Hi..I am trying to setup the data center for my company. It is a startup company and will scale to around 150 employees.

Hi..I am trying to setup the data center for my company. It is a startup company and will scale to around 150 employees. My question is what all components i should look at ? Is there any ready reckoner or something which i can refer to the same.

What all server components to look at eg Domain controller, file server, email server etc.?
What all Data center management tools to look at?
Some good points where already made, will you be a Windows or Linux shop... I mean, you should choose which is closest to your skill to insure adequate control and independance in regards to management of your technology infrastructure.

Then, here are some of the key elements you absolutly need as a minimum:
- network switches should be of the manageable type
- a segmented network for users
- a segmented network for servers
- a segmented network for development servers or staging
- a DMZ network
- if you are publishing web apps as a living, then you need a coporate DMZ, an application server DMZ and a data DMZ + an adequate load balancing environment
- a pair of redundant firewalls
- an email server
- a file server
- a file/application server dedicated to HR and accounting
- an identity management/access control server (such has a domain controller)
- a VPN server
- a web server
- an antispam gateway
- an anti-virus management server
- a user web filtering gateway
- a backup/archiving server
- an audit & log centralization server
- adequate UPS (N+1)
- adequate and redundant AC
- All of this should be composed of rackable equipement obviously

Useful options often needs even at early stage:
- Timesheet application
- a CRM (saleforce.com for example or Symantec ACT!)
- an helpdesk application (Numara Software -Track It v.8)

When making decision, just remember that data storage needs constantly expands, make sure that your email server and file servers use exapandable network storage such has NAS, disk array or even a small SAN if you can afford it.

And the best data center management is probably Visio :) eheh I mean, you don't and won't need an HP Openview so if you can spare the expense, at least use Visio do document schematics and insure adequate architectural (both physical and logical) documentation.

I hope this will help you make your decisions, contact me if you need clarifications, have a great day!

SInce your company is going to be a new startup, besides desktop infrastructure, you can think of a single good config server along with virtualization solution like Vmware Infrastructure starter. this would allow you to run and provision multiple virtual machines on a single physical h/w, thus keeping the spread of H/W to minimal and so the cost for ongoing AMC. These virtual machines may include domain controller for authentication, File server, Antivirus & WSUS server for pushing AV updates & security patches etc..
For your size of organization, instead of hosting an internal mail server, it would be cost effective to go with externally hosted solution like "rediff Professional hosting services" they offer a easy, simple yet reliable mail service at a good cost advantage compared to what you will spend hosting internally ( considering implementation and ongoing maintenence cost)

On network front, you would require atleast a router (could be with built in firewall option) for terminating your internet connection and further switch and cabling infrastructure.

I hope you would be keen on license compliance, in such case work out a good deal with MS under MOLP (Open licensing program) for your desktop licenses and Windows CALS.

For AV, there are some cheap options like quickheal serving SMB market but it is good to have a reliable product like MCAfee who have a quick turn around time for any new breeds of viruses and trojans.

I hope my one doller worth comments come to your use.

Let me offer an answer by re-writing your question:

I'm trying to build a house. I expect it to have 10 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and cable throughout. What sort of filtering system should I use for the pool? Do I need a video surveillance system?

Does that scare you just a little bit?

I'm not a home builder, and would never try to build one without the help of a competent architect and building crew - there's just too much involved, and getting it wrong is a waste of resources.

Find a competent systems infrastructure professional to help you with this.

Certainly they should consult with you as they work - what portions start out small and expand as the company expands, what portions do you need to build out initially, how's the budget look, etc.

Every company is different and while past experience helps guide things, cookie cutter environments generally don't work.

Use LinkedIn to ask your local connections who they've had good experiences with and then talk to a couple of them.

Hope things work out for you,
You should focus in the services you're plannig to give to this users and plan for your foreseen growth.
I can assume that you'll be needing some Directory Service, mail, groupware, file sharing, some database, some intranet web servers and a firewall. These days you can provide all of this services with one server computer or two (for a workload of 150 users) but it's better to split the services in two or three computers. I don't think you need a DataCenter Management tool for that.

Don't over look the infrastructure. Calculate current and future requirements for rack space, power and kvm switches. The latter two come in manageable flavors.

Power devices from APC, CyberPower are cost efficient and even kvm vendor centric solutions are available for remote power control at a premium.

KVM is a different story. KVMoIP is the industry's favorite but it falls short of user throughput and real time control for local use. Think about scalability now so you don't have to replace or compensate later. The lattest Cat 5 switches provide it all - user throughput, scalability and enough user data paths for real time local access and remote access using a KVMoIP appliance. You can start with a 2 or 4 x 16 or 32 matrix depending on how fast you expect to grow in support personnel and servers. Managed KVM devices of the cat 5 type include Avocent's AMX and Rose Electronics Xtensys at about half the price. These switching solutions can also be used for hardware security and remote desktop support services if you're limited on manpower and can budget for the hardware.

would start the other way around:

what do you and your (future) employees need to be able to do your primary jobs?

Something a lot of people, not only IT specialists forget: IT is _just_ a tool to do your job (hopefully) more efficiently. In most businesses it shouldn't be the technology itself that is fascinating, but what you can do with it.

Don't lose sight of that.

Second thing: How many people work there now, and how quickly will that number realistically grow?
Because planning/investing for growth that will never occur is much more expansive then redesigning for growth that was larger then expected (even though the dollar amount will be higher). Although sometimes the cost comes before the benefit, I'm old-school: you shouldn't spend money you have earned yet.

From you're job description you're in the insurance business.

I know very little of your business, but as far is I understand life insurance either you'll try to sell directly to the policy owners, or use brokers as intermediaries. You can be your own isurance company or just be a reseller for even larger insurance companies.

In most starting companies there are two important things (besides getting investor money and/or loans): generating sales, and sending out bills and actually collecting money.

You know best what tools you need for that.

You may have a number of people doing call center work, answering questions from customers or your brokers. That setup can be simple, just a telephone and semi knowledgeable person with a computer. Or you can have intelligent switch boards which will allow callers to enter their customer number and have their details appear on-screen when their call is transfered to your staff.

You may have a large number of sales people in the field visting potential clients. Each with their own laptop. Will they need to be in touch with your main office continuously, or daily and what kind of information will they need to exchange.

Will you lose revenue when your sales people can't connect for 1 hour, half or maybe a whole day? Or do they just upload their leads and filled-in forms at a later point in time and will it make little difference when your (new) customers will receive their printed offers a day later then usual?

Or your sales people may just work from their own offices with a desktop computer and their phone and fax machines. Or will they walk down from their office to meeting rooms to meet up with new/existing clients and carry a laptop computer. Can they work from their laptop computers or is a live network connection essential.

You may use specialized software. If well designed for a multi-user environment it will rely on a server. Whatever you do have back-ups of that data!

Will you need to send out large numbers of bills every month? High volume printing is an art in itself, especially when you need to fold the bills and wrap them in envelopes.

Will multiple people work from the same desk/workstation or will it just be one person one desk, one computer? Do your staff need to be able to log on from a different desk and still get all their personal files and settings?

Now this day and age you can't do without IT. When IT doesn't work it will cost you revenue. How much is one measure to decide how to invest in your IT.

You know best what _you_ need for _your_ business. From your needs will follow a set of required and usefull tools. E-mail, worstations, laptops, remote-access, a website, coffe vending machine, printers, a "build-your-policy-online" web application, telephone switchboard, a toll free number, file server(s), database server(s) firewalls, internet access or not etc. etc. Start with your needs not with tools and technology.

From there you can decide if it will be worthwhile to hire an IT specialist now, or real soon or outsource everything to (small) local service company with in-house specialists for office automation and the works.

I think you need to start with your mission critical or core application. This will give you a starting for the servers that you need to install. Don't want to start with Windows Servers if you need AS400s.