| Office space consolidation is a great idea, regardless | | | | their own switches?o What about Internet access for |
| of the economy. When dealing with subleasing or | | | | the subtenants? Will they share yours, or can you |
| selling the space, however, there are a few issues you | | | | segregate them and put them on their own DSL or |
| should take into consideration regarding the physical | | | | cable modem circuit?o Does your telephone system |
| and logical segregation of your IT infrastructure. | | | | allow you to bill separately for the phones in the |
| Regarding your business, consider the following: Have | | | | sublease space? Or will you charge the tenants a flat |
| you conducted an IT assets audit? A network security | | | | rate?o Will the subtenants be allowed off-hours |
| audit? We recommend performing an IT assets | | | | access to the space? What about access to the IT |
| network security audit annually and whenever major | | | | closet?o Will the tenants have access to your printers |
| changes occur--office moves, consolidations, prior to | | | | or faxes? We find that Sharing high-end color printers, |
| switching accounting systems, after mass layoffs, et | | | | scanners, plotters, et cetera can be a real Challenge, |
| cetera. | | | | especially if these resources are set up in the default |
| Other points for consideration:o When you move your | | | | "we Trust all network traffic modes".o Does your |
| employees/staff, are you organizing them by current | | | | office have wifi (wireless Internet) access? If so, have |
| lines of business or future growth strategies? Make | | | | you locked it down and secured it? Does it allow |
| sure to leave room for staff growth, as the last thing | | | | unfettered access to your network assets or is the |
| you'd want to do is constrain your business expansion | | | | wireless traffic shunted to an untrusted zone?o Will |
| plans.o An office consolidation is a disruption in your | | | | you allow your subtenants access to your wireless |
| business processes. Are you poised to take | | | | network? Allow them to set up their own? |
| advantage of it? This is a great opportunity to | | | | Finally, if you are selling off space, consider the |
| re-evaluate your technology needs and increase | | | | following issues:o When selling off space, you must |
| productivity. For instance, if your PCs are three to five | | | | absolutely ensure that the network and telecom wiring |
| years old, this is a great time to look at upgrading or | | | | is segregated off your network.o If you can partition or |
| replacing older, slower systems. And if your staffs | | | | physically isolate your IT closet, great. If not, you may |
| have become more mobile, you may be better off | | | | have to get those cables re-run into a new IT closet/IT |
| switching over to laptops. Also, if you have legacy | | | | space.o For a whole host of security, reliability and |
| servers in your wiring closet or IT room, have you | | | | compliance reasons, you must ensure that no one in |
| considered consolidating them into smaller, faster | | | | the sold-off space can access your network and |
| servers? Server virtualization is a great way to | | | | telephone systems. You cannot control what the |
| combine several separate systems into one or two | | | | buyers will do in their space, so you must ensure that |
| physical systems. | | | | your wired and wireless networks, servers and |
| When it comes to subleasing, consider the following:o Is | | | | desktops are safe and secure. |
| your wiring plant (the network and telephone cables | | | | Overall, to maximize ROI, when performing changes to |
| that run throughout your space and converge into the | | | | your IT infrastructure, pay attention to the operating |
| telephone closet or IT room) set up such that you can | | | | expenses, not just capital expenditures. Over time, |
| physically isolate and segregate the network and | | | | reasonable investments in capex can lead to significant |
| telecommunications jacks in the sublease space into | | | | decreases in opex. |