Cloud Computing
Cloud computing, often referred to as simply “the cloud,” is the delivery of on-demand computing resources - everything from applications to data centers.
This Cloud model provides for :
- Elastic resources - Scale up or down quickly and easily to meet demand
- Metered service - Pay for what you use
- Self service - IT resources you need with self-service access
Cloud Advantages
- Rapid Time to Market
- Development Platform Agility
- Superior R & D Platform
- Top industry talent trending towards cloud technologies
- Resiliency across regional data centers
- Burst capability
- Greater transparency in chargeback capability
Road to the Cloud
- Application Discovery and Analysis
- Migration Path:
- Lift-and-Shift
- Refactor
- Rebuild
- Replace
- Application Re-Architecture
- Vendor Selection
- Build and Execute Transition Plan
New Challenges
- New Support Model
- Cloud Sprawl
- Security and Compliance
- Change Control
- Management/monitoring/reporting/optimization
- Commercial Considerations
- Procurement, Budgeting, Billing, Chargeback
Cloud Advisory and Assessment
- Application Readiness
- Infrastructure Assessment Toolset
- On–Premise/Off-Premise/Hybrid
- Migration Process Management
- Information Security Expertise
Software as a Service
Cloud-based applications—or software as a service—run on distant computers “in the cloud” that are owned and operated by others and that connect to users’ computers via the Internet and, usually, a web browser.
Platform as a service
Platform as a service provides a cloud-based environment with everything required to support the complete lifecycle of building and delivering web-based (cloud) applications—without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware, software, provisioning, and hosting.
Infrastructure as a Service
Infrastructure as a service provides companies with computing resources including servers, networking, storage, and data center space on a pay-per-use basis.
The Benefits of SaaS:
- Sign up and rapidly start using innovative business apps
- Apps and data are accessible from any connected computer
- No data is lost if your computer breaks, as data is in the cloud
- The service is able to dynamically scale to usage needs
The Benefits of PaaS:
- Develop applications and get to market faster
- Deploy new web applications to the cloud in minutes
- Reduce complexity with middleware as a service
The Benefits of IaaS:
- No need to invest in your own hardware
- Infrastructure scales on demand to support dynamic workloads
- Flexible, innovative services available on demand
Define
What is the cloud for your company?
- Creation of Cloud Strategy approved by Executives (Cloud mission statement)
- Defining the different kinds of Cloud deployments, standards and interoperability, overall Cloud ecosystem and topology (PAAS, SAAS, IAAS, etc.)
- Each type of deployment needs to be extrapolated out and understood.
- Understand the differences between the Cloud Services Providers (AWS, Microsoft, Google, etc.)
Assess
- Develop the Business Case
- Outline Benefits / Risks
- Understand current legacy platform, is it proprietary, will itneed to be standardized and/or re-platformed, is it virtualized.
- Complete analysis on the strategic impact of moving legacy service Cloud
- Assess risk – Enterprise Risk management (both moving and/or operating existing platform)
- Analyze Financial Model. Costs likely to move from Capital to Operational. Consider resource costs, ROI, changes to asset Base, Benchmark current TCO
Design
Prior to this point, Finance will typically have a request to fund the Design Phase:
- Create Formal requirements for a project or POC
- Architect create business models, overall architecture model, and high-level design
- Narrow Down approach and staging method
- Costs start becoming more apparent
At this point, Finance will typically have a request to fund the Select Phase.
Select
- Determine best option for cloud service (on premise, off premise or hybrid approach)
- Option to issue RFP, or other cloud provider selection method, as you now have all the necessary Cloud Readiness information proposal responders will require
- Prioritize, weigh and score RFP responses.
- Selection of cloud provider
Public Cloud
Public clouds are owned and operated by companies that offer rapid access over a public network to affordable computing resources. With public cloud services, users don’t need to purchase hardware, software, or supporting infrastructure, which is owned and managed by providers.
Private Cloud
A private cloud is infrastructure operated solely for a single organization, whether managed internally or by a third party, and hosted either internally or externally. Private clouds can take advantage of cloud’s efficiencies, while providing more control of resources and steering clear of multi-tenancy.
Hybrid Cloud
A hybrid cloud uses a private cloud foundation combined with the strategic integration and use of public cloud services. The reality is a private cloud can’t exist in isolation from the rest of a company’s IT resources and the public cloud. Most companies with private clouds will evolve to manage workloads across data centers, private clouds, and public clouds—thereby creating hybrid clouds.
Key aspects of public cloud:
- Innovative SaaS business apps for applications ranging from customer resource management (CRM) to transaction management and data analytics
- Flexible, scalable IaaS for storage and compute services on a moment’s notice
- Powerful PaaS for cloud-based application development and deployment environments
Key aspects of private cloud:
- A self-service interface controls services, allowing IT staff to quickly provision, allocate, and deliver on-demand IT resources
- Highly automated management of resource pools for everything from compute capability to storage, analytics, and middleware
- Sophisticated security and governance designed for a company’s specific requirements
Key aspects of hybrid cloud:
- Allows companies to keep the critical applications and sensitive data in a traditional data center environment or private cloud
- Enables taking advantage of public cloud resources like SaaS, for the latest applications, and IaaS, for elastic virtual resources
- Facilitates portability of data, apps and services and more choices for deployment models
Integrate
- Complete end-end technical design
- Consider what devices you will attach to your service
- Mobile devices should be considered as likely this will be used either initially or deployed soon after
- Network Connectivity considerations
- Consider Physical Infrastructure that will NOT be Cloud based but need to be integrated
- Management, metering and billing design and acceptance
- If hybrid model is chosen, consider the integration points and impact if model changes (often clients start with IaaS and upgrade to PaaS)
- SLA’s should be finalized during the Integration phase.
Implement
Typically a Proof of Concept has been completed:
- At this is a critical juncture, legacy systems are transitioned, strong Governance is critical.
- Establish formal project structure and methodology. This is not a candidate for “Agile” methodology.
- Executive sponsorship is very important, as is a strong project manager with demonstrable prior project success
- Create a robust test environment with the Cloud provider
- Attention to detail in migration planning and execution
- Communicate, retrain and manage staff expectations
- Expect significant hours of effort leading up to go-live and post implementation
Operate
- Service Request / Incident Management
- User access, Moves/Adds/Changes, problem tickets, etc.)
- Production Change Management
- Release Management
- Capacity Management
- Availability Management
- Disaster Recovery
- Documentation
Manage
- Audit-ability and oversight of your service
- Active risk management
- Governance Program
- Optimization of cloud resource consumption
- Continuous Improvement
- Keeping up with evolving technologies