As an independent Cloud Broker with no Cloud space to sell, Nephos Technologies acts as an unbiased independent adviser. We asked Lee about the current state of Cloud technology, how it answers to in professional environments requirements but also how to differentiate Cloud vendors and how to approach the data security question when moving to the Cloud.
NH: What are the key characteristics of these firms and what Cloud service models (public, private, hybrid) are they opting for?
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| Lee Biggenden |
Not only does the size of firm taking up Cloud services vary greatly, but also so do their use cases and the type of Cloud services being consumed. For many the end goal is likely to be a hybrid Cloud model, and we’re certainly experiencing that today with larger enterprise customers, for smaller firms that have neither the resource nor the budgets to build their own hybrid Cloud environment, they’re making the most of a range of services like SaaS, IaaS and storage/backup services in the Cloud.
The legal sector in particular has some challenges around using public Cloud infrastructure, when you consider some of the core systems e.g. Document Management Systems (DMS), that are embedded into the business and business processes. I think that this has complicated things and been one of the reasons why the Legal sector has not taken as much advantage of Cloud services like sectors like media and advertising. That being said we have seen over the past 6 months or so a greater willingness to consider the use of Cloud services, as well as the uptake in consuming those services.
NH: For what reasons are firms embracing the Cloud?
LB: Initially it was viewed as a means to cut costs but I think firms need to be more realistic about that – in some circumstances Cloud services will absolutely reduce costs, particularly when you look at things like storage, but it’s not always the case.
That being said the use of Cloud services isn’t all about cost, it can bring a great deal more to firms to be more agile about how they deliver services to their customers and their workforce, and it can be a great leveller for those organisations that don’t have the budget or capability to invest in leading edge technologies by leveraging the latest technologies and facilities from the Cloud providers themselves.
NH: What applications are typically used in the Cloud?
LB: There are very few organisations that have migrated all of their services to the Cloud, and actually Cloud isn’t right for all applications or services for a number of reasons. SaaS were the earliest Cloud services that have been consumed, particularly with CRM, HR and File Sharing services. This has been shifting over the past 12 months, with organisations looking to Cloud as a viable replacement of their internal compute and storage infrastructure.
Cloud storage, backup and archiving has been the largest growth area over recent months as firms look to reduce storage costs and increase consistency over the availability and protection of their data.
A Cloud based approach to storage is particularly appropriate as firms look to collaborate more across their own firms and outside businesses. It also provides the basis of using the Cloud as a disaster recovery platform for the firm.
NH: Security of information is a major obstacle for cloud adoption. How should firm consider this particular issue?
LB: One concern that firms have had in the past, and this is becoming less of an issue as they become more educated about the Cloud services marketplace, is how secure their data and the datacenters themselves are.
For many of the Cloud providers, certainly the mainstream providers, their datacentres are highly physically secure; in all likelihood more secure than many organisations own internal datacenters. They have multiple layers or perimeter security measures, as well as various levels of physical access restrictions to their buildings, let alone the actual infrastructure.
Over the past six months or so most organisations have become less concerned about the physical security of the datacentre, giving more focus to the sovereignty and security of their actual data.
For most Cloud providers however the security of the data itself remains the responsibility of the customer, they merely provide the transit, compute and storage infrastructure. It’s yours to manage as you see fit. It’s why we encourage our customers to apply the same policies and rigour to security in the Cloud as they do in their own networks. The same applies to service availability; you wouldn’t knowingly introduce a single point of failure so there’s no reason why you should forget that because you’re using the Cloud.
NH: There are many certifications around. Which one are essential for firms with highly sensitive data?
LB: When you’re looking at the datacenters of the providers the standard certifications apply, it’s really no different to if you were choosing a co-location partner, so looking for ISO and SAS70 certifications is a good place to start. There are other certifications being introduced like those introduced by the Cloud Industry Forum but they’re still in their infancy and there’s nothing forcing providers to sign up.
NH: When choosing a Cloud provider, how should firms go about differentiating between the different Cloud vendors?
LB: There are many Cloud providers already in existence, and whilst there is a great deal of consolidation going on in the market, that number is continuing to grow. Each provider has their own pro’s and con’s, but it really does come back to the fact that you need to have a clearly defined set of deliverables before you start to investigate providers.
From a commercial perspective there are a number of traditional managed service providers out there positioning their “Cloud” services but when you dig a little deeper it’s less Cloud and more managed hosting. The problem with that approach is that there is less flexibility than in a true Cloud solution – for us one of the big benefits of Cloud services is flexibility over your infrastructure, you should be able to scale resource down as well as up, you shouldn’t be locked into a situation whereby you can scale up and not back down with your requirements. For firms that are relatively static it’s less of an issue but if you have peaks in requirement the ability to flex infrastructure as it suits is a differentiator between providers.
It’s also important when looking at Cloud providers, to understand how flexible their infrastructure is for you, for example not every provider will give you user configurable security infrastructure, not all providers will enable you to deploy your own virtual appliances or use your own operating system licenses; so again mapping this sort of capability to your unique requirements is a must.
NH: What advice can you give to those firms who are looking to migrate to the Cloud?
LB: For those firms that are looking at migrating to the Cloud, the key to any successful deployment comes before the deployment itself. It’s about having a clearly defined understanding what you’re looking to achieve and what the business benefit will be. Like any project if this isn’t clearly defined you’re almost certain to fail.
Cloud isn’t right for every application, but it doesn’t need to be viewed as an all or nothing approach. When we work with clients to help build their Cloud strategies, we would typically consider our approach on a per application basis, as not every application will be a suitable candidate for a Cloud deployment.
I still think that there are a number of pre-conceptions that firms have when looking at Cloud as a potential solution approach – organisations need to do their homework and have an open mind. It’s easy for people to view the Cloud as Amazon or Microsoft Azure alone – they may have two of the biggest brands but it doesn’t mean they offer the right service for you.
Lastly, don’t let security be a blocker to Cloud. Physically mainstream Cloud providers’ datacentre locations are amongst the securest in the world but you need to remember that the security of your data is still your responsibility. It’s down to you to make sure that you deploy the right technologies to secure your data for your organisation.
NH: How do you see datacentres evolving in the future?
LB: The datacentre providers have a key role to play moving forward. It is believed that most firms adopting Cloud will use a Hybrid deployment model, which makes the datacentre providers ideally positioned to develop their own services.
In some cases, with Cloud providers like Savvis and Rackspace, they began life as a co-location/hosting businesses using their datacenters, as the Cloud services market place has developed they’ve used that same space and capability as the platform to build their own public Cloud IaaS services. For customers the ability to connect equipment that they own and manage to the public Cloud services from a single provider in a Hybrid model gives huge benefits.
For datacentre providers like Equinix who don’t wish to create their own IaaS platforms, they offer the same capability to connect to multiple public Cloud providers as a hub for connectivity.
Over time this base position is unlikely to change, with more of the traditional providers following suit in terms of creating their own IaaS solutions. For those pure co-location/datacentre hosting providers I expect them to consider how they can use the fact that they’re a valuable aggregation point for Cloud providers and Cloud consumers alike to create central marketplaces within their environments.
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Nikec Solutions [ www.nikecsolutions.com ]
Many thanks to Lee Biggenden
* Parallels Summit 2013
** IDC Forecasts Worldwide Public IT Cloud Services Spending to Reach Nearly $108 Billion by 2017 as Focus Shifts from Savings to Innovation. Press release
Nephos Technologies is an independent Cloud Services Brokerage (CSB); providing consultancy, management and technology services to organisations seeking to develop, implement and optimise their cloud strategy. We do this in a number of ways, but primarily we act as independent advisers, and one of the only companies in this market who are able to, as we have no Cloud to sell. Our business does not rely on filling a Data Centre or having a fixed model to migrate our customers towards, therefore enabling us to provide completely unbiased advice when in discussions with our customers.
Visit Nephos Technologies website
Many thanks to Lee Biggenden
* Parallels Summit 2013
** IDC Forecasts Worldwide Public IT Cloud Services Spending to Reach Nearly $108 Billion by 2017 as Focus Shifts from Savings to Innovation. Press release
Visit Nephos Technologies website
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