CXO's need to equip themselves with the right information to provide answers to their board. This slide deck will cover the four important topics that must be addressed and explores the most important tactical question: How easy is it to migrate existing applications and infrastructure to the cloud.

1. Cloud Migration
A CXO’s Strategy for Getting it Right

2. The most argued topic in a board room of any size is
the role of Cloud computing in the success of their
business.
The topic is multi-dimensional. CXO’s need to equip
themselves with the right information and provide
answers to their board.
Cloud Computing: The Most Argued Topic

3. CXO’s Need to Provide Answers
Following are 4 important topics that need to be
addressed…

4. 1. Relationship Between Cloud Computing and our Business
4. Choice and Flexibility
3. Operational Issues
2. Financial Implications of Being in the Cloud
Four Important Topics a CXO Must Address:

5. • Are we users or providers of Cloud-based products & Services?
• What is the nature of information stored in the Cloud? Is it
sensitive or public record?
• Who owns the data stored in the Cloud? We? Customers? Some
other 3rd Party?
• Is our data secure enough wishing the Cloud as promised by the
Cloud service providers?
• Are we fulfilling our compliance commitments by keeping our data
in the Cloud?
1. Relationship Between Cloud Computing
and our Business

6. • Should we move to the Cloud for the range of additional benefits
that will accrue even if it is costlier?
• Should we look for specific cost gains in choosing to move to the
Cloud?
• What kind of incremental investment and regular cash outflow is
needed to support our Cloud strategy
2. Financial Implications of Being in the Cloud

7. • What does our typical workload and peak workload look like?
• Do we need to provide for sudden bursts in our computing power
for short durations?
3. Operational Issues

8. • Are we likely to get locked-in with the Cloud Infrastructure
Services Provider and become dependent on them?
4. Choice and Flexibility

9. How easy is it to migrate existing applications and IT infrastructure
to the Cloud?
Most Important Tactical Question

10. CXO’s Migration Strategy - Must Ensure that:
• Business operations are not impacted by moving to the Cloud
• Minimal or no code changes in existing applications
• Seamless transition of existing security architecture in the Cloud
model
• Effortless integration with currently deployed network
architecture
• Same or better I/O performance
• Compute node configurations match currently deployed servers
• Application performance in not impacted
• Speed of migration (or the lack of it) does not act as a deterrent to
Cloud computing

11. Many businesses and their IT departments make the mistake of
mixing up moving to the Cloud and moving their dev teams to
DevOps culture and re-think their architecture. Though a good end-
goal, you don’t need to tackle from the get-go.
Moving to Cloud-based infrastructure should not force you to re-
think your existing architecture.
CXO’s Migration Strategy - Minimize Disruption

12. CXO’s Migration Strategy - Choose the Right IaaS
If you choose the right Infrastructure as a Service model to migrate
to, you will not upset the rhythm of day-to-day business and that of
your existing teams.
And, deploying to the Cloud will not turn into an exercise of re-
thinking your IT philosophy.
Here’s how to think about it…

13. CXO’s Migration Strategy - Data Center Model
In a typical corporate Data Center, you would find:
• Centralization of your organization’s IT operations & equipment
• Ability to deploy multiple servers and storage devices of varying
configurations to support business-critical applications
• Switches, routers, and cables to configure physical networks to
enable separation of rolls and responsibility requirements set out
by your auditors
• Firewalls, IPS and IDS to implement security zones.
• Trained staff to monitor and maintain deployed infrastructure

14. CXO’s Migration Strategy - virtual Data Center
For a smooth transition, migrate to a virtual Data Center. A rightly
designed vDC offers all the features provided by its physical
counterpart:
• Provision virtual compute, storage, networking and security resources
on demand
• Configure networks to enable communication between deployed
resources with vDC
• Implement security and access restrictions
• Administrative management of vDC in totality or in parts
• Monitoring & Alerting for provisioned virtual resources
• Access to audit logs to meet compliance requirements set forth

15. CXO’s Migration Strategy - virtual Data Center
For anyone considering migration from their existing data center to
Cloud, or thinking of consolidating various, already deployed virtual
machines in an existing Cloud into a single, manageable, secure
Cloud construct, virtual Data Center (vDC) is the way to go.
It’s almost as easy as picking up Lego pieces from one table to
rebuild on another – just-in-place replacement.

16. www.CipherSpace.com
Cloud Migration - CXO’s Strategy for Getting it Right
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