Charting the Journey into the Cloud

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Introduction Page 3

Cloud Overview Page 4

Cloud Benefits Page 7

Cloud Criteria Page 10

The OnX Solution Page 12

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Cloud services, especially hybrid cloud, and the act of “federating” cloud services, has become a key topic for the enterprise. It has the potential to radically alter the face of the IT organization, changing everything from how IT hardware and software is procured to how applications are delivered, and how the value of the IT department is determined within the organization.

With the reshaping of software, infrastructure, and platforms as consumable services comes the decision-making challenge of deciding for or against external public cloud, internal private cloud, or the hybridization of the two, assisted through the act of federation. Each of these models has its own advantages and disadvantages that should be carefully considered when planning a journey to the cloud.

The fact is, cloud computing is not a one-size-fits-all scenario. Info-Tech believes that businesses won’t make the decision to put everything in the cloud; in fact, what businesses are really looking for are ways to integrate an internal private cloud with external public cloud, and potentially doing this through a federated model where a provider has the ability to turn on and off service to match business

requirements. In essence, organizations are seeking to leverage the best of both the private and public clouds while minimizing the disadvantages of each.

This is partially being driven by the need for modern IT organizations to dynamically move workloads from internal to external hosting models, and have the capacity to “burst” into the public cloud on an as-needed basis. It also represents a way to maximize investments in IT infrastructure through better capacity planning, and drive new applications to market faster with a lower up front capital

requirement.

The shift in IT organizations and infrastructure planning is already underway, and proactive IT shops are ahead of the curve in adapting it to their architectures. However, the cloud will require a major re-think for most IT departments on many fronts, from capacity planning and staff roles to how IT services are budgeted within the organization.

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Cloud computing is a term that has come to describe several different models of IT service delivery, many of which have been with us under different names for some time. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a model that has been around for a while, and is grouped with Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) as service delivery architectures that fall under the banner of cloud computing (see Figure 1).

Figure 1

Source: Info-Tech Indaba

A cloud computing solution need not be hosted off-premise, in what one would traditionally think of as “the cloud.” An internal deployment can be classified as a private cloud if it meets key cloud attributes, such as self-service, metered accounting, and guaranteed service levels. Organizations today can choose from public clouds, private clouds, and combinations of the two to build the right SaaS, PaaS or IaaS delivery model for the business. This hybrid approach is also supported by the federated cloud capabilities of service providers.

Cloud Delivery Models

Public Cloud: Also known as external cloud, public cloud refers to an external provider delivering

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Private Cloud: In a private cloud model, an IT organization deploys the same virtualization and

automation technologies found in public clouds inside an IT department for use by the

organization. The IT organization is responsible for investing in, maintaining, and managing the infrastructure. Internal chargebacks can be employed in this model, but it’s up to the IT organization to forecast demand and manage infrastructure accordingly.

Each model has its advantages and disadvantages. Instead of investing in IT infrastructure, the public cloud offers available capacity procured on an on-demand, as-needed basis with a third-party responsible for management and risk. However, given the concerns of ensuring security in a multi-tenant environment, and the risks of giving-up management to another party, some organizations may be cautious of moving business-critical applications and data into the public cloud.

Private cloud offers IT organizations a level of security in knowing that only company data and

applications reside on its servers, as well as the assurance that the data and applications are managed and protected according to policy. However, the IT organization also takes on the responsibility for caring for and feeding the infrastructure, as well as its original purchase. It also must ensure sufficient capacity is available to meet company demand without investing unnecessarily and having over-capacity.

Each of these models has its place in the modern IT organization depending on the scale and risk tolerance of the business, and the nature of the data and applications being hosted. That’s why Info-Tech believes organizations won’t select one model or the other; rather, most will build an architecture that marries the two: a hybrid approach that could be supported by the federated cloud capabilities of service providers.

Hybrid Cloud: In a hybrid cloud model, private clouds are complemented with subscriptions to

applications or services delivered from the public cloud. An IT organization can build a private cloud with the capacity to meet most business demands or to host the most sensitive or business-critical data and applications. Less critical or sensitive workloads might then be moved into the public cloud, or used for bursting extra capacity requirements during peak use. In some cases applications for business-critical workloads might also be moved to the public cloud, but usually among smaller organizations.

Federated Cloud: This term refers to the enablement of multiple cloud environments working in

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Cloud Technology

Underlying the different cloud delivery models is the technology that delivers services through the cloud, which will vary depending on what is being delivered. These can be broken down into the following three primary categories.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Sometimes referred to as on-demand or subscription-based

software, SaaS is a cloud technology in which enterprises pay a recurring fee to rent an application from a vendor that hosts it, provisioning the application from a compute cloud, where it’s typically accessed by the user over the Internet. SaaS eliminates the need for

companies to perform installations, and maintenance and support, as the vendor is responsible for all of these tasks. The customer typically pays ongoing subscription fees for the applications, which can vary depending on the number or users and/or the amount of cloud resources consumed. Salesforce.com, NetSuite, and Google Apps are examples of SaaS offerings.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): As a development environment that includes tools, programming

frameworks, and run-time environments as hosted online services, PaaS offers the benefit of scalability and the ability to deploy applications without the expense or difficulty of acquiring and managing the necessary infrastructure. It’s essentially a build-your-own SaaS service – an application development and run time environment hosted on a compute cloud, based on a specific development platform and tools. Windows Azure, Google App Engine, and Force.com are examples of PaaS offerings.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): While SaaS is primarily about software, IaaS could be viewed

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Figure 2

If an enterprise has deployed a cloud-based service it’s likely SaaS. This isn’t a surprise considering SaaS providers have been around for more than a decade, being previously referred to as application service providers. Adoption of IaaS is the next most likely candidate, including virtual server instances or storage services.

The benefits in moving to cloud are many, including access to an IT architecture that is more agile in responding to rapidly evolving business needs. Management time can be reduced with users self-provisioning resources as needed, over-investment in hardware can be reduced through better capacity management, and with a utility model of service delivery it becomes easier for IT to demonstrate its value to the business and make the case for required investment.

However, while the cloud may be the destination for many IT organizations, it’s not where the journey begins. Info-Tech views internal cloud as a journey, beginning with the phases of virtualization, carrying on through to the internal or private cloud, and culminating in a hybrid cloud environment with both public and private clouds all managed seamlessly, from one console.

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Most organizations today have embraced virtualization to varying degrees, and are therefore on the cloud journey. In 2011, many companies doing consolidation had virtualized more than 50% of their infrastructure (see Figure 3). With a majority of workloads virtualized, virtual infrastructure is

increasingly core infrastructure, with enterprises likely moving beyond the low hanging fruit of server consolidation (such as test, development, and non-critical servers) to virtualizing more mission critical and resource demanding workloads.

Figure 3

Info-Tech views this virtualization stage, which lays the foundation for hybrid cloud and culminating in an internal or private cloud, as falling into three distinct phases. The early benefits begin with hardware consolidation and progress to include management agility (see Figure 4).

1. Consolidation Phase: During this initial stage of virtualization, the focus is on transitioning workloads to virtual machines and getting the most out of the hardware by deploying the maximum number of virtual machines per host. Existing infrastructure can often be leveraged and virtualized to minimize the capital investment. During this phase, capacity analysis and physical-to-virtual migration tools and features that boost consolidation ratio are the most important value-add features.

2. Management Phase: Virtual infrastructure has become a core technology for hosting

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scheduling and load balancing, and high availability are all key features in this phase, as is optimization of shared storage resources.

3. Utility Infrastructure: This is where the focus shifts to end-to-end management of complete systems, from applications through virtual machines to hardware. Performance monitoring for service level maintenance, as well as management automation and self-service, are key to building infrastructure as a service. Automated cost accounting for chargeback or “showback” also brings cloud-like capability to the virtual infrastructure.

Figure 4

Who Needs the Cloud?

Going from consolidated and virtualized infrastructure to private cloud is a logical, but not necessary, progression. The shared cloud can make sense if an IT organization has many customers (or potential customers) that demand new or increased capacity to host their applications and services on a multi-tenant cloud shared model. This could include:

• Internal business units looking for an agile environment for rapid deployment of applications and services to exploit new opportunities or automate processes.

• Developers looking to test new applications and changes and then move to a production environment.

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Info-Tech believes that a high percentage of enterprises will build private or internal clouds first, building on investments and progress in building virtualized infrastructure. Fully 75% of business

respondents to an Info-Tech survey were focused on the internal cloud, either exclusively or with an end goal of expanding to the external or public cloud in a hybrid cloud model (see Figure 5).

Figure 5

To make the next step, however, requires organizations to make real comparisons between the internal and external cloud that account for costs over the long-term, considering at least a five-year period. As an example, low infrastructure costs associated with public cloud doesn’t necessarily equal low total costs when the ongoing rental of the cloud service over time are accounted for. In addition, beyond just cost association, organizations must consider their internal skill sets, requirements for compliance and ability to meet the timeline needs of the business units.

A Hybrid Cloud Future

The hybrid cloud begins with an internal private cloud, and Info-Tech recommends organizations consider internal clouds first for meaningful comparisons and connections with external clouds. In a future hybrid cloud environment all infrastructure could be managed as cloud, whether internally-based or externally hosted. By building an internal cloud, organizations can be positioned to take full

advantage of the external cloud in the future.

Info-Tech believes that most organizations will choose to leverage the benefits of both public and private cloud in a hybrid environment, which makes seamless hybrid cloud management across both internal utility infrastructure and external (service provider) infrastructure a key consideration. An effectively managed hybrid cloud should include the following three key capabilities:

Access: With a cloud management solution, access to the internal and external clouds is

controlled through a single portal.

43%

33%

12%

Focus on the internal cloud _{before external} Implementing only internal cloud solutions

Focus on the external cloud before internal

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Workload migration: Workloads can move between the private and public cloud.

Cloud bursting: Extend workloads to the external cloud when they exceed internal capacity.

Moving every application at once to an external cloud will rarely suit larger organizations with complex needs. It’s important to understand which services are best served by the external cloud and which are not. IT services can be prioritized for a shift to the external cloud across the following three categories:

Cloud Ready: These services are better served, and have a lower overall TCO and provide more

business value, by moving them to the external cloud. Microsoft, SAS, and SAP have Cloud-ready applications.

Cloud Radar: These services require more stringent security and performance requirements,

and an appropriate external cloud vendor has yet to be identified. These services will likely be in the cloud in the future.

Don’t Cloud: These services store or deal with highly secure or proprietary information that is a

main source of a businesses’ competitive advantage (e.g. intellectual property, sensitive personal information) and may never be handled by a third-party.

Building and managing a cloud-based infrastructure requires IT departments to build relationships with new vendors and to make some shifts in processes. The challenge may be staying organized while managing a portfolio of vendors by keeping the number of vendors low, and remaining actively involved in managing the relationship. Smaller companies may wish to turn to a channel or service provider to help them integrate and manage the vendors necessary in building the required cloud functionality. Many cloud solution vendors share some features, but come at the cloud from different places. The following three categories are key examples of cloud solution providers and what defines them.

Pure Play Cloud Vendors: This group has built cloud-specific management suites from the

ground up. Many leverage architectures being used by public cloud hosts and service providers. These are the youngest vendors, and also prime targets for acquisition. Examples of vendors in this category include Eucalyptus Systems, Flexiant, Platform Computing, and Open Stack.

Server Virtualization Vendors: Vendors in this space have followed the curve of virtualization

and made the organic step towards cloud management as another layer of abstraction. In part, they are looking to build on a foothold in server virtualization to support customers who are leveraging their infrastructure to build a private cloud. Examples of vendors in this category include Citrix, VMware, Red Hat and Cloud.com.

Traditional Systems Management Vendors: These are vendors that started out offering

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Co-Location/Managed Service Providers: These vendors provide a host of services capability,

including the following: Co-location services with customer supplied equipment and vendor supplied facility; managed services with customer supplied equipment, but vendor supplied services; hybrid models where customers supply equipment and subscribe to a mix of basic co-location and managed services; and fully managed services with vendor supplied equipment and services. Examples of vendors in this category include OnX, Bell, Q9 Netorks, and Telus.

Differentiation among vendors can come through their support of advanced features. As examples, businesses reviewing options should pay close attention to licensing and subscription terms, service level agreements, and the providers ability to bring the data or applications back out of the cloud, if and when necessary.

Close to half of businesses in an Into-Tech survey ranked vendor management as having the highest impact on processes within IT, ahead of IT performance, strategy, and financial management (see Figure 6). Organizations that put more effort and resources into altering vendor management processes to leverage a well balanced portfolio will realize significant benefits in both performance and cost.

Figure 6

OnX has developed a practice around assisting companies into the cloud by offering its clients a

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Figure 7

Source: OnX

1. OnTask: Provides a foundation for a company’s cloud infrastructure, with several options for hosting depending on the applications to be hosted, their importance to the business, and the sensitivity of the data.

Virtual Data Centre: A public cloud solution designed for the self-serve provisioning of

virtual machines, tiered storage, network segments, and load balancing with pay-as-you-go, as well as reserved, billing. This is aimed at development/test environments, rapid deployment needs, and on-demand infrastructure for bursting from traditional data centres.

Virtual Multi-Tenant: A cross between pure public and private options, this offers

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This service is aimed at organizations that require predictable infrastructure resources to meet specific service levels.

Dedicated Private Hosting: A true private cloud model offered through a hosted,

managed service model, with dedicated physical servers for hosted private clouds tailored for high security, compliance, and performance applications.

2. OnRecovery: A portfolio of data backup and recovery solutions designed to assist an organization

with meeting its business continuity requirements through a cloud model. Both on-premise and cloud-based solutions can be backed-up into the OnX data centre, and the OnX federated cloud can be used to recover applications and data when a business disruption occurs.

3. OnExpert: For organizations wishing to outsource its IT service and support functions to a service

provider, OnExpert offers several levels of managed services.

Bronze: Remote technical support and hardware maintenance service for servers, storage and network equipment in the customer data centre.

Silver: Remote monitoring with alerts and notification for customer infrastructure components.

Gold: Remote infrastructure management support including patches and upgrades to customer infrastructure.

4. OnMessage: A cloud-based email solution managed by OnX and administered through a web

interface, offering enterprise class email and related features priced on a per mailbox, per month model.

Cloud Assessment Workshops

OnX also offers cloud consulting and evaluation services to help companies assess their IT needs and determine where they could be replaced or augmented with cloud-based solutions. It offers Cloud Readiness Workshops to help organizations assess the current and future state of their environments, and professional services to help with the implementation of, and migration to, the OnX federated cloud solutions. The OnX Federated Cloud Center of Excellence is also available for testing cloud concepts with clients before going into practice.

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The journey to a hybrid cloud environment, leveraging the best of both the public and private cloud, won’t be completed overnight. It begins with a deeper embrace of virtualization through the

organization, creating the dynamic and scaleable IT platform that will grow with the business and provide the foundation for the hybrid cloud.

Getting there will require having a better understanding of the applications and services that IT delivers, their value to the business, and how they can best be delivered. It will require a willingness to recognize what tasks should be done internally, and which could best be delivered by third-parties based on the skill sets an enterprise holds internally versus what a service provider can enable. It will mean working with new vendors and holding them to higher standards than ever before and require a superior SLA over what can be delivered internally. It will mean raising the expectations of users, and then meeting them.