The service life cycle deals specifically with the technology side of the network. A lot of consideration needs to be put in up front, from the initial design and implementation to the operation of the network.

In the initial stages of the network, key decisions will include such areas as the following:

• Design authority and standards
• Data governance
• Configuration management
• Key management
• Testing processes

Once the network is ready for prime time, the operational aspect will then quickly surface:

• Infrastructure operation (network, server, storage)
• Changes, upgrades, release management, maintenance
• Business continuity plan, archiving, backups
• Security, controls, policy enforcement
• Capacity, scalability, and performance
• Incident and problem management