FAQ. Private Cloud Considerations: Control and Confidence for Enterprise Teams

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FAQ

Private Cloud Considerations: Control

and Confidence for Enterprise Teams

1. Will an on-premises private cloud require more time and attention by my internal IT staff?

2. What kind and level of data security is provided in an on-premises private cloud?

3. How should we incorporate mobility and IT consumeriza-tion into our on-premises private cloud?

4. Can’t we save some money in our private cloud deployment by using low-cost, x86-based hardware, or repurposing hardware we already have?

5. How should we think about backup, recovery and restore processes to ensure that data and applications in our private cloud remain protected and available?

The Power of the Private Cloud for Enterprise Endpoint Backup

Today’s enterprises are looking for ways to leverage cloud computing

strategies to assist with the growing list of requirements for IT.

As security considerations increase the popularity of private cloud

architectures, many are digging in and uncovering tremendous

value in the private cloud approach.

Cloud computing is now a widely accepted, essential element of IT, as well as a key driver for many organizations’ business processes because of the flexibility, cost efficiency, elasticity and scalability it brings to computing resources.

Most IT executives are either already overseeing cloud computing architectures in their organizations or have initiatives in the works. In fact, of the 1,200 IT professionals surveyed for the 2013 State of the Cloud Report from solutions provider CDW, nearly 40% already have some form of cloud computing architecture in place.

Public cloud computing continues to appeal to organizations looking for affordable solutions and ways to offload applications and services to an external resource. In addition, many users have brought consumer–based technologies into the enterprise, and often, these applications live in public clouds.

However, while public cloud computing is alluring, many enterprises cannot risk having data reside outside of their controlled network. As such, private cloud computing is quickly gaining popularity and adoption is building. And although private clouds are generally defined as proprietary computing architecture that provides hosted services behind a firewall, more sophisticated cloud vendors offer performance-driven private clouds on purpose-built, highly tuned infrastructure that is vendor-managed 24/7, 365 days a year.

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Specifically, at midsize and large enter-prises, private cloud computing holds a strong appeal for business executives and IT strategists demanding the high-est levels of control, privacy and security for sensitive business data. In fact, data from Unisphere Research indicates that nearly one half (45%) of organizations with more than 10,000 employees already have deployed a private cloud solution for production systems. “Private cloud computing is appealing to organizations for the two key issues of cost and control, as well as a way to help business leaders feel comfortable with dedicated cloud solutions,” points out Jeff Kaplan, managing director of THINKstrategies, a research and consulting organization with a cloud computing practice.

But even for organizations committed to a private cloud architecture, there is an important decision to make: host a private cloud on-premises to run on internal infrastructure, or leverage a hosted, private cloud model where applications and services are deployed externally in third-party data centers. While both approaches have advan-tages and merit consideration, many IT leaders adopt the on-premises private cloud philosophy in hopes of turning the private cloud into a strategic asset. However, with so much increased emphasis on private cloud comput-ing, it’s important to keep in mind that not all private clouds are the same,

even if they are all dedicated to a single organization’s needs. IT and business execu-tives committed to a private cloud approach should consider these five frequently asked questions to help ensure that a private cloud architecture is a truly strategic resource, and not just a quick way to save money or deal with dwindling internal IT resources:

1. Will an on-premises private cloud

require more time and attention

by my internal IT staff?

It should be the opposite, as long as your on-premises private cloud is managed and monitored by a reputable third-party provider. For an increasing number of organizations, 24/7/365 monitoring is a must, given the global, always-on nature of business transac-tions. Yet trying to do that with an in-house staff is expensive and, frankly, counter-productive. If you have an experienced cloud partner monitor and manage your on-premises private cloud, it frees up your stretched internal IT resources to focus on transformative applications, rather than on network monitoring, systems management and day-to-day administrative tasks.

2. What kind and level of data

security is provided in an on-premises

private cloud?

First of all, a big advantage of using an on-premises private cloud is that you continue to use your own firewalls, giving your staff the benefit of a tried-and-true first line of security that they are intimately familiar with. Of course, you’ll need strong encryption capabilities, but keep in mind the importance of deciding where those encryption keys are

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stored — ideally with your own IT organization. Consider the blind-sub-poena scenario: If your cloud service provider is subpoenaed to give law enforcement agencies access to your data, you don’t want your service provider to have the encryption keys. Above all else, you’ll want your cloud partner to deploy a multilayered secu-rity architecture to ensure that mobile devices and other ubiquitous endpoints are protected against identity theft, malware, intrusions and many other security threats.

3. How should we incorporate

mobility and IT

consumeriza-tion into our on-premises

private cloud?

Large and small organizations alike grapple with how to support the flood of mobile devices — many of which would be considered consumer-grade — in a private cloud architecture. This becomes tricky when numerous types of devices with different operating systems are brought under the private cloud umbrella, so be sure your partner embraces a platform-neutral support model that preserves as much of the unique functionality of each device as possible. While consumer-class devices such as tablets and smartphones — and their familiar social media, e-com-merce and collaboration tools — have generated a lot of popularity among end users, it makes IT deployment, security and support challenges more difficult. Be sure your private cloud partner builds in support for a wide

range of mobile devices throughout your on-premises private cloud — or many of your users will be shut out from accessing corporate data, essential services or business- critical applications in the private cloud.

4. Can’t we save some money in

our private cloud deployment by

using low-cost, x86-based hardware,

or repurposing hardware we already

have?

Be sure not to dismiss the importance of high-performance, high-availability, resilient and scalable hardware infrastructure for your on-premises private cloud. That’s especially true as you continue to move more business-critical applications and data to the cloud. Essentially, you need enterprise-class infra-structure that comes with an affordable price tag. Some innovative cloud service providers build robust, on-premises private clouds using the same class of computing, storage and networking infrastructure they deploy in their own data centers for hosted private clouds or public clouds. These typically come as small-form-factor appliances, which saves physical space and power consumption and reduces costs without sacrificing the performance and resilience needed for enterprise requirements.

5. How should we think about

back-up, recovery and restore processes to

ensure that data and applications in

our private cloud remain protected

and available?

Backup, recovery and restore should be integral components of your infrastructure strategy from the start. It’s not something you

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want to address after the on-premises private cloud is put in place because disaster recovery and business conti-nuity become more expensive and less effective when backup functionality is duct-taped onto an existing archi-tecture. Backup and recovery also should be approached in a compre-hensive — rather than platform- or application-specific — manner in order to ensure seamless, reliable restoration of data, applications and services after an outage. Be sure to identify your endpoint backup needs early on, and be sure your cloud servi-ceprovider embraces such concepts as user self-restore, byte-level data dedu-plication, end-to-end encryption and streamlined data migration that cuts time, cost and complexity for backup, recovery and restore.

THE POWER OF THE PRIVATE

CLOUD FOR ENTERPRISE

END-POINT BACKUP

The Code 42 Way: Managed Private Cloud for Maximum Control, Efficiency and Confidence

Once you have in-depth answers to these and other important questions about deploying an on-premises private cloud, evaluating and selecting a partner boils down to a few key issues, such as experience, reliability, flex-ibility and accountability. One cloud partner whose capabilities may be an excellent match for your needs is Code 42 Software. Since its founding

in 2001, Code 42 has developed a wide- ranging cloud computing skill set, support-ing a number of different cloud options, including public clouds, on-premises private clouds (managed private clouds) and hybrid clouds. The company has created cloud-based endpoint backup solutions for large enterprises, small and midsized businesses and personal users, and has the flexibility to deploy and support the proper cloud approach for each customer’s needs. As the creator of the popular CrashPlan endpoint backup solutions — including CrashPlan for the Enterprise — Code 42 understands what’s at stake in managing business-critical workloads. The company manages more than four exabytes of data at its own data centers, excluding data stored on-premises at customer sites. Its numerous global data centers allow for maximum redundancy and easy, reliable failover and recovery, and Code 42 can and does support extremely large installations, including the company’s own cloud, which currently manages more than 1 million devices.

The CrashPlan managed private cloud solution is designed to give organizations the high level of security typically delivered in a private cloud, but with maximum customer control via an on-premises approach. Real-time, seamless and scalable endpoint backup across the entire enterprise is supported by Code 42’s around-the-clock monitoring and management resources. This approach mini-mizes the impact on in-house IT resources, while ensuring enterprise-grade security and resiliency in an affordable solution.

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Code 42’s purpose-built endpoint backup and cloud computing platform is ideal for organizations that are look-ing for the security of private clouds but that also need the control and cost efficiency of deploying the private cloud on their on-premises infrastructure. Not only does Code 42 provide 24/7/365 monitoring and management — freeing up internal staff to concentrate on more strategic requirements — but it also works closely with clients to build the necessary cloud infrastructure on-premises. Using robust, high-perfor-mance, small and efficient cloud appli-ances — the same appliappli-ances Code 42 uses in its own data centers — ensures massive scalability and an eco-friendly data center design that reduces cooling and power costs, as well as physical space requirements.