Intro to Cloud 101

I along with so many IT professionals hate the term “Cloud” because it tends to be used for everything under the sun anymore. I wanted to take this post to go into what cloud actually is  and what types of cloud are out there. This is Cloud 101 first day syllabus stuff, and will be a part of a series on cloud technologies that I have been working on researching and testing. So let’s get into it and if anyone has any questions please let me know.

What is “Cloud”?

 I will leave the first use of the actual word up to MIT’s Antonio Regalado who blogged about it here. But what is “cloud” in the context of a technology? Is it the concept of hosting your data in a public data center? Or is it the idea of having applications and data available from anywhere at anytime via mobile or traditional clients? 

There are differences of opinion here because of the differences in types of cloud. Public, Private, Hybrid are the current topology defined categories. But with in Public cloud for example there is Single Site, Co-located, Shared Resource, and Dedicated Resource topology possibilities. The quick answer is Cloud is a combination of resources that provide resilient access to applications and data. 

Public Cloud: Hosted computing resources in a data center that your organization doesn’t own or operate. Support options will be available for touch support or full managed for the servers and vm’s in the environment. 

Single Site, Multi-Site, Co-Located: When researching Public Cloud providers or Hosted Solution Providers, make sure you determine if your cloud will be hosted at a single site or multiple sites or if it will be in a co-located data center. Single Site provides you with a just that a single data center that hosts your cloud, this may be all your organization needs, if the data center is capable of 5 9’s (99.999% uptime). But the reality is you will have redundant redundancy with multi-site providers. Some cloud providers are co-located or co-lo’s this means that they rent space in a larger hosting companies data center to get their multi-site redundancy. A co-lo tends to be a bigger data center with better pipes (bandwidth for incoming and outgoing connections) vs a single site instance that a smaller cloud provider may own. Then the question of SLA’s (Service Level Agreements) needs to be discussed, what guarantees are you getting from the Cloud provider that your data will be available and secure? A good cloud provider will offer credits back for any downtime outside of that expressed in the SLA’s as maintenance. 

Pros: 
  • Public Cloud gets the IT budget burden of hardware and virtual platform licenses out of your organizations budget
  • Can reduce the cost of Application delivery and overall OPEX

Cons: 
  • Security this isn’t really a negative it is just like any other IT initiative if you properly plan your security and implement smart policies you can achieve a secure cloud environment
  • CAPEX initial migration can seem like a large investment ROI needs to be examined and OPEX should be included in that analysis
  • Change Management is needed more than in a private environment to ensure that your organization didn’t impact the SLA’s and to ensure that your provider is living up to their end of the agreement
  • IT Department push back this is the biggest issue the fix is to help the IT team understand the goal and direction of the organization and how cloud plays into that

Private Cloud: Your organization utilizes its internal IT resources to provide access to applications and data. Typically this is a multi-site approach with secondary data centers or branch offices being used for redundancy. 

Pros:
  • CAPEX investments have already been made in most situations with fewer dollars a cloud vision can be realized
  • Ownership the organization owns the hardware and software that is implemented in the cloud, this means that it can be depreciated and written off over time as well
  • The other piece of ownership is that the organization has direct control over the assets and personnel who work in your environment this is the old adage of an enemy with-in can wreak more damage than an enemy at the gate. Knowing the staff in your IT environment is a valuable security measure. 

Cons:

  •  CAPEX & OPEX the organization is still paying for the IT personnel and resources as well as power and cooling for the data center
  • Cost of application licenses that are sometimes included in public cloud offerings.


Hybrid Cloud: Is exactly what it sounds like, your organization maintains both a public and private cloud presence and there are applications in both locations. This allows for secure data to be maintained in the private cloud and public data to be provided in the public cloud. Data and Applications can easily maneuver between the two environments. 
Pros:
  • Best of both worlds, managed environments with lower CAPEX
  • Maneuverability and redundancy for critical environment applications
  • Lower OPEXCAPEX for fail-over site than dual on-premises or dual public cloud solutions 

Cons: 

  •  Cost essentially this boils down to having your cake and eating it too. Your organization has the costs of both on premises and a public cloud hosting site. 

Solutions vs Products

Buy My Widget It’s On Sale This Month Only

For some people it’s really easy to talk about products, Value Added Resellers (VARs) abound with the latest gadget or license for whatever hardware or software they are pushing this quarter. It’s another thing all together to step back and talk solutions. 
Vendors are a different story, they sell the specific products. I have been approached by several large vendors in the past, been asked to join their sales engineering teams, and have politely declined. I just don’t like being restricted to talk about a single product or the latest in blinky lights. Selling solutions is a different gambit all together; I enjoy talking to customers about their road map and strategizing their way forward. This lets me present multiple products and some off the wall solutions that they have never heard of.
I focus on how my customers can make money off of the IT strategy we put into place vs. how I commoditize the solution I put in front of them. The idea isn’t for me to make vast sums of cash to swim around in like Scrooge McDuck in Duck Tales but rather that we both make money and come out ahead. If I put a bad solution in place the customer doesn’t do business with me anymore and I don’t make revenue off them and lose a referral. On their side they lose money on a bad solution and the subsequent costs to replace it. You compile bad with bad and you don’t get good. That’s why I don’t talk single solution. I want the decision making process to be open with the customer and let them choose the path that makes the best sense for them while I guide them by presenting the solutions that meet the problems they face.
Think of EUC as a great example. I have worked on several solutions be it VMware, Citrix, Unidesk, or even Microsoft. At the end of the day the solutions were chosen by the customer because they fit a unique need. For some, View’s single vendor and replica set up is preferred. For others 3D graphics are the requirement which led them to Citrix. Still others require low video latency which led them to Microsoft, or prefer the single pane broker and app management solution of a Unidesk. Each customer’s requirements helped shape the engagement and their decision was reached from presenting the options and allowing for a technology bake off, achieving the end result. Sure this process adds to the sales cycle and may mean that the products your company sells may not win. But the customer will trust that you have their best interest in mind which is the goal, and that means you win.
Ok, this is my last sales based blog for a while I will get back to virtual solutions next time. Duck Tales references will continue however until moral improves. 

2013 Predictions

2013 The Year of ….

One of my many jobs is to look at technologies and evaluate them for inclusion in my companies portfolio. Do we add this solution or that solution, what direction is the cloud going to take us, what is the next big application to virtualize? I figured since I am doing this for work anyway I may as well post some predictions for this year here as well. Hope you enjoy, what are your 2013 Tech predictions?

Converged Infrastructure Lowers TCO on VDI making it a viable option

It is no small secret that I believe in Converged Infrastructure (CI) in fact I believe that as we see the per-desktop price drop for VDI solutions we will see the number of businesses moving towards it increase. It’s basic supply and demand, the current issue is cost while the software vendors have realized this and bundled server and concurrent desktop usage licenses together.  

Virtual Communications Suites show CAPEX returns

Mitel and now Avaya have virtual instances of their telephony solution, as budgets continue to shrink savings will be sought throughout any organization. The ability to utilize SIP and “future-proof” business critical voice services through software based solutions rather than physical hardware will show huge dividends in ROI. Forresters reported that Mitel has a 84% ROI in just 7.8 months that is a system that pays for itself. 

Citrix and Microsoft become One

I am not sure this will actually happen, but it makes a lot of sense. While Microsoft strengthens it’s virtual infrastructure footprint it will pressure Citrix into completely dissolving all hopes of XenServer (this is already done). Once Hyper-V is the sole host provider for Citrix XenDesktop (XenApp is already been killed off by Citrix) they will look to consume the remainder of the solution because Microsoft virtual desktop has issues with scaling which is why they need Citrix now. In true Microsoft fashion I see them buying the solution to their problem rather than fixing it and Citrix is the logical choice. Now what to do with the Netscaler?

Microsoft further shuns OEMs

It’s already started with the Surface, Microsoft is moving towards an Apple-esque model of Hardware & Software manufacturer. Making a move on the Enterprise side of the business will be tougher, but if they do acquire Citrix than the Netscaler can be one of their first big transition show pieces. Other products are sure to follow in years to come but I think this year we will see the start of more Microsoft Hardware offerings.

Hybrid Cloud Adoption becomes the new standard

The cost of owning and managing a fully redundant private cloud is to high to not look at what public cloud offers. The initial moves will be non-business critical applications, but as the cloud application development cycle starts producing more and more winners larger moves will take place. Last year saw a huge jump in the number of apps being developed in the cloud that would indicate that this year should be the year that these apps come to market. The cloud is coming there is no doubt about it but security concerns will keep the most used model hybrid until those get resolved or the cost savings offset the risks.

3D Television and movies die off … again

This is really more of a personal wish than anything that I would predict, wishful thinking and all that.