Public Cloud
It’s funny to think how an entire industry has actually been constructed around cloud computing and the effect to IT operations management today. It’s all cloud, all the time. Disruptive innovation keeps moving advancement forward – which is a good thing.
Most companies will be taking on exclusive (or, even hybrid) cloud strategies much faster than public cloud solutions – merely because it allows them more control and protection from the beginning.
Cloud computing comes down to this:
MYTH: Cloud computing is about the innovation.
TRUTH: Cloud computing is about business.
Business needs to be agile – with extreme automation, self-service capability and ready-to-go infrastructure. It’s everything about the business.
We all know the key attributes of cloud computing: multi-tenancy, elastic and scalable, metered, self-provisioning, internet based, and I/P/SaaS. But there is one even more attribute for safe and secure cloud computing. Security. A total decrease in danger due to higher protection protocols and tools from the cloud provider for information in motion, data at rest and data in process.
Protection is a number one issue and obstacle for businesses, specifically with public cloud.
Exactly what is driving IT to a new technique? Why is cloud booming? Look at the market forces at play, the economy, the requirement for companies to be more economical. The concept of common IT – anytime, anywhere IT which is available with cloud. We’re seeing a tectonic shift in technology – the rate of change of applications coming online and the development of tools is much quicker – being driven by consumers primarily.
Consider how quick innovation should relocate to stay on par with the iPad, the iPod, the iPhone. It’s a shift of the devices used to establish these applications. Some companies are even relocating towards letting people use their own PCs at work. There is a trend towards the consumerization of IT.
Not just that, however it’s cool to be green. Businesses are taking a look at shared infrastructure not just to cut expenses, but to show they are eco friendly. These fall into the classification of business forces at work, in order to avoid expenses, map supply and demand more successfully and de-capitalize IT. Automated operations is also vital for businesses.
Those are some reasons why the marketplace and business would want to relocate to the cloud. However what are the obstacles? For public cloud, there are fears of security, compliance and application rewrites. For private cloud, existing investments, even more labor extensive and a steep knowing curve, and being cynical about results.
From a company perspective, there are significant monetary benefits of cloud that go past traditional capex. In a standard data center, you have a bunch of cash that should go up front – Capex and opex. But with the cloud, you’re looking at simply opex. Repayments are able to be made as services are offered, and monetary threats are taken month-to-month then matched in return – as opposed to a high expense (danger) and uncertain return with a standard data center.
Some analyst predictions from Gartner:
By 2010, 20 % of companies will possess no IT assets
By 2010, a minimum of 35 % of U.S. midmarket businesses (100-199 staff members) will buy cloud-computing and IT energy services
By 2010, 40 % of business will adopt a mix of cloud and premises-based techniques to satisfy their requirements
By 2010, international 1000 IT companies will spend more cash constructing private cloud computing services than on offerings from public cloud-computing service suppliers
During the next five years, enterprises will invest $112 billion cumulatively on SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS
Undoubtedly that indicates we’re seeing rapid growth of the portion of users depending on the cloud.
So exactly what kinds of clouds are out there?
Public cloud – scalable and elastic IT-enabled abilities offered ‘as a service’
Community cloud – targeted to a restricted set of organizations or people with comparable security, personal privacy and compliance requirements
On property private cloud – resides on the client premise and consumer has control/ownership of service, service access limited to the internal company
Managed private cloud – might reside on the consumer premise or on the providers property, but is possessed by client and managed by a service provider
Virtual (Hosted) private cloud – partitioned part of a public cloud-computing service into an isolated, non-shared environment that is dedicated for use by a single entity or team of associated entities (such as numerous divisions within a business)
Exclusive clouds attract businesses because they provide much of the exact same advantages as the public cloud however without the threats, because it lives inside a company’s firewall and protection infrastructure. More on that later …
But let’s not forget about a hybrid cloud. Public clouds offer dynamic, effective, on-demand, flexible, shared and leased. Exclusive (or hosted) cloud are trusted, regulated, dependable, secure/flexible, not shared. Together they combine to offer a single view.
Public cloud is not all excellent. There are numerous viewed concerns and concerns. Safety of data in motion and personal privacy of data at rest is a huge concern for companies. SLA’s and accessibility issues cause stress, in addition to compliance, loss of control and absence of interoperability. Not just that, but there are many shadow companies popping up – how do you know if they are using end-to-end ITIL processes? If they’re accredited in service management or security? Lots to question which cause barriers to embracing public cloud for your business.
Because of the concerns of public cloud, businesses are most likely to see the advantages of private cloud and adopt that first. From more control over physical protection, information protection and other benefits, there are some great outcomes that can be found from deploying a private cloud.
How do you become cloud ready? Jim Staten from Forrester lists three means:
Turn test and development into a self-service center
Establish a green-field cloud for a priority new job – work together with an internal company system that wants to invest and set up a brand name brand-new cloud for them
Get a partner to establish a hosted cloud for you – get the perk of rented resources walled off from the public Web and the hoster’s public cloud – meeting your safety requires
The main takeaway is this: choose a cloud(s) that are right for your company.