Infrastructure and hardware
Right-sized on-premises and hybrid infrastructure, specified honestly and supported locally.
- Practice area
- Infrastructure and operations
- Primary platform
- Dell
- Usually sponsored by
- IT managers
- Delivered from
- Accra, Ghana
Platforms sized against measured workload, procured through authorised channels, with a refresh plan agreed up front.
Dell, HP, and Oracle-aligned servers, storage, and networking for workloads that are not going to the cloud yet.
Why organisations ask for this work
These are the situations that lead to this conversation. If more than one is familiar, there is usually a case worth examining before anything is bought.
Over-specified hardware
Sizing came from a vendor configurator rather than from measured demand, and nobody could challenge it.
Grey-market equipment
Kit arrives without genuine warranty entitlement or a supported firmware path.
No operational plan
A server is installed with no agreed backup, patching, monitoring, or replacement horizon.
What this service covers
Not every workload belongs in a public cloud, and not every organisation is ready to move the ones that do. Latency-sensitive plant systems, applications with punishing cloud licensing, and sites where connectivity is not yet dependable all make a reasonable case for local compute.
The risk with on-premises procurement is over-specification. It is easy to sell a larger box than anyone needs, and difficult for a buyer to challenge. We size against measured workload rather than vendor configurators, document the assumptions, and show you the headroom you are paying for so the decision is yours.
Hardware is never delivered in isolation. Every infrastructure engagement includes how the platform will be backed up, patched, monitored, and eventually replaced — because a server without an operational plan becomes next year's problem.
Server and storage design
Platforms sized against measured workload, with documented growth headroom and refresh horizon.
Procurement through authorised channels
Genuine, warrantable equipment with supported firmware paths — not grey-market hardware.
Hybrid connectivity
Networking and identity designed so on-premises systems integrate cleanly with cloud services.
Virtualisation and consolidation
Consolidating ageing physical estates onto modern platforms to reduce footprint and failure points.
Deployment and documentation
Racking, configuration, and handover with as-built documentation your team can operate from.
Lifecycle and warranty support
Firmware, patching, warranty status, and refresh planning tracked over the life of the asset.
What you receive, and what changes
Every engagement produces written artefacts. They are listed here so the scope is agreed before work starts rather than interpreted afterwards.
Artefacts you receive
- Workload sizing analysis and bill of materials
- Physical and logical design documentation
- Installation, configuration, and as-built records
- Backup, patching, and monitoring integration
- Lifecycle plan with warranty and refresh dates
Outcomes to expect
- Capacity matched to real demand rather than a configurator default
- Supported, warrantable equipment with a clear firmware path
- On-premises systems that integrate cleanly with cloud identity and backup
- A refresh plan agreed before the hardware becomes a risk
How delivery runs
Each phase has a defined entry and exit point, so you always know what is being decided, by whom, and what happens next.
Measure
Actual compute, memory, storage, and I/O demand captured from the existing estate.
Specify
Options presented with cost, headroom, and trade-offs made explicit.
Deploy
Build, migrate, and integrate with backup and monitoring from day one.
Support
Lifecycle management, firmware currency, and refresh planning across the asset's life.
The technology this service touches
Platform choice follows the workload. These are the products most often involved in this practice area, and the vendor relationships behind them.
- Dell
- HP
- VMware
- Oracle
- Azure hybrid
Accredited means AAG Cloud Connect holds that vendor’s partner mark. Capability means we design, deliver, and support the platform without holding a formal partner designation for it. Both are stated plainly so nothing is implied by a logo.
Microsoft
Accredited partnerCloud platforms
The centre of our practice. We hold the Cloud Solution Provider relationship, so subscriptions, licensing advice, and first-line escalation sit with us.
VMware
Accredited partnerInfrastructure
Virtualisation for hybrid estates, including consolidation of ageing physical infrastructure onto supportable platforms.
Dell Technologies
Delivery capabilityInfrastructure
Server, storage, and client platforms sized against measured workload and procured through authorised channels.
HP
Delivery capabilityInfrastructure
Workplace hardware and print estates, including standardised device builds for organisations refreshing at scale.
Oracle
Delivery capabilityData platforms
Database and enterprise application platforms, where licensing and placement decisions carry real financial consequences.
Who this service is for
Work of this kind is normally sponsored by one of a small number of roles, each of whom is measured on something different.
- IT managers
- Operations leaders
- Procurement
CIOs and IT managers
You need architecture that your team can actually run, vendors consolidated, and a partner who escalates instead of deflecting.
CFOs and finance leaders
You need licence spend that reconciles, renewals without surprises, and a cost model you can defend in a budget review.
COOs and operations leaders
You need uptime, continuity that has been tested, and fewer working days lost to technology friction.
Measured
not estimated
Sizing from real demand
Compute, memory, storage, and I/O demand are captured from the existing estate before a bill of materials is produced, and the headroom you are paying for is shown explicitly so the decision stays yours. Every build is handed over with as-built documentation and integrated into backup, patching, and monitoring from day one.
This describes an engagement pattern typical of this service. It is not an account of a named client, and no figures here are drawn from a specific organisation.
Frequently asked
The questions organisations genuinely ask before committing budget to this work.
No. Hardware sits inside design, migration, backup, and support engagements. If a request is purely a box price with no context, we will still ask what it is for — the answer often changes the specification.
Primarily Dell and HP for server, storage, and client platforms, with Oracle for database and enterprise application workloads. Vendor selection follows the workload rather than a default preference.
It depends on the workload's latency needs, licensing, data gravity, and your connectivity reality. We model both and show you the total cost over the asset's life rather than comparing a purchase price against a monthly bill.
In most cases yes, subject to a condition and warranty review. We will tell you plainly if equipment is beyond supportable life.
Related services
These practice areas are commonly delivered alongside this one, because the gaps between them are where problems tend to appear.
Data protection and disaster recovery
Recovery objectives agreed per system, engineered, and then proven by scheduled restore tests.
View serviceMulti-cloud — AWS and Google Cloud
A complete, owned inventory of cloud accounts with consistent identity and guardrails across platforms.
View serviceManaged services and support
A named owner for your environment, with published severity-based response targets and a monthly review that drives change.
View service
Talk to us about Infrastructure
Send a short brief on where you are now with Infrastructure. You will get a considered response setting out what we would need to establish next, rather than a generic brochure.
Your enquiry will be tagged Infrastructure so it reaches the right specialist first time.