Sage Summit 2012: Cloud Computing for Accountants
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Transcript of Sage Summit 2012: Cloud Computing for Accountants
What Nonprofits and Governments need to know about “The Cloud”
CPE Credit • In order to receive CPE credit for this session, you must be present for
the entire session. – Session Code: C-0365B – Recommended CPE Credit = 1 – Delivery Method = Group Live – Field of Study = Specialized Knowledge and Applications
• Visit the Sage Summit Connect kiosks to enter CPE credit during the conference.
Your Partner in Dialogue
Grant Howe • Vice President of R&D w/Sage
• 15+ years in Software Development
• Favorite food: Italian (anything with Alfredo sauce)
• @geekbyte if you want to tweet nice things
• @darthvader if you want to use the dark side
Confused by “weather” or not to go to the cloud? You're not alone!
A Cloud Primer
• What is the Cloud?
• Where is my server?
• What is virtualization?
• What is metered use?
• Why should I care?
Everyone Is Talking About It
What is the Cloud?
• Shared computing resources across many virtualized servers
• Gains economy of scale by sharing those resources
• Benefits: – Scalability, flexibility, and
fault tolerance
Where is my server?
• You just can’t hug a cloud server
Example of “blackbox” server
Image courtesy of tomshardware.com
“I am the cloud” Inside a server container
Where is my server?
“Trailer Park” Roofless Cloud Datacenter Concept
Image courtesy of tomshardware.com
Container o’ servers!
WHAT IS VIRTUALIZATION Cloud Primer
Before Virtualization • 1:1 relationship
between servers / hardware
• Memory / disk space / CPU tied to single server
• Lots of servers….
• Lots of wasted resources…
After Virtualization • Many:1 relationship between servers / hardware
• Memory / disk space / CPU shared across sets of servers
• Fewer and bigger servers to manage….
• Resource optimization…
• Dell PowerEdge Blade Enclosure
• 16 Hardware “blades” • Up to 8 CPU “cores” each
• Its possible to run 128 servers
in several square feet of space…..
What Magic is this?
• How do we fool many servers in to using the same hardware?
• How do we assure they play nice and the resources are allocated appropriately?
• Introducing the magic of the “Hyper-Visor”
What is a Hyper-Visor • A thin layer of magic software paint
• Fools the operating system (Windows, etc.)
• Manages allocation of resources
• Manages fault tolerance
• Provides a management interface to create and manage virtual servers
Magic Paint ->
How did we get to Cloud from Virtualization? • Traditional virtualization still required in house
servers
• People saw the value of having more small servers
• We all began buying bigger hardware
• But the number of virtual servers skyrocketed….
• So we bought more hardware....
• A vicious cycle!
• Now we have more hardware than ever before to manage and its even more critical than it used to be!
Server sprawl, you will!
The Cloud is Born • Amazon had built their own Private massive
virtualized environment
• They figured out how to build a massive hypervisor network that spanned their data centers
• It was a key business need for their growth to be able to scale quickly and efficiently on a massive scale
• Whoa, we could “rent” our computing power to other companies! $$$$$
• Amazon EC2 and S3 were born as metered use offerings to the general Public
The Cloud is Born
PRIVATE CLOUD Different Types of Clouds
Private Clouds • Pool of resources that are solely yours to allocate
• Most like the “Family Plan” we all know – No one outside your family can share that pool of minutes, but
you don’t get to use more than your total pool of minutes.
• Best for: servers that have stable resource usage
• Can be expensive if not fully utilizing resources
Private Cloud Providers
• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
• Offer dedicated hardware
• Sage Nonprofit partners with Rackspace on Sage Nonprofit Online
PUBLIC CLOUD Different Types of Clouds
Public Clouds • Shared resources and/or bandwidth
• Like a phone plan where you share minutes with your entire city, a “Neighborhood Plan”
• Best for: when you need to scale internet facing servers, like web servers
• Pay premium for flexibility and burst capacity
• Example: “The Oprah Effect”
Public Cloud Providers • Infrastructure as a service
(IaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Shared hardware only
• Saleslogix and Sage One hosted on Amazon EC2
• Watch for new Sage offerings on Windows Azure
HYBRID CLOUD Different Types of Clouds
Hybrid Clouds • Creating a link between both a Public and Private Cloud so
they can work together
• If you could have a “Family Plan” and “Neighborhood Plan” on your phone and choose to which plan to charge the minutes – You could be more conservative with your dedicated minutes and
more generous with the shared ones.
• Best for: when you need to scale some services (web, fundraising) but not others (reporting, backend database)
• “Buy the base, rent the spike”
NOW FOR SOME ACCOUNTING!
Accounting in the Cloud
What are my options?
• Managed, hosted applications
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
• Licensed vs. subscription solutions
• Flexibility and choice
HOSTED APPLICATIONS Accounting in The Cloud: What are the options?
Hosted applications in the cloud
Pros • Offers remote access via
the web
• Eliminates need to have in-house servers
• Updates and backups managed by the provider automatically
• Cloud-based data protected from local server crashes, fire or flood disasters
Cons • Many hosted application
providers require you to own the software license up front and don’t offer subscription pricing
SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE (SAAS)
Accounting in The Cloud: What are the options?
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
Pros • Generally offered to
customers by the software developer
• Almost always web-based
• Constantly evolve and add new features
Cons • Many SaaS providers
only offer subscription with no option for purchasing a license
• No ability to access data if discontinue subscription – Be sure to understand the
potential costs of future data conversion if you need to migrate to another solution
LICENSED VS. SUBSCRIPTION SOLUTIONS
Accounting in The Cloud: What are the options?
Licensed vs. Subscription Licensed solutions • May require a larger up-
front cost
• Retain ownership of the software license asset – Choose to install it in any
compatible environment you choose
Subscription pricing • Predictable, regular
expense schedule
• Attractive for organizations with a low tolerance for unexpected IT costs or large capital purchases
Example: Buy or lease a new car
FLEXIBILITY AND CHOICE Accounting in The Cloud: What are the options?
Flexibility and choice • Look for solutions that offer the best of both worlds:
– Hosted and accessed remotely online – Installed locally on your own server
• Select your system first – Then choose implementation that work best for your
organization
• Needs grow and change – Options to change your implementation in the future—without
the expense of having to switch your core accounting system
BEFORE YOU FLY… Top questions to consider before you implement
Questions to ask yourself
• What application(s) do we need hosted?
• How do these applications interact with us and other applications?
• How many man hours are spent each month maintaining servers, workstations, connectivity, software updates?
• Have we ever lost data?
• Do our users need remote access when working from home or traveling?
• What type of compliance do we need? (PCI, HIPAA, etc…)
IS SAGE NONPROFIT IN THE CLOUD?
www.SageNonprofit.com/SageNonprofitOnline
QUESTIONS / DISCUSSION
Your Feedback is Important to Us! • Completing a session survey is fast and easy:
Stop by a Sage Summit Survey kiosk or complete the survey on your mobile phone, laptop, or tablet through the Sage Summit mobile app. – IOS, Blackberry, or Android users may download the app
from the App Store by searching “Sage Summit”
– Laptop users may use this link www.sagesummit.com/webmobile
• Remember each completed survey is another entry for one of several daily prize drawings, including an Apple iPad!
• Your feedback helps us improve future sessions and presentation techniques.
• Session code for this session: C-0365B
Contact Us • Presenter Contact Information:
– Grant Howe – [email protected] – @geekbyte
• Follow us on Twitter: @Sage_Summit – Use the official Sage Summit hashtag: #SageSummit
• Don’t forget to use the Sage Summit mobile or web app for all your conference needs.
• Access presentations on Sage Summit VirtualTotebag. – www.sagesummit.com/virtualtotebag
Thank you for your participation.