At some level, every business is utilizing outsourced platforms. But where infrastructure as a service is concerned, what are some key indicators that managed services is the next logical step?
Most companies are comfortable with outsourcing some portion of their infrastructure and applications (think about the degree you use AWS, or Salesforce.com). But outsourcing isn’t simply an option for super large businesses who want to consolidate costs or increase agility. For businesses that are looking to grow, at whatever scale, managed services presents a path that can enable greater market impact, performance, and cost benefits than the simple promise of underlying cloud infrastructure.
Tech Fractals: Technology Trends and Integration
First, the paragraph that spawned this post:
The increasing use of cloud-based services is driving the need for better and more interactive single sign-on (SSO) and federated identity management (FIM) services. It is building relationship dependencies between businesses, their partners and suppliers, and customers.
— Ovum Research, «Cloud: Transforming the IAM Industry»
First, I beg to differ on the conclusion that cloud is «transforming» the IAM industry. It’s pretty much the same as it’s ever been. Single-sign on (SSO) is still about protocol transitioning; it’s just the case that protocols have been abstracted into APIs. Federated Identity Management (FIM) is SAML wrapped up in a nice name. This is not transformational. Organizations have been integrating authentication and authorization across the Internet since after the dot com bust. XML gateways, anyone? WS-SEC? Seriously, this is not transformational. At best it’s evolutionary.
Tech Fractals: Technology Trends and Integration
First, the paragraph that spawned this post:
The increasing use of cloud-based services is driving the need for better and more interactive single sign-on (SSO) and federated identity management (FIM) services. It is building relationship dependencies between businesses, their partners and suppliers, and customers.
— Ovum Research, «Cloud: Transforming the IAM Industry»
First, I beg to differ on the conclusion that cloud is «transforming» the IAM industry. It’s pretty much the same as it’s ever been. Single-sign on (SSO) is still about protocol transitioning; it’s just the case that protocols have been abstracted into APIs. Federated Identity Management (FIM) is SAML wrapped up in a nice name. This is not transformational. Organizations have been integrating authentication and authorization across the Internet since after the dot com bust. XML gateways, anyone? WS-SEC? Seriously, this is not transformational. At best it’s evolutionary.
Cloud Foundry and Windows Azure Myths Dispelled
Enterprises are looking for Cloud to move their Development and Testing activities which deviates the core goals of the enterprise towards setting up middle ware and configuring servers.
PaaS (Platform As A Service) grows into popularity mainly from the fact that Developers can concentrate more on the functionality rather than the infrastructure aspects.
New PaaS offering called Cloud Foundry from VMware is exiting, however there are some feeling about how Cloud Foundry would be a Windows Azure Killer and game changer. We tried to analyze those points against Windows Azure and found them to be not true and these platforms together can serve enterprises depending how the existing landscape of enterprises are laid.
Why China’s cloud computing ecosystem is at a vital crossroads
Due to its sheer size and economic power, China has the potential to be a huge cloud computing market.
But there are many obstacles to overcome. A new report examines these problems and the relationship between China and the US, whilst a big Chinese telco has announced overseas cloud expansion. Where now for China and the cloud?
A report released earlier this month on behalf of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCESRC) has warned of potential security concerns if the US consumer market for Chinese cloud computing services grows.
The paper, prepared by Defense Group Incorporated, noted in particular the inherent risks of collaboration between foreign firms and Chinese companies offering cloud services, jeopardising the foreign partner’s information security.
Yet the report is quick to ensure the security problems of public clouds aren’t used as a brush to tar China unnecessarily.
“If Chinese public cloud infrastructure …
Is your critical data safe in the cloud?
For a rapidly growing network of companies with critical data, migrating to the cloud has moved from an idea to reality.
But while cloud services promise rich economic benefits, scalability and flexibility, they also can trigger significant perceived risks for companies that are highly concerned about security, data protection, reliability and availability.
Primarily, breaches of one’s data can prove both devastating and costly, with any breaches sparking downtime that could lead to potential loss of business, credibility or integrity. Still, for increased security, you may actually want to consider the cloud. While this goes against conventional wisdom, there are reasons it makes sense…
One, partnering with a vendor with a network of dedicated data centers and one that follows a holistic approach to serving customers can alleviate security concerns. Why? Because of the single-minded obsessiveness that these vendors must bring to bear.
Indeed, a third-party data center with SSAE16 …
To Achieve Cloud Success, You Need to Prioritize Your Network
Enterprise IT organizations are under increasing pressure to do more with less. As such, they are highly motivated to leverage existing investments for maximum efficiencies rather than spend time and resources on acquiring, integrating and managing pricey new equipment. Enterprises are already deriving efficiencies through data center consolidation and virtualization initiatives. However, we know the cloud promises to offer further potency in the form of infrastructure savings on IT services and hardware expenses. In fact, according to Rackspace, 60 percent of IT professionals said the cloud has reduced the need for their IT team to maintain infrastructure, giving them more time to focus on strategy and innovation, while 88 percent point to cost savings.
Don’t Budget for Cloud
In many contexts, Cloud isn’t the solution. It’s part of the answer, and whether the money should go to Cloud or to some alternative will depend on the nature of the problem.
We know we want it, so Cloud must be a thing, right? If we’re carrying our enterprise IT shopping basket around, we know we want to stop at the Cloud shelf. Once there, we might select a nice fresh IaaS or perhaps some of this SaaS or that. And whatever our selection, we’ll pay the bill at the register. Good thing we brought our shopping list, and with it, our budget for Cloud, right?
Such is what the Cloud marketing machines at the various vendors and service providers want you to believe. Need Cloud, budget for Cloud, pay for Cloud. Cloud is a thing, after all, and we all want that thing.
Not so fast. Cloud isn’t a thing at all. It’s in reality dozens of different things: compute, storage, network, database, development platform, business applications, and more. The value these offerings provide is similarly varied: pay for automated self-service, pay for elasticity, pay for managed services, and so forth.
Don’t Budget for Cloud
In many contexts, Cloud isn’t the solution. It’s part of the answer, and whether the money should go to Cloud or to some alternative will depend on the nature of the problem.
We know we want it, so Cloud must be a thing, right? If we’re carrying our enterprise IT shopping basket around, we know we want to stop at the Cloud shelf. Once there, we might select a nice fresh IaaS or perhaps some of this SaaS or that. And whatever our selection, we’ll pay the bill at the register. Good thing we brought our shopping list, and with it, our budget for Cloud, right?
Such is what the Cloud marketing machines at the various vendors and service providers want you to believe. Need Cloud, budget for Cloud, pay for Cloud. Cloud is a thing, after all, and we all want that thing.
Not so fast. Cloud isn’t a thing at all. It’s in reality dozens of different things: compute, storage, network, database, development platform, business applications, and more. The value these offerings provide is similarly varied: pay for automated self-service, pay for elasticity, pay for managed services, and so forth.
Racemi Automates Migrations to IBM Cloud Services
Racemi, a provider of automated server migration software that streamlines the process of migrating workloads to public, private, and hybrid clouds, has announced global support for IBM public cloud offerings, providing clients an automated migration path to their IBM cloud of choice, at no charge for a limited time.
Racemi’s Cloud Path software as a service (SaaS) enables IBM customers to migrate server workloads to IBM’s SoftLayer cloud services at no charge (see terms and conditions here).
«Working closely with IBM, we are offering customers free migrations to IBM SoftLayer’s public cloud services,» said James Strayer, vice president of product management, Racemi. «This ensures there a fast, easy way to move existing workloads to IBM’s cloud computing platforms.»