Digital Transformation: Cloud-First Programs

Strategic Communications offers State, Local and Education (SLED) agencies an avenue for streamlined cloud procurement and digital transformation through NASPO ValuePoint! Through Strategic’s NASPO ValuePoint Cloud Catalog, SLED agencies have the capability to order and deploy a multitude of cloud solutions in supporting their IT infrastructure, platforms, and applications. These solutions cover a very broad range of services such as cloud-based phone systems, unified communications, enterprise resource planning (ERP) modules, network and email security, and desktop as a service.

To learn more about NASPO ValuePoint Cloud Solutions contract and how your agency can participate please visit https://www.yourstrategic.com/naspo-valuepoint/.

CAPEX vs OPEX with Buy-Back of On-Premises Assets

For CIOs and CFOs, comparing CAPEX (on-premises hardware expenses) against OPEX (pay-as-you-go cloud model) has both performance and financial implications effecting mission-critical processes. As uncertainty of the recent pandemic grows, the realization for real-time autoscaling, provisioning and deployment of IT resources takes center stage.

Both CIOs and CFOs are looking at performance, security, and long-term financial impact of migrating to a cloud-first strategy. In partnering with Tech Data, Strategic Communications transforms your CAPEX into OPEX with our IT Asset Disposition Services! It’s really simple, we buy-back your existing on-premises data center equipment, maximize product life value, and re-purpose the funds in going toward your cloud-first initiatives.

Our IT Asset Disposition Services include:

Refurbishment Services

Certified technicians provide comprehensive repair and refurbishment services for the full spectrum of IT products down to the component level, including:

Servers
Storage
Networks
Hard drives
Circuit boards
Desktop and laptop computers
Computer peripherals
Telecommunications, broadband and point-of-sale products

By repairing more parts, you reduce the amount you need to manufacture and have fewer in circulation at end of life. You work with a single provider who handles the full IT lifecycle of their technology assets.

We provide you with an experienced and dedicated account management team and secure customer portal login. Our customer-centric operations deliver complete visibility into all equipment and sales results, as well as a single point of contact for scheduling, tracking and reporting on nationwide activities. We work collaboratively to develop services for designing and implementing strategic ITAD solutions that are tailored to your needs. Your account management team will:

Provide trade-in or buyback quotes
Manage the revenue share program
Deliver reporting associated with the revenue share program
Monitor end-to-end solution payments
Work with the project managers who are quoting and selling the product
Oversee the auditing

Pre-Build Solutions (AWS and Microsoft)

Strategic’s AWS and Microsoft Azure Cloud Pre-Build solutions are part of Tech Data’s Cloud Solutions Factory which includes a broad set of IT and business solutions practices. These solutions leverage leading cloud providers, including Microsoft Cloud and Amazon Web Services, and its vast ecosystem of independent software vendors (ISVs), and aggregate additional solutions, components, and licensing. Our Pre-Build solutions help scale public and private businesses seamlessly to support their rapidly growing cloud needs, streamline services with provisioning, management, support tools and deliver business outcomes, enabling valuable long-term relationships.

Strategic’s Pre-Build Solutions include:

Strategic’s SQL Server on RHEL is a high-performance solution combination for consolidating current, and new generation applications and their respective data management stacks It provides the accelerated database performance critical for meeting modern demands. With this solution comes lower total cost of ownership and a quicker return on investment. All required features are built in, including memory capabilities, security, migration tools, and high availability/disaster recovery at no extra cost you can avoid extra licenses, training time, and hardware costs while ensuring that your initial investment in SQL Server pays off.

Strategic’s NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP is a preconfigured, click to run solution all bundled in a pay per use package. NetApp’s Cloud Volumes ONTAP is a powerful, cost effective and easy to use solution for enterprise cloud storage Cloud Volumes ONTAP takes the same enterprise data management software and data protection capabilities that businesses have depended on for years and brings them into the cloud.

End of Support for Windows Server 2008 / 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 / 2008 R2

In 2020, Microsoft ended support for SQL and Windows 2008 and 2008 R2 servers. Microsoft granted customers taking part in Software Assurance or Server Subscription services with Extended Security Updates (ESUs) for those servers covering only “critical” or “important” security updates. In migrating SQL and Windows 2008/2008 R2 into Cloud, customers gained 3 additional years of “critical” and “important” security patches, even after the End-of-Support (EoS) deadline.

Strategic’s team of cloud engineers roadmap lifecycle management of your Microsoft Servers in performing seamless migrations of on-premise servers into the cloud! Extend the life of your on-premises EoS Microsoft Servers while mitigating critical security breaches of your data.

RiverMeadow Cloud Migration Services

Strategic Communications partners with RiverMeadow in offering an array of robust cloud migration services for AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud! Our expanded cloud migration capabilities include:

Private Cloud Deployments

Data Seeding

Database Migration

Enhanced VMware Use Case

Block vs File Level Storage

UEFI Support

Data Only Migration

NFS Migration

CSV Mass Migration

Workload Placement and Cost Analysis Assessment

Most IT organizations are increasingly involved in determining optimal workload placement.
Should workloads stay on premise? Move to a public or private cloud or be deployed in a
hybrid environment? The top three criteria for deciding which workloads to deploy, where
and at what time are – security, performance requirements and cost. Strategic Communications offers Workload Placement and Cost Analysis Assessment services as a great starting point for understanding your “as-is” environment. Also, our services address your concerns for migrating a workload that will reduce costs and increase business agility.

How the assessment service works:

Conduct comprehensive workload analysis to discover system elements and
Leverage best practices and proprietary/ 3rd party tools to simplify the process.
Document the migration project specifications.
Analyze costs based on migration options and determine the right destination.
Gain newfound perspective and next steps for achieving goals.

Well Architected Reviews with CloudCheckr

Strategic Communications partners with CloudCheckr in offering Well Architected Reviews for AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud customers! With CloudCheckr CMx, Strategic’s cloud engineers delivers total visibility into infrastructures and organizational management—by individuals, teams, and roles. With the ability to unify disparate data sources across an enterprise, businesses achieve immediate and actionable insights on how to run and scale public cloud infrastructure.

Compliance Audits & Remediation in Preparation for New CMMC Requirements

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Configuration (CMMC) framework is a unified standard for implementing cybersecurity across the defense industrial base (DIB), which includes over 300,000 companies in the supply chain. The CMMC is the DoD's response to significant compromises of sensitive defense information located on contractors' information systems. Strategic Communications provides products and solutions (both on-premises and cloud-hosted) meeting CMMC requirements for DoD agencies.

The CMMC framework consists of 5 cumulative certification levels:

Level One

Basic Cyber Hygiene

Level One: Basic Cyber Hygiene:

Includes basic cybersecurity appropriate for small companies utilizing a subset of universally accepted common practices. The processes at this level would include some performed practices, at least in an ad hoc manner. This level has 35 security controls that must be successfully implemented.

Level Two

Intermediate Cyber Hygiene

Level 2: Intermediate Cyber Hygiene

Includes universally accepted cybersecurity best practices. Practices at this level would be documented, and access to CUI data will require multi-factor authentication. This level includes an additional 115 security controls beyond that of Level 1.

Level Three

Good Cyber Hygiene

Level Three: Good Cyber Hygiene:

Includes coverage of all NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 1 controls and additional practices beyond the scope of current CUI protection. Processes at this level are maintained and followed, and there is a comprehensive knowledge of cyber assets. This level requires an additional 91 security controls beyond those covered in Levels 1 and 2.

Level Four

Proactive

Level Four: Proactive:

Includes advanced and sophisticated cybersecurity practices. The processes at this level are periodically reviewed, properly resourced, and are improved regularly across the enterprise. In addition, the defensive responses operate at machine speed and there is a comprehensive knowledge of all cyber assets. This level has an additional 95 controls beyond the first three Levels.

Level Five

Advanced / Progressive

Level Five: Advanced / Progressive:

Includes highly advanced cybersecurity practices. The processes involved at this level include continuous improvement across the enterprise and defensive responses performed at machine speed. This level requires an additional 34 controls.

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