With the C-suite, innovators, developers and IT all pushing for the cloud, albeit for different reasons, there is no doubt that cloud computing is the next or fifth wave.
As the cloud computing market continues to mature, explaining the platform shift gets easier and more succinct. There are a wide variety of benefits to this next wave of computing, each resonating in shape, tone and strength depending on the listener’s role in an organization.
C-level and financial people like the economic drivers of the cloud. Limiting capital investment by converting CAPEX to OPEX; paying for what the business needs with scalable, success-based pricing; and enabling efficient use of limited internal resources. These are a few of the benefits that strike a chord with this part of the organization.
Archivo mensual: julio 2013
SYS-CON.tv Interview: Cloud Computing and Healthcare
“Health care has so much on its plate, whether it’s regulatory or technology. We really believe that health care will jump the other industries in its adoption,” stated Frank Nydam, Director of Healthcare Solutions, Office of the CTO, at VMware, in this SYS-CON.tv interview with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan at the 12th International Cloud Expo, held June 10–13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City.
Cloud Expo 2013 Silicon Valley, November 4–7, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading Cloud industry players in the world.
Web Presence Builder 11.5 is here, and it’s not just for Parallels Plesk Panel anymore!
In case you missed it, in June Parallels announced the availability of Parallels Web Presence Builder 11.5. This latest release delivers usability and performance improvements as well as new features that are sure to delight web hosters by helping them to attract and retain new SMB customers.
But the real news about this release is not just the features, it’s about availability. Now shared hosters can offer Web Presence Builder via any of the following hosting platforms: Parallels Plesk Panel, Parallels Plesk Automation, Parallels Automation, Parallels Business Automation Standard and cPanel. And if you’re not using any of these, we have an option for you as well.
While third-party site builder tools are typically provided as a ‘checkbox’ in a hosting plan, Parallels Web Presence Builder enables you to put your website builder to work for you attracting new business by enabling you to lead with a customized, full-feature do-it-yourself business website. From the smallest hoster with a single Parallels Plesk Panel to some of the largest telcos worldwide, Web Presence Builder meets the needs of a wide range of hosters, enabling them compete in this space.
To learn more about Web Presence Builder and its value for shared hosters, please join us on Thursday July 18th at 11:00 (PDT) for a special webinar: Attract SMBs With Your Own Business Website Offer. In this webinar we will provide an overview of Web Presence Builder and its benefits, see it in action, discuss deployment options, and hear from a hoster who offers it to their customers.
Please join us if you can! Register Now.
Will Outsourcing Cloud Impact Your Bottom Line?
Making it rain for your organization with the cloud can be achieved a few different ways.
Cloud computing has many benefits, one of which can be accessed through the model of delivery a business uses. Let us know what model works for your business and why on Twitter @CloudGathering.
There are good reasons to outsource your cloud computing needs, and there are good reasons to maintain a DIY cloud internally. One of the very first things a company needs to assess is whether IT is a cost of doing business or a profit center. This is an important distinction, and for 60%+ businesses, IT is still a cost of doing business.
Whether a cost or profit center, the IT dept. is going to have two kinds of expenses: operational and capital. With capital expenses, Finance depts. will depreciate IT assets, an accounting treatment that reduces the company’s tax burdens by creating a non-cash expense for the technology.
For this reason, clients looking at installing new systems may prefer to buy the technology in order to access depreciation benefits. However, with the advantages of depreciation come some notable downsides, including:
- Requiring capital budgeting, which could delay purchases and/or make purchasing approvals more difficult
- Restricting infrastructure flexibility (If you spec something incorrectly, need more capacity, need to change a setup, etc. you have to go buy more equipment….that requires more capital budget. It is easy to end up way over budget and in hot water.)
- Lifecycling equipment every 3-5 years
- Accurately forecasting costs for customer-owned equipment is notoriously difficult: Forecasts must include colo, power, cooling, the humans to manage the gear, software/license upgrades, add-on technologies required to achieve the use case.
One very good reason to move to an outsourced, managed cloud is the benefit of moving from a capital expenditure to an operational expenditure. Particularly if IT is a cost center, shifting to Opex can more closely tie costs of doing business in IT to your actual projected revenues. Some Opex advantages include:
- No requirement for capital budgeting approvals, making expenditure more easily managed internally
- Highly predictable- low likelihood of exceeding budget
- No equipment lifecycles required
- High infrastructure flexibility
There is another major consideration in the decision to outsource IT infrastructure and services: Some cloud hosting providers and managed service providers can structure service contracts like a capital lease, allowing you to enjoy the best of both worlds. In this scenario, your Finance Department treats the service contract as if it were a capital asset, allowing for depreciation of the IT infrastructure, so you can access the advantages of depreciation while retaining the managed services and the other benefits of the shift to an OpEx model.
As we’ve discussed previously, this shift to an outsourced model can also increase your organization’s ability to access new innovation and shift internal focuses away from IT upkeep. Ultimately it comes down to how the financial requirements of the organization impact how IT lays out its technology acquisition vs. vendor strategy.
Agree/disagree? Let us know on Twitter @CloudGathering.
—
By Jake Gardner
Will Outsourcing Cloud Impact Your Bottom Line?
Making it rain for your organization with the cloud can be achieved a few different ways.
Cloud computing has many benefits, one of which can be accessed through the model of delivery a business uses. Let us know what model works for your business and why on Twitter @CloudGathering.
There are good reasons to outsource your cloud computing needs, and there are good reasons to maintain a DIY cloud internally. One of the very first things a company needs to assess is whether IT is a cost of doing business or a profit center. This is an important distinction, and for 60%+ businesses, IT is still a cost of doing business.
Whether a cost or profit center, the IT dept. is going to have two kinds of expenses: operational and capital. With capital expenses, Finance depts. will depreciate IT assets, an accounting treatment that reduces the company’s tax burdens by creating a non-cash expense for the technology.
For this reason, clients looking at installing new systems may prefer to buy the technology in order to access depreciation benefits. However, with the advantages of depreciation come some notable downsides, including:
- Requiring capital budgeting, which could delay purchases and/or make purchasing approvals more difficult
- Restricting infrastructure flexibility (If you spec something incorrectly, need more capacity, need to change a setup, etc. you have to go buy more equipment….that requires more capital budget. It is easy to end up way over budget and in hot water.)
- Lifecycling equipment every 3-5 years
- Accurately forecasting costs for customer-owned equipment is notoriously difficult: Forecasts must include colo, power, cooling, the humans to manage the gear, software/license upgrades, add-on technologies required to achieve the use case.
One very good reason to move to an outsourced, managed cloud is the benefit of moving from a capital expenditure to an operational expenditure. Particularly if IT is a cost center, shifting to Opex can more closely tie costs of doing business in IT to your actual projected revenues. Some Opex advantages include:
- No requirement for capital budgeting approvals, making expenditure more easily managed internally
- Highly predictable- low likelihood of exceeding budget
- No equipment lifecycles required
- High infrastructure flexibility
There is another major consideration in the decision to outsource IT infrastructure and services: Some cloud hosting providers and managed service providers can structure service contracts like a capital lease, allowing you to enjoy the best of both worlds. In this scenario, your Finance Department treats the service contract as if it were a capital asset, allowing for depreciation of the IT infrastructure, so you can access the advantages of depreciation while retaining the managed services and the other benefits of the shift to an OpEx model.
As we’ve discussed previously, this shift to an outsourced model can also increase your organization’s ability to access new innovation and shift internal focuses away from IT upkeep. Ultimately it comes down to how the financial requirements of the organization impact how IT lays out its technology acquisition vs. vendor strategy.
Agree/disagree? Let us know on Twitter @CloudGathering.
—
By Jake Gardner
Should your private cloud use a single or a dual firewall?
Should Your Private Cloud Use a Single or a Dual Firewall?
– Brought to you by 2X Cloud Computing guest blogger Brien M. Posey –
Many private clouds are constructed in a way that allows clients to connect either locally or from the Internet. In the case of Internet connectivity, the Web Portal and Secure Client Gateway components that are used to facilitate the connection are almost always located behind a perimeter firewall. While the need for an Internet firewall is more or less undisputed, it is important to consider as to whether there might be advantages to implementing other firewalls within the private cloud infrastructure.
In order to answer this question, it is important to consider the nature of the inbound traffic. The Internet has been described as the most hostile environment on earth. The perimeter firewall’s job (at least in this case) is to block every TCP and UDP …
Rackspace To Build a Cloud for CERN
CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics famous for chasing after the so-called God Particle these days, has tapped Rackspace to help it build a hybrid cloud computing system so capacity can be brought to bear on big workloads as needed.
Rackspace To Build a Cloud for CERN
CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics famous for chasing after the so-called God Particle these days, has tapped Rackspace to help it build a hybrid cloud computing system so capacity can be brought to bear on big workloads as needed.
Australia Introduces New Updates to Policies on Cloud Security
Australian Government agencies have some new regulations to consider when they are contemplating moves to the cloud, particularly clouds hosted outside of Australian borders. These guidelines, known as “The Australian Government policy and risk management guidelines for the processing and storage of Australian Government information in outsourced or offshore ICT arrangements”, are part of the broader Protective Security Policy Framework announced earlier this year and are aimed at protecting data being stored and processed in cloud environments.
The Framework document clearly acknowledges the benefits that Australian Government agencies can gain from moving to cloud environments but points out that privacy, security, integrity and availability of personal information cannot be sacrificed in pursuit of these benefits. In particular, “offshoring” of information (e.g., using US-based cloud services) is highlighted as a situation that creates a number of challenges in this arena, and the Framework is meant to help agencies determine when to use these services on a case-by-case basis.
The Cloud of Tomorrow
Before talking about the cloud of tomorrow, in his General Session at 12th Cloud Expo, Kevin Clarke, Director of Cloud Platform Engineering for Verizon Terremark, describes what core characteristics compose the cloud of today, and discusses three fundamental features: independent architectures, multi-tenant infrastructures and the concept of ‘different controls. He explores the challenges that exist in running enterprise applications, or what he calls the “hard stuff” and the ideal features future cloud offerings should provide enterprises.
Kevin Clarke is the Director of Cloud Platform Engineering for Verizon Terremark. He is responsible for building the Verizon cloud platform that brings “Cloud without Compromise” computing to the Enterprise. Prior to joining Verizon, Kevin was the Director of System Engineering in the midrange storage division of EMC, where he ran System Architecture, Performance and Security. Kevin spent 21 years working in Silicon Valley for Sun Microsystems in Cloud Computing, Solaris Operating Systems and Storage. He holds a BSCS and MBA from Northeastern University in Boston.