What is an IT Infrastructure and How to Extend Its Lifespan?

The IT (Information Technology) infrastructure is the digital ecosystem of your organization, whether it be a large corporation, a mid-sized company, or an SME. It consists of several heterogeneous components that interact to operate the various IT environments of the company and ensure a quality of service for IS (Information Systems) oriented towards clients, internal users, partners, and prospects. Driven by digital transformation and the digitization of business processes, the IT infrastructure plays a crucial role.

A vector of performance and agility for the organization, it must also align with new eco-friendly uses guided by the objectives of IT frugality for a more circular economy. After identifying the different components of an IT infrastructure, we will determine the areas where you can act to extend its lifespan while ensuring its efficiency.

What are the components of an IT infrastructure?

Presented as a whole, the IT infrastructure is made up of several interdependent elements. Its main components are hardware and software. However, limiting ourselves to this distinction would only offer a partial view of the infrastructures deployed in companies and the services they provide.

Hardware Equipment

This generic category includes servers, devices like desktops and laptops, tablets, smartphones, and external peripherals like multifunction printers, scanners...

Software Equipment

An enterprise's software architecture revolves around operating systems installed on servers and connected devices. The software part also includes all office and business applications installed on IT terminals. The software (OS and business applications) establishes connections to available resources and peripherals.

Network Equipment

The IT infrastructure also includes network equipment that ensures wired and wireless connectivity of the infrastructure equipment, servers, client stations, storage printing devices... They guarantee access to resources and data in the best possible security and speed conditions. Network equipment includes smart switches (core network, distribution, access), wifi access points, IP telephony equipment, routers.

Security Equipment

Security combines hardware and software to secure all components of your infrastructure. The security setup includes an 'appliance' type part, a box equipped with software to protect information systems against cyberattacks, and software such as VPN, Proxy, VLan, antivirus, anti-spam, authentication systems... Backup equipment is part of the security domain, as they allow data restoration after an attack.

Data Storage Equipment

The volume of data generated or flowing through the company is constantly increasing, and their exploitation is essential for the company's performance. To ensure data availability and the continuity of information flows within organizations, companies deploy specific storage infrastructures, consisting of high-performance connected hardware solutions and administrative software solutions guaranteeing the security of records, fast access, and their availability 24/7.    

Different Types of Infrastructures

The development of new information technologies and uses contributes to the evolution of infrastructures. Alongside traditional architectures based on local infrastructures, virtual infrastructures on the cloud are developing, based on IaaS (Infrastructure As a Service) and PaaS (Platform As a Service) technologies, and hybrid infrastructures. These allow IT departments to distribute their services and resource management across the two environments (on-demand and on-premise). 

Extend the Lifespan of Your IT Infrastructure with Second-Hand On-Premise Licenses

IT departments must manage their IT infrastructures considering performance constraints, security, and business requirements of users. They must also sustain their investments by extending the lifespan of their hardware and software. The choice of the type of IT infrastructure is crucial.

While a full cloud solution makes you completely dependent on the policy of publishers, hybrid and traditional solutions allow you to retain control over your IT infrastructure. You can simply optimize your software inventory via a Software Asset Management strategy, and retain control over the lifecycle of your software licenses and update frequencies as per your employees' needs. By limiting the update pace imposed by publishers, you mechanically extend the lifespan of your IT equipment.

The Softcorner marketplace, number 1 in the second-hand software market, is the ideal tool to extend the lifespan of your infrastructure. Thanks to this intuitive and ergonomic platform, you can buy cheaper second-hand licenses that meet your users' functional needs and match your hardware configurations. This marketplace allows you to decommission your unused software licenses to sell them on the secondary market for second-hand licenses and thus finance your other IT projects.