security, the organization can move towards its goal and gain a competitive advantage.

On the other hand, a bad, ineffective, or infrastructure that is not implemented properly, can cripple the organization.  In fact, this can lead to big security issues like data breaches, security disruptions, and so on. Depending on the nature of the business, it can lead to huge losses.

Apart from this, the infrastructure also offers a range of benefits. We shall be discussing some of them below:

• Productivity Boost

It goes without saying that every organization despite its niche or nature of business wants to maximize productivity. Such is the nature of work.

Now, with a strong and reliable IT infrastructure by your side, the business can push productivity to the maximum. Look at it like this, a good infrastructure will make it a lot easier for the team to communicate and handle data.

Moreover, low-latency networks also help reduce response delay as well as downtime. All of this combines to create a much more productive environment for an organization which makes an infrastructure that much more important.

• Impregnable Security

If you run an IT business, you know how important security is.

Cyber Security is, in fact, one of the biggest areas of focus in today’s time as the internet is that much more accessible and widespread.

With this, an increase in phishing schemes, malware, ransomware, Denial of Service (DoS), and other types of cyber-attacks have also increased. Reports claim that by the year 2025, $10.5 trillion will be lost to cybercrimes per annum.

So, how do you secure yourself?

Well, you guessed it, and secure IT infrastructure that provides impregnable defense against such threats. This helps secure the company’s data management, recovery, and backup storage.

• Industrial Compliance

Every industry has its own compliance standard.

While for other industries it’s a matter of manufacturing, in IT, it’s a matter of handling the data. For instance, in web development services where cookies are collected, the website has to follow some compliance.

Similarly goes for the inner working of Tech companies. Now, to adhere to this compliance infrastructures are very useful and play a big role in it. That is why they are such an integral part of companies now a day.

This is the reason why Infrastructure IT is so important. With this out of the way, let’s move to the next section where we shall be going through the different types of infrastructures.

Types of Infrastructure IT

In the past few years, technology has seen a lot of advancements. Adapting to the changes, different types of Infrastructures were developed.

In this section of the blog, we shall be going through these different types. These are, as mentioned below:

• Traditional infrastructure

Technology has been integrated into the business for a long time. And that’s why we have a traditional infrastructure.

This type mainly consists of usual hardware and software components including facilities, data centers, servers, networking hardware desktop computers, and enterprise app development solutions.

It is called the traditional type because it has been used for a long time with major changes in principle. Moreover, it is present in the same location or nearby.

These types of infrastructures are that much more expensive as they take up a lot of space and require more power. While it has its own certain advantages it also comes with a drawback.

• Cloud infrastructure

So, everyone is familiar with the concept of cloud computing right? Well, just apply it to Infrastructure.

Well, in a way they are almost identical to the traditional ones that we just discussed, with only one major difference. And that is, is cloud.

The company and the staff can access the infrastructure through the internet, without installing anything at all. A good technology that comes into play here is Visualization.

It connects the physical server to any given location via the cloud. This means a company can access the full capacity of infrastructure without investing in one. This is one of the big advantages.

These are the different types of Infrastructure in IT. Now, it’s time to look at the IT infrastructure components.

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What Are the Components of IT Infrastructure?

Infrastructure is a web of different components that connects everything. Now, these components are interdependent.

They can be mainly divided into two parts, i.e. hardware and software. As one might assume, the software runs on the hardware, as an app runs on your phone.

Again, the software is used for the management of system resources and the hardware itself. It is also responsible for connecting software applications and physical resources via a network. This is how an Infrastructure works.

Now, the application and use case of each infrastructure can be a little different. But they all are mainly built of a combination of components. These are, as mentioned below:

Apart from these two major components, there are others that we shall discuss below:

• Facilities

The term facilities refer to the physical area which houses the networking hardware, servers, and data centers.

It goes without saying that it is an essential component of traditional hardware since you don’t need to worry about it in cloud computing.

• Network

While the network itself is mostly virtual, there is physical “hardware” that creates this network. This includes switches, routers, hubs, and servers.

For those who don’t know switches are devices that create local area networks (LAN) like routers, servers, and other switches

• Server

The server itself also has a hardware component and trust us, it plays a big role. In both cloud and traditional, it is crucial. Everything is sorted here.

These are the different components of the IT infrastructure. Now, it’s time to look at the management of these structures.

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IT Infrastructure Management: ITOM, ITSM, and ITAM

What’s IT Infrastructure Management?

It refers to the process of administering and managing the technological tool related to the infrastructure in the most effective way possible.

IT Infrastructure managers have complete supervision over the activities and other areas. For instance, they can monitor it for error issues, track fixes, error tracking, and fixing them.

Companies often resort to IT infrastructure managers for these tasks, as one might resort to a Software Development Company to develop software.

While this might sound like an easy task, it’s not. Moreover, with the increasing complexity of the different platforms, it has become that much more difficult.

With the increasing complexity of these systems, the need for and dependency on them is also rising at a great rate. Therefore, it is divided into different parts or areas for ease of management. As such, these are ITOM, ITSM, and ITAM.

Here, we shall be going through all of these in detail. Therefore, with this being said, let’s get right into it:

What is IT operations management (ITOM)?

ITOM stands for Information technology Operations Management, or IT operations management as the title says.

A set of tools and methods are used to make sure the IT infrastructure is available, reliable, and effective for the business. It includes network asset discovery, operational intelligence and data collection, network event management, orchestration, and cloud management.

Here, IT operations managers are responsible for establishing policies and governing IT infrastructure that is serviced and fully supported. Thus, as soon as a problem arises, they are responsible for solving it.

What is IT service management (ITSM)?

ITSM is also known as IT service management is the second one we shall be discussing.

As opposed to IT operations management, this one is more focused on the service part. So, the basic function here is to align services offered by the company with their needs.

Now, it includes various different activities, literally thousands. This covers everything from resetting passwords to configuring hardware.

This is one of the most important operations in management.

What is IT asset management (ITAM)?

Last but still a top priority, it’s time to look at ITAM or IT asset management.

See, today, an IT agency gathers a number of IT assets. Thus, they also need to be optimized and managed in a proper way. So, it’s the IT asset manager’s job to take care of the purchase, deployment, utilization, and end-of-life disposition of those assets.

IT asset management can be divided into three different areas. These are, as mentioned below:

• Financial
• Inventory
• Contractual

These are the different areas of IT infrastructure management. Now, we have discussed a lot about Infrastructure, let’s see what an ideal one looks like.

Qualities of An Ideal IT Infrastructure

From the first word of this blog, till now; we have discussed everything related to IT infrastructure.

This begs the question, what does an ideal Infrastructure look like? Well, an ideal IT infrastructure should have a certain quality. Therefore, if you are someone who wants to make an ideal IT infrastructure, you need to make sure they have certain things.

These are, as mentioned below:

1. High-availability infrastructure
2. Bandwidth management
3. High-performance storage systems
4. High Security
5. Low-latency networks
6. Failover and Disaster Recovery Plans

So, if an IT infrastructure has these things included within it, you can call it an ideal one. If you already have an Infrastructure, you can cross-check it and improve upon the same.

Conclusion

IT infrastructure is one of the most important parts, in fact, the foundation of an IT company. So, for a company to be successful and gain a competitive advantage, they need to have an effective IT infrastructure. There are various types of infrastructure. Therefore, it’s very important to have an ideal Infrastructure.  With this, we have come to the end of our blog.

Niketan Sharma

Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.