Second, GDS reviews the Technology Lifecycle

When a Client engages SmartIT professional services, they can expect an in-depth review of the total lifecycle for the technology being considered. The technology lifecycle that GDS has incorporated into our Professional Services practice consists of four distinct stages; deploy, manage and support, refine, and optimize. Each stage of the technology lifecycle addresses current and future concerns while allowing long-term planning. For example, is the technology already deployed or is it being redeployed with added functionalities? How is it being supported and managed, and will it handle future applications such as IP voice and video, and if not, what refinements must be made to the network to do so? What security issues exist, and how are they being mitigated? If the current systems are working well today, how can it be optimized to get the most out of past capital investments?

After a strategic interview has been conducted with the Client, the GDS team recommends the SmartIT professional services that will best serve the Client throughout its lifecycle.

In one case, a K-12 Client engaged GDS Professional Services to interconnect multiple schools to the central office with the understanding that IP telephony would be added to the core network within two to three years. In this scenario, the technology lifecycle began with a fresh deployment of a WAN that would serve as the backbone for broadband Internet services. As a result, GDS Solution Architects were able to address all of the lifecycle stages of the WAN from Deploy to Optimize, and within 24 months the network infrastructure was refined and redeployed to carry IP voice services throughout the school districts. This resulted in the original core WAN being optimized to enable faster, more efficient communication. When the IP telephony system was fully implemented, all stages of the technology lifecycle were re-addressed that resulted in the deployment of a paging system to all IP phones to instantly send emergency messages to the classroom.