Sterling

Advisory Services

Gain expert guidance and tailored strategies for deploying, managing, and optimizing your IT infrastructure. From initial assessment to final implementation, Sterling provides end-to-end solutions for approaching every corner of the modern technology landscape.

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Expert Guidance for a Better Tomorrow

Sterling’s extensive portfolio of Advisory Services is designed to elevate your organization’s IT horizons. Leveraging deep technical expertise alongside a consultative, result-driven approach, we deliver customized solutions built for innovation, resilience, and seamless integration across your infrastructure. Our expert guidance spans the entire IT lifecycle, from insightful assessments and forward-thinking designs to skillful implementations and even robust residency options for long-term support. By partnering with Sterling, you’ll gain strategic insights and end-to-end technology solutions that drive your organization forward.

A Better Advisory Approach

We approach every advisory opportunity with extreme care and customer understanding, from first contact to final deployment (and beyond). We’re dedicated to enhancing your technical currency; cultivating knowledge and empowering your staff; and producing seamless, secure technology outcomes. Every step in our practical, four-pronged solutioning methodology is a milestone along your journey toward organizational success.

Discover

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Our process starts with an informal discussion between our two teams, followed by a series of in-depth assessments to identify any vulnerabilities, inefficiencies, or opportunities for growth.

Design

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Based on their findings, our experts develop forward-thinking strategies and blueprints for the ideal solution—with detailed timelines, milestones, and success criteria outlined.

Integrate

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Next, our team will ensure a seamless implementation of your chosen solution, verifying that everything is running correctly and at optimal performance.

Empower

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Throughout the process, we take a consultative approach, providing strategic insights, training, and expert advice from start to finish.

Advisory Specializations

Advisor speaking with client about AI readiness of their systems

AI Readiness

Our team assesses your overall environment—including aspects such as your data, infrastructure, and workforce—to identify any gaps or opportunities for improvement. We align your organization’s chosen AI strategy with measurable business outcomes, provide a detailed AI journey assessment and high-level roadmap, and then outline an estimate of the associated costs. Transforming broad initiatives into actionable steps, our strategic approach empowers your team to confidently embrace the full gamut of artificial intelligence capabilities—and, so doing, to achieve long-term organizational success.

Cybersecurity

Receive strategic direction for fortifying your digital defenses. Our certified engineers will conduct an in-depth assessment of your network, infrastructure, and security protocols to determine any vulnerabilities or threats that might exist. They will then draft a customized proposal—incorporating advanced solutions like next-gen firewalls, MFA, endpoint protection, and cloud security—with which to shore up your defenses, any such strategy closely aligned with key compliance frameworks like Zero Trust and NIST. With Sterling, then, benefit from strategic security planning, robust implementation, and the ongoing optimization of your environment—all of which will help you ensure resilience against today’s horde of evolving threats.
Cybersecurity advisor assessing client systems for vulnerabilities
IT professional assessing client infrastructure for advisement of where to improve

Future-Ready Infrastructure

Transform the backbone of your IT environment, positioning your organization for future success. Our team of experts conducts a thorough infrastructure assessment from which we’ll carefully design and implement the ideal solution, one perfectly tailored to your unique requirements. Through our guidance, experience optimized performance, enhanced security, and unmatched efficiency. Together, let’s align the right technology with the full slate of your goals and needs.

Cloud

Sterling conducts deep, insightful assessments of your current cloud landscape, enabling our Cloud Architects to design tailored solutions that address security, efficiency, cost, and scalability. Likewise, our team delivers practical guidance around the different cloud services, configurations, and optimizations that exist, leveraging our partnerships with leading providers to grant you a detailed, real-world look into their various offerings. All told, we focus on reducing risks and aligning our solutions with your unique goals, propelling your organization forward with ease and confidence.
IT professionals reviewing their cloud solution
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Modern Workforce

We are here to help you thrive in today’s dynamic digital landscape. After assessing your current environment, our experts design and implement customized solutions that optimize your digital workspaces, boost productivity, and foster seamless collaboration. Specifically, our solutions include unified endpoint management, secure data access, and streamlined application delivery throughout the network. Overall, we focus on enhancing your organization’s efficiency, reducing IT complexities, and enabling a flexible workforce that’s both empowered and future ready.

Networking

Our team conducts thorough networking assessments that illuminate the current state of your infrastructure, including any performance bottlenecks or security gaps. We then design a secure, scalable solution tailored to the demands of your unique situation, leveraging integrations from our leading industry partners as well as our advanced networking capabilities to meet the need. From precise deployment to final configuration, we provide strategic guidance for implementing these designs, helping you gain a robust, resilient network built for long-term success.

networking professional
Understand your technology with Sterling

Advisory Assessments & Services

Sterling’s numerous consultative assessments pinpoint where your organization might need help in upgrading, optimizing, or securing its current technology environment. In concert with those assessments, our Advisory Services assist in establishing (or refining) the pillars of your IT infrastructure, presenting you with precise, compliant recommendations and best practices with which you can ensure secure, problem-free implementation.
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VMware Cloud Foundation Deployment Services

Leveraging full-stack experience along with a broad project background across all related components, Sterling provides expert VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Deployment Services. Our certified engineers carefully design, implement, and configure VCF environments, ensuring secure and compliant deployments all the while—including adherence to DISA’s Security Technical Implementation Guides (or STIGs). Whether it’s for private cloud, a hybrid environment, or needed at an off-prem disaster recovery site, we deliver robust VCF infrastructure that integrates combined storage, compute, and networking capabilities. By prioritizing efficient setup and optimal performance, we enable your organization to build a solid foundation for its modern data center and cloud strategies.

VMware Migration & Optimization Services

Seamlessly transition to and/or enhance the performance of your virtualized environments. Our expert team, specializing in all things VMware, will conduct a comprehensive assessment that identifies any inefficiencies before strategizing with you on the potential for migrating to an applicable cloud platform or to another modern VDI solution. We also help optimize any existing VMware deployments you might have—such as vSphere or VMware Horizon—through targeted health checks, system updates, and performance tuning. Complex migrations like VMware NSX-T Data Centers are likewise made easy with Sterling, our goal being to streamline operations, improve stability, reduce costs, and align your VMware infrastructure with the evolving goals of your organization, always ensuring you receive maximum value.

VMware Security & Compliance Framework Services

Experience the power of VMware’s robust security and compliance frameworks by leveraging our team’s extensive certifications and proven experience across the full VCF stack. With our advanced networking and security expertise, we will fortify your VMware infrastructure, protect your data, mitigate risks, and ensure ongoing compliance with the industry’s most stringent regulatory standards—elevating the protection of your entire virtualized environment.

VMware Automation Services

Automate and orchestrate VMware security and operational tasks to enhance efficiency and consistency with our VMware Automation Services. We leverage tools like VMware vRealize Automation and NSX to streamline deployments, manage configurations, and enforce security policies programmatically. This includes automating patching, compliance checks, incident response workflows, and resource provisioning. By orchestrating these tasks, we reduce manual effort, minimize human error, and accelerate response times for both security events and routine operations—ensuring a more resilient, compliant, and agile VMware environment.

VMware Support Services

Our comprehensive VMware Support Services ensures optimal performance and value across your virtualized infrastructure. Our experts offer in-depth troubleshooting for complex environments like VMware Horizon, identifying root causes and resolving issues efficiently. We also focus on continued optimization for vSphere, vCenter, and VDI solutions through proactive monitoring, performance tuning, and implementing best practices. This ensures your VMware investments are continuously enhanced for efficiency, scalability, and reliability, freeing your team from day-to-day management burdens.

VMware Training

Empower your team for self-sufficiency with Sterling’s in-depth training and knowledge transfer solutions. Our highly certified experts deliver tailored instructional sessions that cover the design, deployment, and operational procedures of key VMware platforms, such as vSphere, Horizon, and vRealize. During these sessions, we share hands-on guidance, best practices, and detailed documentation as we ensure your staff have the practical skills and understanding they need to confidently manage, troubleshoot, and optimize any VMware environment. Together, let’s maximize your investment and foster long-term operational independence.

VMware Advisory Services

Sterling’s VMware Advisory Services provide strategic guidance and architectural leadership, helping clients define their long-term vision for virtualization, cloud, and digital workspace. We develop strategic roadmaps, design complex VMware ecosystems, and advise on cost optimization, licensing, governance, and compliance. Our expertise ensures VMware solutions align with broader digital transformation goals, driving agility, scalability, and enhanced user experience for mission success.

Modern Data Center Assessment

Along with reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of your aging infrastructure, this Sterling assessment helps you automate lifecycle management, optimize performance with detailed analytics, and plan for storage growth through several key, cloud-ready innovations.

Data Protection Assessment

With an aim of boosting efficiency and reducing network bandwidth, this Sterling assessment provides comprehensive visibility into your backup infrastructure, remediates slow/failing data replicants, and identifies any storage deduplication opportunities.

Network & Security Assessment

This Sterling assessment grants you a detailed look into your network infrastructure; identifies potential security risks as well as the actionable steps you can take to eliminate them; and delivers best practices for ensuring both regulatory compliance and optimized performance.

Cloud Assessment

Reviews cloud and on-premises environments comprehensively for disaster recovery, security, compliance, and sustainability, identifying improvement opportunities.

Storage Assessment

Handle storage efficiently with a Storage Assessment. Our experts evaluate storage infrastructure health, performance, and capacity growth needs. Identify any misconfigurations and find consolidation opportunities to reduce TCO and optimize responsiveness.

VDI Health Check

Assesses virtual desktop environments (VDI) to identify inefficiencies, improve performance, analyze login times, and optimize resource allocations based on best practices.

Wireless Survey & Heat Mapping

Utilizes Ekahau tools for onsite/remote wireless surveys, assessing WLAN performance, reliability, and identifying issues. Creates predictive heatmaps for optimal access point placement.

Disaster Recovery Assessment

Evaluates current disaster recovery strategies and capabilities, assessing readiness, identifying vulnerabilities, and recommending solutions for business continuity and long-term data retention.

Cybersecurity Preparedness Self-Assessment

A quick self-assessment tool providing a snapshot of an organization’s cybersecurity defense readiness, identifying vulnerabilities and guiding efforts to fortify defenses.

In-Depth Cybersecurity Assessment

Expert evaluations identify vulnerabilities, provide actionable insights, and recommend customized security solutions to strengthen defenses and safeguard digital assets.

FortiGate Environment Optimization Review

Remotely optimizes FortiGate environments by reviewing performance, configurations, security, VPN, and compliance, providing best practice recommendations and knowledge transfer.

Carbon Black Protection System Assessment

Remotely assesses Carbon Black Protection system health, agent status, policy effectiveness, execution controls, security events, integration, compliance, and backup/DR processes.

PKI Assessment

Evaluates Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) health, configuration, and security. Identifies vulnerabilities in certificate management, authentication, and authorization processes for improved trust.

SCCM & Intune Environment Assessment

Assesses SCCM and Intune environments, performs gap analysis, provides recommendations, and develops a roadmap for optimized endpoint and application management.

Windows 11 Device Readiness Assessment

Remotely assesses device readiness for Windows 11 migration, focusing on Intune best practices for usability, governance, security, and administration training.

Cybersecurity Program & Architecture Assessment

Assesses an organization’s cybersecurity program and architecture against frameworks like CIS CSC, providing gap analysis, remediation recommendations, and a strategic roadmap.

Penetration Testing

Simulates cyberattacks to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in networks and applications, validating security controls and providing detailed remediation reports.

Attack Surface Monitoring

Continuously measures an organization’s external risk posture, benchmarks security performance, and provides monthly mitigation strategies to reduce attack vectors.

Splunk Environment Assessment

Evaluates existing Splunk environments for health, configuration, and performance, identifying areas for optimization and best practice alignment.

Splunk Cloud Migration Assessment

Assesses readiness for migrating Splunk to the cloud, evaluating current configurations, data, and integrations to plan a smooth transition.

Teams Environment SWOT Analysis

Conducts a SWOT analysis of a Microsoft Teams environment, evaluating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to optimize collaboration and security.

Design & Architecture Services

Forward-thinking strategies for data center modernization, migration planning, and cybersecurity, tailored to an organization’s unique objectives. This also includes optimizing data sharing platforms.

Implementation Services

Expert execution of solutions for data center refreshes, automation, orchestration, multi-cloud environments, and cybersecurity.

Residency Services

Providing dedicated professionals to work alongside a client’s team, offering on-site expertise for seamless and efficient integration of IT solutions, with flexible, long-term options.

Advisory Services for Every Sector

We strive for excellence in everything we do, regardless of the customer’s size or their level within the government. We’ve been a trusted resource for federal agencies, state and local entities, entire school districts, commercial industries, healthcare institutions, AI leaders, and so many more. Explore how our Advisory Services can be utilized within each of our client verticals below.

Federal Agencies

Offering in-depth assessments, visionary design, and masterful implementation of those designs, Sterling’s Advisory Services provide federal agencies with expert guidance and strategic insights. Our team of cleared Solutions Architects help government clients navigate the complex landscape of modern IT (including FedRAMP ATO), optimize their budgets, and achieve mission-critical goals and objectives—all while maintaining a staunch commitment to security and compliance.

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State, Local and Education

Our Advisory Services empower SLED organizations by providing optimized infrastructure, enhanced security, and superior efficiency. Capably navigating the intricacies of budget constraints and complex project demands, we ensure our solutions align with your organization’s evolving technical needs, thereby providing you with a tailored IT experience that delivers true, lasting results.

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Commercial Industries

By utilizing our Advisory Services, commercial organizations enjoy custom IT strategies that align with your business goals, drive efficiency, and foster innovation. Our team of experts, in conjunction with your own internal staff, implements robust security, compliance, and digital transformation solutions: positioning your IT environment for success and for the evolving demands of the future.

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Proven Success with Advisory Services

Leidos AI Factory

Sterling partnered with Dell Technologies to produce an advanced AI Factory for Leidos, a leading innovation company specializing in national defense technology. This complex project involved the deployment of high-performance Dell PowerEdge servers, PowerScale storage, and NVIDIA networking—all optimized with Red Hat OpenShift for large-scale AI/ML workloads. Sterling’s certified engineers provided crucial on-site configuration, virtualization strategy, and a thorough three-day training program that covered hardware, NVIDIA AI Enterprise software, and OpenShift. This end-to-end solution—which included comprehensive system testing and knowledge transfer—showcases Sterling’s deep expertise in delivering secure, multifaceted AI infrastructure alongside NVIDIA’s cutting-edge product enhancements.

Sterling, alongside Dell Technologies and NVIDIA, was named a 2025 Corporate Partner of the Year by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Foundation. This recognition highlights our leadership in deploying advanced simulation and AI ecosystems. Specifically, Sterling and Dell delivered the essential hardware, storage infrastructure, and systems integration to implement NVIDIA’s Omniverse platform at NPS. This included the physical setup of Dell PowerEdge R760XA servers and core NVIDIA software deployment. This collaborative effort fuels AI-enabled research, modeling, and simulation, establishing a first-of-its-kind capability within the Department of the Navy to accelerate AI adoption and innovation.

In conjunction with Dell Technologies and NVIDIA, Sterling deployed several HGX systems for a federal agency, with the aim of enabling secure generative AI experimentation. Our team played a pivotal role in bridging the partnership, operationalizing the unique system configurations of each to overcome inherent discrepancies between the two frameworks. Along with PowerScale storage, Sterling’s expert engineers deployed Dell XE9680 servers alongside NVIDIA H200 GPUs and Mellanox networking, leading to a successful deployment of the HGX systems. All told, our integration and engineering expertise were crucial for delivering this advanced AI solution.on.

Experience More from Sterling

Artificial Intelligence

Modern Infrastructure

Digital Workspace

Networking

Cloud

Security

Managed Services

Frequently Asked Questions

Sterling’s Advisory Services provide expert guidance that elevates your IT strategy. We begin with a thorough assessment of your current environment (examining aspects such as your security, network, cloud, and applications) to identify any opportunities for improvement. Next, our team delivers visionary design and architecture; we craft tailored strategies for modernization, migration, and cybersecurity. We then ensure a masterful implementation of your chosen solution. For ongoing, hands-on support, we offer elite Residency Services, augmenting your internal team with a dedicated on-site Sterling professional. This collaborative approach results in customized, resilient technology solutions that empower your organization through strategic insights and seamless integration.
With over three decades of industry experience and a proven track record that speaks for itself, Sterling is a recognized technology leader who has earned numerous prestigious, top-tier certifications from our partners. Our highly skilled engineering staff possess deep technical expertise across the entire IT landscape, from client to cloud. We combine that technical prowess with an approach that’s both consultative and ethical, and we pride ourselves on our unwavering commitment to the preservation of a secure supply chain. All of which helps us deliver tailored, compliant, and impactful solutions that consistently exceed customer expectations.
Durations can vary considerably for any advisory-type engagement, fluctuating based on a project’s complexity and scope. Shorter engagements typically range from 16 to 80 hours, and are often completed within one to four weeks. More comprehensive consulting projects—such as FedRAMP authorization assistance or complex infrastructure designs—might stretch across several months. For ongoing, hands-on support, Sterling’s Residency Services offer flexible options that extend from one month to over three years. In other words, we tailor the timeline to your specific needs, ensuring the efficient and effective execution of our support.

Guidance You Can Trust

With Sterling’s Advisory Services, discover the limitations and vulnerabilities within your current environment before gaining invaluable, transformative knowledge on how to proceed. We excel at delivering top-notch industry talent and precise recommendations, allowing organization to benefit from the latest technologies and services. Together with Sterling, learn how to gain a competitive edge through the adoption of secure, scalable technology solutions.

connect@sterling.com 877-242-4074