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07.11.2012
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has long been one of the foremost early adopters of new technology. In fact, the DoD has had an essential role in accelerating the advance of various technologies and having a tremendous impact on the private sector and commercial market. This is especially true when it comes to areas such as aviation, computing, and energy. In fact, without the DoD’s support and development of new technology, such technologies such as GPS and the internet itself would probably be considerably underdeveloped today – if they were even to exist in their present form at all! Because of this, the strategies used by the DoD, which are thoroughly researched and developed, can often serve as a strong guideline for private sector companies looking to adopt the new technology.
Businesses today can consider that the DoD’s dramatic expansion of its use of cloud computing technology in the next years is a massive endorsement of this technology and its positive effects on efficiency, security, and IT costs especially. In the DoD Cloud Computing Strategy document, released this week, the DoD outlines a plan consisting of four steps that is designed to promote the use of cloud computing within the DoD as well as training those responsible for acquisitions on how to contract cloud services and understand cloud computing technology. This lengthy document outlining in detail the many aspects of cloud computing can serve as a great resource for large companies looking to implement a cloud computing strategy in their operations.
According to the DoD Cloud Computing Strategy, the following four points will be essential for moving to a combined government and commercial cloud strategy:
The four points enumerated above can serve as a basic template for businesses or government agencies wishing to make a large-scale move towards cloud technology. Some of the cloud services that will be essential in this move include cloud-based collaboration; web-based communication via instant messaging, temporary chat rooms, conferencing, and email; and integrating multimedia and data services on the cloud to ensure easy access from multiple locations.
Nearly all of the DoD’s cloud services will be managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency, with the main authority residing in the DoD’s chief information officer, Terri Takai. According to the DoD Cloud Computing Strategy, the goal of moving to the cloud is ensuring that the people involved in the DoD can access data whenever they need it, from any device, regardless of where they are. This freedom is what distinguishes cloud computing and puts it leagues ahead of traditional data storage and management.
To bypass the possible cloud computing security risks of using commercial cloud services, the DoD has indicated that they will have a rigorous control over the data stored on commercial cloud services. All critical mission data that could compromise or interrupt DoD operations if lost will not be hosted on commercial clouds. These decisions will be made by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). This combined model of government and commercial clouds has been seen in the past and is a hybrid cloud model that has come to be accepted as an industry standard as a way of ensuring better scalability and increased security.
So how can a business apply the DoD’s four strategies to their own implementation of cloud computing? Perhaps by establishing the following three recommendations learned from the DOD’s strategy:
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.
07.10.2012
More and more businesses are discovering that cloud computing can save them a lot of headaches when it comes to managing their server. By offloading the tasks of running hardware and software to an offsite cloud provider, cloud computing enables companies to focus better on core business services and management issues.
In addition, businesses save on software licensing costs as well as overhead and IT costs. Instead, they only pay subscription fees to the cloud provider for the online applications they use. At the same time, businesses can increase productivity with regards to software use; cloud computing gives you the power to provide your employees unlimited access to shared resources and databases. Cloud-based services are also scalable – you can expand in a snap as your business grows.
Because of these benefits, cloud computing has attracted many start-ups and small businesses who don’t have the budget for maintaining an onsite IT team or a dedicated physical infrastructure to depend on.
Migrating to the cloud, however, is much more complex for companies with legacy systems. How do you relocate the old systems and software to the beaming new world of cloud?
With proper planning and execution, these hurdles can be easily overcome. Here are the steps on how to migrate legacy systems without a fuss:
Create a Plan of Action
Migrating legacy systems to the cloud is not the same from business to business. Each will have different system specifications and requirements so you need to come up with a solid strategy.
Planning well migration of legacy systems to the cloud allows business to determine the functionalities that they need. More importantly, it allows them to improve on processes to increase their chances of migration success. When creating a plan of action, you should:
Determine the resources you need. In order for migration to be successful, you have to identify your current workloads, their configuration, licensing requirements, apps, hardware, etc. In order for migration to be successful, you have to identify your current workloads, their configuration, licensing requirements, apps, hardware, etc.
Categorize workloads into easy, slightly complex, and complex to migrate. You can determine this by looking into the following elements: type of application (e.g. web server, streaming service); resource usage (e.g. CPU, memory); shared components, etc.
Set a schedule for migration. Migration would mean server downtime, so you should decide on a date or time where migration would not interfere much with business operations. Start with workloads that are easy to migrate. Basically those that use fewer resources, run on a single server, or are low-risk applications are easy ones.
To migrate or to not migrate. You should understand that not all can be migrated to the cloud. You may succeed to migrate some applications using some processes such as recompilation, while some should remain as they are. Some assets you may want to keep include HR payroll software and Photoshop. Others are best relocated to the cloud, particularly if you have workers from different locations or constantly roaming workers. Before deciding whether to keep or migrate things, you should be clear on the risks and merits of your choices. An experienced IT will be able to help you identify what you need to move to the cloud and which ones are best kept in their current state.
In addition to the technical requirements, businesses should also identify their business objectives – are they in line with the scopes of private cloud? Some of the criteria you need to review include infrastructure cost and acquisition times.
Act on the Plan
Now that you have a plan, you need to put it to action. First, you have to look for cloud providers whom you can trust. You need to inform business departments as well as stakeholders about the big change. Ask them to refrain from making urgent requirements from IT staffs until after the migration process has been completed.
Finally, you need to train managers and operational staffs on how to use the new cloud-based system.
Monitoring Results
Cloud computing is a relatively new technology. Though your cloud provider may have the best intentions, things may go wrong during the relocation so you need to monitor post-migration events.
Some of the issues you may encounter include over-configuration of virtual server; absence of record of old versions. These problems should be addressed immediately.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Rodolfo Lentejas, Jr. is a fulltime freelance writer based in Toronto. He is the founder of the PostSckrippt, a growing online writing business dedicated to producing top quality, original and fresh content. To know more about him, please visit www.postsckrippt.ca. Like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.
07.9.2012
Many enterprises are starting to recognize the benefits of migrating legacy IT systems to the cloud. However with some organizations the concerns over security and privacy still prevail, especially when it comes to a public cloud environment. Although this is a legitimate concern and one that requires a lot of planning on the part of the organization, there are applications which are suitable for the public cloud even if cloud hosting is located near your competitors. According to studies conducted by Gartner and others, more than three quarters of enterprises are currently using the public cloud for enterprise applications or they are planning to use a public cloud model in the near future. The majority of these enterprises have more than 600 staff members and are using or planning to use public cloud environments for applications such as CRM, email, and other purposes. Some of the applications are SaaS (Software as a Service) where others are not mission critical to company operations. Migration to the cloud involves many considerations during the planning phase. Meanwhile, there are enterprise applications which are fitting for a public cloud model regardless of your type of business.
Pay as You Go Development Apps
Development and testing can be a costly proposition for enterprises but at the same time it is a necessary application for business growth and expansion. When it comes to business applications and SQL, the amount of server sprawl can be significant which results in under-utilization of server resources. Instead, development and testing can be accomplished using a public cloud model which allows you to use a pay as you go model when using public cloud services. This alleviates concerns over performance and storage when implementing ongoing integration and agile methodologies which are a necessary part of development and testing.
CRM Apps
Customer relationship management is typically delivered via a SaaS model which is not directly connected with other enterprise applications except for tools such as email and order tracking and management. This allows a CRM solution to be easily migrated to a public cloud service. It is important to note that this does not include customer data since there are compliance regulations which must be met to ensure data security and privacy.
Message Archives
Many enterprises face regulations in terms of being required to archive past email messages for a specified length of time. These are daily correspondences which are typically managed on an internal server but in recent years have been moved to a cloud environment. By using public cloud storage, message archives can be easily managed and stored at a much lower cost than an in-house infrastructure.
Occasional Apps
If you take a look at the many applications which are used for enterprise operations chances are you will discover that you have applications which are used infrequently or hardly ever. These are applications which can be moved to a public cloud environment. Since public cloud services are typically on a pay as you go basis you can save on costs while increasing space and improving the performance of mission critical applications which are accessed on a daily basis.
Large Data Archives
If you have a massive amount of data which must be placed in the archives within a relatively short period of time, moving it to the public cloud simplifies the process while saving your enterprise time and money. If the amount of data is large enough it could potentially require as much as several hundred servers. By archiving the data to a public cloud this can be accomplished within a matter of hours and without the exorbitant cost of procuring the hardware infrastructure to archive the data.
Finally, any other applications which are supportive applications as opposed to mission critical are good candidates for the public cloud. These include applications such as website components including PDF documents and images which are public information, customer support applications, training server applications, and other apps which can safely be moved to a public cloud service while utilizing the level of security which is offered by the service. Many public cloud services are deploying new technologies for security and privacy which is a sign that senior managers and IT professionals will be making more use of the public cloud in the near future. Meanwhile, a careful review of the purpose of different business applications and how they are used avoids a lot of the concern that surrounds security and privacy. As a result, these applications can be easily moved to the public cloud with a flexible payment arrangement which helps enterprises save on IT costs while increasing productivity.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Aeyne Schriber has more than two decades of accumulated experience in IT security, computer technology, and internet marketing, including technology education and administration field both on the public school and college level. She works worldwide helping companies establish an online presence from small businesses to large enterprises. Her skills as a published copywriter and marketer also include consulting and training corporate personnel and entrepreneurs. Visit her site at www.digitalnewmediamarketing.com
07.6.2012
Not too long ago, many organizations would wrestle with the opportunities and negative consequences of cloud technology. Back then, many had qualms about placing their valuable data to a faraway storage location that, when jeopardized, could potentially cause a major operational disturbance. What’s even more doubtful about the cloud is that it’s intangible – there’s no hardware that you can monitor 24/7.
So the logical thing to do is to spread the risk either over several cloud providers or to off-cloud infrastructure, or both. But with the SLAs and redundancy being offered by most cloud providers today, it seems that such a move may be unnecessary. However, we can’t discount historical events that suggest otherwise. Remember the Amazon EC2 outage last year?
One cloud still poses risks
There are many cloud providers today that claim to have an all-in-one package that’s simple yet scalable, powerful, and easy to install. However, such providers don’t really suggest that you distribute cloud-associated risks over multiple solutions. Instead, they offer a combination of private and public clouds or hybrid clouds. But at the end of the day, it’s still one and the same cloud they’re offering you, just with an extra location.
But apart from hedging outage risks, there are other reasons why your organization should opt for multi-cloud providers. For one, you’ll benefit from geographical diversity and get served from different data centers found in different locations. Next, you’ll get to choose which provider will provide you with the best infrastructure for specific workloads. Think of cloud providers as suppliers. Keep your independence and prevent supplier lock-ins by sustaining good relationships with many suppliers. This way, you’ll be able to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each and choose which of them will be able to cater to your requirements. Then there are also legal issues such as country laws saying that data that originated from a specific country (i.e. Germany and UK) should remain within it. And so on.
Multi-cloud platforms are becoming the trend
In the 2012 State of Cloud Computing research done by InformationWeek, results reveal that a staggering 73% of survey respondents were utilizing several cloud providers. This is due to the fact that the IT teams of most organizations today support different applications, hardware infrastructure, and operating systems. Hence, it’s not surprising that they have embraced a multi-cloud provider approach.
Having multiple cloud providers has a downside too
It’s good to know that there are many deployment platforms out there that seek to make the use of multiple clouds easier. But even with such platforms in place, you’d still have to fully know the requirements of each and every cloud provider you choose.
Take note that while the main objective of a multi-cloud solution is to minimize risk, it inevitably increases complexity. You’d have double, triple, or even more – depending on how many cloud providers you want – configuration and changes to constantly monitor. What even makes things more difficult is that you need to deploy your system across cloud platforms that are different from each other, meaning you’d have to pay closer attention to specific requirements of a particular stack.
Bear in mind that if your organization is unable to account for the added complexities of a multiple-cloud approach, the reliability of the applications in the cloud will be jeopardized. Performance and security issues may arise as a result of the failure to properly identify and keep track of the changing configurations that are specific to cloud platforms.
Use multiple cloud providers to achieve redundancy
Remember that redundancy in applications, data, and systems in the cloud simply cannot be attained with the use of a single cloud provider. If you really want to get true redundancy, you have to enlist the services of several cloud providers, but at the same time you have to prepare yourself for the monitoring of servers, bandwidth, application performance, configuration, and so on. Of course, there are services out there that will help you look after your cloud deployments and guide you in building the right infrastructure for your organization’s specific requirements. You would be wise to avail of such services to ensure that your multi-cloud vendor works well for you.
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author
Rodolfo Lentejas, Jr. is a fulltime freelance writer based in Toronto. He is the founder of the PostSckrippt, a growing online writing business dedicated to producing top quality, original and fresh content. To know more about him, please visit www.postsckrippt.ca. Like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.