For a while, developmental and operational environments have rarely worked well together. Developers design something and then throw it over the wall for the infrastructure team to design an environment to support it. Then it’s thrown over the wall for operational teams to deploy and monitor it for the rest of its life. Microsoft is proposing a new standard (SML) to change this....

There are tremendous opportunities and cool new services coming from Web 2.0 like services today which our user base is becoming more excited about. However, as we all know, we must understand the impact of these services on the integrity of the information...

Some have asked about what are good approaches for examining the complexity (or trying to figure out how to associate operational staffing numbers for a specific datacenter) tough question. Here is what I used in the past to decompose this question...

Many are promoting two core characteristics of SAAS today: the ability to provide a multi-tenant service model and the utilization of AJAX as a vehicle to provide better than basic browser capability to diverse browser products. I don't completely agree...

One question I often hear is: "How many physical tiers should be designed into an infrastructure architecture." You have to understand the customer's architectural perspective for the life of the application. Especially for systemic quality...

In December, I received an email asking how much should an infrastructure architect understand about solution/application oriented architecture. Also, the architect expressed interest in the MCA program for infrastructure architects. Yes, candidates...

Often, good architecture decisions come from good architects. Most people have generally agreed that architects with strong technical and business knowledge and experience are highly qualified professionals. However, knowledge and experience rarely correlate...

ok, I know, it's been a long time since I've posted. I apologize. I received my far share of complaints because of this neglect. I've been caught up on research and writing and did want to start discussing these things until I received a green...

As infrastructure archtiects,how are we designing an infrastructure architecture for our own operational and business success today?...

Many have discussed the benefits of utilizing ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode) for their enterprise solutions. With introduction of ADAM, developers now have the opportunity to utilize powerful directory capabilities without requiring extensive...

Firewalls are simply physical security components of an overall security architecture. Firewalls can be helpful. However, they do not solve, by themselves, all of a corporations security needs. Firewalls can do the basics: trap, analyze and then, allow...

Many engineers have asked: what is wrong with complexity? Doesn't it lead to data center designs which are more precise and accurate? Doesn't it lead to data center designs which more optimally capitalizes on technical innovation? Of course it does...

While this is something we're all working on refining, here are some of my random thoughts: Thought One: I think all infrastructure architectures should be documented and categorized for quarterly peer review. During this time all initiatives should...

Executives have often asked what are my thoughts on measuring the performance of their Infrastructure architects. So here are some of my thoughts. As this profession begins to mature, I'm sure there will be many more new ideas and refinements. I look...

Virtualization has received a great deal of attention from the press during the past couple of years. We have seen many products promoting storage virtualization, network virtualization and computational virtualization. Furthermore, with the promotion...

As most of you know, a data center manages information. It processes it, communicates it and stores it. It does this with a variety of technologies, processes and role skill development. Currently, the growth and volume of applications and Services...

I just recently received an email asking for advice about college/degrees/classes for new upcoming infrastructure architects. (see below) ---------------------------------- Hi: I have an AA in networking from a two year college. I would like...

My quick definition: An experienced and trained professional who makes business discriminating decisions with people, process and technology oriented resources to effectively organize, model and communicate a successful information systems solution...

Data center architecture use to be a straight forward discipline: take the application (which was thrown over the wall), reexamine user context and volume issues, put together the network, storage and server design, test and deploy. It was easy to get...