IaaS

Bi-Modal IT / CIO Strategy / Cloud Computing / Cloud infrastructure / Digital Transformation / IaaS / IT Security / IT Strategy — Comments Off on Data Center Knowledge: Dissecting the Data Center: What Can – and Can’t – Be Moved to the Cloud
29
Aug 16

Data Center Knowledge: Dissecting the Data Center: What Can – and Can’t – Be Moved to the Cloud

According to the results of a recent survey of IT professionals, 43 percent of organizations estimate half or more of their IT infrastructure will be in the cloud in the next three to five years. The race to the cloud is picking up steam, but all too often companies begin implementing hybrid IT environments without first considering which workloads make the most sense for which environments.

The bottom line is your business’s decision to migrate workloads and/or applications to the cloud should not be arbitrary. So how do you decide what goes where?

The best time to consider migrating to the cloud is when it’s time to re-platform an application. You should not need to over-engineer any application or workload to fit the cloud. If it’s not broken, why move it? For the purposes of this piece, let’s assume your organization is in the process of re-platforming a number of applications and you are now deciding whether to take advantage of the cloud for these applications. There are a few primary considerations you should think through to determine if moving to the cloud or remaining on-premises is best.

More of the Data Center Knowledge post

Bi-Modal IT / CIO Strategy / Cloud Computing / Cloud infrastructure / Digital Transformation / IaaS / IT Governance / IT Security / IT Strategy — Comments Off on The Register – Capacity planning in an age of agile and on – demand IT
25
Aug 16

The Register – Capacity planning in an age of agile and on – demand IT

Have we all been caught asleep at the capacity planning wheel? Business users today want, and expect new IT services to be delivered in the blink of an eye, the necessary resources provisioned instantly, and changes made “on demand”. But such IT flexibility requires that physical resources, server, storage and networking are ready to be allocated when required. The need for capacity planning has never been greater, yet a recent survey tells us that few organisations have the capabilities they need.

Furthermore, ‘overprovision and forget’ remains a common approach that elevates IT procurement and operational costs at a time when money is tight.

Business services at risk

Every organisation relies on instant availability to a wide range of IT services, from relatively predictable essential everyday functionality provided by key business applications to customer facing systems whose usage may be highly variable. In some environments, such as development and test systems, they also have to operate on a more ad hoc basis with unpredictable resource requirements. For some IT solutions, such as DR, the hope is that the resources required will never be used, but the potential impact of them kicking in needs to be accounted for.

More of The Register article from Tony Lock

CIO Strategy / Cloud Computing / Cloud infrastructure / IaaS / IT Strategy / Virtualization — Comments Off on ZDNet – Cloud computing pricing: Beware the bill shock
23
Aug 16

ZDNet – Cloud computing pricing: Beware the bill shock

Cloud pricing models vary dramatically. Elastic utilization can mean wide variability in month to month. Make sure your financial goals like flat spending or opex versus capex match up with your cloud providers pricing model.

One of the benefits of cloud computing that’s often touted by providers is cutting costs: rather than having the hassle and expense of buying servers and equipping data centers, and paying for staff to maintain them, companies can offload their workloads to the cloud, where economies of scale around the infrastructure mean that costs are much lower.

In theory, cloud users simply pay for the resources they use, as and when they need them, without the burden of paying for hardware, or data center space. That means pricing should be straightforward, right?

Not quite: there isn’t just a single model of cloud pricing.

On-demand allows you to purchase services as and when you need them, while reserved instances work like many other types of bill, where the user forecasts what they’re probably going to need over a particular period — usually in quarterly or annual instances. The user then pays upfront, although their cloud provider may give discounts for buying services in bulk. Spot pricing is where cloud companies sell off unused processing power at a discount: companies can then bid for a certain amount of computing power at a certain price.

More of the ZDNet article from Danny Palmer

CIO Strategy / IaaS / IT Governance / IT Strategy — Comments Off on CIO Insight – Are IT Teams Relevant in an As-a-Service World?
18
Aug 16

CIO Insight – Are IT Teams Relevant in an As-a-Service World?

A study revealed business leaders question the relevancy of IT in a world brimming with cloud services that are available on demand, anytime and on any device.

The road to enterprise innovation is always paved with good intentions. However, for many CIOs and their organizations, the compass too often points in the wrong direction.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the emerging as-a-service world. According to a recent Accenture study, IT Is Dead. Long Live IT!, six out of 10 respondents claim that IT does not have a significant influence on their choice of an as-a-service provider, with 77 percent stating that the IT organization lacks the skill sets for an as-a-service world. The research also found that 70 percent of business and IT leaders do not involve internal IT until after the as-a-service option has been selected.

This raises a key question: how relevant is IT in an as-a-service world brimming with cloud services that are available on demand, anytime and on any device?

More of the CIO Insight post from Samuel Greengard

Cloud Computing / Cloud infrastructure / Data Center / Digital Transformation / IaaS / IT Strategy — Comments Off on ZDNet – The 7 Attributes of a Comprehensive Cloud Strategy
16
Aug 16

ZDNet – The 7 Attributes of a Comprehensive Cloud Strategy

Whether or not these seven topics comprise a comprehensive cloud strategy, they are all topics that IT professionals should understand as cloud computing becomes more integrated into the business.

We believe a pragmatic cloud strategy will work best, based on your own unique landscape and requirements. Working every day with customers and partners in co-innovation, we quickly realized that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

There is a lot of hot air involved in cloud discussions – and a lot of foggy principles. I happen to believe that a pragmatic cloud strategy will work best, based on your own unique landscape and requirements. Working every day with customers and partners in co-innovation, we quickly realized that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Here are my TOP 7 attributes of a comprehensive cloud strategy that need to be addressed when you discuss Cloud computing in your company – even more so if you discuss with vendors and partners. We found this framework helps to start a meaningful discussion and get everybody aligned – demystifying the cloud and leaving out the hype.

#1 Software as a Service (SaaS)

If we need to take a focus here when we talk about SaaS, it will be the user experience. Cloud solutions start with engaging the end user more than other solutions. Not because they are SaaS, because they can and they are innovating faster and responding to trends like mobility, social, collaboration, etc. Developing or consuming cloud solutions you will most often be the first using the latest and greatest available technology.

More of the ZDNet article from Sven Denecken

Bi-Modal IT / CIO Strategy / Cloud Computing / Cloud infrastructure / IaaS / IT Strategy / Shadow IT — Comments Off on ManageEngine – Bimodal IT- Double the action, twice as fun
22
Jul 16

ManageEngine – Bimodal IT- Double the action, twice as fun

Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh, and Henry Cavill are all big names and share one thing in common. What connects them is the fictional superhuman bimodal character they have all embodied. And who doesn’t love that character? He’s Superman. He can do it all.

In one mode, he falls well within most conventional norms and fits perfectly into a world of indifference and acceptance. In his other mode, though, he’s a symbol of change. He’s something the world has never seen before, and something the world agrees with. His kind of change is good. His kind of change brings hope.

Now let’s bring IT into this picture. What can IT folks learn from him? And how can they harness that hope? It’s simple—go bimodal. Stability is a must and change is unavoidable. But that doesn’t mean that both can’t coexist. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2017, 75 percent of IT organizations will have a bimodal approach. In this approach, mode one is about legacy and predictability, leading to stability and accuracy. Mode two is about innovation and exploration, which lead to agility and speed.

More of the ManageEngine article from Ravi Prakash

CIO Strategy / Cloud Computing / Cloud infrastructure / Data Center / IaaS — Comments Off on Baseline – IT Struggles to Meet Network Capacity Demands
30
Jun 16

Baseline – IT Struggles to Meet Network Capacity Demands

An insatiable need for access to data and digital technologies is causing organizations to expand their network capacity to staggeringly high levels, according to a recent survey from Viavi Solutions. The resulting “Ninth Annual State of the Network Global Study” indicates that most companies will soon be running the majority of their apps in the cloud, seeking to lower expenses while provisioning network resources more effectively. In addition, most enterprises are deploying some form of software-defined networking (SDN). At the same time, they’re investing in state-of-the art unified communications (UC) tools, including VoIP and Web collaboration apps—all of which are contributing to a need for more bandwidth. “Data networks of all types around the globe are being strained by an explosion of traffic, from bandwidth-hungry video today to the Internet of things tomorrow,” said Oleg Khaykin, president and CEO at Viavi Solutions.

More of the Baseline slideshow from Dennis McCafferty

Newer Entries →