What is IT Infrastructure?

Information technology infrastructure is everything you use to build and run software applications. It includes hardware, networking components, your operating system, data storage, and the various software that an organization uses to deliver IT services and run internal software solutions. Traditionally, IT infrastructure management required heavy up-front investment and complex self-purchase arrangements. It also required you to perform your own complex maintenance and upgrades. With the advent of cloud computing, third-party cloud providers can fully manage most IT infrastructure requirements. Organizations now have the flexibility to choose which infrastructure components to purchase outright and which to use as a cloud service.

IT infrastructure is the collection of all software, hardware, networks, and connected services that make up an organization's IT environment. Each component of the IT infrastructure provides distinct services and adds to the overall system's efficiency. A wide range of hardware and software components make up the entire IT infrastructure system.

IT hardware

IT hardware refers to all the physical machines and devices an organization uses in its IT environment. Storage devices, physical servers, and other devices that provide a business with operational IT resources fall into the IT hardware category. Endpoint devices such as computers, phones, and tablets all fall into this category.

IT software

Software IT infrastructure includes these:

• Operating systems
• Middleware
• Databases
• Application servers
• Customer relationship management (CRM) software
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software
• Content management systems
• Virtualization software

IT software also includes other types of system resources that facilitate data exchange, such as API gateways, host applications, and other services otherwise critical to an organization's IT systems.

Data centers

Data centers are locations that house a range of physical hardware devices. They usually also contain other physical hardware components, such as cooling equipment and security systems. On-premises data centers are expensive to set up and maintain.

Read about data centers »

Network infrastructure

Network infrastructure allows organizations to connect to the internet and establish connections between different offices or data centers. You use networking equipment to transmit and receive information using the internet, local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), load balancers, and network protocols. Cabling and network devices are included in this category.

Cloud services

Cloud services are the platforms, software, and IT infrastructure solutions that a third-party provider offers to your organization. You can use software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications instead of running local applications. Similarly, you could use infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) to access IT infrastructure in the cloud, reducing the need for on-premises servers.

Cloud infrastructure can also include the Internet of Things (IoT) orchestration and edge computing. Edge computing moves cloud computing and storage infrastructure closer to its users. The purpose of cloud-based IoT orchestration at the edge is to reduce network latency and bandwidth requirements and better manage the flow of data generated by distributed IoT environments.

Read about IAAS »

Security infrastructure

You can find security IT infrastructure embedded in every level of IT architecture. You use it to better protect, encrypt, and safeguard your data. Authentication and authorization systems, detection and prevention systems, and encryption protocols are all in the infrastructure security category. Security infrastructure also incorporates data privacy controls, tools for creating and monitoring audit trails, and automated compliance guardrails. Firewalls, hardware security modules, smart cards, and other security hardware are also covered in security infrastructure.

There are several different types of IT infrastructure you can use and engage with.

Traditional infrastructure

In a traditional IT infrastructure model, an organization owns all the IT architecture it uses. That means they process and store all data within servers inside their own facilities or on-premises data centers. This model doesn't use services or infrastructure from outside providers.

Although traditional infrastructure using on-premises hardware may offer some security benefits, it's costly to set up and requires significant upkeep and physical space.

Cloud infrastructure

Cloud infrastructure refers to the computing resources you can access over the internet. You rent or lease scalable cloud resources in a pay-as-you-go model rather than buying and maintaining your own hardware. Cloud infrastructure offers flexibility, scalability, and a high degree of security for businesses.

The most common way to do so is to partner with a public cloud provider such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). The cloud provider purchases and maintains all the IT infrastructure, and you access it through virtualization. You can use all IT resources as fully managed services, with the cloud service provider maintaining the IT infrastructure.

Alternatively, you can establish a private cloud by pooling your on-premises data center resources for internal use. You can also deploy a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), which provides a secure, logically isolated private cloud environment hosted within a public cloud provider's existing infrastructure.

Hybrid infrastructure

In a hybrid cloud IT infrastructure model, you have local resources but also use cloud services to strengthen or close gaps in your capabilities. You can set up an IT environment that combines resources from multiple cloud providers and on-premises data centers to efficiently and cost-effectively meet specific requirements.

Services running on various types of IT infrastructure support many personal and business activities. Here are some of the primary benefits of using modern IT infrastructure for your services:

Reduced downtime

Modern IT infrastructure, especially cloud infrastructure, helps streamline new server provisioning and is highly resilient. Organizations that need highly available services, such as in healthcare and financial services, use this IT infrastructure to help maintain business continuity.

Greater security

IT infrastructure security tools help protect your sensitive data and IT assets. For example, tools such as firewalls, updated antivirus software, intrusion detection systems, access controls, and other monitoring tools help organizations maintain a secure operating environment.

Real-time decision-making

Current IT infrastructure tools allow for efficient, nearly continuous data ingestion and analysis.

Faster networks

Many organizations now depend on network speed and reliability for their everyday, modern business operations, collaboration tools, and data analysis. Modern IT infrastructure components are designed to lower network latency and automate load balancing. This helps prioritize network traffic for necessary applications and provides users and customers with a more consistent experience, regardless of the current workload.

Increased innovation

Software development teams using DevOps that work with flexible architectures, such as microservices supported by cloud IT infrastructure, can streamline their development cycles and release business applications more steadily. Upgraded infrastructure enables businesses to perform data management efficiently, helping them more easily observe how customers interact with new products or features.

Most organizations now rely on IT infrastructure for many of their core business processes. Here are several common use cases:

Cloud computing

Cloud computing delivers virtual resources and services over the internet. This is made possible through the use of specialized network components, scalable data storage solutions, and virtualization software that allows cloud providers to deliver a broad range of services.

DevOps and continuous deployment

Modern IT infrastructure enables agile work methodologies, which have become popular among DevOps teams. Flexible cloud architectures support the use of modular architectures and continuous deployment pipelines. Development teams can collaborate in real time, shorten software development cycles, and release application updates more consistently.

IT operations

IT operations is the monitoring, management, and maintenance of IT infrastructure. It is increasingly supported by Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps). AIOps applies machine learning models to monitor and manage the massive volumes of critical data generated by key IT components. The AIOps approach can help organizations automate routine maintenance tasks, monitor system health proactively, and allocate optimal IT infrastructure.

Big data analytics

Big data analytics can help generate effective business insights, but it typically requires specialized, high-performance IT infrastructure. For example, you can use cloud services to help you manage massive, distributed data processing frameworks.

An optimized IT infrastructure can deliver high-performance, low-latency, and secure systems for organizations. You can optimize your current IT infrastructure by combining traditional approaches to infrastructure with support from cloud services. For example, you can use infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solutions.

You can use IaaS to access virtualized computing resources. By working with IaaS providers, you can use networks, servers, virtual machines, and storage systems that the cloud provider offers to you. IaaS offers a high degree of scalability, flexibility, and cost efficiency as it can rent more resources to accommodate a higher demand.

PaaS is another way to access a cloud provider's tools to support your business functions. PaaS is beneficial in development, as it provides a new environment where you can build, test, and deploy applications. PaaS providers also help automate development stages, which reduces the work you or your developers must do during setup.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers more than 200 fully featured IT infrastructure services from data centers around the globe. Millions of customers, including the fastest-growing start-ups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies, use AWS to lower costs, become more agile, and innovate faster.

AWS has significantly more services and more features within those services than any other cloud provider. This makes it faster, easier, and more cost-effective to move your existing applications to the cloud and build nearly anything you can imagine.

For example, here are different types of services you can use:

• Compute services on AWS for instances, containers, and serverless compute infrastructure
• Networking services on AWS for secure and reliable networking and content delivery
• Cloud storage services on AWS for reliable, scalable, and secure cloud storage

Get started with AWS cloud IT infrastructure by creating a free account today.