After completion of the Capabilities Audit, Requirements Definition, and Gap Analysis, you have the knowledge you need to develop your Storage Architecture Plan. The Storage Architecture Plan enables you to solve any problems identified during the Gap Analysis, and serves as the basis for future technology acquisitions and planning. The plan defines all relevant infrastructure components required to support the new strategy, as well as best practices and a properly aligned operational model.

Chi Corporation offers several options within the Architecture Design Service. We can assist you in developing an overall storage management strategy for the enterprise, or for a specific storage technology such as SAN, backup, near-line storage, off-line storage, and others. You can also choose between a Functional Architecture or a Detailed Architecture.
Functional Architecture. If you choose the Functional Architecture option, Chi Corporation and partner consultants develop either a single architecture or multiple architectures depending on your needs. Multiple architectures are sometimes requested for various budget and performance targets. Either way, you receive either an RFP ready for issue to vendors or a high-level design document, which includes drawings and suggested configurations, for your organization to use internally. In addition, the Functional Architecture identifies various vendors that, based on Chi Corporation's experience, are best able to solve the issues of redundancy, scalability, performance, and compatibility with retained legacy assets that might have been defined in the Gap Analysis.

Detailed Architecture. If you require the Detailed Architecture, Chi Corporation and partner consultants provide the Functional Architecture as a preliminary deliverable, which is used as a basis for the Detailed Architecture — a definition of the specific solution components which must be included in the final operational solution. Upon completion of the Detailed Architecture, you will be in a position to issue POs to final vendors when the test plan is complete.
The steps required to complete the Detailed Architecture include development of a solution prototype and test plan, execution of the test, fine tuning of the prototype, and final acceptance. Project scope is negotiable within this packaged service offering. For instance, you may engage us for comprehensive assistance throughout the final design work, or you may wish to have us assist you only in development of the prototype and test plan, performing the testing and completing the project internally.