Our personalized services include, but are not limited to:

IT infrastructure audits, undertaken with:

• Physical onsite audits insure no equipment is unknown, or misidentified, under-reported or left behind

• Security is the main priority in ensuring all governance, risk and compliance standards are met

• Locations of systems are cataloged and serialized, with secure documentation provided

• Secure onsite decommissioning services available: data never leaves the datacenter

• Reports can be generated on-site, allowing customer decisions to be made quickly

• A fully traceable audit trail is provided for every serialized asset

We leverage industry standard Extreme Protocol Solutions (EPS) software to perform the following:

• Multiple deployment methods possible including network, onsite appliances and/or direct-to-machine using local boot devices

• All media types sanitized, including those supported by SATA, SAS, Fibre Channel and NVMe interfaces

• Industry standard NIST 800-88 and DoD 5220.22-M specifications are utilized

• Locked, un-editable reports are provided within a day of erasure completion

• Photo-documented drive destruction and shredding if required/desired

• Onsite erasure minimizes the security risk of data leaving facilities

Our asset recovery process is bolstered with the following onsite activities:

• Onsite take-outs and direct shipments to secondary market customers is an essential part of our unique, end-to-end services

• Decommissioned assets are tested, sanitized, and reconciled against asset lists versus audit

• An asset audit optimizes and memorializes any value reclaimed from deprecated assets

• Secondary market sales are rapidly undertaken

Migrate data and workloads with minimal downtime and maximum efficiency. Our systematic approach focuses on:

• Hardware remediation and testing completed prior to new infrastructure deployments to meet operational requirements

• We work in conjunction with teams and stakeholders to detail scope and schedule, honoring budget and time constraints

• Data Center and Colocation strategy and discovery, contract management, floor plan design, and structured cabling

• All migration schedules created with respect for outage windows and risk tolerance

• Insured logistics services for physical equipment moves

Network design/build/migration/expansion/contraction services include:

• Inclusive core network build-outs ranging from design through rack and stack, finishing at BGP pairing configuration with circuit provider

• Financially advantageous circuit sourcing for colocation facilities, cloud direct connect (AWS, GCP, Azure) and P2P links.

• Proven expertise with Juniper, Cisco, Arista, Aruba, Meraki, Brocade, Ubiquiti, Mellanox, Riverbed, F5 equipment

• Campus and office deployments of WLAN Aruba (RAP), Cisco/Meraki, Ubiquiti and Ruckus equipment.

• On-Prem and Cloud setup of configuration management tools for controller-based deployments.

• OSI model Layer 1 -3 design, deployment, and implementation onsite.

Corporate entities are leaning into “cloud” strategies, be it through establishment of their own cloud infrastructure, migration to a cloud provider (Amazon / Google / Microsoft) or a hybrid solution hosted through a datacenter provider. CSE assisted clients through such migrations and manages all phases of the process, from cost assessment, planning, architecture, and performance verification to actual physical implementation.

• Increased Reliability - Although dependent on the policy of the cloud provider, most underlying equipment (servers/network devices) is refreshed on a regular basis. Corporate presence generally sits on the most powerful, newest, feature-laden equipment as opposed to the CAPX costs of refreshing equipment on a normal 3-year depreciation cycle. Equipment upgrades are generally seamless, with minimal end-user downtime.

• Scalability - Major demand fluctuations in operating requirements can usually be quickly addressed by simply adding or removing readily available equipment.

• Disaster Recovery - Cloud hosting provides an integrated opportunity to spread the business environment across multiple, regionally diverse locations.

• Improved IT Resource Management - A majority of traditional IT resources are absorbed by routine maintenance tasks, (installing updates, maintenance, and troubleshooting faulty applications). Outsourcing basic operations allows IT resources to be devoted to helping company leverage the latest technology, develop new business applications, and drive innovation.

• Expansion of Talent Pool - Cloud migration makes it easy for employees to work from anywhere - allowing hiring to take place from anywhere also. Likewise, if valuable employees move away or simply prefer to work from home, there's no need to incur the costs of finding and training new talent.

In today’s unstable and rapidly changing markets, divestitures, spin-offs, carve-outs and splits allow the parent to refocus on core businesses and streamline operations. CSE assisted customers with IT transformation across multiple stages

of the divestiture/split pipeline.

• Physical inventory, relocation of assets, and buildout/consolidation/shutdown of previously separate IT infrastructures.

• Identification of underperforming assets, with sale of same recuperating any remaining value.

• Closing redundant or non-performing locations, with recovery of corresponding assets.

• Identification of programming, licensing and data to remain with each party.

• Identification and remediation of privacy and data integrity concerns.

• Assessment of IT needs in each corporate entity moving forward.

• Physical IT requirements of the separate entities.

Many companies today grow through the M&A process in order to quickly gain a foothold in a new market or consolidate their footprint in an existing market. CSE assisted customers with IT unification across multiple stages of the M&A pipeline.

• Value analysis of target IT infrastructure, management and personnel talent/capacity assessment.

• Negotiation assistance (merger costs, cost to upgrade target IT infrastructure).

• Complete integration of IT application and infrastructure.

• Due Diligence investigation of target IT infrastructure.

With the increasing emphasis on invasive information gathering and storage resulting in a proliferation of regulations, organizations are exposed to a greater degree of compliance risk than at any point in the past. A recent survey undertaken by recognized compliance experts found that fully 40% of companies perform no annual compliance risk assessment. As the ultimate holder of corporate data, the risk of compliance issues within the IT department cannot be overstated. CSE can help with these issues with both compliance audits and remediation. Among our major services:

• Software Management (Patches and Updates). The number of 3rd-party vulnerabilities in commercial and open-source software is increasing exponentially, with major (and highly visible) breaches traced to known vulnerabilities which third-party vendors simply failed to address by installing readily available patches.

• GDPR (European General Data Protection Regulation) which went into effect May 25, 2018, looks well beyond basic data security and into how an organization uses data and respects individual privacy. Non-compliance can cost a company up to 4 percent of global turnover [gross revenue]. Even without a current European presence, American companies can expect equally restrictive regulation in the not too distant future.

• EDI/vendor management. Up to 60 percent of all reported data breaches originated directly or indirectly from third-party vendors. Some of the most well-known data breaches, from Target (HVAC) to Home Depot (POS software on handheld devices) to Philips (payroll processor) originated as breaches at a third-party vendor.

According to IBM research, data breaches cost organizations on average a direct USD 3.8 million / 280 days to contain and remedy. The consequences of a breach are often widespread and affect daily operations and compliance. Direct remediation costs are compounded by brand reputation loss and customer flight. Among the comprehensive security audits we offer:

• IoT assessment and management. The explosive growth in the number of endpoints and interconnected devices brought about by the “Internet of Things” - from microwave ovens to consumer security cameras - created an incredible increase in corporate exposure. IoT security standards remain un-centralized and haphazard, creating a potentially huge number of new vulnerabilities in organizations’ networks. This digital-physical convergence is being seen across almost all industries. The proliferation and deep integration of such devices greatly expands potential threats to an organization’s network, and, most concerning, IoT endpoint vulnerabilities could ultimately lead to actual physical harm to individuals, not just financial harm.

• BYOD assessment and management. The introduction of “Bring Your Own Device” policies creates significant security vulnerabilities. Mobile device management protocols are key to oversight in this area as they provide the ability to remotely remove access to selected accounts or wipe a device. Corporate-critical data which may be present on these devices must be protected, and multifactor authentication is a must.

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