The document discusses moving a company's data center to the cloud. It explores key questions around what is meant by "cloud services", whether cost savings and service improvements can both be achieved, which suppliers to consider, and challenges and risks. Public cloud is not seen as ready yet for large companies' mission-critical systems, while virtual private cloud may offer the best balance. Savings of 42% in costs and service level improvements were achieved in one case study. A range of supplier types should be considered, each with strengths and weaknesses, and contractual terms, service levels, and risks need careful attention.
An Executive View on Cloud Service Brokers - Cloud Solutions in a CSB Model C...Chad Lawler
The document discusses the need for cloud service brokers to help organizations manage multi-cloud environments. It describes how cloud service brokers can act as an intermediary between cloud consumers and providers, providing aggregation, customization, and governance of multiple cloud services. The presentation also outlines some of the business value cloud service brokers can provide organizations, such as removing complexity, consolidating interfaces, and enabling governance and cost control of multiple cloud environments through a single point of management and visibility.
A brief and sharp explanation of the Cloud Service Brokerage concept. Starts with general cloud introduction explaining why brokers/aggregators/intermediaries might be needed. The second part explains the most important concepts of cloud service brokerage. And in the end the portfolio management matrix is proposed as an assessment tool.
This document discusses the concept of cloud computing and its implications for businesses. It begins with definitions of cloud computing and discusses various cloud service models (infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, software as a service) and deployment models (private cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud). It then addresses how cloud computing provides opportunities for resellers to offer new services while some users still have concerns about security and reliability. The cloud market is growing rapidly but still makes up a small percentage of overall IT spending currently.
The document discusses the shift in the IT industry towards cloud computing. It notes that cloud computing represents a new deployment option that offers flexible consumption of computing resources and storage on demand. While cloud computing promises potential cost savings and business agility, organizations need to carefully assess which workloads and applications are suitable for a cloud environment versus maintaining existing on-premises infrastructure. A hybrid approach that combines on-premises systems with cloud-based services may provide the optimal solution for most businesses.
The document outlines various partners that have worked with the company across different categories like ingest, encoding, content protection, origin, CDN, and clients/devices. It also discusses strategies for enriching services by making them more usable, accessible, consistent in delivery through approaches like cloud-scale provisioning and unified management. Finally, it proposes approaches for integrating services through customized processes and data or enhanced services using analytics and change management support.
Sample of workshop given at CloudAsia 2012. Workshop is 700 slides, so this is just a small sample to give a feel for the content, depth and independent approach.
Cloudonomics is the economics of cloud computing. It provides an overall understanding of the business value of cloud computing for managers, executives, and strategists across industries. Some key economic aspects of cloud computing include economies of scale, location independence through dispersed infrastructure, unit or pay-per-use pricing, and on-demand scalable resources without upfront costs. The laws of cloudonomics establish that utility pricing is more cost effective than fixed infrastructure when demand varies, on-demand resources reduce the need for forecasting, aggregate cloud demand is smoother than individual demands, and large cloud providers benefit from economies of scale.
The Adoption of Cloud Technology by Enterprises - A Whitepaper by RapidValueRapidValue
If we go back in time, people were dependent on the physical computer storage or servers in order to run their programs. Now, with the introduction of cloud computing, people, organizations and enterprises are able to access their programs through the Internet. Cloud computing is gaining prominence, rapidly, and the popularity is growing, each day. Cloud computing is big business, today.According to PC Magazine, it was, already, generating around $100 billion a year in 2012. It is forecasted to increase up to $270 billion by the year 2020.
Enterprises and organizations, these days, are relying heavily on the cloud services and cloud platforms to obtain resources on-demand and that too, in an automated manner.
Organizations can, now, only pay for the resources that they use. Enterprises, also,
relinquish unnecessary resources with the help of using a self-service portal. This serves as a big cost-effective solution, as you can eliminate the need for investing a huge sum of money as capital investment.
This paper addresses the primary reasons for the enterprises migrating to the cloud infrastructure, various types of cloud deployment (technology & services) models IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud, feature comparison of three popular cloud platforms - AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and some examples of how enterprises and consumers are using the cloud technology.
An Executive View on Cloud Service Brokers - Cloud Solutions in a CSB Model C...Chad Lawler
The document discusses the need for cloud service brokers to help organizations manage multi-cloud environments. It describes how cloud service brokers can act as an intermediary between cloud consumers and providers, providing aggregation, customization, and governance of multiple cloud services. The presentation also outlines some of the business value cloud service brokers can provide organizations, such as removing complexity, consolidating interfaces, and enabling governance and cost control of multiple cloud environments through a single point of management and visibility.
A brief and sharp explanation of the Cloud Service Brokerage concept. Starts with general cloud introduction explaining why brokers/aggregators/intermediaries might be needed. The second part explains the most important concepts of cloud service brokerage. And in the end the portfolio management matrix is proposed as an assessment tool.
This document discusses the concept of cloud computing and its implications for businesses. It begins with definitions of cloud computing and discusses various cloud service models (infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, software as a service) and deployment models (private cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud). It then addresses how cloud computing provides opportunities for resellers to offer new services while some users still have concerns about security and reliability. The cloud market is growing rapidly but still makes up a small percentage of overall IT spending currently.
The document discusses the shift in the IT industry towards cloud computing. It notes that cloud computing represents a new deployment option that offers flexible consumption of computing resources and storage on demand. While cloud computing promises potential cost savings and business agility, organizations need to carefully assess which workloads and applications are suitable for a cloud environment versus maintaining existing on-premises infrastructure. A hybrid approach that combines on-premises systems with cloud-based services may provide the optimal solution for most businesses.
The document outlines various partners that have worked with the company across different categories like ingest, encoding, content protection, origin, CDN, and clients/devices. It also discusses strategies for enriching services by making them more usable, accessible, consistent in delivery through approaches like cloud-scale provisioning and unified management. Finally, it proposes approaches for integrating services through customized processes and data or enhanced services using analytics and change management support.
Sample of workshop given at CloudAsia 2012. Workshop is 700 slides, so this is just a small sample to give a feel for the content, depth and independent approach.
Cloudonomics is the economics of cloud computing. It provides an overall understanding of the business value of cloud computing for managers, executives, and strategists across industries. Some key economic aspects of cloud computing include economies of scale, location independence through dispersed infrastructure, unit or pay-per-use pricing, and on-demand scalable resources without upfront costs. The laws of cloudonomics establish that utility pricing is more cost effective than fixed infrastructure when demand varies, on-demand resources reduce the need for forecasting, aggregate cloud demand is smoother than individual demands, and large cloud providers benefit from economies of scale.
The Adoption of Cloud Technology by Enterprises - A Whitepaper by RapidValueRapidValue
If we go back in time, people were dependent on the physical computer storage or servers in order to run their programs. Now, with the introduction of cloud computing, people, organizations and enterprises are able to access their programs through the Internet. Cloud computing is gaining prominence, rapidly, and the popularity is growing, each day. Cloud computing is big business, today.According to PC Magazine, it was, already, generating around $100 billion a year in 2012. It is forecasted to increase up to $270 billion by the year 2020.
Enterprises and organizations, these days, are relying heavily on the cloud services and cloud platforms to obtain resources on-demand and that too, in an automated manner.
Organizations can, now, only pay for the resources that they use. Enterprises, also,
relinquish unnecessary resources with the help of using a self-service portal. This serves as a big cost-effective solution, as you can eliminate the need for investing a huge sum of money as capital investment.
This paper addresses the primary reasons for the enterprises migrating to the cloud infrastructure, various types of cloud deployment (technology & services) models IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud, feature comparison of three popular cloud platforms - AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and some examples of how enterprises and consumers are using the cloud technology.
Master thesis presentation on 'Cloud Service Broker' Carlos Gonçalves
Throughout the history of computer systems, experts have been reshaping IT infrastructure for improving the efficiency of organizations by enabling shared access to computational resources. The advent of cloud computing has sparked a new paradigm providing better hosting and service delivery over the Internet. It offers advantages over traditional solutions by providing ubiquitous, scalable and on-demand access to shared pools of computational resources.
Over the course of these last years, we have seen new market players offering cloud services at competitive prices and different Service Level Agreements. With the unprecedented increasing adoption of cloud computing, cloud providers are on the look out for the creation and offering of new and value-added services towards their customers. Market competitiveness, numerous service options and business models led to gradual entropy. Mismatching cloud terminology got introduced and incompatible APIs locked-in users to specific cloud service providers. Billing and charging become fragmented when consuming cloud services from multiple vendors. An entity recommend- ing cloud providers and acting as an intermediary between the cloud consumer and providers would harmonize this interaction.
This dissertation proposes and implements a Cloud Service Broker focusing on assisting and encouraging developers for running their applications on the cloud. Developers can easily describe their applications, where an intelligent algorithm will be able to recommend cloud offerings that better suit application requirements. In this way, users are aided in deploying, managing, monitoring and migrating their applications in a cloud of clouds. A single API is required for orchestrating the whole process in tandem with truly decoupled cloud managers. Users can also interact with the Cloud Service Broker through a Web portal, a command-line interface, and client libraries.
The document discusses cloud computing and cloud brokers. It provides definitions of cloud computing from different perspectives. It also describes the types of cloud services including SaaS, PaaS, IAAS, etc. The document outlines the functions of cloud brokers, which provide a single interface to access and manage multiple cloud platforms and share resources across clouds.
It gives some basic information about why cloud computing is being used every day or daily life.Types of cloud and its benefits and services models and its cons and prons etc.
This document provides an overview of cloud computing presented by Dan Haurey, President and Founder of Exigent Technologies. The agenda includes defining cloud computing, demystifying cloud terms and acronyms, making the business case for cloud, understanding options and conducting a proper return on investment analysis. Key points covered are public versus private cloud models, software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service models, benefits to stakeholders like reduced costs and increased productivity, and factors to consider when vetting cloud providers. The presentation promotes Exigent's private cloud "Turnkey Cloud" platform and shares a success story with Tri-County Orthopedics who moved to Exigent's cloud.
Organizations need a plan for moving from their current state toward cloud models based on standardized and consolidated platforms, shared services, self-service and metered use. How can organizations get started on the evolution to cloud computing? This webcast explores how enterprises can create a roadmap to cloud computing, including developing the business case; financial models; governance considerations; security considerations; organizational, policy and process considerations; and technical architecture considerations.
WHY AN OPEN CLOUD BROKER - Open Cloud Forum @ Cloud Expo Europe 2014 in LondonOW2
Hybrid cloud, federated marketplace, inter-cloud and cloud exchange. All these terms describe different and complex perspectives in terms of evolution of the cloud computing industry. While they can be distinctly differentiated, they share some commonalities. We propose to discuss the relationships which can be defined between them, and to expose the standards and technology which can handle this complexity.
CompatibleOne, the Open Cloud Broker is an open source application enabling a new-generation of cloud resources provisioning called Cloud Services Brokerage. Based on open source and open standards, CompatibleOne preserves the consumers from vendor lock-in.
The document discusses cloud services brokerage, which involves integrating various cloud-based applications and services. A cloud services broker consolidates multiple third-party cloud services and helps customers leverage these services through integration, data enrichment, and value-added business processing. Using a broker simplifies access to different clouds, avoids point-to-point connections, and allows businesses to focus on their core competencies instead of technical integration details. The broker also provides expertise in data management, security, and complex integration challenges across cloud platforms.
Five 'Must Ask' Questions When Considering a Cloud Services Brokerage Busines...jamcracker4677
The first step in considering a Cloud Services Brokerage (CSB) model for your business or IT needs is to understand and formulate the business model. This informative webinar addresses 5 key questions to consider when developing your CSB business case:
Business Case Justification: Whom will I be operating the CSB for (e.g. Internal users, External customers and channels, or both) and what business issues should I be focusing on?
Economic Model: What are the revenue gains and/or cost savings metrics and target results I should expect to achieve with a CSB?
Vendor Management: How do I manage varying contracts, SLAs and integrations with disparate Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) being delivered via my CSB?
Operating Model: What's the best approach for my organization in deploying and operating a CSB as well as supporting my users?
Risk Mitigation: What are the business and technical risks with the CSB model, and how can I best mitigate them?
The document discusses the impacts of cloud computing platforms on businesses. It notes that cloud computing can positively impact businesses by increasing their revenue and helping them achieve business goals as companies prefer using cloud services over building their own infrastructure. Specifically, the key benefits of cloud computing mentioned are reduced costs since businesses only pay for resources as needed, unlimited scalability to meet changing demands, flexibility to access services from any device, improved communication and collaboration, increased reliability and storage, easier upgrades managed by cloud providers, disaster recovery support from providers, and enhanced security compared to building infrastructure themselves.
“Cloud services brokerage (CSB) is an IT role and business model in which a company or other entity adds value to one or more (public or private) cloud services on behalf of one or more consumers of that service via three primary roles including aggregation, integration and customization brokerage” - (Gartner)
The document discusses the rise of the cloud services broker (CSB) role for IT organizations. It defines the three primary roles of a CSB - aggregation brokerage, integration brokerage, and customization brokerage. It then provides examples of how Blue Cross Blue Shield has deployed a mediation layer to serve as an internal CSB, brokering access to various cloud and on-premises services and data stores for its members from multiple BCBS plans and partners.
This document is a seminar report on cloud computing submitted by Vishnuvarunan.T. It provides an introduction to cloud computing, discussing its key characteristics including on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. It also covers cloud service models such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The document discusses cloud deployment models including private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud. It notes some benefits of cloud computing like cost savings and scalability, as well as challenges around security, privacy, lack of standards, and compliance concerns.
This document provides an overview of cloud computing by defining it, describing its key characteristics and models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS), discussing its advantages and disadvantages, challenges, and major providers for each cloud service model. Specifically:
- Cloud computing refers to storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of a computer's hard drive. It provides on-demand access to shared computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned with minimal management effort.
- The major cloud service models are SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. SaaS provides software applications, PaaS provides platforms for developing apps, and IaaS provides basic computing infrastructure like servers and storage.
This is an updated talk on Cloud Computing and the Citrix Cloud Center.
From time to time the Citrix CTO Office is asked to give presentations at these and other events. I'm interested in any/all feedback from the Citrix and Cloud communities.
Danny Quilton from Capacitas presented a paper, ‘Capacity Management and the Cloud’. The presentation made the case for capacity management of cloud-based services, highlighting the critical role of capacity management in controlling cloud cost. The presentation referenced a number of client engagement case studies to debunk some of the myths surrounding cloud:
Capacity can be turned up instantaneously
Capacity planning discipline is no longer required
Cloud capacity is cheap
Bottlenecks can be alleviated by expanding cloud capacity
Capacity management can be delegated to the cloud provider
Performance is guaranteed by the cloud provider
This document discusses cloud computing and provides definitions from NIST, IBM, and Microsoft. It begins by defining cloud computing as a model that enables on-demand access to configurable computing resources via a shared pool that can be provisioned with minimal management effort. The document then discusses various cloud computing models including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS).
To Cloud or Not to Cloud - If you're in a transaction production environment, should you move to the Cloud? What does the Cloud mean for transaction document operations? For transaction archives? For customer support and end user access to transaction documents?
What do you need to know about The Cloud to make the decisions whether To Cloud or Not To Cloud?
How to Realize the Benefits of Cloud Services Brokeragejamcracker4677
The document discusses Jamcracker's cloud services brokerage solution. It describes Jamcracker as a company founded in 1999 that provides a proven cloud aggregation/delivery platform and ecosystem of pre-integrated third-party cloud providers. The solution also includes business enablement services to help customers with go-to-market strategies, support, and managed services. The document then discusses how cloud services brokerages can help enterprises and SMBs overcome challenges in adopting cloud services by providing a centralized platform to access multiple cloud offerings.
NetSuite's Quicktake on SAP Business ByDesignBen Kepes
This document compares NetSuite and SAP BBD across various metrics such as number of live customers, years in development, number of developers, revenue growth, and functional capabilities. Some key points of comparison are that NetSuite has 6,600+ live customers and 74% revenue growth since 2007, while SAP BBD only has 50 early adopters and saw -12.7% revenue growth. The document also notes that NetSuite won all categories in a 2009 functional shootout, while SAP BBD lost all categories, and that NetSuite has had capabilities like mobile support, analytics, and multi-tenancy for years that SAP BBD is only now adding.
Cloud services deep dive infoworld july 2010Kim Jensen
This document provides an overview of cloud computing services and strategies for businesses. It discusses several types of cloud services including Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, email services, office productivity suites, development/testing platforms, backup/recovery services, and business intelligence tools. The document advises businesses to carefully evaluate their specific needs and compare cloud options to on-premises alternatives before adopting cloud services to ensure the right fit.
#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
Master thesis presentation on 'Cloud Service Broker' Carlos Gonçalves
Throughout the history of computer systems, experts have been reshaping IT infrastructure for improving the efficiency of organizations by enabling shared access to computational resources. The advent of cloud computing has sparked a new paradigm providing better hosting and service delivery over the Internet. It offers advantages over traditional solutions by providing ubiquitous, scalable and on-demand access to shared pools of computational resources.
Over the course of these last years, we have seen new market players offering cloud services at competitive prices and different Service Level Agreements. With the unprecedented increasing adoption of cloud computing, cloud providers are on the look out for the creation and offering of new and value-added services towards their customers. Market competitiveness, numerous service options and business models led to gradual entropy. Mismatching cloud terminology got introduced and incompatible APIs locked-in users to specific cloud service providers. Billing and charging become fragmented when consuming cloud services from multiple vendors. An entity recommend- ing cloud providers and acting as an intermediary between the cloud consumer and providers would harmonize this interaction.
This dissertation proposes and implements a Cloud Service Broker focusing on assisting and encouraging developers for running their applications on the cloud. Developers can easily describe their applications, where an intelligent algorithm will be able to recommend cloud offerings that better suit application requirements. In this way, users are aided in deploying, managing, monitoring and migrating their applications in a cloud of clouds. A single API is required for orchestrating the whole process in tandem with truly decoupled cloud managers. Users can also interact with the Cloud Service Broker through a Web portal, a command-line interface, and client libraries.
The document discusses cloud computing and cloud brokers. It provides definitions of cloud computing from different perspectives. It also describes the types of cloud services including SaaS, PaaS, IAAS, etc. The document outlines the functions of cloud brokers, which provide a single interface to access and manage multiple cloud platforms and share resources across clouds.
It gives some basic information about why cloud computing is being used every day or daily life.Types of cloud and its benefits and services models and its cons and prons etc.
This document provides an overview of cloud computing presented by Dan Haurey, President and Founder of Exigent Technologies. The agenda includes defining cloud computing, demystifying cloud terms and acronyms, making the business case for cloud, understanding options and conducting a proper return on investment analysis. Key points covered are public versus private cloud models, software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service models, benefits to stakeholders like reduced costs and increased productivity, and factors to consider when vetting cloud providers. The presentation promotes Exigent's private cloud "Turnkey Cloud" platform and shares a success story with Tri-County Orthopedics who moved to Exigent's cloud.
Organizations need a plan for moving from their current state toward cloud models based on standardized and consolidated platforms, shared services, self-service and metered use. How can organizations get started on the evolution to cloud computing? This webcast explores how enterprises can create a roadmap to cloud computing, including developing the business case; financial models; governance considerations; security considerations; organizational, policy and process considerations; and technical architecture considerations.
WHY AN OPEN CLOUD BROKER - Open Cloud Forum @ Cloud Expo Europe 2014 in LondonOW2
Hybrid cloud, federated marketplace, inter-cloud and cloud exchange. All these terms describe different and complex perspectives in terms of evolution of the cloud computing industry. While they can be distinctly differentiated, they share some commonalities. We propose to discuss the relationships which can be defined between them, and to expose the standards and technology which can handle this complexity.
CompatibleOne, the Open Cloud Broker is an open source application enabling a new-generation of cloud resources provisioning called Cloud Services Brokerage. Based on open source and open standards, CompatibleOne preserves the consumers from vendor lock-in.
The document discusses cloud services brokerage, which involves integrating various cloud-based applications and services. A cloud services broker consolidates multiple third-party cloud services and helps customers leverage these services through integration, data enrichment, and value-added business processing. Using a broker simplifies access to different clouds, avoids point-to-point connections, and allows businesses to focus on their core competencies instead of technical integration details. The broker also provides expertise in data management, security, and complex integration challenges across cloud platforms.
Five 'Must Ask' Questions When Considering a Cloud Services Brokerage Busines...jamcracker4677
The first step in considering a Cloud Services Brokerage (CSB) model for your business or IT needs is to understand and formulate the business model. This informative webinar addresses 5 key questions to consider when developing your CSB business case:
Business Case Justification: Whom will I be operating the CSB for (e.g. Internal users, External customers and channels, or both) and what business issues should I be focusing on?
Economic Model: What are the revenue gains and/or cost savings metrics and target results I should expect to achieve with a CSB?
Vendor Management: How do I manage varying contracts, SLAs and integrations with disparate Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) being delivered via my CSB?
Operating Model: What's the best approach for my organization in deploying and operating a CSB as well as supporting my users?
Risk Mitigation: What are the business and technical risks with the CSB model, and how can I best mitigate them?
The document discusses the impacts of cloud computing platforms on businesses. It notes that cloud computing can positively impact businesses by increasing their revenue and helping them achieve business goals as companies prefer using cloud services over building their own infrastructure. Specifically, the key benefits of cloud computing mentioned are reduced costs since businesses only pay for resources as needed, unlimited scalability to meet changing demands, flexibility to access services from any device, improved communication and collaboration, increased reliability and storage, easier upgrades managed by cloud providers, disaster recovery support from providers, and enhanced security compared to building infrastructure themselves.
“Cloud services brokerage (CSB) is an IT role and business model in which a company or other entity adds value to one or more (public or private) cloud services on behalf of one or more consumers of that service via three primary roles including aggregation, integration and customization brokerage” - (Gartner)
The document discusses the rise of the cloud services broker (CSB) role for IT organizations. It defines the three primary roles of a CSB - aggregation brokerage, integration brokerage, and customization brokerage. It then provides examples of how Blue Cross Blue Shield has deployed a mediation layer to serve as an internal CSB, brokering access to various cloud and on-premises services and data stores for its members from multiple BCBS plans and partners.
This document is a seminar report on cloud computing submitted by Vishnuvarunan.T. It provides an introduction to cloud computing, discussing its key characteristics including on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. It also covers cloud service models such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The document discusses cloud deployment models including private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud. It notes some benefits of cloud computing like cost savings and scalability, as well as challenges around security, privacy, lack of standards, and compliance concerns.
This document provides an overview of cloud computing by defining it, describing its key characteristics and models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS), discussing its advantages and disadvantages, challenges, and major providers for each cloud service model. Specifically:
- Cloud computing refers to storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of a computer's hard drive. It provides on-demand access to shared computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned with minimal management effort.
- The major cloud service models are SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. SaaS provides software applications, PaaS provides platforms for developing apps, and IaaS provides basic computing infrastructure like servers and storage.
This is an updated talk on Cloud Computing and the Citrix Cloud Center.
From time to time the Citrix CTO Office is asked to give presentations at these and other events. I'm interested in any/all feedback from the Citrix and Cloud communities.
Danny Quilton from Capacitas presented a paper, ‘Capacity Management and the Cloud’. The presentation made the case for capacity management of cloud-based services, highlighting the critical role of capacity management in controlling cloud cost. The presentation referenced a number of client engagement case studies to debunk some of the myths surrounding cloud:
Capacity can be turned up instantaneously
Capacity planning discipline is no longer required
Cloud capacity is cheap
Bottlenecks can be alleviated by expanding cloud capacity
Capacity management can be delegated to the cloud provider
Performance is guaranteed by the cloud provider
This document discusses cloud computing and provides definitions from NIST, IBM, and Microsoft. It begins by defining cloud computing as a model that enables on-demand access to configurable computing resources via a shared pool that can be provisioned with minimal management effort. The document then discusses various cloud computing models including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS).
To Cloud or Not to Cloud - If you're in a transaction production environment, should you move to the Cloud? What does the Cloud mean for transaction document operations? For transaction archives? For customer support and end user access to transaction documents?
What do you need to know about The Cloud to make the decisions whether To Cloud or Not To Cloud?
How to Realize the Benefits of Cloud Services Brokeragejamcracker4677
The document discusses Jamcracker's cloud services brokerage solution. It describes Jamcracker as a company founded in 1999 that provides a proven cloud aggregation/delivery platform and ecosystem of pre-integrated third-party cloud providers. The solution also includes business enablement services to help customers with go-to-market strategies, support, and managed services. The document then discusses how cloud services brokerages can help enterprises and SMBs overcome challenges in adopting cloud services by providing a centralized platform to access multiple cloud offerings.
NetSuite's Quicktake on SAP Business ByDesignBen Kepes
This document compares NetSuite and SAP BBD across various metrics such as number of live customers, years in development, number of developers, revenue growth, and functional capabilities. Some key points of comparison are that NetSuite has 6,600+ live customers and 74% revenue growth since 2007, while SAP BBD only has 50 early adopters and saw -12.7% revenue growth. The document also notes that NetSuite won all categories in a 2009 functional shootout, while SAP BBD lost all categories, and that NetSuite has had capabilities like mobile support, analytics, and multi-tenancy for years that SAP BBD is only now adding.
Cloud services deep dive infoworld july 2010Kim Jensen
This document provides an overview of cloud computing services and strategies for businesses. It discusses several types of cloud services including Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, email services, office productivity suites, development/testing platforms, backup/recovery services, and business intelligence tools. The document advises businesses to carefully evaluate their specific needs and compare cloud options to on-premises alternatives before adopting cloud services to ensure the right fit.
#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
Architecting your Cloud Strategy - Part One.vsdxGareth Llewellyn
This document discusses establishing a strategy for introducing cloud-based changes to an organization using architecture. It emphasizes the importance of having an established business vision and strategy aligned to cloud strategy. The cloud reference model shown provides a visual overview of key considerations for a cloud strategy, including public vs private options, hybrid models, software as a service, platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, and more. Architectural methodologies can help provide a managed approach to defining cloud strategy and governing implementations to ensure business value.
Achieve Economic Synergies by Managing Your Enterprise Assets In The CloudDr. HJ Raza, Ph.D/MBA
Time to market and rapid response to market demands are now utmost priorities for any size organization. When compared to conventional internal infrastructure, Cloud-based solutions meet this requirement better than ever. Cloud-based solutions are easy to implement, more cost efficient, and robust enough to meet enterprise demands such as auto-scalability, disaster recovery, and fail-over.
If there is any trend that has created such a buzz in recent times, it has got be cloud computing. But does this mean that you should provide your software-plus-service from the cloud? Or should you tread with caution and wait for the market to stabilize? This paper attempts to provide Sanity-as-a-Service to ISV’s, Software-enabledbusinesses and Enterprises on cloud-enabling their software.
This document provides information to help businesses choose the right cloud provider. It discusses the benefits of cloud computing such as scalability and cost savings. The main types of cloud environments - public, private, and hybrid - are explained. Key considerations for choosing a provider are discussed, such as integration capabilities, pricing models, reliability, and exit capabilities. Popular cloud providers Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and VMWare are briefly described. The document stresses the importance of understanding a business's needs and goals when selecting a provider.
This document provides an overview of key concepts related to cloud computing including:
1) Cloud services refer to technology-enabled services that users can access on-demand, such as photo sharing or enterprise resource planning tools.
2) Cloud computing refers to the scalable infrastructure that allows services to flex resources rapidly in response to variable demand.
3) Most cloud services are multi-tenant, meaning software and computing platforms serve multiple clients with access controls to separate each user.
4) Cloud services provide on-demand access and scaling of resources without users needing to manage the underlying infrastructure.
The CLOUD. For techies - it is as real as an ashtray - to the non technical - it is invisible - can't be held in your hand or described - find out what all the chatter is about!
This document discusses cloud computing and its various service models. It begins by describing how cloud computing represents a fundamental change to IT implementation by allowing services to be deployed, developed, scaled and maintained in a pay-per-use model. It then defines cloud computing and discusses its key characteristics of on-demand self-service, ubiquitous network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity and pay-per-use billing. The document goes on to describe the various cloud deployment models and then discusses the main cloud computing services including storage, database, information, process, application, platform, integration and security as services.
Cloud: a disruptive technlogy that CEO should use to transform their businessBertrand MAES
Cloud:
What cloud really means ?
How it should help CEO transform their business ?
How it should help CEO transform their IT department ?
Prerequisite for a sucessful cloud project
One of the most over-used terms in technology today, the “Cloud” is being used to describe pretty much any service that works over the Internet. But cloud computing has some specific advantages and some specific concerns. There are also three main areas where cloud computing is making a lot of business sense: in running business applications, in provide storage services, and in providing an alternative to computer servers.
In this presentation, I will better define what the cloud is and isn’t and then explore the areas where cloud services are providing value. I also give you tips on evaluating future cloud service providers so that you can continue to understand this new computing paradigm.
The document discusses cloud computing concepts including definitions, characteristics, models, providers and pricing. Some key points discussed include:
- Cloud computing provides scalable computing resources as a service over the internet on a pay-per-use basis. Resources include servers, storage, applications and more.
- Cloud models include private, public and hybrid clouds. Providers offer infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS).
- Cost benefits of cloud computing include low startup costs, no need for on-premise IT staff, and pay per use pricing versus large upfront license fees. Managing multiple cloud contracts can be challenging for businesses.
Cloud computing delivers computing resources and services over the internet. It allows users to access technology and computing power through on-demand services. There are different types of cloud services including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). IaaS provides basic storage, networking, and computing resources. PaaS provides development platforms for building applications. SaaS provides software applications through a web browser. Cloud services can be public, private, hybrid, or community based depending on who controls the infrastructure.
This document discusses the promises and realities of cloud computing. It outlines some of the key promises of cloud computing such as cost savings, increased computing power and automation, and infrastructure simplification. However, it also notes that while technology continues to evolve, users' experiences with the cloud vary and some organizations still question if the cloud can deliver on its promises. The document explores both the positive drivers for cloud adoption as well as areas like data control, performance, and security that are still works in progress.
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 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.
Cloud computing provides on-demand, pay-as-you-go computing resources over the internet. It has grown rapidly since the 2000s as a more efficient and flexible alternative to traditional computing models. While promising lower costs and increased agility, cloud computing also presents challenges regarding security, compliance with regulations, vendor lock-in, and auditability that businesses must address through service level agreements with cloud vendors. As the cloud computing industry and standards continue to evolve, many expect it will transform how IT resources are utilized.
Cloud Considerations What you need to kn.docxmary772
This document discusses key considerations for organizations before moving IT operations to the cloud. It identifies potential issues such as lack of understanding of cloud security, lack of clear objectives, and lack of proper planning that have led to high rates of cloud migration failures. The document examines different approaches to migrating systems to the cloud and factors such as how applications need to be adapted, ensuring staff have the proper training, implementing necessary security controls, and accounting for unexpected costs. Readers are advised to thoroughly evaluate these kinds of considerations and allow adequate time for planning before taking the leap to the cloud.
What are the advantages of adopting public cloudNicole Khoo
Public cloud computing provides organizations flexibility, cost reduction, and regular automatic upgrades. Some key benefits of adopting public cloud include flexibility for employees to access data remotely, reduced IT costs as organizations pay only for the resources they use, and automatic software/hardware upgrades managed by cloud providers. However, security is a primary concern for organizations considering public cloud. Service level agreements and ensuring robust security controls, privacy policies, and technical measures can help address these concerns. Migrating workloads to public cloud requires validating applications' technical portability and compliance.
Similar to Moving your data centre to the Cloud_Final_Online (20)
1. Moving your data
centre to the Cloud
Introduction
Most companies have already been through a first phase of driving cost efficiency in their
IT infrastructure, taking measures such as consolidating into fewer (or one) global data
centres, and outsourcing infrastructure operations. However – according to the hype,
at least – The Cloud (or infrastructure as a service, IaaS) promises to offer a whole new
wave of cost reductions, efficiency savings, and service improvements, but probe just a
little deeper, and some big questions quickly become apparent:
• What is really meant by ‘Cloud services’ in this sense?
Every supplier seems to use the term, but do they all
mean the same?
• Enabling both cost savings and service improvements
sounds like ‘having the cake and eating it’ – surely too
good to be true?
• What suppliers should we turn to for help? Are our
established IT suppliers (and/or infrastructure
outsourcers) best placed, or does the brave new
world of the Cloud imply new and different suppliers?
• What are the big challenges and risks in doing this?
• And – probably the biggest question of all – are
these types of Cloud services really ready for the
big time? By which we mean not just for supporting
the odd web site – but for big, mission-critical,
transactional systems (e.g. ERP) for top tier, global,
blue-chip companies
We have recently been working with two clients – one a
FTSE 250 manufacturer, one a FTSE 250 consumer goods
company, both global brands and household names – on
pioneering programmes to move their data centres to the
Cloud. Based on that experience, this paper explores some
practical answers to those big questions.
2. What do we really mean by
Cloud in this sense?
Cloud is one of those terms, like Big Data, that has become so
frequently used and hyped that you will see the terminology
used – whether justifiably or not – to describe a very wide range
of services. For the sake of IT Infrastructure as a Service (data
centre services), we use the model and terminology as shown
in the table below.
So the first key point to note is that when you go out to
market to procure Cloud services, you may get a wide range of
responses in any one of those 4 categories described below, or
they may have characteristics that span more than one category.
Typically, the ‘industrial strength’ offerings that are suitable for big,
mission critical, transactional applications are the middle two
– with Virtual Private Cloud arguably offering the most
promising ‘best of both worlds’ combination, many of the cost
and agility benefits of public cloud, but with the control,
tailoring, security and risk-mitigation benefits of traditional
hosting.We don’t currently see public cloud (most famously
Amazon Web Services) as being the preferred option for these
sort of industrial strength corporate applications – other corporate
uses certainly, but ready to host the ‘big iron’ transactional ERP
systems of some of the world’s largest companies? Probably not
yet – but it’ll be interesting to see how the space develops.We’ve
helped one of the world’s largest energy companies move the
entirety of their external web site hosting to the public cloud
and we are also helping one major automotive manufacturer put
their SAP CRM instance on public cloud (with a 3rd party service
wrapper). But we haven’t yet seen anyone put true,‘backbone’
transactional ERP on public cloud.
Public
Cloud
Virtual
Private Cloud
Traditional
Hosting
Off premise
Service Provider
Pay per use
None
Multi
Minutes / Hours
Very High
Medium
High concerns
High
Yes
RecreateVM
Off premise
Service Provider
Monthly / usage
Annual / Monthly
MultiVirtualised
Hours / Days
High
High / Medium
Low concerns
Low
Yes
RepairVM
Off premise
Service Provider
Provision + usage
Annual
SingleVirtualised
Hours /Weeks
Medium
High
Low concerns
Low
No
RepairVM or H/W
On premise
Customer
Capital + support
Annual
Single
Days /Weeks
Medium to Low
High
Low concerns
None
No
Repair H/W
Location
Hardware Owner
Payment Model
Contract Length
Tenancy
Provisioning
Scalability
Security TsCs Flex
Data Sovereignty
App migration effort
“Evergreen”
Break/Fix Approach
Cheaper, more flexible and scalable, faster to deliver, less autonomous control
Cost increases, provisioning times longer, more autonomous control.
Private
Cloud
Characteristics
3. What flavour of Cloud do
I want?
In determining which of these models is best for you the key,
as ever, is to understand what your needs are, i.e. what
characteristics of the service really matter for you? These
characteristics tend to fall into two groups:
Some key commercial characteristics:
• Utility pricing – A Cloud service should really offer utility
pricing, i.e. a true pay-as-you-go service, with zero fixed costs,
which can be scaled up and down (by compute power, by
storage volume, by number and type of Virtual Machine, etc)
as much as you like – which is clearly the most beneficial
model in terms of flexibility. However, typical commercial
offerings in theVirtual Private Cloud or Private Cloud space
do not offer 100% utility pricing. For example, there might
be a ceiling or a floor to the scale down / up, and/or some
fixed or base costs in addition to the variable component.
So it is important to probe just how close to a real utility
model each offering is.
• Asset ownership and refresh – a pure Cloud service
should mean you don’t own any of the IT hardware assets;
and nor should you pay for their refresh replacement.
Some so-called ‘Cloud’ offerings (particularly those badged
as Private Cloud) will still require hardware to be specifically
purchased and built for you, and will still expect you to pay
for their refresh (however that may be hidden or obfuscated
in the commercial arrangements) when they come to end of
life. So you need to look for a truly ‘evergreen service’ where
it will stay up to date with no component of the pricing that
is linked to hardware refresh cycles.
• Legal contract (terms and conditions, TsCs)
– this is an area often overlooked by people more interested
in the technology, but the legal / contractual aspects of
committing to a Cloud service are actually an important
area of differentiation.A public cloud service is rigid in this
respect – theTsCs will be fixed and common (either ‘Click
to accept’ or walk away) and, of course, favourable to the
supplier. For most big companies considering mission critical
applications, that’s simply not going to work – you need
to be able to tailor the contract (for example, in terms of
warranties and liabilities, SLA’s, service credits) to be fit for
purpose. However any ‘real’ Cloud service is to some extent
shared, so there are someTsCs where it is reasonable to
expect the supplier not to budge (because they are inherent
to offering a shared service, and simply cannot be different for
each customer for genuine and practical reasons), but there
are others where they can and should be possible to tailor.
Again, it is important to explore this before committing.
4. Some key technology and service characteristics:
• Scope – the scope of a typical Cloud service in what respect
is usually IT infrastructure (computer, storage, networks),
including all the necessary backup, service resilience, and
disaster recovery contingencies; and software support only
up to the OS, database and SAP Basis layers of the stack.
A range of other services (e.g.Application Management)
may be offered, but this will typically be a bespoke offer, and
should be treated much like buying any other traditional IT
outsourcing; so it is really a separate quantity from buying
the core Cloud service.
• Virtualisation and multi-tenancy – a pure Cloud
service will use virtual machine (VM) technology and shared
storage such that none of the physical hardware will be
specific to you; it will be shared with other customers of
the service, like multiple people sharing the same house
(hence the term ‘multi-tenanted’). But clearly, in this case,
you need to ensure that your data and compute power
(your ‘room within the house’) is sufficiently secure and
isolated from any potential impact of other tenants. It also
may not be suitable for everything you want to put in the
Cloud; when the size of any one virtual machine becomes
more than a certain percentage of the capacity of the
underlying physical hardware, the overheads of virtualisation
outweigh the benefits and you may be better off, as Olivia
Newton John once put it, getting physical. Hence service
providers will generally have a size / capacity limit for what
is ‘certified’ to run on their multi-tenanted Cloud platform
– and that big SAP database server you have, for example,
might not fit.TheVM platforms will typically only come
in a few fixed varieties, as well (e.g.Windows and one or
more flavours of Linux; and not all database platforms
may be supported). Finally, some older technologies and
applications might not be suitable for virtualisation anyway
(or not without a lot of expensive re-work) – especially for
public cloud where applications have to be fully engineered
for ‘disposability’ (you never repair; just throw away and
re-create). So it is important to understand what will be
virtualised and physical (and multi- versus single- tenanted),
and what the implications of that are.
• Service model – for a pure Cloud offering, as for the
technology, much of the service operations will be a shared
service as well. But again, many of theVirtual Private Cloud
and Private Cloud offerings will enable you to tailor this
– such that you have bespoke service levels, or bespoke
support arrangements (for example, you might want a
dedicated, in-country, local-language-speaking, service manager
in certain key locations across Americas, Europe and Asia).
But varying from ‘the standard and shared offer’ may have
cost, scale, longevity and flexibility penalties – some of which
may not be evident from the outset. In their enthusiasm to
sell / offer the exact service that you want to buy, a supplier
may offer non-standard arrangements without making it clear
that’s what they’re doing. It may be the right thing to do, but
you should at least encourage your supplier to make it clear
what their standard offer is, and when they are proposing
something that varies from it, so that you can make that
conscious choice.
• Data sovereignty – where your data is physically stored,
and therefore what legal and regulatory regime applies in
terms of data protection and management, is another key
consideration. Perversely, the United States – highly fiscally
and politically stable, and with world-leading technology skills
– may be one of the least attractive countries due to the
implications of their Patriot Act legislation. So you may need
to balance that against the cost attractiveness of the Far East,
and the political and legislative attractions of Europe (where
Eastern Europe may still offer some, if not perhaps all, of the
cost benefits of the Far East).
5. Both cost savings AND service
improvements…. really?!
This may sound like both having your cake and eating it, and we
were originally sceptical that both could be achieved. But the
reality is that for a well run and well implemented Cloud service,
the pure economies of scale mean that it should be able to offer
a better service for a lower cost. But obviously, the big caveat
here is that it all depends on your starting point (in terms of
how cost effective, and how good a service, your previous IT
infrastructure operational arrangements offered).
In our practical experience of migrating the entirety of a global
datacentre for a FTSE 250 manufacturer (both SAP and all
non-SAP, Windows and Unix), the transition will have achieved:
• Total operational cost savings (on a cash basis) of 42%
• Service level improvements – most key SLA metrics
(for availability, incident change management, etc) were
better than previously, and the remainder were the same
(i.e. none were worse, and the net position was certainly
an improvement)
• Flexibility – a largely (but not completely) utility-based
pricing approach, with a 50% capacity floor, means there
is ample room for major service changes (e.g. to support
corporate acquisitions and divestments) with the commercial
model flexing on demand, and little risk of being left over-or
under-capacity
• Responsiveness – the time to stand up new environments
(e.g. new development and test environments for projects) will
go from a matter of weeks to a matter of days (albeit still not
hours / seconds like public cloud would be; but that is simply
not a requirement for this particular client)
• Security – having done extensive review and analysis, the
client’s internal IT security experts considered the Cloud
service to offer the same or better IT security overall than
the provisions under their previous hosting arrangements
– despite the multi-tenanted approach. Importantly, the
contractual recourse (i.e. warranties, indemnities and limits
of liability) in case of security breaches is also better than
their previous arrangements.
6. Which suppliers should I turn to?
The suppliers of these types of Non-Public Cloud Services
generally fall into three groups, each of which has strengths
and weaknesses as shown below (although we risk some
unfair generalisation in this list – clearly, each specific
supplier will have their own strengths and weaknesses).
We would recommend including a range of suppliers across
those categories to respond to your RFP / RFI, so you can see
the full extent of the services on offer. You may also want to
consider whether you want the same partner for the transition
transformation work as the hosting, or whether different
partners offer the best approach. See the ‘One throat to
Choke’ discussion below!
What are the big challenges
and risks?
Again, it’s worth considering both the commercial risks and
also the technology service risks. Although this is by no
means an exhaustive list, some of the common themes
(in our experience) of risks and challenges we see across
clients in this area are as follows:
• Service levels, SLA’s and service credits: this is
clearly a key area to get right. Even forVirtual Private Cloud,
don’t be fobbed off with a ‘one size fits all’ approach.Yes, there
are some aspects of service levels that will be dictated by
an inherently shared service (e.g. the technical design of the
shared platform and its resilience features will largely dictate
the availability offered), but there are many others where
this doesn’t necessarily apply (e.g. incident response time
SLA’s). In particular, your recourse in terms of repeat service
failures should be robust, and you should ensure that the
TotalValue at Risk (as a percentage of total monthly fees) is
competitive.This is one area where outside expertise can really
help. Finally, the definition of‘available’ needs attention (it needs
to be something that really means useable – as opposed to
technically available but unusable!).
•
Contractual: Warranties, indemnities and liabilities are
always key areas, given this service will be running your
mission-critical, transactional IT systems.You need to ensure
you have protection commensurate with the business
disruption that would be caused by a significant service failure
or security breach (which, although hopefully very unlikely,
could also have very big implications if it were to occur).
Some HR matters such as subcontracting and any possible
TUPE implications (at entry or exit of the agreement) may
also need careful thought. Finally, the definition of when
persistent service level failures constitute material breach of
the contract always tends to be a contentious area. Overall,
it is easy to underestimate both the time and the effort
required to complete the process to select your suppliers
and contract with them – and investing enough time and
effort to do it well is crucial.
Type of supplier
– what angle do
they approach from?
(what is their core offering and
/ or their background?)
Examples Possible strengths and weaknesses
(NB not all may be applicable to all suppliers)
From a consulting systems
integration background
From a network
services background
From a hardware and
IT services background
+ Should be strong on the transition / transformation / migration project
(especially if it is more transformational and less‘lift and shift’,and
therefore needing more Systems Integration-type experience)
+ Should have some high-calibre people, and good technology skills
– Usually more expensive
– Offerings are typically more Private Cloud andTraditional Hosting
thanVirtual Private Cloud
+ Strong integration with network offerings
+ Some strongVirtual Private Cloud offerings
– May have less capability and experience with transition /
transformation / migration
+ Very experienced at IT infrastructure hosting
+ Good facilities (their datacentres are often used to run major
national government services)
– Because they already do a lot ofTraditional Hosting and Private
Cloud – and have big capital investments to recoup in this area
– they may encourage that route and/or have less experience
when it comes toVirtual Private Cloud.They may badge it as
VPC, but is it really that under the skin (in both commercial
and technical terms)?
7. • Utility pricing: as above, you need to think carefully about
whether the service really is based on utility pricing, and what
the implications of any fixed, floor or ceiling components of
the pricing are. Given the world of Cloud technology and
services is changing fast, you also need to think about how
you will benchmark the prices to ensure they remain market
relevant over the period of the contract (which may be 3
- 5 years); in our experience, some suppliers will absolutely
refuse any independent benchmarking of their prices over the
contract term (due to fixed internal policies), but some will
allow it – and that may be an important differentiator.
• Transition transformation project: this needs
to be handled just like any other IT transformation project,
so the same thought needs to be applied to setup run
the project correctly (from all perspectives: commercials,
technology and project management). Again, outside
expertise may be required here. We’d recommend pushing
for outcomes-based pricing (i.e. Fixed Price, not Time
Materials) with milestone-based payments, but this depends
on both parties collaborating on a robust and thorough
planning and due-diligence process prior to contract
signature.The degree
of ‘lift and shift’ versus ‘transform’ needs careful thought
and planning (seeTechnology risks below).
• One throat to choke: selecting the sameTo Be
supplier as your incumbent IT hosting partner; and/or the
same transformation supplier as hosting supplier, has the
clear attraction of ‘one throat to choke’ (avoiding any risk of
multiple suppliers blaming each other for project or service
failures). But the benefits of multiple suppliers who are each
the best in their own area may outweigh this – they did in
both the examples of the clients we recently worked with
on this. A key factor in this decision is, again, the degree of ‘lift
and shift’ versus ‘transformation’ implied in the transition.
• Internal IT team implications: the cloud-style service
model may imply some bigger changes for your internal IT
team than are first realised. For example the operating model
for application management (AM) may need to change,
and/or the boundary between AM and IM (infrastructure
management) may need to change.You are likely to find your
skill requirements shift more towards supplier management
(building a good relationship and getting great service from
the Cloud service provider) than some of the technology
skills that had greater prominence before.This may need
careful change management – in the human, not technology
sense! – to land successfully.
• Software licensing: moving to a VPC platform can
have some significant implications for the way that major
software products (such as Oracle and SAP) are licensed.
Because VPC is a relatively new approach, the software
licensing implications are generally not very well understood
or defined. You may well find it hard to establish a clear
position, even from the vendors themselves – who are often
trying to sell their own Cloud and Software-as-a-Service
options, which does not necessarily incentivise them to
clarify the arrangements for running on other Cloud or
VPC platforms (or to make those options commercially
attractive). As a starting point, it is important to look
carefully at your current licensing arrangements – you may
find the wording of the terms is broad enough that you
can transform to a VPC arrangement and still be covered.
If in any doubt, this is an area where it’s important to seek
expert independent advice.
• Technology: a pure ‘lift and shift’ of applications that
already run on virtual platforms should be relatively low
risk. But the risk profile is much higher where there is any
transformation involved in the transition, which is typically
under one of the following situations:
– Applications which currently sit on non-
virtualised platforms
– Applications which currently run on legacy
OS platforms
– Applications which will be migrated to a new
Database platform as part of the transition
– Applications which currently run on
proprietary Unix (e.g. HP-UX), and will be
transformed to run on an open-source
Linux platform (there may be proprietary
/ native OS calls in the application that fail
unless remedial work is done)
– Applications will be upgraded in some way
during the transition (e.g. newer versions
of base software, or Unicode migrations for
SAP specifically)
8. Note that these are not necessarily bad things to
do – they might be necessary and/or justified. But they
will all increase risk, and so our advice would be to
avoid them if possible (i.e. unless they really are strictly
necessary and/or properly justified). And if you do
undertake them, make sure that the risks are recognised;
that the transformation activities required (particularly
testing) are properly planned; and that the appropriate
contingencies (in terms of effort, costs, and timeline)
are built in to mitigate the risk.
Overall – is it ready for
the big time?
A year ago, our answer would have been ‘maybe’. But as
of now, our view would be an unequivocal (although still
cautious) ‘yes’. There are now a number of case studies
of where this has been done at large scale, for major
global companies, and for their most mission-critical
transactional applications – so it is still advanced, certainly,
but no longer ‘bleeding edge’.And the benefits of very
material operational cost savings (approaching 50%) and
gaining some worthwhile service level improvements
are simply too good to ignore. So our view would be
unquestionably that if CIO’s are not exploring this already,
then they should be – and will be soon.
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