DCO/HIMS is composed of the following Data center outsourcing services: Managed services for traditional data center (DC) environments: Mainframe managed services ERP hosting managed services Managed servers and network equipment Managed services for hosted and private cloud infrastructure Managed services for public cloud and edge environments: Hybrid infrastructure managed services Data center consolidation and transformation services Cloud migration services This complex set of data center capabilities and services is increasingly based on managed virtual private cloud services plus hyperscale public cloud services. It is managed via a mix of remote infrastructure management (RIM) services leveraging traditional tools, cloud management platforms (CMPs), and intelligent automation and/or hyperautomation.
Hardware (HW) maintenance contracts for data center and network equipment may cover hardware replacement, on-site field engineering, technical support and proactive monitoring. The focus of this market is on the independent, third-party market for data center and network maintenance. This is maintenance provided independently from the OEMs, often referred to as 'TPM' (third-party maintenance), 'unauthorized maintenance' or 'alternative maintenance.' A hybrid maintenance strategy — using OEM-authorized and OEM-independent maintenance — is becoming more common in the hardware support market, with a thriving ecosystem of independent support providers for server, storage and networking equipment. End-user customers are selectively using TPMs to cost-effectively extend the life of IT assets, control OEM-forced upgrades, and save money.
Network automation platforms are products that automate and orchestrate multiple vendors’ network functionality. These platforms support a broad range of capabilities including provisioning, deprovisioning, orchestration, troubleshooting, operations, workflow, configuration management, event-driven automation, validation and reporting. These platforms are well-suited to add value on top of existing point network automation tools by orchestrating end-to-end network workflows across existing automation tools. Network automation platforms interact directly with network devices, other automation and orchestration tools, network management systems/controllers, and/or network services. These platforms increase agility and efficiency of network infrastructure while lowering costs, reducing the amount of manual human errors, and improving compliance with required rules, regulations and laws.