The document provides an overview of cloud computing and advice for managed service providers and value-added resellers on adopting and recommending cloud solutions to clients. It summarizes that cloud adoption will be gradual as businesses will maintain some on-site solutions and hybrid models. It advises providers to [1] become experts on cloud solutions, [2] understand service level agreements of cloud providers, [3] build customized solutions that meet client needs and budgets, and [4] avoid rushing clients into full cloud adoption and allow a phased approach.
The 2013 Future of Cloud Computing 3rd Annual Survey was conducted in partnership with GigaOM Research and 57 industry collaborators. It focuses on Cloud adoption, growth, investment, and key trends emanating from the 2011 and 2012 surveys. For additional information and to get involved follow us @futureofcloud #futurecloud and visit http://www.mjskok.com/resource/2013-future-cloud-computing-3rd-annual-survey-results.
Cloud Computing IT Lexicon's Latest Hot SpotTech Mahindra
Cloud computing, a highly flexible deployment model is emerging because of enhancing interdependence of business and IT. Effective and efficient resource sharing, interconnecting between people, department and companies is possible because of this emerging technology. Cloud computing also provides a stable environment where Telcos can improve business outcomes by leveraging their experience in offering IT centric managed services. Though not without its flaws, cloud computing looks to change the way companies do business in the near future.
As the cloud wave crashes through the IT community, how are IT leaders steering their own cloud implementations? What projects have gone well and what ideas have washed out to sea?
Catch a rare glimpse into the minds of three leading IT executives as they walk you through their cloud implementations and lessons learned.
Topics covered include:
*Cloud implementation stories and use cases
*Key lessons learned
*Post-implementation cloud plans
Download these slides to discover what to look for and what to avoid when implementing your own cloud configuration.
Skycon 2012 - Public, private, and hybrid; software, platform, and infrastructure. This talk will discuss the current state of the Platform-as-a-Service space, and why the keys to success lie in enabling developer productivity, and providing openness and choice.
Thanks to Tony Whitmore for the audio and to Patrick Chanezon for some pieces of the content.
Secure Computing in Enterprise Cloud EnvironmentsShaun Thomas
A look at how your business should approach computing in the cloud. This ebook highlights issues like data sovereignty, public and private cloud security issues as well as many of the myths that surround cloud computing.
The 2013 Future of Cloud Computing 3rd Annual Survey was conducted in partnership with GigaOM Research and 57 industry collaborators. It focuses on Cloud adoption, growth, investment, and key trends emanating from the 2011 and 2012 surveys. For additional information and to get involved follow us @futureofcloud #futurecloud and visit http://www.mjskok.com/resource/2013-future-cloud-computing-3rd-annual-survey-results.
Cloud Computing IT Lexicon's Latest Hot SpotTech Mahindra
Cloud computing, a highly flexible deployment model is emerging because of enhancing interdependence of business and IT. Effective and efficient resource sharing, interconnecting between people, department and companies is possible because of this emerging technology. Cloud computing also provides a stable environment where Telcos can improve business outcomes by leveraging their experience in offering IT centric managed services. Though not without its flaws, cloud computing looks to change the way companies do business in the near future.
As the cloud wave crashes through the IT community, how are IT leaders steering their own cloud implementations? What projects have gone well and what ideas have washed out to sea?
Catch a rare glimpse into the minds of three leading IT executives as they walk you through their cloud implementations and lessons learned.
Topics covered include:
*Cloud implementation stories and use cases
*Key lessons learned
*Post-implementation cloud plans
Download these slides to discover what to look for and what to avoid when implementing your own cloud configuration.
Skycon 2012 - Public, private, and hybrid; software, platform, and infrastructure. This talk will discuss the current state of the Platform-as-a-Service space, and why the keys to success lie in enabling developer productivity, and providing openness and choice.
Thanks to Tony Whitmore for the audio and to Patrick Chanezon for some pieces of the content.
Secure Computing in Enterprise Cloud EnvironmentsShaun Thomas
A look at how your business should approach computing in the cloud. This ebook highlights issues like data sovereignty, public and private cloud security issues as well as many of the myths that surround cloud computing.
In this eBook, we will uncover the specifics of how a
hybrid cloud solution can transform IT management so
that you can become the leader your business needs.
We will compare traditional and hybrid requirements with
respect to three critical areas: how you’ll govern the
system, the management tools you’ll need, and what
your management opportunities will be.
Faced with depressing predictions of looming budget cuts cloud computing has come to the fore of discussions to uncover relatively short-term economies in IT functions within the public sector. But how much of the cloud story is hype? How different are cloud architectures to the web-server farms that organizations have had the means to access for well over a decade? And how realistic is it that core business systems will move out of the data centre to the cloud?
The 2014 Future of Cloud Computing Survey was conducted in partnership with 72 Collaborators. The survey is the most widely endorsed survey of its kind in the industry. To tweet individual slides, please note the banner on the upper right hand corner of each page. Visit the Blog on http://mjskok.com/resource/2014-future-cloud-computing-4th-annual-survey-results and follow us @futureofcloud #futureofcloud to join the conversation.
Map of the Cloud minefield - Banktech Sydney Summit 17 july 2012 Livingstone Advisory
This presentation was delivered at the 2012 BankTech summit in Sydney, Australia by Rob Livingstone (www.rob-livingstone.com ). Topics included:
Exploring the real definition of Cloud
Interpreting the conflicting messages
Systemic vs. Technical risks in the Cloud
Availability
Hybrid Cloud is the reality
Importance of Cloud Computing Reference Architecture
Managing multiple parties in the Cloud ecosystem (Hybrid Cloud)
The challenge for Regulators
Standards? Which standards?
Some risk mitigation approaches
Legacy IT Evolves: How Cloud Choices Like Microsoft Azure Can Conquer the VMw...Dana Gardner
Transcript of a panel discussion exploring how organizations can gain a future-proof path to hybrid computing that simplifies architecture and makes total economic sense.
Presentation given at HostingCon 2008 in Chicago for the Marketing tract. Designed to explain the differences between various Cloud Computing models as well as dispel myths and illustrate the features and benefits of Clouds.
The next generation ethernet gangster (part 3)Jeff Green
The original competitors in the Ethernet market remind me of gang members who each had their unique advantages to win over their turf. Over the past few years, Extreme assembled seven gangers from a variety of backgrounds with their strengths to perform a mission and deliver a new level of value to our customers. Extreme has adopted a gangster strategy going against the grain of the market leader. So far, the gangster strategy has been a winning strategy. When market leaders are proposing proprietary solutions, Extreme went open Linux with “superspec.” When they pushed DNA and its additional complexity, Extreme responded by re-thinking the way networks are designed, deployed, and managed without vendor lock-in. Final-ly, when they tied to service and to licensing together with Cisco One, Extreme responded with added flexibility in both licensing, services, and Extreme-as-a-service.
CSC Director of Global Security Solutions Ron Knode presents the challenges and proposed solutions to securing the value inherent in cloud computing for enterprises that must maintain audits and control of data in this 40-page research paper.
In a recent survey of 250 senior IT & business decision makers by Cloud Industry Forum, 61% expressed concerns over data security in the cloud, despite the fact only 2% have ever experienced a cloud-related security breach. Talk of the cloud and cloud technology has been rife for a long time now, yet there
are still many businesses that subscribe to out-dated
myths, such as data security.
The last few years have seen a marked increase in the
popularity of the cloud but for many it’s another tech
innovation that everyone tells them they need but that they
don’t fully understand. There’s a distinct hype surrounding
discussions on the cloud, but for the most part, they come
across as semi-intelligible fog, full of jargon fi lled techspeak,
with a lack of clarity about the business advantages.
In this whitepaper, we’ll lift the haze around the cloud and take
a straight-forward approach to explore the benefits, making it easy to determine if the cloud is right for you. We’ll clearly state the benefits of using the cloud as well as give an overview of the perceived risks and remove some of the common misconceptions.
#IBM Open technology platforms, pre-integrated and pre-tested systems, and optimised configurations that´s
IBM Cloud Infrastructure Alliance especially designed to help you accelerate your journey to the Cloud. Contact me for more details. #ibmcloud
An effective public cloud strategy starts with selecting a public cloud provider that fits your environment and executes your business objectives. Netmagic shares some important parameters to consider before selecting a cloud service provider.
An effective public cloud strategy starts with selecting a public cloud provider that fits your environment and executes your business objectives. Netmagic shares some important parameters to consider before selecting a cloud service provider.
In this eBook, we will uncover the specifics of how a
hybrid cloud solution can transform IT management so
that you can become the leader your business needs.
We will compare traditional and hybrid requirements with
respect to three critical areas: how you’ll govern the
system, the management tools you’ll need, and what
your management opportunities will be.
Faced with depressing predictions of looming budget cuts cloud computing has come to the fore of discussions to uncover relatively short-term economies in IT functions within the public sector. But how much of the cloud story is hype? How different are cloud architectures to the web-server farms that organizations have had the means to access for well over a decade? And how realistic is it that core business systems will move out of the data centre to the cloud?
The 2014 Future of Cloud Computing Survey was conducted in partnership with 72 Collaborators. The survey is the most widely endorsed survey of its kind in the industry. To tweet individual slides, please note the banner on the upper right hand corner of each page. Visit the Blog on http://mjskok.com/resource/2014-future-cloud-computing-4th-annual-survey-results and follow us @futureofcloud #futureofcloud to join the conversation.
Map of the Cloud minefield - Banktech Sydney Summit 17 july 2012 Livingstone Advisory
This presentation was delivered at the 2012 BankTech summit in Sydney, Australia by Rob Livingstone (www.rob-livingstone.com ). Topics included:
Exploring the real definition of Cloud
Interpreting the conflicting messages
Systemic vs. Technical risks in the Cloud
Availability
Hybrid Cloud is the reality
Importance of Cloud Computing Reference Architecture
Managing multiple parties in the Cloud ecosystem (Hybrid Cloud)
The challenge for Regulators
Standards? Which standards?
Some risk mitigation approaches
Legacy IT Evolves: How Cloud Choices Like Microsoft Azure Can Conquer the VMw...Dana Gardner
Transcript of a panel discussion exploring how organizations can gain a future-proof path to hybrid computing that simplifies architecture and makes total economic sense.
Presentation given at HostingCon 2008 in Chicago for the Marketing tract. Designed to explain the differences between various Cloud Computing models as well as dispel myths and illustrate the features and benefits of Clouds.
The next generation ethernet gangster (part 3)Jeff Green
The original competitors in the Ethernet market remind me of gang members who each had their unique advantages to win over their turf. Over the past few years, Extreme assembled seven gangers from a variety of backgrounds with their strengths to perform a mission and deliver a new level of value to our customers. Extreme has adopted a gangster strategy going against the grain of the market leader. So far, the gangster strategy has been a winning strategy. When market leaders are proposing proprietary solutions, Extreme went open Linux with “superspec.” When they pushed DNA and its additional complexity, Extreme responded by re-thinking the way networks are designed, deployed, and managed without vendor lock-in. Final-ly, when they tied to service and to licensing together with Cisco One, Extreme responded with added flexibility in both licensing, services, and Extreme-as-a-service.
CSC Director of Global Security Solutions Ron Knode presents the challenges and proposed solutions to securing the value inherent in cloud computing for enterprises that must maintain audits and control of data in this 40-page research paper.
In a recent survey of 250 senior IT & business decision makers by Cloud Industry Forum, 61% expressed concerns over data security in the cloud, despite the fact only 2% have ever experienced a cloud-related security breach. Talk of the cloud and cloud technology has been rife for a long time now, yet there
are still many businesses that subscribe to out-dated
myths, such as data security.
The last few years have seen a marked increase in the
popularity of the cloud but for many it’s another tech
innovation that everyone tells them they need but that they
don’t fully understand. There’s a distinct hype surrounding
discussions on the cloud, but for the most part, they come
across as semi-intelligible fog, full of jargon fi lled techspeak,
with a lack of clarity about the business advantages.
In this whitepaper, we’ll lift the haze around the cloud and take
a straight-forward approach to explore the benefits, making it easy to determine if the cloud is right for you. We’ll clearly state the benefits of using the cloud as well as give an overview of the perceived risks and remove some of the common misconceptions.
#IBM Open technology platforms, pre-integrated and pre-tested systems, and optimised configurations that´s
IBM Cloud Infrastructure Alliance especially designed to help you accelerate your journey to the Cloud. Contact me for more details. #ibmcloud
An effective public cloud strategy starts with selecting a public cloud provider that fits your environment and executes your business objectives. Netmagic shares some important parameters to consider before selecting a cloud service provider.
An effective public cloud strategy starts with selecting a public cloud provider that fits your environment and executes your business objectives. Netmagic shares some important parameters to consider before selecting a cloud service provider.
A cloud revolution is brewing, and it promises to radically transform the way we compete, collaborate, and consume business services. Indeed, in an economy as volatile and hypercompetitive as today’s, the cloud’s potent mix of simplicity, security, faster innovation, and lower operating costs is proving increasingly attractive. For many businesses—small, medium, and large—the time to adopt this game-changing approach is now.
How the Cloud is Revolutionizing the Retail IndustryRaymark
In this exclusive guide, you will learn about:
The top 5 advantages of cloud for retailers
The economics of cloud computing
Frequently asked questions about the cloud
Is cloud computing right for your businessTyrone Systems
The cloud, cloud computing, SaaS…like it or not, we hear these terms mentioned incessantly in the technology and business world. And for a good reason – the benefits of cloud computing are vast.
Businesses around the globe are facing fierce competition – no matter the country, industry, or customer. Digitalization, sophisticated consumers with increasing demands, and lower margins are causing organizations to adapt their businesses, products, and services in response.
These companies are looking high and low for new growth opportunities, better business models, cost-cutting options, and increased efficiency in ways that standardize and simply their businesses from one end to the other.
Cloud Security: A Brief Journey through the Revolutionary Technologyrosswilks1
Vanderbilt cloud solutions such as ACT365 and SPC
Connect are proving extremely popular choices for
security installers due to the simple mantra of the cloud
– adaptability and flexibility. Although the cloud is one
of the most heavily talked about topics in the industry
right now, the concept has existed for many years,
decades even.
As the amount of data used by organizations continues to grow, securing critical information and programs on in-house computer servers has become crucial. Cloud computing offers secure access to users from anywhere and has been widely accepted around the world for its business efficiencies, cost-effectiveness, and competitive advantages.
This e-Book explores the business benefits of cloud migration, including flexibility, higher security, easy accessibility, data recovery, and minimal maintenance. It also provides an overview of the leading cloud service providers, such as Microsoft Azure, Citrix, CompTIA, and AWS.
The e-Book covers the following topics:
The history of cloud computing
An explanation of the three different cloud computing services
A comparative analysis of Cloud vs On-Premises
The advantages of Cloud computing
Quick stats on Cloud-migrated business profits
The top 10 entrepreneurial benefits of Cloud migration
Common Cloud migration challenges faced by every CIO
How to overcome these challenges with Cloud skilling plan solutions
A roadmap to master Azure, Citrix, CompTIA, and AWS Cloud certifications
We hope this e-Book provides valuable insights for organizations considering Cloud migration or looking to optimize their existing Cloud solutions.
Check for more information in these blogs: https://www.netcomlearning.com/blogs/347/microsoft-azure-certification-path-for-2023-the-ultimate-microsoft-azure-certifications-training-guide.html
For aws: https://www.netcomlearning.com/blogs/585/the-ultimate-guide-to-aws-certification-how-to-get-certified-and-succeed-in-your-career.html
Based on a survey of 250 companies worldwide.
There is no doubt that cloud computing has become mainstream and organizations are strategically utilizing it to modernize their applications for a data driven architecture. With this maturity, the digital transformation and cloud adoption has become a lot more manageable than ever before. New trends are emerging to support a variety of use cases in hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Denodo surveyed 250 organizations across the world to understand what is driving the cloud adoption, how enterprise cloud spend is growing significantly and motivating IT leaders to accelerate and build more confidence despite some growing compliance and security concerns.
Download this whitepaper to learn:
- What cloud initiatives and trends are taking precedence in 2020
- Cloud deployment strategies to overcome the cloud challenges
- Choice of cloud providers and the influence on cloud migration patterns
- Role of IT and case for hybrid / multi-cloud adoption
- Growth of cloud marketplaces and supporting programs
- Best practices facilitating data management in the cloud
Will the Cloud be your disaster, or will Cloud be your disaster recovery?Livingstone Advisory
Making real sense of enterprise Cloud computing in the context of your business is not always a trivial task. The volume, diversity and intensity of opinions on what cloud can do for your organization are relentless, as are the pressures to lower IT costs, speed up implementations, simplify enterprise IT and deliver more value in your own organizations.
Shifting your mission critical systems to the cloud presents a formidable range of challenges for many organizations, least of which the potential loss of control over your disaster recovery capability. Conversely, keeping your enterprise IT systems where you can see them, and using the cloud to manage your backups and disaster recovery may appear to run counter to the prevailing perception that the cloud is the ultimate destination for all IT systems.
In this presentation, Rob Livingstone will be covering off some of the key considerations of disaster recovery planning in the hybrid cloud environment and how, paradoxically, cloud could either be the cause of your disaster or has the potential to save you from one. He will be offering practical insights and tips on how you should approach the cloud when it comes to planning for the worst so that you come out looking your best.
Modern society is being transformed by cloud computing as it has revolutionized how we store and use data.
But what exactly is cloud computing? How does it benefit and how does it harm? How can it be classified?
Let's learn with the help of - https://qwikskills.com/
The Cloud! Oh how we love this IT catchword!
Yet many IT professionals still find themselves wondering what exactly it can do for their unique enterprise. Sure it offers agility, flexibility and cost savings, but how about seeing it in action in today’s businesses?
In this exclusive resource, check out real-world, surprising cloud computing observations on the following topics:
How IT departments are actively employing these services
The reactions to both public and private cloud initiatives
What the cloud means for future IT decisions
And more
How Are Cloud Services Outweighing On-Premise Solutions In 2022.pptxArpitGautam20
Here are a few interesting ways through which cutting-edge cloud services are outweighing traditional & expensive on-premise solutions in 2022. https://arsr.tech/how-are-cloud-services-outweighing-on-premise-solutions-in-2022/
How Are Cloud Services Outweighing On-Premise Solutions In 2022.pptx
CLOUD, FOG, OR SMOG?
1. CLOUD, FOG, OR SMOG?
OUR FORECAST ON BUSINESS
CONTINUITY AND THE CLOUD
1 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
2. INTRODUCTION
You can’t go anywhere in the IT world these days without This paper was adapted from a
hearing about the “cloud.” It seems to be everywhere, in every keynote address delivered at SMB
new product, the solution to every problem. Nation 2011 by Matt Urmston.
But as with any hot new trend, you’re probably wondering Matt has worked in the IT industry
if the cloud, cloud computing, or cloud-based backup for more than twenty years, focusing
live up to the hype. Is this something you should use on backup, disaster recovery, and
yourself? If you’re a managed service provider (MSP) or archiving solutions. He has worked
a value-added reseller (VAR), is it something you should as a technical marketing manager, a
recommend to your clients? sales engineer, a product manager,
and as an independent consultant
Before you jump in, you need to know how the cloud is for Legato/EMC. Currently, he is
positioned today, understand its many value propositions, senior technical product manager
and look at how you can get the most out of it in your own for StorageCraft Technology
business. Corporation.
2 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
3. ARE THERE BRIGHT SKIES AHEAD?
If you listen to the marketers of the world, using the cloud for backup, Customers can maintain business continuity in the case of a
storage, and disaster recovery seems like a no-brainer. site disaster.
A simple Internet search yields countless testimonials on its Even though most “disasters” are smaller in scope, businesses
manifold benefits, some of which might include the following: always need to prepare for the possibility of a large-scale
disruption of their site. Everything from hurricanes to tornados
to construction trucks accidently driving through an office have
Customers are not dependent on a single server.
demolished businesses in the past and they will continue doing so
Data stored in the cloud can be distributed across a wide array in the future. Having data stored in the cloud protects it from such
of servers, which are often geographically disparate. Since every on-site disasters.
machine will fail sooner or later, storing data in the cloud seems to
offer good protection.
Customers can provision virtual storage containers that are
larger than the physical space available.
Customers have no direct hardware dependency.
The advent of virtual technology has made it possible for cloud
In addition to not having to worry about the failure of a single adopters to create storage that is larger than the physical server
server, cloud adopters don’t necessarily need to have any hardware that’s hosting it, cutting costs.
on-site. This can reduce costs, among other benefits.
Customers can access all of their storage from a single inter-
Customers can purchase and expand cloud services face anywhere in the world.
dynamically.
Whether it’s on a computer, a smart phone, or some other device,
Whether a cloud adopter is purchasing storage for the first time or cloud adopters have access to their data anywhere.
growing what they currently have, the pay-as-you go model makes
it easy to get just the right amount. This applies not only to storage
space, but to hardware and to dedicated IT staff as well.
3 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
4. OR JUST THUNDER CLOUDS?
Looking at these benefits, it’s easy to get swept away by the • Amazon Cloud Goes Down, Takes Every Hot Startup
cloud. With It2
Unfortunately, there’s thunder on the horizon. The truth • Google, Microsoft cloud crashes: Is this the new
is that there’s still a lot of uncertainty about the cloud. For normal?3
example, Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, recently told • Why Amazon’s cloud Titanic went down4
the Wall Street Journal, • EMC Atmos Goes Offline5
The interesting thing about cloud computing is that • Apple MobileMe gets De-Mobilized6
we’ve redefined cloud computing to include everything • Gmail outage passes 24 hours for some7
that we already do. I can’t think of anything that isn’t The consistency with which major cloud providers have
cloud computing with all of these announcements…. failed is alarming and some experts predict that it will
Maybe I’m an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is only get worse. According to Gartner, “By 2014, a major
talking about. What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s cloud-computing service provider will suffer a cascading
insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?1 failure, resulting in unrecoverable data loss and permanent
business impact for multiple customers.”8
Ellison’s quote appears in an article called “Oracle’s Ellison
Nails Cloud Computing,” suggesting the CEO is not alone
in his suspicions and confusion. But the darkened sky is
more than simply uncertainty at the proper way to use the
latest marketing buzzword. In practice, the cloud has run
into some serious problems. Consider, for example, this
small selection of headlines from the last few years:
4 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
5. THE TRUTH ABOUT CLOUD ADOPTION
Of course, what we’ve shown so far are the extremes. Of that, however, only 39 percent will be using paid
services. And 64 percent of those paying for the cloud will
As with every emerging technology, there are loud voices only pay for three services or fewer.9
pushing for adoption, frustrated voices complaining about
failure, and the truth somewhere in between. The survey also reveals other telling features of the cloud as
it is and will be in the near future.
A cloud adoption study published by Microsoft in 2011
offers a good perspective. Eighty-two percent of the respondents claimed that buying
a cloud service from a local provider was important, and
They surveyed 3,258 companies globally with between those who did purchase services from local providers
two and two hundred and fifty employees and asked them were more likely to use paid services.10 At the same time,
about how they were currently using the cloud and how those who don’t plan on paying for cloud services were
they expected to use the cloud in the future. Microsoft more concerned about control than anything else. Fifty-
identified nine specific services that could be adopted seven percent wanted to keep things in house because they
in the cloud (including accounting software, project believed they’d have better control.11
management, and data storage and backup) and asked
participating companies to evaluate their current usage Fifty-three percent said they wouldn’t acquire cloud
of these services, as well as their projected usage in three services because they simply didn’t know enough about
years. The survey also distinguished between free cloud them to make a good decision.12
services and paid ones.
In summarizing the study, Marco Limena, vice president
The results clearly demonstrate the patchy adoption of of business channels for Worldwide Communications
cloud services thus far. Sector at Microsoft, assessed the current and future state
of cloud computing: “Cloud adoption will be gradual, and
For example, at the time of the survey, 66 percent of the SMBs will continue to operate in a hybrid model with an
respondents used some kind of cloud service (free or paid). increasing blend between off-premises and traditional on-
Within three years, that number will grow to 74 percent. premises infrastructure, for the foreseeable future.”13
5 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
6. PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE
OF RAIN
It’s difficult for anyone these days to navigate this current a solution provider, you need to be ready with the cloud
state of the cloud. Which technologies do you adopt? How story you’re going to tell.
deeply do you invest? Is the technology ready for you to jump
in all the way? At StorageCraft, our forecast for the cloud is simply this:
partly cloudy with a chance of rain. In other words, cloud
For MSPs and VARs, the question is even more computing isn’t going to go away, but it is going to grow
complicated. Not only do you need to figure out which slowly and is still fraught with potential risks. As such,
cloud technologies will work best for your own business, we’ve prepared a number of recommendations for partners
but you need to determine how cloud offerings fit into your who are looking to push forward:
products and services as well.
• Be the expert (or find a partner who is).
The high-level summary of these various studies is that • Understand the cloud provider’s SLAs.
businesses will be slow to embrace cloud computing and
• Build solutions that meet client needs and budget.
when they do, they’ll still maintain some kind of on-site
backup. At the same time, when they do adopt, it will • Don’t rush.
likely be from local, trusted sources. This means that as
6 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
7. BE THE EXPERT (OR FIND A PARTNER
WHO IS)
Consider again this statistic from the Microsoft study:
53% of respondents agreed with the statement “I don’t
know enough about cloud computing to be able to make
decisions about using cloud service.”
This is a significant percentage and it underscores the need
for MSPs and VARs to become the experts, to become
proficient at educating their clients in the ramifications
of the cloud. The businesses described by this quote are
simply sitting back and waiting for someone to help them
understand the trend. If you’re not an expert, or haven’t
partnered with someone who is, then you’re missing your
chance to educate that client and meet his or her need.
Clients are coming to you to tell them what to do when it
comes to their backup and disaster recovery. They don’t
have the time to become experts on the cloud, so if you’re
going to offer it, you need to fill that role. And if you can’t
(or choose not to), be sure to partner with a cloud provider
who can.
7 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
8. UNDERSTAND THE CLOUD
PROVIDER’S SLAs
Most IT service providers guarantee a specific level of service Not only is the client’s data completely lost, but if they Where SLAs Break Down
to their customers. Whether it’s 99.9% uptime, no data loss, do not remove the corrupted file, they’ll continue to pay Hello,
or guaranteed replication to another server, these service storage charges. Imagine having to explain this data loss to
level agreements (SLAs) are crucial to how the provider your own clients. A few days ago we sent you an
operates. email letting you know that we
As important as it is to understand the SLAs of the
In fact, in many cases, the SLA becomes the differentiator providers you’re partnering with, it’s just as important to were working on recovering
between one organization and another. recognize that no SLA is completely bullet proof. This is an inconsistent data snapshot
that chance of rain in our forecast and frankly, you need to of one or more of your Storage
When looking to partner with cloud providers, then, it’s be the umbrella. volumes. We are very sorry, but
vital that you understand those SLAs and evaluate which ultimately our efforts to manually
offers the best service for your needs. If you are going to be Consider each SLA and look for points of weakness, then recover your volume were
offering cloud services to your own clients through a third bolster your own offering to protect your own clients. unsuccessful. The hardware failed
party, then you need to know exactly what you’re offering. As one Amazon customer told its own clients, “Our in such a way that we could not
development team is also hard at work to limit the impact forensically restore the data.
At the same time, it’s just as important that you take all of any future AWS interruptions.”15 Don’t wait until after a
SLAs with a grain of salt. Some guarantees are virtually disaster to implement procedures that control the way your What we were able to recover has
impossible to enforce. For example, what if your cloud cloud provider affects your clients. been made available via a snapshot,
provider goes out of business? Imagine you’ve moved all of although the data is in such a state
your own data or the data of your clients into storage with that it may have little to no utility...
a cloud provider that files for bankruptcy. How can they
possibly meet their promised level of service then? If you have no need for this
When Amazon’s EC2 cloud service crashed in 2011, the snapshot, please delete it to avoid
fallibility of SLAs became apparent. The letter reprinted incurring storage charges.
in the sidebar is one Amazon sent to a client following the
crash (as reported on MSNBC). We apologize for this volume loss
and any impact to your business.
Sincerely,14
8 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
9. BUILD SOLUTIONS THAT MEET CLIENT
NEEDS AND BUDGET
It should be apparent by now that the cloud is not a one-size- requirements of many executives to back up to the cloud
fits-all solution. without relinquishing control of your customer’s data to a
third party. With a corporate cloud, you still have complete
As such, it is imperative that you understand your control. Unfortunately, with a corporate cloud, you take on
customers’ business models, their needs, and their budgets all the cost and risk yourself, which is no small thing.
as you create solutions to move their data to the cloud.
Within the context of those needs and budgets, you can then The third option, of course, is simply replicating to the
work to build a backup and disaster recovery plan that takes cloud. There are many benefits to this, but it’s important
advantage of the cloud, but still protects them from the rain. to remember that once you replicate data to a third party
cloud provider, you’re no longer in control of it. You can’t
To start out, we always recommend that you include a go into their cloud environment and do failovers or test
local backup in your plan. That way, if your cloud provider restores with your own data. There are a few services
goes out of business or has that major cascading failure that allow this, but not many. As you make your cloud
predicted by Gartner, your data is protected. Once you plan, then, you need to be sure that you’re meeting your
have that local copy, you can create an off-site solution. customer’s needs. If all they need is to transfer their data to
The traditional off-site model is to simply replicate to a the cloud, then it may be the perfect solution. If, however,
data center somewhere. Whether you’re using a colocation they need to recover that data quickly, if their recovery
center or simply storage at your office or home, the data time objective is a day or less, then the cloud may not
center model allows you to recover easily from a site- work. The time it takes to pull data back from the cloud,
specific disaster. Data centers are not technically a cloud whether over the Internet or by some other route, may be a
solution and it does not offer many of those benefits, but deal breaker.
they are still a perfectly respectable and reliable solution. Of course you could always mix these options, replicating
A second solution is to create a corporate cloud. This is a your local backup to a data center, for instance, and then
hybrid approach. Here, you’ve taken your corporate cloud replicating it into the cloud. In any event, it’s imperative as
and virtualized it so you can quickly provision machines you create your cloud offering that you understand what
and work with elastic data sets. This allows for dynamic your customer actually needs. Each of the options offers
growth and the manipulation of images you’ve moved there. different benefits and drawbacks and you won’t do yourself
You can spin them up, restore them to a virtual or physical any favors trying to force a solution on a client that doesn’t
machine and so on. A corporate cloud even allows you to meet their needs. No one likes to be sold something they
test disaster recovery plans. A corporate cloud can meet don’t need.
9 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
10. DON’T RUSH
Most people think about the cloud like it’s an application.
You buy it, you install it, and that’s it. But that’s not really
how it works.
Using the cloud is really a phased process. Once you
understand the needs of your customers, you can provide
solutions that allow them to take advantage of the cloud as
they truly need it.
The research presented in this paper suggests that cloud
adoption is going to happen slowly, as users gradually
move business-line applications to the cloud as needed.
This allows them to get a sense of the benefits the cloud is
actually providing in a measured and controlled way.
As an MSP or VAR, you should do the same. You don’t
need to throw everything into the cloud all at once (partly
cloudy, remember?). You can take the time to learn how
cloud computing really fits into your offering and how it
can meet the needs of your customers.
10 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
11. GETTING OUT OF THE SMOG
The truth is that for all the hype about its benefits, the cloud
is not yet living up to its promises for many people.
That doesn’t mean it will never meet those expectations,
but right now we should consider it for what it is: an
emerging group of technologies that have promise but that
are still trying to figure out exactly how they work. With
that perspective, we can be smart. We can take our time,
and we can develop cloud strategies that meet the needs of
our clients and that make sense.
11 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
12. NOTES
1. Dan Farber, “Oracle’s Ellison nails cloud computing,” 7. Seth Weintraub, “Gmail outage passes 24
CNET News, September 26, 2008, http://news.cnet. hours for some (updated),” CNNMoney,
com/8301-13953_3-10052188-80.html. February 28, 2011, http://tech.fortune.cnn.
2. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, “Amazon Cloud Goes com/2011/02/28/gmail-outage-passes-24-hours-
Down, Takes Every Hot Startup With It,” Business for-some/?section=magazines_fortune&utm_
Insider, April 21, 2011, http://www.businessinsider. source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_ca
com/why-is-reddit-down-2011-4. mpaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmagazine
s_fortune+%28Fortune+Magazine%29.
3. Kevin McCaney, “Google, Microsoft cloud crashes:
Is this the new normal?” Washington Technology, 8. Jay Heiser, “Will Your Data Rain When the Cloud
September 13, 2011, http://washingtontechnology. Bursts?,” Gartner, September 24, 2010, ID Number:
com/articles/2011/09/12/google-microsoft-cloud- G00206825.
outages.aspx. 9. “SMB Cloud Adoption Study Dec 2010—Global
4. David Goldman, “Why Amazon’s cloud Titanic went Report.” Microsoft, March 24, 2011. 7.
down,” CNNMoney, April 22, 2011, http://money. 10. Ibid. 17.
cnn.com/2011/04/22/technology/amazon_ec2_ 11. Ibid. 16.
cloud_outage/index.htm.
12. Ibid.
5. Dave Raffo, “EMC Atmos Online goes offline,
13. “Microsoft unveils findings from its SMB Cloud
other cloud storage providers look to step.
Adoption Study,” Microsoft, March 24, 2011, http://
up,” SearchCloudStorage, July 2, 2010, http://
www.microsoft.com/presspass/emea/presscentre/
searchcloudstorage.techtarget.com/news/1516117/
pressreleases/MSSMBCloudAdoption.mspx.
EMC-Atmos-Online-goes-offline-other-cloud-
storage-providers-look-to-step-up. 14. Henry Blodgett, “Amazon’s cloud crash destroyed
many customers’ data,” Technolog on MSNBC,
6. Andrew R. Hickey, “10 Notable Cloud Outages and
April 28, 2011, http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_
What Caused Them,” slide 1, “Apple MobileMe Gets
news/2011/04/28/6549775-amazons-cloud-crash-
De-mobilized,” CRN, February 23, 2010, http://www.
destroyed-many-customers-data.
crn.com/slide-shows/applications-os/223100370/10-
notable-cloud-outages-and-what-caused-them. 15. Ibid.
htm?pgno=4.
12 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.
13. ABOUT STORAGECRAFT
At StorageCraft, the goal of complete business continuity the most of your backup CONTACT US
drives everything we do. Our flagship, StorageCraft images. It includes the
StorageCraft Technology
ShadowProtect®, is a full-featured, best-in-class BDR solution following features:
Corporation
that is both fast and reliable.
• HeadStart Restore® leverages
11850 South Election Road,
Imagine a backup solution that takes full, differential, and your ShadowProtect images
Suite 100
incremental images of your disks, including not only your before a disaster by pre-
Draper, Utah 84020 USA
data, but your OS and applications too. staging them as a VM, so
recovery can happen in Phone: 801.545.4700
• Perform complete, bare-metal restores every time. Our mere minutes. Fax: 801.545.4705
Hardware Independent RestoreTM technology restores to
any machine. • ShadowStreamTM is an
www.storagecraft.com
alternative file transfer
• Access files at a specific point in time and recover data technology that offers speeds up to 5 times faster than contactus@storagecraft.com
on a granular level. FTP and does not require separate hardware.
• Boot your ShadowProtect images as virtual machines • intelligentFTPTM transforms traditional FTP into a
(VMs) with VirtualBootTM. BDR-friendly transfer solution by offering automatic
• Manage multiple instances of ShadowProtect across network replication with greater control over what,
multiple environments. how, and when you replicate.
• ShadowControl ImageManager also offers other
MAKING THE MOST OF BACKUP powerful business continuity features such as
consolidation, verification, retention, and notification.
We also have a growing array of tools that unlock the full
potential of your ShadowProtect images. We also offer ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for
Exchange to give you complete, granular access to images
StorageCraft ShadowControlTM ImageManager is a full- of your Exchange servers.
featured companion to ShadowProtect that lets you make
13 | ® 2012 StorageCraft. All rights reserved.