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Richard QuineDivisional Product Director - Voice & Unified Comms

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Some things Cloud Computing is not.

Cloud Computing is not a technical definition of a set

of technologies. It’s got nothing to do with computing

architectures, such as grid computing or mainframe

computing. And it does not have to be exclusively

delivered across the Internet, it can also include

corporate networks and large community networks

such as JANET (the UK academic network). Cloud

just means network.

Of course, delivering applications and services from

within the network is not a new idea. But the trend

which is referred to today as “Cloud Computing”

represents a fairly recent convergence of a number

of technologies that have the potential to radically

change the way that every IT service will be delivered

in the future.

What follows is InTechnology’s view of Cloud Computing. InTechnology is one of the UK’s leading

service providers and delivers network-based services to over 800 businesses across the UK and

abroad. It has a critical skill mix embracing network, data and hosted telephony and this paper

distils the lessons learned over many years working inside “the Cloud”.

What exactly is Cloud Computing? This is a surprisingly contentious issue and is hotly debated across the

industry. Among the many opinions, there is general agreement that Cloud Computing describes IT

applications, such as email and CRM, that are delivered from a 3rd party data centre somewhere in the

network (“The Cloud”), rather than from your own office. The term ‘Computing’ is used in the broadest IT

sense, encompassing servers, storage, communication systems and applications.

Stefan Haase & Richard Quine

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The drive towards Cloud Computing came out of the realisation that some applications are not always best delivered by traditional methods – traditional being buying and installing a server, installing some software, and then maintaining it on an on-going basis.

Take websites as an example. When the WWW was in its infancy, most companies hosted their own web servers; but with time

came the realisation that it was better for a professional web hosting company to do it because:

They had faster Internet connections, so were closer

in network terms to the users of the web server

They could operate a flexible service where

you could buy (or rent) as much web space as

needed

They could operate a flexible service where

you could buy (or rent) as much web space as

needed

There was no need for IT staff to physically access the web server – you could upload content from

anywhere in the world, it didn’t really matter where the physical web server was, or even if it was a

physical or virtual server

They operated a 24x7 technical support service,

so you didn’t need to

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Having said this, the recent push towards Cloud Computing is being driven by business

priorities, not by technology.

Websites are still, on the whole, designed and

maintained by in-house IT teams, but the physical

server and storage infrastructure of the web

server are maintained by a hosting provider on

the Internet. This rule applies to other Cloud

services; just because the infrastructure is now

provided by a service provider, the management

and control of that application or service is still

managed in-house, i.e. by the IT department.

And yet for all that early conversion to the

Cloud, the move to rent other IT services on-line

rather than DIY has taken some time.

Slowly and gradually, three factors have

combined to change the landscape for good:

The standardisation of IT: Many IT

components have a standard design and are well

defined. Servers, storage and certain applications

are ideal to supply on a “quantity used” basis - per

GB, per user, per server, etc.

WAN speeds and reliability: WAN speeds are

now reaching LAN speeds, with 100Mb/s WAN

connections being affordable in many parts

of the UK. Comms providers are installing

100Mb/s as standard to all but the smallest

office these days, and in InTechnology’s case,

this is 100Mb/s of un-contended bandwidth

back to our data centres. From a network design

perspective, this makes our data centre a logical

extension of the customer’s infrastructure.

Virtualisation: The use of virtual servers is

commonplace in many IT departments because

of the scalability and efficiency benefits.

Virtualisation is already the norm in other areas

of IT such as networks (e.g. MPLS VPN). The

concept of a shared services infrastructure that

is hardware independent is well established;

Cloud Computing is the next logical step down

the virtualisation path.

It makes commercial sense to reduce the time

and effort spent on operational maintenance,

and more on projects that can add value to the

business and be much more closely aligned with

strategic requirements.

There is also urgency around Cloud Computing

because of the shortage of credit and capital

funds. A Cloud-based service requires little capital

compared with an in-house system, so many

organisations are looking to the Cloud as a way

out of their budgetary problems. Even with IT

budgets forecast to grow slightly in 2010, CAPEX

is still a precious resource.

An important observation is that that the move to the Cloud for

web servers did not mean the end of in-house IT departments

and web designers - far from it.

When Nicholas Carr wrote his controversial 2003 Harvard Business Review article entitled ‘IT Doesn’t Matter’, he described a world where IT would become a pure utility and would be bought and sold like electricity or gas.

Few people would agree that his vision has come true, but likewise, few people would disagree that corporate IT is as bespoke and proprietary as it once was.

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When IT services are delivered from the Cloud, they are often referred to “As A Service”,

or “aaS” for short, which has prompted an explosion of four letter acronyms to describe

different types of Cloud-based services. The most popular is SaaS, or Software as a Service,

but there are many more, such as:

Communication as a Service

Hardware as a Service

Network as a Service

Desktop as a Service

Platform as a Service

CaaS

HaaS

PaaS Acronyms IaaS

NaaS

DaaS

Infrastructure as a Service

Not all IT services lend themselves to the Cloud

and will continue to be delivered in-house, but

there are many that are better delivered from

within the network. Attributes of a successful

“Cloud application” are where the same

application can be cost-effectively delivered to

many different users and customers with

minimal differences, and where there is a

benefit of having the application in the network

rather than on-site.

Popular Cloud applications, such as web hosting

and email, fit this definition well.

However, other IT services also suit being

performed in the Cloud. Take server backups, for

example. It’s a critical but routine job, and with a

Cloud service the data is backed up to a secure

data centre miles away from the primary servers.

You pay for it on a per month, per GB basis, and

you know your data is safe and that you’ll never

outrun the effectively limitless capacity your

provider can offer.

Other Cloud services such as virtual servers

have seen more recent growth, with businesses

starting to embrace virtualisation and commit to

more and more consolidation projects.

The flexibility to add, remove or upgrade servers

at a click of a web page, and only be charged

for what you use, has enormous appeal on both

efficiency and cost-effectiveness grounds.

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This started in the consumer market with services such as Skype and MSN, but has

transitioned into the business market with vendors such as BroadSoft and Microsoft building

carrier-grade cloud platforms that are designed specifically for businesses rather than

consumers. Telephony is an ideal candidate for the Cloud – in fact, the term ‘Cloud’ was

originally used to describe the public phone network.

To make sure you don’t fall foul, there are three basic questions to ask your prospective

Cloud provider:

Where do you find these Cloud services? If you

were to do a quick poll of IT directors, the best-

known providers of Cloud services would

probably be Amazon EC2, Google Apps,

Microsoft Azure and Salesforce.com. With their

enormous size and capacity, all these provid-

ers can deliver a highly reliable service. Their

business model is based on offering a small

range of services in volumes high enough to be

cost-effective.

However, if you are looking for a more unified

approach to managing your Cloud service, there

are specialists that can provide an end-to-end

service for you, including all your network, data

and communication services under a single

agreement. Cloud Computing is intended to

simplify how you manage your IT infrastructure;

but managing multiple service providers can be

just as complex as building and delivering the

service yourself, so there is real benefit in

partnering with someone who can offer a full

range of Cloud solutions.

A note of caution.

The hype around Cloud

Computing has seen an

explosion of small start-up

companies that claim to be

Cloud service providers but

are little more than websites.

Your business is at risk if they suddenly run

out of funding and have to switch the lights off.

A big advantage of a cloud computing provider

is that you should be tapping into their previous

experience, not being their first experiment.

It’s well worth a visit to their HQ to see and

understand the processes behind the Cloud; as an

IT professional you know what you’re looking for.

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Using the Cloud to help manage your data - storage,

replication, backup and archiving - is the perfect illustration of

the transformational effect of Cloud Computing. Compared with an

in-house solution, cloud-based data management services offer a

number of advantages:

1. Financial – Drive down IT costs through the economies of scale and commodity

pricing implicit in the cloud computing model.

2. Operational - Take advantage of the robust infrastructure and dedicated resources of

your Cloud provider to underpin performance and drive development.

3. Technical - Always have access to the latest technologies and applications without fear

of skills deficit, lack of support, licensing compliance or obsolescence and refresh.

4. Risk - Utilise Cloud-based services for business continuity.

5. Environmental - Reduce your carbon footprint and exposure to green taxes

through reduced energy and materials consumption.

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Like any IT service, you need to ensure that your data is secure, and is being handled in a way

that ensures compliance with all regulatory requirements relevant to your organisation.

Customers are ultimately responsible for the security and integrity of their own data, so you

need to be able to audit your service provider. No responsible Cloud provider would reject

such a request, so it’s worth asking before signing up.

As a rule, you should

know exactly where your

data is being stored, and

ask for a tour of the

service provider’s facilities.

You should also request a written guarantee

that your data will remain in the UK if this is a

regulatory requirement. You should also know

what happens in the event of a disaster and what

the recovery procedures are - as a minimum,

you should be looking for a backup copy of your

data to be hosted in a second data centre that is

geographically separated form the primary data

centre.

However, all of the above should be done with a

sense of perspective. With very few exceptions,

service providers protect their customer’s data

and infrastructure with almost paranoid levels of

security. They themselves are governed by strict

laws on data privacy as well as being bound

by contractual Service Level Agreements and

Service Definitions.

You can never eliminate security risks entirely

but you can’t do that with in-house systems

either. And objective observers would attest that

the security procedures in a service provider’s

data centre are likely to far outstrip those to be

found in most corporate environments. Security

is a core part of their offering - it can’t be

anything other than industrial strength.

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If done successfully, Cloud Computing will make a significant impact on enterprise

IT in four fundamental ways. These are:

With a Cloud service, the core infrastructure already exists so you can create a new virtual server, new phone user,

new email account in minutes. This also allows you to phase your implementation so you don’t pay for more than you use.

Cloud Computing allows IT directors to fix costs for the operational aspects of IT, typically over a three to five year contract.

This predictability of cost also usually means a larger budget for more strategic projects because the budget variance is limited.

Cloud service providers look after the day-to-day job of making sure that things are operating smoothly, while you look to

ensure your business is as profitable as possible. It’s a sensible and efficient split of responsibilities.

When you subscribe to an IT service from a Cloud provider, it’s the service provider’s job – not yours – to get you up and running.

The service charges don’t start until the service is working and to the level set by the Service Level Agreement (SLA).

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IT directors have to re-evaluate how they deliver IT services and question whether doing everything in-house

is really the best way forward. IT budgets are tight, teams are small and yet demands from the business are

ever increasing.

Technological evolution, coupled with economical, operational, commercial, risk

and environmental pressures, has brought us to a tipping point.

Stefan Haase & Richard Quine

On behalf of the CEO, Directors and Staff and inTechnology

To support this paper, inTechnology has produced a DVD based on the Apprentice.

This short video clip is compelling viewing and communicates the operational and cost

benefits of Cloud Computing. If you have not received a copy, or would like to meet to discuss

how inTechnology can help your business engage with Cloud Computing, then please call us.

More than that, please visit us...check us out. Let us walk you through our Harrogate data

centre, let’s show you our 24/7 support area, let’s introduce you to the team here that covers all

the specialisations needed to help you make an informed choice. We’d love to help.

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