Presented by Tim Pacileo of ….
TheBoardRoomAdvosrs, LLC
Contact Tim @ TPacileo@TheBoardRoomAdvisors.com
Cloud Computing -Why It Should Be in Your IT Operations Now
As corporate efficiency dominates today’s discussions, executives should take advantage
of the downturn to finally move forward with cloud computing, and take advantage of its
many benefits.
Right now, the Cloud is available to improve the flexibility and agility in your own internal
infrastructure, at the same time increase utilization, and drive down costs. This is also a
great solution to begin to change the 80/20 ratio and move your IT organization from one of
being a primarily a maintainer to being an innovator.
Current projections on Cloud Computing from a recent IDC study show how rapidly the
cloud is projected to grow.
While it appears the main focus for Cloud Computing is in the small and midsize company
area, many large companies are looking to the cloud as well. The reason for this is the way
the cloud vendors have positioned their products with primarily four different business
models:
July 29, 2009 1
Copyright © 2009, TheBoardRoomAdvisors, LLC

Presented by Tim Pacileo of ….
TheBoardRoomAdvosrs, LLC
Contact Tim @ TPacileo@TheBoardRoomAdvisors.com
1. Data storage and number‐crunching model ‐ Amazon Web Services is a good example
2. Software‐as‐a‐service cloud‐ Salesforce.com's customer relationship management products for
this example
3. Platform‐as‐a‐service cloud for remote software development ‐ Google's App engine is a good
example
4. Business‐process‐as‐a‐service cloud for payroll, expense management, etc provided by BPO
services providers.
These four dimensions of the cloud, while different in approach and implementation, are
united by a common idea. The user rents computational time—pays for it on a usage-based
model and taps into it via the Internet. The user's data and apps are "in the cloud," which is
really just an effusive way of describing huge distributed data centers operated by
companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and IBM. In summation anything that goes on
inside a desktop computer, or even a corporate data center, can, in theory, be ported to the
cloud—saving huge amounts of money in the process because there is no upfront capital
investment, i.e. no purchase of hardware and most importantly data center facilities.
Services can scale up as well as down and are usually purchased with the swipe of a credit
card.
This is a key reason small and mid size businesses have been quick to adapt, however,
larger corporate customers have voiced plenty of concerns about handing over their
operations to another company. They are worried about lost or stolen data and about cloud
providers going belly up. Indeed, hard-liners see the very concept of the cloud as a deeply
unreliable security nightmare. However, most of the providers have answers and solutions
to these issues and in many cases are providing higher levels of security then the hardliners
have in place themselves. In an ongoing survey conducted by the research firm IDC, almost
75 percent of I.T. executives and CIOs report that security is their primary concern, followed
by performance and reliability.
However, this is the opportunity the small and midsize companies have been seeking, while
their larger competitors have always had economies of scale on their side to aid in their
competitive advantage, the cloud solution now provides a level playing field for companies of
all sizes.
If you are planning to purchase 3-4 servers for a proof of concept project, are running out of
room in your data center, or need additional disaster recovery capabilities, the cloud solution
July 29, 2009 2
Copyright © 2009, TheBoardRoomAdvisors, LLC

Presented by Tim Pacileo of ….
TheBoardRoomAdvosrs, LLC
Contact Tim @ TPacileo@TheBoardRoomAdvisors.com
provides a cost effective alternative and should be incorporated into your IT operations plan
today.
July 29, 2009 3
Copyright © 2009, TheBoardRoomAdvisors, LLC