Survivors Guide To The Cloud

White Paper
Survivors’ Guide to the Cloud:
Making Alternative Infrastructure Services
Work for the IT Department
Sponsored by
May 2013
OneStopClick Research
Cloud Services Group
OneStopClick ©2013 All Rights Reserved

2Survivors’ Guide to the Cloud: Making Alternative Infrastructure Services Work for the IT Department
OneStopClick White Paper | Sponsored by Interoute © 2013
Table of Contents
Page
1. Introduction 3
2. What’s really driving the move to the cloud? 3
3. Dispelling some common myths 5
4. What’s holding businesses back? 6
5. Networked cloud services vs. physical data centres or colocation facilities 7
6. The network is computing - and computing is the network 8
7. Location, location, location 9
8. The case for Virtual Data Centres 10
9. Combining the benefits of public and private clouds 11
10. Repositioning the role of infrastructure manager 11
11. Selling cloud-based infrastructure services to the board 12
12. Myth-busting - Cloud-based IT infrastructure delivery: why common objections
don’t stack up
14
13. Sources and Resources 15
About the Sponsor, Interoute 16
About OneStopClick 18

1. Introduction
In almost every organisation, irrespective of its size and industry sector, IT infrastructure managers today
are grappling with the same challenges: how to transform IT efficiency; increase agility and flexibility; and
lower overheads in such a way that performance, availability, resilience, data security and compliance
remain under tight control. Yet, whatever consolidation and refresh initiatives they may be implementing
internally, their scope for transformation will continue to be limited as long as resources are kept within
the boundaries of the organisation.
It is in this context that some cloud-based services offer unprecedented scope for IT service
transformation - allowing infrastructure managers to think very differently about how they source and
provision not just a handful of specialist applications, but a good proportion (if not the entirety) of their
IT infrastructures.
The following white paper considers the growing potential of cloud-based IT infrastructure services, as
internal teams assess their potential for delivering the dynamic, efficient and robust environment now
demanded by the business.
It also addresses some of the common concerns associated with moving infrastructure services into the
cloud, and looks at how to ‘future-proof’ the role of the infrastructure manager as assets are moved out
of the organisation - showing that it is possible to let go and add value to the business.
2. What’s really driving the move to the
cloud?
Probably the biggest barrier to progress in businesses today is the inefficiency of its IT. Unless the
organisation is new to market, unencumbered by legacy systems and ways of working, the IT
infrastructure is likely to have grown up as a sprawling mass of disparate and incompatible systems.
The content they hold and process exists in silos – the technological equivalent of keeping money under
the mattress. This limits its value to the business. It also means that each application has its own
demands of hardware and support resources. To ensure adequate capacity and performance, systems
will have been over-specified to cater for peak demand and maximum loads. Most of the time however
there will be resources lying idle - resources that must be maintained and refreshed, at mounting cost to
the business. This is tantamount to pouring hard-won budget down the drain.
Infrastructure inefficiency also manifests itself whenever the organisation tries to do something new –
whether reorganising business units, rationalising office premises, acquiring companies, launching new
ventures, moving teams and individuals around, supporting flexible working, or rolling out new
applications. Complex knock-on implications soon create a backlog of projects. This prevents companies
from responding quickly to new opportunities or business threats, or from giving users the tools they
need to do their jobs well and maintain the organisation’s competitive advantage.
The Cloud Industry Forum, which in 2012 produced An introduction and guide to buying Cloud Services,
sums up the situation under the heading Why Cloud Services for IT delivery? It notes:

“When it comes down to basics, the Cloud is about resolving a fundamental paradox: IT systems are
amongst the most adaptable tools available to businesses, particularly in meeting fast changing business
requirements, but they are expensive to acquire and maintain, typically absorbing some 70-80 per cent of
any business’ annual IT budget. Meeting that cost becomes a major inhibitor to companies making rapid
changes to the way they do business. Yet we live in times when the ability to make rapid changes to
business plans and processes is becoming ever more vital.”
In the optimal scenario, enterprise-class cloud-based infrastructure provisioning should offer everything
on the infrastructure manager’s priority list:
Access to a highly agile, adaptive and responsive infrastructure that is in turn highly efficient and
cost-effective to run;
Support for unparalleled mobility and scalability;
Rapid speed to market with the latest applications and service innovations;
Optimal control over security and compliance; and
The ability to implement discrete utility-based charging by business unit or function…
…While at the same time elevating the position of the infrastructure manager to that of a hero
and strategy influencer within the organisation.
It is for this reason that growing numbers of organisations are prepared to make the leap now.
In 2012, Gartner predicted high growth in cloud infrastructure services between now and 2016 (Public
Cloud Services Forecast Q2 2012 – see chart). It
estimated that spending on IT outsourcing
services would reach $251.7 billion (£166 billion)
during 2012, with the fastest-growing segment
being cloud compute services - part of the cloud-
based infrastructure as a service (IaaS) segment.
(Source: Gartner Says Worldwide IT Outsourcing
Services Spending on Pace to Surpass $251 Billion
in 2012, August 2012.)
Analyst firm Canalys has highlighted the rise of
cloud computing for facilitating a more dynamic
and cost-efficient IT set-up.
According to Alex Smith, a senior analyst at the
company, “Cloud computing… will continue to
disrupt established patterns of IT purchasing
behaviour. The management of hardware and
software traditionally conducted in-house will
increasingly be transferred to third-party
providers, with resources charged for on an on-
demand, metered basis.
This transition is already well underway in many
public sector organisations, particularly in Europe
where government spending is being reshaped by

the ongoing economic challenges.” (Source: Data center infrastructure
market will be worth $152 billion by 2016, Canalys, July 2012.)
Analytics is another driver of data centre investment, Canalys has noted.
“Different organisations, with different interests…will require large data
warehouses and the ability to analyse vast quantities of information. The
need to routinely process exabytes of data will become common.” Canalys’s
comments followed its findings that data centre transformation was to be
one of the three key trends driving IT growth in 2012 - the others being the
consumerisation of IT and enterprise mobility.
Ovum, which tracks enterprise use of cloud services through its Cloud
Services Business Trends Survey, warns that enterprises should consider
how their peers are adopting cloud computing. Of the 200 CIOs and IT
managers who responded to the Ovum survey in the second quarter of
2012 (from across the UK, France, Germany and the US), 54% said their
enterprises were already using software-as-a-service (SaaS), 44%
infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and 27% platform-as-a-service (PaaS).
Primarily organisations were looking for cost cutting, but increased business
agility and improved business processes were also common goals. The
majority of respondents expected cloud services to have an effect on their
sourcing strategies in three primary areas: altering IT operations and
processes; restructuring existing IT services contracts; and encouraging
them to consider using a service integrator.
3. Dispelling some common myths
For every company that is moving positively towards the cloud for
infrastructure delivery there will be another that continues to hang back.
To the teams responsible for implementing and maintaining internal IT
systems, and delivering the levels of service required by the business, the
prospect of letting go can be a daunting one. Change is unsettling and,
when the subject is the IT infrastructure that underpins the entire business,
it is understandable that its custodians will have reservations about
adopting new delivery models.
On one level, there are likely to be concerns about exposing the
organisation to new sources of vulnerability and risk as data is entrusted to
external servers and run across unknown networks. On another, there may
be fear about the impact the new strategy will have on the infrastructure
manager’s role, and on its perceived value to the business.
Ovum confirms that the biggest impediments to cloud deployment and use
continue to be concerns about data security and regulatory compliance. Yet
this is to suppose that all external services are equal, and that the way they
Primarily
organisations were
looking for cost
cutting, but increased
business agility and
improved business
processes were also
common goals.

are configured and managed is significantly different – and inferior – to the way that internal data
centres are run today.
Source: Ovum, StraightTalkIT, Q2 2012
Fears about where data is held, how resources may be shared with other companies, and how to
maintain performance levels from outside the organisation are irrational and emotional. They are also
unjustified now that highly sophisticated enterprise-grade IT infrastructure services are readily available
which address all of these points comprehensively, with robust controls.
The confusion arises because there is a lack of clarity about how existing infrastructure functions.
4. What’s holding businesses back?
The typical internal IT infrastructure is mired in complexity; costly and cumbersome to manage; and the
opposite of dynamic and agile. Any on-premise server that is not fully utilised represents a costly waste
of resources. Extrapolate that across the entire company, and the inefficiencies are likely to assume
staggering proportions.
It is in this context that an organisation’s interest in cloud-based systems and services will typically
originate. An overwhelming sense that sourcing IT this way will be cheaper and more cost-effective is
borne out time and again by analyst research and real customer case studies.

Yet there is often reticence to go all out and apply a remote delivery model
to the company’s underlying infrastructure. Instead, organisations may look
at data centre consolidation and internally shared services involving server
virtualisation as means of driving greater efficiency. But they remain nervous
about letting physical assets and data storage move outside of the company
firewall. A psychological need to see where the boxes sit and ‘touch’ the data
seems to stop infrastructure managers cementing the benefits of cloud
services.
And yet a company’s applications and IT systems and the network they run
across are inextricably linked. They are intrinsically co-dependent. For
maximum benefits then, infrastructure managers need to review the way
that ALL of these resources are run and managed. Utility-based computing is
100% viable today and it is only by reassessing every component part of the
IT service that teams can hope to achieve optimal efficiency, performance,
flexibility and resilience.
Where infrastructure managers feel restricted by custom-built legacy
infrastructures, those limitations will be even more keenly felt if they insist
on remaining tied by them. From a maintenance and support perspective,
and in the interests of progress and competitive responsiveness, individuality
isn’t a good thing. It may have served the business well to have grown its IT
estate organically and with a custom-build approach over time, but the
result now is that changing and updating it is slow, expensive and a barrier
to innovation.
In the interests of consolidating resources, and facilitating greater mobility
and general agility, it is important to consider where to put IT services if the
decision is to centralise them. Ideally, consolidated services should be sited
so that facilities are equidistant from the dispersed national or international
user base. Ultimately that means placing systems and data ‘in the network’.
5. Networked cloud services vs.
physical data centres or
colocation facilities
Where servers and switches are concentrated at the corporate HQ or in a
particular office branch, the company’s costs increase because of the
additional access costs required – and the need to replicate services for
disaster recovery purposes. At the same time, the dependence on a given
location will limit the organisation’s mobility and freedom to redirect
resources. The reason Salesforce.com as a business application has achieved
such mainstream popularity is because users can readily access the
capabilities and associated data from wherever they are. Traditional IT
delivery models don’t allow for this kind of corporate agility.
A psychological need
to see where the
boxes sit and ‘touch’
the data seems to
stop infrastructure
managers cementing
the benefits of cloud
services.
Ideally, consolidated
services should be
sited so that facilities
are equidistant from
the dispersed national
or international user
base. Ultimately that
means placing
systems and data ‘in
the network’.

Colocation facilities have their limitations too. This type of hosting allows an
organisation to retain ownership of its server equipment but, instead of
housing this on their own premises, they use rented rack space at a third-
party data centre or ‘colocation hosting’ facility. While this option may
appeal to organisations that are nervous about relinquishing control, it has
several limitations at an enterprise level, especially where ultimate cost
efficiency and agility are the main goals. Downsides include high upfront
costs; the continued burden and expense of owning and maintaining
equipment (and now in a separate location); difficulties budgeting for
varying bandwidth use; and a lack of flexibility over locations (for example if
the company moves and still wants ready, local access to its ICT equipment).
A more flexible and cost-efficient option is to create a ‘virtual’ data centre
which exists in and is controlled via the network.
6. The network is computing - and
computing is the network
If the prospect of distributing data centre resources across an external
network sounds new it should be remembered that any enterprise
operating a wide-area network and/or serving users from a consolidated
data centre has already entrusted IT services to this scenario.
Optimised corporate networks have existed for more than a decade, using
intelligent virtual circuits (most commonly MPLS-based) to provide an
enterprise-calibre managed network backbone over an IP network. MPLS
ensures that consistently high levels of performance are maintained and
that data is transported securely. It is routinely used in the most sensitive of
environments.
Where external traffic movement is managed by a network service provider
specialising in enterprise-grade MPLS services, infrastructure managers can
have complete confidence in their rights to their data and their control over
what happens to it. The alternative is to create workarounds to the WAN
when consolidating data centre activities, with great expense and
inefficiency.
Analyst firm IDC describes MPLS as the ‘lynchpin of enterprise WAN
connectivity’. It takes a virtualised approach to network traffic, ensuring
logical separation between content. It is inherently multi-tenanted which is
a good thing – making it efficient to use and manage, while keeping
everything where it should be and preventing distinct sets of traffic from
interrupting each other’s flow.
Its potential for facilitating robust and reliable ‘virtual’ IT delivery, then, is
considerable. Content separation makes it impossible for traffic from one
A more flexible and
cost-efficient option is
to create a ‘virtual’
data centre which
exists in and is
controlled via the
network.

customer domain to enter another’s, preventing data leakage and boosting
the case for shared cloud services. This in turn gives companies access to
greater scalability and superior cost efficiency.
7. Location, location, location
Resilient, optimised MPLS backbone networks, backed by comprehensive
service-level agreements (SLAs), offer significant scope for delivering secure,
reliable access to cloud-based infrastructure, platforms and applications to
enterprises.
Over the last 10 years, these robust external networks have multiplied in
capacity and access speeds, enabling companies to place as much of their IT
estate into the cloud as they would comfortably like to – without having to
take a gamble on truly ‘public’ platforms.
Enterprise-class MPLS backbone networks are the key to enterprise
infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provision and the concept of the highly
dynamic and cost-efficient ‘virtual data centre’.
Having controls over where data resides is crucial in an enterprise context,
both from a compliance perspective (for example if industry sector-specific
regulations dictate that sensitive customer data is not allowed off national
soil, and because of the potential impact on access speeds.
It is important, then, that IT departments are able to specify where data can
and can’t reside - and have complete control over it, because it remains
entirely their data - while at the same time are able to maximise locations
for access efficiency.
Even if data can be transmitted at the speed of light across fibre networks,
the download speeds between different locations will always vary due to
latency. When the cloud is built inside a fit-for-purpose network, on the
other hand, the ability to influence performance is vast because there is now
an opportunity to use the operator’s ‘fast lane’ for little or no cost. By
pairing dedicated networks with sophisticated network management
technologies such as MPLS, traffic to and from a cloud can be given
additional controls too – for example, enabling private cloud levels of
security but providing a level of convenience and economic efficiency
usually associated with the public cloud.
It is important, then,
that IT departments
are able to specify
where data can and
can’t reside - and
have complete control
over it, because it
remains entirely their
data

8. The case for Virtual Data Centres
In an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) scenario, the cloud-based service
being provided will include virtual server space, network connections,
bandwidth, IP addresses and load balancers. Physically the pool of hardware
resource is pulled from a multitude of servers and networks usually
distributed across numerous data centres, all of which the cloud provider is
responsible for maintaining. The enterprise customer, on the other hand, is
given access to the virtualised components to build their own IT platforms.
Using a scalable, fully automated, enterprise-ready infrastructure-as-a-service
(IaaS) solution, organisations can look to establish a ‘Virtual Data
Centre’ (VDC) – an optimally distributed IT infrastructure based in the cloud,
which is highly cost-effective to run, and offers maximum flexibility.
A VDC provides on-demand computing, storage and applications - integrated
into the heart of a company’s IT infrastructure, but delivered via an external
network. It replaces the need to buy, manage and maintain physical IT
infrastructure, tapping into the managed service provider’s physical data
centres nationally and internationally (and the best ones have strict controls
over where data can and can’t go, where this is an issue for companies). To
ensure enterprise-class performance and consistent service levels, the diverse
data centres need to be inter-connected by high-speed fibre links, ensuring
access speeds.
When identifying a service provider there are a number of key criteria to
look out for to ensure an enterprise-class experience that delivers all of the
benefits of a virtualised, cloud-based infrastructure with minimal risk.
These include:
Security. This should be built into the fabric of the MPLS network.
Ownership. Look for a provider that owns and manages its own
facilities in all of the locations you require, so you can be sure you are
working directly with the underlying infrastructure provider. You don’t
want to have a situation where your provider’s provider is the cause
of your service issues.
Transparency and compliance. Make sure your provider is industry-
certified and clearly communicates where your data will be hosted -
down to the specific data centre. This will give you complete
confidence that data remains within the designated country, with
complete visibility and access control.
Integration options. Look for use of trusted, advanced networking
technologies so that there are no limitations to additional expansion
of your corporate IT infrastructure.
An open architecture. Check that the underlying architecture that
enables the VDC is based on open standards to ensure a continuous
‘best in class’ service well into the future.
Using a scalable,
fully automated,
enterprise-ready
infrastructure-as-a-
service (IaaS)
solution,
organisations can
look to establish a
‘Virtual Data
Centre’ (VDC) – an
optimally distributed
IT infrastructure
based in the cloud,
which is highly cost-
effective to run, and
offers maximum
flexibility.

9. Combining the benefits of
public and private clouds
An enterprise-grade Virtual Data Centre (VDC) will share most of the
characteristics and cost efficiencies of a public cloud, but with the vital
assurances of an MPLS/IP network - combining scalable elastic computing
with the most trusted network technology.
An optimal VDC should offer the virtual equivalent of building a real physical
data centre, allowing infrastructure managers to plan their servers, switching
and storage in the same way they would plan the real thing in the physical
world. This should give infrastructure managers the confidence they need to
make the transition to a cloud-based delivery model, and to do this quickly
and efficiently without a pronounced learning curve or cultural adjustment.
The big difference in the new scenario is that they pay only for what they
use, eliminating the upfront investment costs of the data centre. And
because the facilities exist in more than one place, high availability and
resilience are an inherent part of the solution – yet at the same time there is
no cost for the network between the data centres, or for data transfer to and
from storage systems.
With the right VDC proposition, the advantage of hosting a data centre in
the network compared to creating an isolated physical data centre attached
to the internet, or one with a handful of agreements with third-party
exchange providers, is that organisations can choose to harness ‘private’ or
‘public’ cloud infrastructures as appropriate – from the same secure and
flexible base.
10. Repositioning the role of
infrastructure manager
One of the main emotional reasons that internal teams are anxious about
moving IT infrastructure into the cloud is a fear that, in so doing, they will
somehow downgrade their role or even make themselves redundant. But
this isn’t a rational concern, especially given the alternative - which is to
continue allocating hard-won capital budget, and internal talent, to core
infrastructure maintenance instead of front-line innovation.
For all the media coverage devoted to corporate agility over the last decade,
a great many enterprises – indeed, especially larger enterprises – have
struggled to make much headway in achieving this. In an October 2012
Special Report, Corporate agility: Six ways to make volatility your friend,
consultancy firm Accenture notes that it has never been easy for large,
complex organisations to be nimble. Nearly half of the 674 executives
The big difference in
the new scenario is
that they pay only for
what they use,
eliminating the
upfront investment
costs of the data
centre.

Nearly half of the
674 executives
surveyed globally in
an Accenture study
reported little
confidence in their
companies’ ability to
mobilise quickly to
capitalise on market
shifts or to serve
new customers.
It is unlikely that this
situation will change
as long as an
organisation remains
engrained in old ways
of delivering and
managing IT.
surveyed globally in an Accenture study reported little confidence in their
companies’ ability to mobilise quickly to capitalise on market shifts or to
serve new customers. Half did not believe their culture adaptive enough to
respond positively to change, and 44% weren’t certain that their workforces
were prepared to adapt to and manage change through periods of
economic uncertainty.
In a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (Organisational agility: how
business can survive and thrive in turbulent times), more than a quarter of
respondents felt their organisations were at a disadvantage because they
weren’t agile enough to anticipate fundamental marketplace shifts.
It is unlikely that this situation will change as long as an organisation
remains engrained in old ways of delivering and managing IT.
Indeed, where technologists have aligned themselves more closely with
delivering business solutions rather than technology, believing that this will
safeguard their future, this has created a new danger. By disassociating
themselves with the specifics of the way networks and cloud services
operate, they may be closing themselves off from new opportunities -
because they haven’t kept pace with the latest advances. In this sense, they
may be failing rather than responding to the business.
A final word of caution is to consider whether peers within competitor
organisations may be pursuing a different path and thereby gaining an
advantage. Even in government and across the public sector, and in other
sectors including known for their conservatism such as financial services,
cloud-based infrastructure services are rapidly taking centre stage as
organisations recognise the overwhelming arguments in favour of new
models - ie in enabling superior agility, mobility, productivity and cost-
efficiency.
11. Selling cloud-based
infrastructure services to the
board
By now the arguments for exploring and exploiting alternative IT delivery
models should be stacking up very strongly, based around hard cost savings
where savings typically start at 30% on new hardware provisioning, and a
whole series of strategic softer benefits which are directly aligned with top
business priorities.
Not only can infrastructure managers position cloud as an enabler for
almost all of the transformative change the business is demanding, they
should also be spelling out just what will happen to the organisation if it
continues to ‘wait for more proof’.

In an industry that moves as fast as this one does, time waits for no
company and every year lost to indecision could set the business back by
five years competitively. Where the future is unknown, an organisation’s best
strategy is to be prepared for anything. Being embroiled in a complex,
inefficient infrastructure that is slow to adapt and costly to manage is not
the way to achieve that.
Finally, there is plenty of evidence to support cloud-based IT provisioning in
the form of real case studies with measurable returns on investment. These
are widely available on the Internet. (See also the Sources & Resources
section on page 15)

12. Myth-busting
Cloud-based IT infrastructure delivery: why common objections don’t stack up
The myth: The cloud offers some potential, but only for web hosting or specific applications.
The reality: Not true. In fact, to limit your vision in this way could create more of a problem than
these solutions solve. The real challenge for enterprises is about managing infrastructure. Moving
to hosted applications may simply shift the problem, and create a new set of relationships that now
need to be managed. Unless you tackle the infrastructure too, your strategy will remain
fragmented and inefficient, and you’ll have limited control over performance, security and data
handling.
The myth: The cloud is less secure than on-premise IT delivery.
The reality: If this is the case you should axe your provider. The reality of course will depend on
what security process and systems you currently have in place and the controls available from your
cloud-based infrastructure service provider. Security is predominantly down to people and process
rather than technology, and a successful provider will have more experience of looking after more
services than an internal IT department so will have tighter processes in place.
The myth: Regulatory requirements on data handling make the cloud unusable.
The reality: This depends on where the cloud is hosted. If you opt for a provider that lets you
select which data centre you use and in which country, and one that offers the right type of service,
you will have full control over where the data goes, what happens to it and who can get near it.
The myth: Once data is in the cloud, anyone can get at it from anywhere on any device.
The reality: This level of flexibility can be provided certainly, but with the right service provider this
will be strictly under your organisation’s control - through the use of access policies to determine
permissions by geography, device and even network type.
The myth: If we use the cloud it will open the floodgates for stealth IT.
The reality: Not if you govern it properly. Set firm parameters and rules as part of your strategy.
The myth: If everything’s on the network, what happens if the connection fails?
The reality: Networking is the simplest, most economic and proven way to securely scale
enterprises and is already responsible for a vast proportion of the way computing is run today, and
external controls are more robust and advanced than ever. When was the last time the Internet
stopped working? It is the corporate access to it that is the weakest link. If you have on-premise
computing and the connection to the network fails, your entire organisation is blind. If it’s in the
network, on the other hand, it’s likely that it will be still working.
The myth: If the CIO agrees to move our core infrastructure to an external service provider, my job
will be under threat.
The reality: On the contrary – this is your chance to add unprecedented value for
your organisation, by future-proofing its infrastructure and creating a platform for
rapid, flexible innovation. If, on the other hand, you don’t come up with a new plan
for dynamic, cost-efficient IT delivery, your job will almost certainly be under threat.

13. Sources & Resources
Managing data center growth: Consolidate, colocate or move to cloud?, TechTarget:
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/tip/Managing-data-center-growth-Consolidate-colocate-or-move-to-cloud
Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2013, October 2012:
http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2209615
Gartner Says Worldwide IT Outsourcing Services Spending on Pace to Surpass $251 Billion in 2012, August 2012:
Gartner Says Worldwide Cloud Services Market to Surpass $109 Billion in 2012, September 2012:
Gartner Public Cloud Services Forecast 2Q12 Update:
http://www.gartner.com/id=2064615
Gartner Outlines Five Cloud Computing Trends That Will Affect Cloud Strategy Through 2015, April 2012:
The Business Landscape of Cloud Computing, Gartner/Financial Times, May 2012:
http://www.ft.com/cms/5e231aca-a42b-11e1-a701-00144feabdc0.pdf
Data center infrastructure market will be worth $152 billion by 2016, Canalys, July 2012:
http://www.canalys.com/newsroom/data-center-infrastructure-market-will-be-worth-152-billion-2016
Heading for the Cloud - Why cloud services will be the foundation for business technology enablement & What enterprise
customers want from cloud computing, StraightTalkIT, Ovum, Q2, 2012:
http://ovum.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/STQ_IT_2Q12.pdf
Organisational agility: how business can survive and thrive in turbulent times, Economist Intelligence Unit:
http://www.eiu.com/site_info.asp?info_name=orgagility
Will the Enterprise App Store Change the Way We Purchase Technology Forever?, Interoute:
http://kc.interoute.com/sites/default/files/white-papers/Will%20the%20Enterprise%20App%20Store%20Change%20the%20Way%20We%
20Purchase%20Technology%20Forever.pdf
Organisations will focus on datacentre efficiency in 2013, says Ovum, Computer Weekly, November 2012:
http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240171905/Organisations-will-focus-on-datacentre-effieiciency-in-2013-says-Ovum
Corporate agility: Six ways to make volatility your friend, Accenture Special Report, October 2012:
http://www.accenture.com/us-en/outlook/Pages/outlook-journal-2012-corporate-agility-six-ways-to-make-volatility-your-friend.aspx
Predicting a Cloud Outlook for 2013, ESJ, July 2012:
http://esj.com/articles/2012/12/07/predicting-cloud-outlook-2013.aspx
An introduction and guide to buying cloud services, Cloud Industry Forum, 2012:
http://www.cloudindustryforum.org/downloads/whitepapers/CIF-Guide-to-buying-Cloud-Services.pdf
Virtual Data Centre and Security, an Interoute white paper:
http://www.interoute.com/sites/default/files/resources/node-attachments/Product/
interoute_virtual_data_centre_and_security_whitepa_71787.pdf
Case study: Cloud computing underpins UEFA business strategy, Computer Weekly, July 2012:
http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240159071/Cloud-computing-underpins-Uefa-business-strategy
Case study: Advantive cuts build and operational costs by 30% with Interoute Virtual Data Centre:
http://www.interoute.com/news/advantive-cuts-build-and-operational-costs-30-interoute-virtual-data-centre

About Interoute
Interoute Communications Ltd is the owner operator of Europe’s largest cloud services platform, which
encompasses over 60,000km of lit fibre, 10 hosting data centres and 31 collocation centres, with
connections to 140 additional third-party data centres across Europe.
Our full-service Unified ICT platform serves international enterprises as well as every major European
telecommunications incumbent and the major operators of North America, East and South Asia,
governments and universities. These organisations find Interoute the ideal partner for computing,
connectivity and communications and developing new services.
Interoute’s Unified ICT strategy has proved
attractive to enterprises looking for a
scalable, secure and unconstrained platform
on which they can build their voice, video,
computing and data services. It also appeals
to service providers requiring high-capacity
international data transit and infrastructure.
With established operations throughout
mainland Europe, North America and Dubai,
Interoute also owns and operates dense city
networks throughout Europe’s major
business centres.
About Interoute’s Virtual Data Centre (VDC)
Interoute’s Virtual Data Centre (VDC) is a highly scalable, fully automated Infrastructure-as-a-Service
(IaaS) solution. It provides on-demand computing, storage and applications integrated into the heart of
an organisation’s IT infrastructure.
Interoute VDC is the first cloud computing solution that can be deployed with the simplicity and
convenience of the public cloud, combined with the security and confidence that a private cloud brings.
The ability to offer fully automated public and private cloud on the same platform makes VDC unique.
Interoute Virtual Data Centre combines computing virtualisation in the cloud with network virtualisation
on the ground. It delivers a virtual IT infrastructure as a fully automated online service and connects
across Europe using Interoute’s virtualised MPLS fibre-optic network.
With VDC, infrastructure managers don’t have to spend time and effort installing and managing firewalls
between Virtual Data Centres, because all data traffic is inherently secure as it moves between them. This
advanced technology gives organisations the choice between having VDC delivered as a private cloud
service via their corporate VPN, or as a cloud service via the public Internet - or both.

The individual Interoute VDC data centres are not isolated but are built into Interoute’s vast pan-
European network. This means we don’t charge our customers for any data transfers in and out of their
VDCs or between VDC zones.
Interoute VDC is the virtual equivalent of a real physical data centre, offering companies the same
control and resource as they would have in their own data centre - but without the cost of equipment,
power, colocation, network and manpower.
Within your Interoute Virtual Data Centre you can choose to build your server, switching and storing in
exactly the same way as you would in the physical world. You can specify RAM, CPU and storage to
create any desired configuration, and as often as needed. This allows infrastructure managers to add new
applications, services and customers in line with internal demand.
Interoute VDC has all the benefits expected from a cloud - computing infrastructure, elasticity, pay-as-
you-go pricing and real-time deployment. But Interoute VDC is not simply a cloud of virtual servers. It is
a completely new approach to designing and operating a secure computing solution, which offers
organisations an actual data centre they can control at a click on Europe’s largest cloud computing
platform.
Interoute Virtual Data Centre is a truly unique cloud computing platform – the first without
compromises.
To take a free trial of the Interoute VDC visit cloudstore.interoute.com
For more information
Visit us www.interoute.com
https://twitter.com/interoute
http://www.linkedin.com/company/interoute

About OneStopClick
OneStopClick is an independent publisher of news, articles, white papers and technology-related
research helping IT professionals and business executives achieve better business outcomes.
For more information
Visit us www.onestopclick.com
Call us +44 (0)844 243 5670

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