WhitePaper_EPGCloudComputing

8/7/2019 WhitePaper_EPGCloudComputing

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Cloud Computing — Been There, Done That!

Cloud Computing—Been There,

Done That!Harvesting its benefits

will still require theguidance and directiono smart integration.

Raj G. Asava,Leader, Services Strategy Of ce &

Best Value Solutions (BVS)



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The Inormation Technology (IT) Industry and publications have lately been abuzz with Cloud

Computing. While some claim it is the next disruptive technology, others suggest it to be the

harbinger o the diminishing role o the Systems Integrator. A closer examination reveals that it is

neither. But whatever descriptor is finalized or Cloud Computing, harvesting its benefits will still

require the guidance and direction o smart integration.

Cloud Computing De-mystified

While there are many definitions or Cloud Computing rom credible sources…

• Gartner defines cloud computing as a style o computing in which massively scalable

IT-related capabilities are provided “as a service” using Internet technologies to multiple

external customers.

• Forrester defines cloud computing as a pool o abstracted, highly scalable, and managed

computing inrastructure capable o hosting end-customer applications and billed by

consumption.

…another way to look at Cloud Computing is that it is a highly automated, readily scalable,

on-demand computing platorm o virtually unlimited processing, storage and ubiquitous

connectivity, always available to carry out a task o any size and charged based on usage!

Audacious — though possible today in a limited manner — it is certainly poised to be as pervasive

a platorm as the internet in the very near uture.

The Origin of Cloud Computing

As a matter o historical act, Cloud Computing has been around since the beginning o the IT

Outsourcing industry. At its core, Cloud Computing is about utilizing idle/excess compute power

(processing, storage, and connectivity) o one entity to carry out the work o another. This is the

value proposition based on which Mr. Ross Perot started the IT Outsourcing industry in 1962,

when he rented idle computing power rom one company (Southwestern Lie) to carry out

the processing needs o another (Collins Radio). Mr. Perot recalls that the staf consisted o just

two individuals who worked diligently in leveraging the compute capacity that was idle, mostly

during the night, to process Collins Radio’s data, and turning it into a win-win situation or all. The

organization that owned the computers monetized its down time; the organization that needed

the compute power did not have to out lay capital; and Mr. Perot’s team, in the role o a Systems

Integrator, ensured seamless delivery or a ee. This was the first instance o Cloud Computing.

The Evolution of Cloud Computing

Advancements in technology, coupled with declining costs, have disrupted traditional

business models and a new category o companies has emerged: one that operates mostly

over the internet based on “clicks” (e.g., Amazon, eBay, Google, etc.). The established

businesses suddenly ound that the development o this channel was critical or their survival

against the new breed o companies, and started to ofer a combination o “bricks and clicks”

or the convenience o their customers.

The disruption o business models created a higher demand and dependence on IT. Also

contributing to this dependence are “peaks-and-valleys” o IT capacity needs, tied directly to

the nature o an organization’s business activity (seasonal, one time, quarter/year-end, day/

night, etc.). To ensure consistent and stable operations and to virtually eliminate risks, businesses

built their computing platorms at or above the highest peak points o their IT requirements, no

matter how inrequent that need might be. As a result, many businesses today are stuck withoverengineered computing platorms that are underutilized or the majority o the time, taking up

real estate, depreciating in value, and consuming significant amounts o energy and resources.

In response to this operational predicament, companies such as Amazon have started to

commoditize their own idle capacity and monetize it under their EC2 and S3 labels. EC2, Elastic

Compute Cloud, is a web-based service that allows any entity to buy and use compute capacity

on an as-needed basis. On the other hand, S3, Simple Storage Services provides or web-based

storage and access to data. The act that both these services operate out o a standard browser

and do not require any proprietary/licensed sotware, make them extremely usable. While early

adopters o EC2 and S3 were individuals and small businesses, innovative CIOs are giving them

the attention they are due and have started to test out the easibility o this emerging Cloud

Cloud Computing is ahighly automated, readily

scalable, on-demandcomputing platformof virtually unlimited

processing, storage and

ubiquitous connectivity,always available to carryout a task of any size and

charged based on usage!



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Computing platorm. Starting with architecting a cloud-based processing environment or one

time transactions that were non-mission critical, they have experienced perormance results and

Capex/Opex savings significant enough to warrant the inclusion o Cloud Computing into their

extended IT inrastructure.

Recognizing this phenomenon to be a viable business opportunity, hardware, sotware and

internet-based companies with deep pockets are rushing to establish Cloud Computing

environments to make available to businesses out o a utility-type, on-demand model. Forhardware companies like IBM & HP, this is an opportunity to sell tons o hardware; or sotware

companies like VMware & Microsot, it is an opportunity to sell sophisticated sotware that allows

e cient load balancing o computing resources between tasks; and or businesses like Google &

Amazon saddled with the need to have extensive IT inrastructure, this has become an economic

engine that can be used to convert their unused compute capacity into revenue.

The Expanding Role of Systems Integrator

In order to understand the role o Systems Integrators, like Mr. Perot’s team, in today’s

Cloud Computing world, we need to first review how their roles and responsibilities

have evolved over time.

The primary ocus o Systems Integrators continues to be planning, optimizing, integrating, and

managing customers’ heterogeneous compute environments. However, at times, they take on

the responsibility o filling the gaps between the customers’ IT needs and the available computeinrastructure. At one point, Systems Integrators used to manuacture hardware as needed to run

their customers’ systems e ciently, and even wrote system utilities and applications down to the

operating system level to fill in the gaps let by the sotware vendors. Gradually, as the hardware,

sotware and networking companies matured, stabilized and more importantly innovated, the

Systems Integrators were able to get back to their core business o integrating disparate systems.

The emerging Cloud Computing companies are proving to be yet another participant joining

the hardware, sotware and network vendors in a typical Systems Integrator business model. The

availability o a public domain computing platorm (aka Cloud Computing) allows the Systems

Integrators to extend their compute platorm as needed, through lease type agreements as

opposed to capital outlay or long term fixed costs.

While organizations may be lured to the afordability and scalability that Cloud Computing

ofers, it is imperative that their environment is architected such that it provides these advantageswithout compromising on security and interoperability.

The role o a Systems Integrator clearly is integral to configuring the optimum (extended)

computing environment such that it is dependable/reliable and operating at expected quality o

perormance or a particular customer.

The Future of Cloud Computing

The adoption o Cloud Computing is not without resistance or conusion. Torn between the

appeal or cost savings and ear o loss o control, customers are struggling with how to take

advantage o the cloud. How confidential will their data be? How will they handle issues around

data privacy, intellectual property, regulatory requirements, and protection o “secret sauce”

ormulas? It is critical to understand that or most businesses the cloud is not a panacea. Unlike

the “electricity grid” where individual power generation units ceased to exist, not everything in IT

will or should end up in the cloud — at least not just yet. The strategy defining usage o the cloudshould be on the CIO’s agenda. A trusted Systems Integrator should be involved in the strategic

design o the architecture or how a particular company may optimally exploit the cloud.

The cloud trend today closely resembles the ofshoring phenomenon. Just as the initial concerns

and resistance to ofshoring gave way to intelligently architected and governed models to protect

the integrity o customer data while taking advantage o the lower cost options, a similar trend

will emerge on the cloud ront. It will start with resistance to the cloud, ollowed by the ofering

o a choice o cloud environments, finally leading to Cloud Computing becoming mainstream

and an integral part o the compute environment or most businesses.

The role of a SystemsIntegrator clearly is

integral to configuringthe optimum computing

environment such thatit is dependable/reliableand operating at expected

quality of performance fora particular customer.



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The Emerging Conceptual Architecture

At the onset, the low cost and ready access to on-demand computing ofered through a cloud

environment will cause businesses to rethink what is truly core (mission critical, highly sensitive/

secretive) to their business, and shit an increasing amount o non-core processing to a shared or

cloud environment. Organizations will be well served to revisit the classification o each piece o

processing and storage that was earlier assumed to be sensitive and mission critical — in light othe high cost associated with running it in-house through a dedicated inrastructure.

As CIOs develop reerence architectures o their unctions, processes and data based on

the strategy o their business, seasoned Systems Integrators will help them configure their IT

environment based on the ollowing conceptual architecture made up o the interconnected

our tiers.

Dedicated: The dedicated layer suggests a highly secure computing environment, where mission

critical tasks will be processed and highly sensitive inormation will be stored. This represents the

true core competency o an organization, leakage o which would give away the competitive

advantage, or degradation o perormance & reliability o its processing could prove to be

catastrophic to the business.

This layer would typically require investment in a dedicated computing platorm.

Private Cloud: This layer addresses similar needs as the “Dedicated” layer, and is used or

developing, enhancing and testing out mission critical systems as well as carrying out critical

research & development work. As such, it needs an environment that is highly secure like the

dedicated layer.

Built on the principles o Cloud Computing, this layer will be designed to be readily scalable and

sharable between IT systems and applications across the organization.

Shared Environment: A shared environment can be used to address the predictable compute

need required to run regularly scheduled applications rom inventory management to payrollprocessing. These systems typically represent a significant portion o the computing needs o an

organization.

Important to the operations o a business, these systems can be carried out o an outsourcer’s

acility where the computing platorm is dedicated or the business but the ancillary processes

and resources may be leveraged across multiple customers. Managed through well defined

Service Level Agreements, this arrangement proves to be predictable, cost efective, and has in-

built innovation rom the Systems Integrator.



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Public Cloud: Public cloud is an external cloud (like the EC2 and S3) that would be configured to

operate as an extension to the computing platorm o an organization to handle the spikes in its

computing needs.

Due to the open nature o the public cloud, an organization must be able to disaggregate

its system and parse out its computing needs into transactions that can be carried out in the

external cloud without ear o exposing or losing its critical inormation.

As governance models and processes make Cloud Computing increasingly secure and user

riendly, organizations may eel comortable moving more and more o their data and processing

to it, much like commerce has gradually shited and become acceptable over the internet. It

is envisioned, with time, that some o the sensitive tasks processed in the private cloud will

gradually be transerred to the public cloud as organizations become more comortable with the

security and governance models o this new computing platorm.

In today’s cost sensitive environment, Cloud Computing certainly holds the promise o reducing

a company’s total cost o IT ownership. For organizations to be successul, in the emerging on-

demand computing environment, they are best served to visualize and architect their compute

environment based on this 4-tier structure.

Cloud Computing, How Real Is IT?

Skeptics who believe Cloud Computing to be just another buzz-word or the “flavor o the

month” should remember that just a decade ago, the concept o ofshoring IT work also aced

strong head winds rom political, business and social ronts. However, in a global economy, the

benefits o ofshoring in the orm o reduced cost, high availability o quality resources, and aster

response time due to around-the-clock operations caused most, i not all, businesses to cut over

to some derivation o an ofshore-based model.

The advent o Cloud Computing makes the already level playing field even flatter. While its early

beneactors may have been small-to-medium sized businesses, Cloud Computing is poised to

benefit businesses o all sizes giving them access to afordable, on-demand computing capacity.

In conclusion, as the IT Outsourcing industry goes through another transormation driven

by Cloud Computing, businesses will continue to depend upon the services o a skilled and

trusted Systems Integrator provider to help them configure the right combination o computing

environment that addresses their unique business needs.

For more inormation about solutions or your business or organization, contact your Dell

account representative or visit dell.com.

Emerging Architecture

The advent of CloudComputing makes the

already level playingfield even flatter.

Simplify your IT Management at dell.com

Availability varies by country. To learn more, customers and Dell Channel Partnersshould contact your sales representative or more inormation.© 2010 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.

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