This white paper will explore the bene ts of a hosted IT infrastructure
in the context of several key business topics including disaster recovery,
cost management and scalability .
The data center impact of cloud, analytics, mobile, social and security rlw03...
White Paper: The Benefits of An Outsourced IT Infrastructure
1. ®
White Paper
The Bene ts of An Outsourced IT Infrastructure
This white paper will explore the bene ts of a hosted IT infrastructure
in the context of several key business topics including disaster recovery,
cost management and scalability .
Prepared by Alexander Saca, CEO
Published by SACA Technologies, Inc. | 1260 N. Hancock Street | Suite 102 | Anaheim Hills | CA | 92807
www.sacatech.com
2. Introduction “paperless o ce” remains largely unfeasible given
the realities, and comfort levels, of businesses,
cloudcomputing/virtualization cloudcomputing/
virtualization is the convenient corollary on solid
Access to company applications and the critical data footing. Despite the imaginative ame, the “Cloud” is
stored within them has become the heart and soul of actually grounded in familiar technology, but
a successful, strategic business. Companies are optimized for business functionality. (Lewis, 2010) In
making tactical decisions to utilize technologies such fact, some state that cloud computing is simply new
as cloud computing and virtualization to become jargon for the latest face of time-tested technology.
competitive in the marketplace by reducing (Lewis, 2010) In short, cloud computing has been
operating costs, improving internal e ciency and around long enough to reach the level of reliability
increasing their IT system availability. necessaryz to outpace its pure-hardware
counterparts, but not long enough to be universal.
Despite the dramatic shifts stemming from the
momentum of an increasingly web-aware economy,
the core principle of most businesses is just as
dramatically unchanged: Access to the company’s
applications, and the data which fuels them. Because
of the sheer volume of operations which companies
rely on these applications to perform, every second
of every day, even incremental improvement in
e ciency can be a strategic advantage. Optimization
has always been the heart of any successful business.
While a successful modern business need not
necessarily be on the cutting edge, it must recognize
when a trend has gained su cient utility and
credibility to become the new benchmark.
Technologies such as cloud computing and
virtualization (synonymous in many respects)
characterize the next wave of competitive edge by
reducing operating costs, improving internal
e ciency, and increasing IT system availability.
Recently, the City of Los Angeles began utilizing
“hosted web applications” to deliver internal desktop
applications to its users, an anticipated savings of
more than $5 million a year in IT expenses. Similarly
IBM began employing cloud computing and is both
reducing its IT labor costs by 50% and improving
legalization by 75%. (Owen 2010). The growing
migration to the “Cloud” model (and virtualization,
generally) can be traced to two main branches of
thinking:
First, cloud-based computing is a pragmatic
alternative with a surprisingly seamless transition
from prior systems. Where the nearmythical
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3. Overview often a compromise of either reliability or
a ordability. Many enterprises are given the
unenviable decision of not hiring the internal, skilled
IT sta that can manage and repair a robust
computing system, or hiring an expensive full-time
employee to keep their systems up and running.
Cloud-computing and virtualization are at the heart
of an outsourced IT infrastructure that can provide
the solution to this perennial business dilemma. We
will consider outsourced IT and its e ect on cost
control, hosted applications, data virtualization
management, scalability, and disaster recovery,
when considered against more a more traditional IT
infrastructure.
Wile the trustworthiness of cloud-computing and
virtualization as legitimate business tool is half of the
argument, the speci c applications, advantages, and
bene ts form the second branch of reasoning for its
use; and the primary thrust of this paper.
Hence, outsourcing Microsoft Exchange Server can
To the same extent that we rely on the data which be a more cost-e ective and more reliable solution
fuels our businesses, those business rely on the than an in-house server. This scenario is illustrative of
Information Technology (IT) systems which control one of the many bene ts of outsourced applications.
that data. Perhaps more signi cantly, business
absolutely depend on an all-important caretaker of
these IT systems. As the cornerstone of many
businesses, this trinity of (1) data, (2) systems, and (3)
IT management must be available every single
moment they are needed, in other words, seven days
a week. (CDW 2010). In sum, where these three tools
(data, systems, IT management) are a company’s
lifeblood, those companies need access to them
without excuse, and without exception. (CDW 2010).
However, achieving a comfortable level of reliability
can be at odds with achieving an a ordable level of
reliability. This is especially a signi cant hurdle for
smaller businesses. The cost of maintaining an IT sta
can be oppressive. The spectrum can range from a
single employee to manage all IT needs, to a
part-time independent contractor limited to upkeep
and problem-solving.
Neither presents the ideal solution as there is too
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4. Hosted Applications
To the same extent that Microsoft Exchange Server is
an application whose e cacy and cost can be
improved by outsourcing, so too there are a myriad
of desktop and server applications which can
similarly be hosted. While a locally installed program
is limited to the physical computer is it installed on, a
hosted application is accessible wherever the
internet is. that run them. As with email, business owners can
control costs by limiting their computing Szexpenses
Hosted applications have attracted the interest of a to a regular monthly service fee.
growing number of business owners because they
are not limited to a single endpoint device as they Predictable IT costs provide businesses the ability to
would be in a traditional local application predetermine annual costs and maintain a set
installation. A hosted application can be used from budget negotiated at the inception of service.
anywhere with internet access: the home, co ee However, by the same token, entering into a contract
shops, other businesses, or essentially anywhere with with a hosted service provider is a commitment. The
a notebook computer with a wireless card. With just requisite due diligence calls for ample research of the
a basic internet connection, employees can access prospective hosting provider. The heart of building a
the application globally. symbiotic relationship is aligning the company’s
business objectives with those of the hosting
provider. In doing this, Entrepreneur magazine
recommends some of the following points of inquiry:
1. Understand the process of getting your data in and
out of a hosted provider's solution;
Research hosted services providers to determine
their stability; this could involve how long they have
been in business, what their level of expertise is, and
what their levels of service (SLA’s) are;
What is more, in addition to this invaluable and
unmatched level of exibility, users of hosted
applications can expect greater uptime, performance
and product support as compared with traditional
application installations. This is because hosted
application providers have teams of dedicated IT
professionals updating/upgrading the software
applications, and of course, maintaining the systems
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5. Cost Control Further, to the same extent as death and taxes, a
system failure of some magnitude is an inevitability.
While such failures are an unpredictable burden for
small businesses, the ability to reduce the frequency,
Hosted Email As A Paradigm for Cost Reduction magnitude, and downtime from system failures can
through Outsourced IT dictate overall productivity and product/service
o erings.
In contrast to an in-house server, a hosted Microsoft
Exchange email server environment allows email
costs and availability to be xed and increasingly
predictable. By outsourcing the Microsoft Exchange
email services to a third-party, businesses typically
pay a lower cost for a higher level of service and
availability. In other words, outsourced email hosting
can deliver “enterprise-level” infrastructure to smaller
business.
It is self-evident that businesses succeed in the
marketplace by managing costs and focusing
resources on satisfying consumers. Companies which
outsource their business IT infrastructure increas-
ingly are able to focus internal e orts to improving
customer experience, or other activities with a direct
impact on sales of goods and services.
For example, email, a staple of inter-o ce and
external communication, can be representative of
how a shift to an outsourced IT infrastructure can
bene t businesses by allowing them to focus their
energies where it counts. Part of the basis behind the higher expectations and
lower costs outsourced IT email can deliver is that the
An organization utilizing the popular Microsoft hosting provider can distribute server resources, and
Exchange Server® will incur a number of costs by associated costs, amongst multiple clients. While the
hosting this email server internally. These costs absolute costs of a server, infrastructure,
include hardware, software, maintenance of both, maintenance, antivirus software, spam software, and
and unanticipated repairs. In particular, like any client access license costs do not change, sharing
heavily utilized machine, regular proactive such costs is what allows hosted email services to be
maintenance of a server is crucial to ensuring and a viable solution for many small businesses. (Chen, Tu
maximizing “uptime.” These are core IT systems and & Lin, “Global IT/IS outsourcing: expectations,
activities that lend themselves to an outsourced considerations and implications”).
solution, with the bene t of corresponding lower
costs.
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6. Determine how compatible the service provider’s
options are with your business objectives. Do your Virtualization
goals align with the services o ered by the hosting
provider?
As It Relates to Data Recovery
What have other customers experienced in dealing
with the particular posted service provider? You can
learn from their experiences as their experiences are
likely to be similar to your experience with the
particular hosted ssservices provider.
A reputable hosted services provider will answer
these, and other inquiries promptly and succinctly.
They should be able to explain how their services
work and in what ways the provider operates the
hosted IT company. Additionally, a hosted IT provider
should be able to provide information about
virtualization. Regardless, having a functional
understanding of virtualization will allow for more
meaningful discourse.
Virtualization Generally In making the decision to utilize such virtualization
technologies, Microsoft points out some important
At its essence (hardware) virtualization involves points to consider and understand regarding a virtu-
presenting users with a workable platform for their alized infrastructure.
needs, while the physical characteristics of the
operating system exist elsewhere. The software that 1. How do I protect data in the virtualized
controls the process ensures that the various users’ infrastructure?
individual virtualized operating systems, can
seamlessly share the virtualized community 2. How do I limit my risk to my virtual servers
hardware resources - - this is the essence of assuming they are compromised?
virtualization.
Every business considering virtualization should be
This ability to harness collective computing power is able to answer these questions on their own or
why virtual machines are more than just a piece of through the services of a third party provider.
the puzzle, they are the principle component of a (Microsoft Corp, 2009).
hosted IT provider’s core technologies. VMWare,
Citrix and Microsoft have built the three leading A reputable outsourced IT organization considers
virtualization technology software platforms these inquiries when designing and building a data
available on the market. Their respective platforms center (so that the small business owner does not
are designed with server consolidation, performance have to); they will have a structured system for
enhancements and disaster recovery as their core protecting your data in case of a system failure.
ingredients.
Disaster recovery is a advantage of virtualization over
These items are a key bene t to a hosted traditional systems. Particularly since, despite its criti-
infrastructure provider because, among other things, cal importance to businesses, disaster recovery plans
an IT infrastructure needs to be able to scale, are often an afterthought due to equal parts cost,
perform, and rapidly respond to system failures. and wishful thinking. Virtualization, manifested
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7. through a reputable hosted IT provider's services, The simple crashes described above occur frequently
automates the process to the extent that the burden enough during a server lifespan that they should be
to foresee, plan, and have a data recovery strategy in addressed. Crashes in any system are a near-
place is e ortlessly shouldered by the underlying inevitability, they are in many ways unpreventable
virtual system. and can result in not only the data loss business
owners dread, but also temporary interruptions of
Hosted IT providers and their virtual systems utilize service. Because such crashes are not completely
several techniques to abolish the adverse impacts of preventable, it is paramount to minimize their
system failures.Take, for instance, the typical impact, a principle aim of virtualization.
Microsoft SQL Server an accounting department may
use to manage business-critical nancial data for an In fact, while virtualization can minimize the impact
organization - - clearly a priority for high-level of potential losses of service, it can e ectively
protection. A hosted IT provider can virtualize the eviscerate the aforementioned dread of data loss
SQL Server infrastructure so that it runs on two though its data management.
di erent physical computers and all data is stored on
a separate storage area network (SAN).
By deploying the SQL Server in a virtual platform, Virtualization
multiple physical servers can host the application
data simultaneously. If one fails, the other
instantaneously services the users the other would Data Recovery and Failover Systems
normally handle.
Compare, a single server model that leaves
users/customers un-served after a crash. A scenario
that is always unexpected, always inconvenient, and
in the worst cases can be potentially crippling if the
timing is bad. A virtualized system, on the other
hand, can immediately transition to accomodate
users/customers from the failed system, without
them even knowing any crash occurred.(Microsoft
Corp., 2008).
As stated earlier, data fuels a company's applications.
It is the often the key resource for a business
regardless of size. Thus there is a concomitant duty
for whoever manages a company's data to zealously
safeguard it.
To meet this need virtualization rapidly restores data
from backups. For example, consider backing up
email. Symantec and Gardner found that 75% of a
company's intellectual property resides in e-mail and
other messaging applications. Traditionally,
businesses safeguard and back up their data onsite
through tape backup or other procedures performed
by local IT sta . Some small businesses even attempt
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8. to have one or two employees with limited IT
experience perform this function. Traditional disaster
recovery involved restoration of data from tape
backup or similar media. This involved laboriously
reinstalling all system software so the server could
function and begin serving clients again.
In a hosted environment data backup and recovery is
orchestrated by a highly trained administrator. Using
virtualization technologies the administrator
automates the backup process. to a virtual backup
system. Tapes or other physical backup media are not
necessary. In a virtualized environment outsourced IT The virtual environment has added advantage of
providers can o er independent data storage. various redundancies, and exponentially quicker
recovery. CDW notes that simplifying the server in
This type of storage is often o ered through a order to make it easier to recover after a disaster is a
storage area network (SAN) which uses computers principal goal of application server virtualization and
operating separately from web and/or le servers. consolidation. (CDW Business Continuity Reference
The SAN thereby does not succumb to the same Guide). In fact, server virtualization is now the
crash that a ected the web and/or le servers. In leading technology used for disaster recovery. (CDW
other words, separate data storage preserves the Business Continuity Reference Guide). This is, in part,
data in the virtualized environment when the due to the elimination of unpredictable recovery
primary operating system fails. In this environment time. A good outsourced IT provider will typically
recovery of the server can be accomplished by provide maximum downtime guarantees up-front for
cloning the server to a backup, thereby creating a various contingencies. For example, being able to
new virtual server. The clone can be immediately depend on a maximum of four hours downtime and
reconnected to data on the SAN, allowing for rapid a twelve hour recovery time, allows a business to pass
recovery from the crash. (CDW, 2008) those time-frames on to a ckle client base that
would consider taking their business elsewhere,
rather than dealing with the unknown or
unpredictable.
Virtualized systems also o er the additional bene t
of replication; a use which can go beyond recovery.
With several simple commands, an administrator can
replicate an entire data center, backed up in online
storage, at will. Such virtualized systems are accessi-
ble at any time. (Microsoft Corporation, 2009).
Virtualization also o ers a “failover” or
redundant/standby system that can seamlessly
switch over if there is some manner of abnormal
termination of an application or network. This is just
another nuance of virtualization that facilitates
“business as usual” despite computer problems as
usual.
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9. Data Management permissions within a domain reducing the likelihood
of access by an unauthorized user. (Microsoft
& Security Corporation, How Windows Server 2008 Delivers
Value).
IT professionals will establish broad performance
parameters of the computing systems which will be
automatically monitored. The performance
parameters de ne rules su cient to detect an
intrusion when violated. Administrators can inspect
these violations to prevent or discover intruders.
(CDW Corporation, Business Continuity and
Reference Guide).
As with its other services, because outsourced IT
providers employ specialized network security
professionals to monitor and protect the virtual
environment as a whole, the various businesses
utilizing their services enjoy enterprise-level security
administration for a fraction of the cost.
The value of having con dence in the security of
one’s system cannot be understated. Neither can the
uninterrupted upgrading of systems to meet a
greater need, a particularly unique feature that only
An equally unfortunate reality of business computing outsourced IT providers can provide through
is the threat of malicious in ltration. While many virtualization.
small businesses cannot a ord to hire the individuals
necessary to combat everpresent security threats of
various severity, all businesses require some level of
security. A US Department of Justice study estimated
the cost of information theft during 2004 to be
roughly $250 billion. (JupiterMedia, 2004). Cyber
security threats range from nuisance adware to
Trojan Horse (“a man in the browser”) attacks in
which a hostile program attaches itself to a web
application and maliciously uses credentials from the
application to gain access to a computer. The risk of
con dential data being compromised is immense.
Business that cannot maintain their own IT security
sta can address these problems by outsourcing.
Hosted IT service providers are typically well
equipped to handle data security and employ various
advanced techniques, such as active directory rights
management, to promote date integrity. Active
Directory allows users to enjoy secure access to
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10. Scalability Conversely, in a virtualized environment the
company can create the various servers in software
without the addition and removal of physical
computing systems. This up-scaling is possible
The bene ts of business growth are counterbalanced because the software is not tied to physical hardware
by increasing burdens on resources, including com- itself. In fact the creation of a new computing system
puting resources. This need must be met by scaling can be as simple as the click of the mouse to
capacity to accommodate a greater number of duplicate an existing system. (Microsoft Corp., 2009)
customers. (Microsoft Corp., 2009). The ability to increase capacity, and achieve an
enterprisequality software environment, on an
as-needed basis, is a luxury that virtualization a ords
and businesses are increasingly exploiting to their
advantage.
Another relevant scalability advantage of
virtualization is load-balancing. As a business grows,
the data load of a heavily tra cked application may
need to be spread among di erent servers. While a
traditional system would require additional hardware
to juggle clients/users to prevent one server from
being overburdened disproportionately, not so with
virtual load-balancing. In a virtual environment,
load-balancing is achieved without resorting to
purchasing additional hardware, the hosted IT
Scaling necessarily presents a hurdle for a small provider’s systems handle the necessary directing
business because of the cost of upgrading hardware. behind the scenes. (Microsoft Corp, 2009).
To put it simply, it is expensive to upgrade computers.
In fact, the cost is often comparable to the purchase Scalability in a virtual environment simply makes
price of the initial, startup system, essentially forcing sense because of . . . an economy of scale. Rather than
businesses to pay twice - - an unintended penalty for each business purchasing additional hardware, the
growing the business. hosted IT solutions provider purchases the necessary
hardware, and distributes a smaller proportionate
Consider this concept in the context of a company cost, with an added bonus of increased e ciency.
that utilizes sales software integrated into a website Customers of small to medium-size businesses can
to allow customers to purchase products and enjoy the same level of service as that enjoyed by
services. The company’s system may reach a capped large enterprise corporations.
capacity that prevents customers, past a certain
number, from gaining access. In short, these custom-
ers are turned away by a shortfall in computing
power. Traditionally the company could rectify this by
purchasing multiple load balanced servers to provide
the additional capacity. These computers would then
operate in clusters to facilitate the addition and
removal of computers in proportion to the needs of
the business.
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11. Bene ts Summary References
Chen, Tu, & Lin (2002) “Global IT/IS outsourcing:
Major companies have recognized the numerous expectations, considerations and implications”
bene ts of virtualization. Yet ironically, the primary Entrepreneur
bene ts of virtualization best lend themselves to the Magazine,http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejourn
small business. als/article/89491193_1.html
CDW Corporation (2010) “Business Continuity and
To a small business, achieving competent, reliable, Disaster Recovery Reference Guide, Keep resources
and a ordable IT systems can be a daunting task, let secure and available in today’s nonstop business
alone achieving enterpriselevel computing. environment,”CDW Corporation Publications,
Outsourcing to a hosted IT environment is a http://webobjects.cdw.com/webobjects/media/pdf/
functional alternative that provides a rare cdw-business-continuity-reference-guide.pdf.
combination of a ordability with expertise. By
turning over IT hurdles to a hosted provider, a Department of Justice (2004) “DRM in the
problem can potentially be turned into a strength, Enterprise”JupiterMedia.
while at the same time freeing up a company's
precious resources to the running of their business. Dunlap, Charlotte (2010) “Hybrid Clouds Hit Data
Companies not in the computing business nd that Centers, Forbes Magazine, Merging public and
their time is not well-spent building computing private cloud computing infrastructures.”
systems to service their needs. h t t p : / / w w w. fo r b e s. c o m / 2 0 1 0 / 0 3 / 0 8 / c l o u d -
computing-security-technology-virtualization10-
The brave new world of virtualization provides ...8/10/2010.
businesses long-term savings, exibile access
regardless of location, as-needed computing power Garrett, Owen (2010) “Keeping Cloud Costs
to make their applications ourish, secures the Grounded, How to nd the best cloud computing
functioning, integrity, and privacy of their precious services for your business.” Forbes Magazine,
data, and allows their computer systems to grow http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/02/internet-
organically, and symbiotically, with the rest of their software-zeus-technology-cloud-computing-1.
business.
Lewis, Margaret (2010) “Cloud Computing: Hype Vs.
Reality.” Forbes Magazine, http://www.forbes.com/
* ************** 2010/08/03/open source virtualization technology
cloud computing.html
This white paper was drafted by SACA Technologies,
Inc., a leading provider of managed and hosted IT Microsoft Corporation (2009) “Adopting Server
solutions. We hope that it has helped you to Virtualization for Business Continuity and Disaster
understand the bene ts of hosted IT solutions. If your Recovery, CA ARCserve® Backup and CA XOsoftÔ
company is interested in learning more about hosted Replication and High Availability Software with
IT solutions of any scale, please contact us. We will be Hyper-VÔ Technology — A Powerful Combination”
happy to help you evaluate whether our products Microsoft Corporation Publications.
can further your company's goals.
Microsoft Corporation (2008) “How Windows Server
2008 Delivers Business Value,”Microsoft Corporation
Publications.
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