The essence of IT infrastructure: meaning, components, types and examples

What is an IT infrastructure? 

An IT infrastructure is the totality of IT facilities you need to run and support all your business processes. You can think of it as a digital equivalent of a physical infrastructure that consists of digital highways for guiding data traffic, data repositories and digital hubs that ensure that information flows smoothly from A to B. Managing and securing hardware, software and data is also part of the IT infrastructure. 

The benefits of an IT infrastructure 

A good IT infrastructure provides an organisation with several advantages: 

• Easier and better communication. A good IT infrastructure creates order in an IT landscape and ensures that employees, applications and systems can exchange and use information more effectively.
• It makes far-reaching automation easier. The result? More efficient and less error-prone processes.
• You get more out of leading and promising technologies such as cloud-native computing, AI and IoT. This keeps your organisation future-proof.
• Employees can work anytime, anywhere via the internet with their laptop and mobile devices. Editing, saving and sharing files via the cloud with colleagues or customers is never a problem. This gives productivity a positive boost.
• Because an IT infrastructure creates overview and insight, it becomes easier to put security in order and keep it that way. 

An IT infrastructure is interesting and important for almost any type of organisation. But companies with a large and complex IT landscape benefit from it the most. With a good IT infrastructure, it is much easier to coordinate all components of a complex IT ecosystem and ensure that everything continues to run smoothly. 

What does an IT infrastructure consist of? 

An IT infrastructure consists of various building blocks and components that together form a well-oiled whole. 

Hardware

Hardware is all the physical components and devices responsible for maintaining and using the IT infrastructure. For a self-employed person, that may be no more than a computer and printer, but larger companies have a lot more hardware in-house. Think of multiple PCs and laptops, servers, routers, cables, printers and headphones. With services such as IaaS and PaaS, most of the hardware is in a data centre and the service provider is responsible for managing it. 

Software

Software forms the second layer of an IT infrastructure. Software runs on hardware and is a central and indispensable element for all IT operations within an organisation. The operating systems that run on your devices? The applications that employees work with on a daily basis? And the detection and antivirus software you use to keep your systems and network safe? All examples of software. 

The network

The network connects all hardware and software components into a well-functioning whole. Regulating your network also determines who can and may do what within your IT environment. A network can contain both hardware and software elements. For example: 

• Various connectivity solutions that ensure a good connection to public and private cloud facilities.
• Network applications such as firewalls, routers, and switches. These are often available as software. Think, for example, of software-defined firewalls and SDN solutions.
• Application interfaces that you use to configure the network or regulate roles, access rights and bandwidth allocation. 

Datacenter

In a virtualised infrastructure, the physical hardware is usually located in a data centre rather than in your own business building. We are clearly seeing a shift towards data as a service (DaaS). This means that a data centre takes care of everything for an organisation when it comes to setting up and managing the IT infrastructure and the data centre landscape. 

1. On-premises

An on-premises infrastructure means that the server(s) and all other hardware and software are located or run on your premises. The infrastructure is mainly managed by an in-house team or (in the case of larger companies) by the company’s own IT department.  

Does a company with an on-premise infrastructure have multiple sites? If so, each location often has its own IT team, which promotes silo formation and data fragmentation. An IT infrastructure that is entirely on-premises is becoming increasingly rare due to the rapid rise of cloud computing.  

2. Cloud-based infrastructure

The name says it all: a cloud-based infrastructure is largely located and operated in the cloud. This can be in a public cloud, but also in one or more private clouds. A combination of both is also possible, as is a hybrid form in which many applications and hardware are in the cloud, but where an organisation also manages some components of the infrastructure on-premises. 

3. (Hyper)converged

Another option is (hyper)converged. This type of infrastructure addresses fragmentation and groups all related IT components into a centralised hub. Although converged and hyperconverged have the same goal and partly use the same approach, there are differences between the two.  

Converged infrastructures are a preconfigured combination of different, stand-alone components that function as a single system. Hyperconverged goes one step further and consists of a single component that combines compute and (local) storage. Another difference is that converged takes a hardware- and building block-oriented approach, while hyperconverged is entirely software-defined. 

4. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a cloud service that provides key computing, storage and network resources on demand. Your virtualised IT infrastructure runs on physical hardware in an external data centre. The maintenance and management (updates, uptime guarantee, security, backups and recovery, providing the necessary technical conditions for developing and running applications) of the physical hardware and virtualised infrastructure is the responsibility of the cloud provider.  

In the IaaS model, the cloud provider owns and manages the hardware and software, and also owns or leases the data centre. If you have an IaaS solution, you lease resources such as computing power or storage. You configure them according to your requirements and pay for the resources your organisation actually uses. 

5. Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) means that you define and manage your IT infrastructure using code. It is a method for creating a programmable infrastructure. As a result, hardly any manual actions are required and IT services can be delivered faster. IaC makes it possible to quickly roll out IT environments across multiple environments and easily track infrastructure changes centrally.  

6. Composable disaggregated infrastructure

This is a variant of converged that uses on-premises components. It is an emerging technology that enables physical data centres to behave like a virtual server, allowing them to allocate resources on demand. This infrastructure is powered by high-speed, low-latency networks that enable rapid resource allocation and minimal downtime. 

Tips for making the most of your IT infrastructure 

But how can you get the most out of it? Take advantage of the tips and best practices below. 

Visualise your current situation 

Start by creating an overview of your current systems and infrastructure. How did you set everything up? What about interdependencies? Do you have sufficient insight and overview? And does the current IT infrastructure still match your ambitions in terms of speed, technology, robustness and future-proofing? 

These questions will give you an idea of the maturity level of your infrastructure. By determining and comparing the current and desired maturity levels, it becomes easier to make the right choice for a certain type of infrastructure. 

Determine how much time management will take 

Think carefully about how much time you need to manage an IT infrastructure. And especially how much expertise and manpower you have at your disposal. This will help you decide whether you can manage things yourself or whether it might be better to outsource some or all of the work. 

Create ownership

Establish clear ownership of the IT infrastructure and systems. Make sure there is a clear picture of who is responsible for crucial infrastructure issues such as problem solving, technical performance, expansions and budget management. Setting up a 'centre of excellence' can help to build a bridge between technology and business and to distribute all responsibilities effectively. 

Migrating to the cloud? Create a road map 

Do you want to migrate all or parts of your IT infrastructure to the cloud? If so, draw up a clear plan of action and a clear road map. Will you carry out the migration in small steps or move as much as possible to the cloud in a short period of time? How will you plan the migration so that there is minimal disruption to daily processes? And when will you do what? 

Invest in backup and disaster recovery

Backup and disaster recovery are two aspects of infrastructure management that you should definitely not overlook. A robust backup and disaster recovery plan and policy, supported by tools such as off-site storage servers, alternative backup networks and cloud data backups protect your infrastructure and business continuity. 

Regularly evaluate and update 

Regularly review your IT infrastructure. This way you keep it flexible, reliable, safe and technically up to date. 

Invest in the underlying connectivity 

Without robust and secure connections, IT infrastructure is useless. It is therefore important to invest in excellent underlying connectivity, the connecting link between all IT services. Excellent connectivity, which you can create with fibre optics, redundant connections and a VPN, for example, ensures that you can easily, securely and quickly establish connections between different systems and infrastructure components. Essential for employees who work together, but also for communication and cooperation with suppliers and partners. 

About Eurofiber

Eurofiber is a leading provider of digital infrastructure in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. With our highly meshed fibre-optic network and 11 data centres, we are laying the foundation for the digital society in the countries in which we operate. Thanks to our open network, redundant fibre-optic connections, high-quality data centres and powerful cloud hub, Eurofiber offers all the building blocks for a robust, modern and future-proof IT infrastructure under one roof.