Is the Forecast Rain or Shine for IT?€¦ · Princeton University [email protected] . AACRAO...

Is the Forecast Rain or Shine for IT?

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Colin Currie Princeton University

[email protected]

AACRAO Seattle 2011 Session ID: 019 Creative Commons license by-nc: Colin Currie

Agenda

What is cloud computing?

The Appeal

Likely Impact

The Challenges

How to Position Ourselves

What is Cloud Computing?


What is Cloud Computing? The convergence of three online services:

Software as a Service (SaaS) – applications available on

demand on a subscription basis

Platform as a Service (PaaS) – computing power

accessed across a grid (processing, OS, middleware,

etc.)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – Virtualization of

hardware (servers), storage, etc.

“The network IS the computer” – Sun Microsystems (1982)

In a nutshell: Internet-based applications and service delivery that is scalable and virtualized.


An easier definition

From Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECE), UC

Berkeley:

The illusion of infinite computing resources available

on demand

The ability to pay for use of computing resources on

a short-term, as-needed basis

The elimination of an up-front commitment by Cloud

users


3 types of cloud computing: Public, Private, and Hybrid

Public cloud computing occurs if you use an outside

company’s cloud infrastructure whose computing resources

are shared by members of the general public.

Private cloud computing occurs when a cloud's infrastructure

(e.g., servers, on-premises or off) is dedicated to your

organization.

Hybrid cloud computing bonds public and private clouds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_computing_types.svg


How is it different from the past?

The Browser!

Worldwide industrial scale computing:

Fast, cheap, common connection layer

Huge bandwidth

Storage on a completely different scale

Development languages have shaken out and standardized

(proprietary is gone, long live Java & .NET)

Most of the world’s information is now available digitally

Ability to mix and match for optimal solutions

The workforce is now far more technically savvy/dependent

Not a return to the old mainframe model

The Appeal

Highly scalable

Massive computing

power

Secure (if done right)

Reliable (if done right)

Reasonable pricing (economies of scale on a

corporate, rather than

campus scale)

Timely

Agile

Reduces dependence

on IT staff

What was once whiz-

bang is quickly

becoming utility


It’s everywhere (and you probably already use it)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Cloud_computing.svg

On the Gartner Hype Cycle


Some experts are eager to scoff Richard Stallman – "It's stupidity. It's worse than

stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign.“ (guardian.co.uk , 2008)

Larry Ellison – “What the hell IS cloud computing?!?” Cloud computing is "fashion-driven" and "complete gibberish". (2009)

Be sure to visit Oracle’s cloud site to see more about their cloud offerings: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/cloud/whatsnew/index.html


How could it not succeed?

Industrial-scale computing, together with widespread

consumerization of IT services

Opportunities for vendors to make money and for

customers to save money

Gets us out of what we’re kinda good at so we can

concentrate on what makes us great

Evens the technology playing field for all of us


Words of wisdom - Richard Katz

“Do we dare look up from the cab of our locomotive to

see the jet planes flying overhead?”

“Is this the end of the middle?” – R. Katz


The challenges are real and numerous

Privacy/Security:

Data

Identity

Contracts and pricing

Loss of control

Could be bad . . . could be good

In any case, more times than not it will be someone

else’s responsibility


Challenges, continued

Interoperability – either moving & consolidating data

will get more difficult, or you’ll end up having all your

eggs in one basket

Standards still evolving (http://opencloudconsortium.org/)

What about your custom applications?

We’re only higher education!

Shallower pockets

Smaller market share

And yet, more needs than

corporate


Challenges, continued

Staffing needs will change dramatically

Contract/relationship management

Maintaining expectations on campus

Ironically, a loss of flexibility (for some)

Reluctance of IT to give up control (and positions)


Things will change on campus

Not quite nonessential, but the role of IT will need to evolve.


IT will have to . . . Give up significant portions of what it

currently does and become brokers of

services from outside entities

Orient itself to the mission of the institution

Work with the campus to identify common solutions

Be the translator of needs into specifications

Manage campus and vendor expectations

Devote significant time & effort to monitoring vendor

performance

Guide the campus into this new way of doing things


The campus will have to . . .

Grow a higher level of trust in IT

Be willing to engage in campus-wide discussions

Share requirements

Make compromises to agree to common solutions

Trust in remotely hosted applications and data

Engage with IT to hold vendors to reasonable and

appropriate standards


The Key: Cooperate This amounts to a critical strategic decision that

the campus will need to enter into collectively

In order to realize the benefits of cloud computing the

campus will need to come together to agree on goals and

standards to a degree that perhaps they never have

before. An every-department-for-itself approach will not

be sustainable and will dilute the value of the change to

hosted solutions.


Qs that will need an A Is the institution comfortable with the notion of

applications and data residing outside?

Will institutional leaders engage and learn what

they’ll need to know to make this a success at their

school?

Can the campus cooperate and compromise on the

use of technology?

Will IT welcome, guide, and protect the new way of

doing things?

Will functional offices step up to higher levels of

responsibility?


Things to do now Position yourself to have options:

Get out of any corners you’re painted into:

Custom applications where packaged options exist

Solving the same problem multiple ways – standardize

Break old habits and attitudes that have slowed you down. Be

open to new approaches

Lock down your identity management

Think about the skill sets you’re going to need

Build strong, inclusive, campus-wide IT

governance


Summary

It’s here and it will grow significantly over the coming

years

Standardization, cooperation and compromise will be

critical to success and savings

Campus leaders, IT, and its customers will need to

evolve their technology thinking

The work of moving to the cloud should begin long

before the leap is taken. Get everything ready now

(security, ID, DB, etc.)

Questions?

Is the Forecast Rain or Shine for IT?€¦ · Princeton University [email protected] . AACRAO...

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