Infrastructure Services exists to help you design and deliver technology solutions to your business issues. We break it down into the following areas, although in reality there are many overlaps:

Microsoft: With our expertise in Microsoft licensing, it’s a logical step to assist our customers in delivering solutions based on the technology they are purchasing – let’s face it, no one buys software for the sake of it! We’ve got expertise all the way up the Microsoft stack, from Active Directory and Exchange implementations, through to SharePoint and BizTalk. We’re heavy users of Microsoft technology ourselves, so you could say we practice what we preach.

Virtualisation: If ever the phrase ‘paradigm shift’ were appropriate, it’s in relation to x86 virtualisation. We’ve been great advocates of the power of virtualisation since early 2006, and as a VMware Enterprise Partner and an HP Virtualisation Specialist we’ve certainly got the badges to prove it. Many of our virtualisation projects are driven more by the need to bring a certain level of high availability and disaster-tolerance to clients’ infrastructure than simply the benefits of consolidation alone. If you’ve not given this area some thought yet, we’d recommend that you do – we’d be happy to help you assess the benefits for your organisation – from freeing up some space in your datacenter, to reducing your carbon footprint.

Server and Storage Design and Delivery: Even if you’re an extensive user of virtual servers, you still need some physical ones – in fact your needs in this respect are probably even greater. We’re big fans of blade servers – you’d be surprised how low the entry point is where a blade system becomes more cost-effective than rackmount. We also see centralised storage as key to reducing costs and improving the responsiveness of your IT department. If you’re struggling with backups, or constantly adding more disk to your servers, get in touch to see how we can help you regain control of your data.

Network Design and Delivery: Gone are the days when 10Mb to the desktop was sufficient. A lot of factors are driving the need to ensure your network infrastructure is up to the job – IP telephony (by the way, we can help with this too!), streaming video, even just larger files. We’ve also reached the point where “the network is down” is not an acceptable answer to the question “why is everyone sitting around doing nothing?”. Softcat’s networking team make use of Cisco, HP Procurve and NetGear technologies to deliver the performance and resilience our clients need.

Application Delivery: You don’t buy a PC for the operating system – it’s a vehicle for getting data and applications to your users. There are a variety of options for doing this nowadays – desktop virtualisation is the buzz, but ‘traditional’ terminal services still suits a lot of companies. Or are you better making use of one of the latest application streaming technologies – or maybe combining two or more approaches? It’s a fast-changing and complex area, but Softcat have expertise in helping you select the right way to get the important stuff out to your user communities.