Posts Tagged ‘private cloud’

Hosted Private Cloud Services to Surpass $24 Billion in 2016

March 1st, 2013
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

Good news from IDC yesterday — at least for those of us engaged in private cloud hosting.

The research group forecasts that worldwide spending on hosted private cloud services will surpass $24 billion in 2016.  Compare that to $5.5 billion spent on such services last year. IDC predicts that spending will rise 64% to $9.1 billion in 2013.

Have a look below at the press release, which also talks about two popular private cloud deployment models:

IDC Forecasts Worldwide Spending on Hosted Private Cloud Services to Surpass $24 Billion in 2016

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., February 28, 2013 – According to a new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide spending on hosted private cloud (HPC) services – an operational model for deploying computing infrastructure services of many types via a cloud model – will be more than $24 billion in 2016. HPC spending will experience a compound annual growth rate of more than 50% over the 2012-2016 forecast period as companies and IT providers look to cloud in its various forms as a means to transform and make more efficient and scalable the “how” of what they provide to their customers. Along the way, Hosted Private Cloud services will become the backbone of a new set of infrastructure services, transforming existing provider models for IT outsourcing, hosting infrastructure services, and other key IT industries.

At the highest level, there are two types of deployment models for cloud services: public and private. Public cloud services are designed for a market and are open to a largely unrestricted universe of potential users who share the services. Private cloud services are designed for a single enterprise and have user-defined and controlled restrictions on access and level of resource dedication.

Hosted private cloud is a composite view of two private cloud services deployment models, both of which offer customers and providers very different choices about resource dedication, tenancy cost, user access/control of the computing asset, and real and perceived security structures in place. The two HPC deployment models are:

  • Dedicated Private Cloud: This model offers dedicated 1:1 physical compute and storage resources focused on the needs of one enterprise or extended enterprise. This model offers the greatest customer control over their contracted resource. Examples of dedicated private cloud service offerings include Amazon EC2 Dedicated Instances, IBM SmartCloud Enterprise, Savvis Symphony Dedicated, and Rackspace Cloud: Private Edition.
  • Virtual Private Cloud: This model is an adjunct of public cloud services with shared virtualized resources and a range of customer control and security options distinct from most public cloud services. Examples of virtual private cloud service offerings include Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), IBM SmartCloud Enterprise Plus, Savvis Symphony VPDC/Open, and Rackspace RackConnect.

“IDC anticipates that virtual private cloud will be the predominant operational model for companies wanting to take advantage of the speed and lower capital costs associated with cloud computing while cloud service providers will welcome the move away from the expense of dedicated 1:1 physical systems for delivering their business process and datacenter outsourcing and other services,” said Robert Mahowald, Research Vice President, SaaS and Cloud Services.

Virtual private cloud is expected to make steady gains in part because of its similarity to public cloud, particularly public Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which many IT buyers are already using as a cost-saving alternative to replacing aging infrastructure. As more companies evaluate their Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) options, the need to centralize the management of all cloud-sourced capabilities will become apparent. Meanwhile, the majority of dedicated private cloud buyers will be those companies with existing IS outsourcing or hosted infrastructure services contracts. Potential buyers of dedicated private cloud services will place a premium on off-loading the asset management burden and on operational reliability, over and above other cloud features such as scalability, granular billing, and customer self-service.

When dedicated private cloud grows, the winners are likely to be large incumbent packaged software providers and equipment providers, global systems integrators, professional services firms, and telecommunications service providers. These providers are working mightily to build single-vendor stacks, providing all the underlying components from bare metal to “trusted partner applications.” But if virtual private cloud becomes the dominant provider-based model, as IDC expects, it will be more like a public cloud model with mostly standardized, virtually dedicated assets, which means a vastly different set of vendors will benefit.

“Not even the largest technology incumbents can sustain IT market leadership without achieving leadership in cloud services. Quite simply, vendor failure in cloud services will mean stagnation,” added Mahowald. “Vendors need to be doing everything they can – today – to develop a full range of competitive cloud offerings and operating models optimized around those offerings.”

The IDC study, Worldwide Hosted Private Cloud Services 2012-2016 Forecast: New Models for Delivering Infrastructure Services (Doc #238689), examines the hosted private cloud services market, composed of dedicated private cloud services and virtual private cloud services. The study includes a detailed discussion of the overall cloud services market and how public and private cloud services are distinguished from one another, as well as revenues for 2011 and a five-year growth forecast for 2012-2016.

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Understanding Cloud Deployment Models

November 27th, 2012
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

By Donna Hemmert
AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development

Public Cloud, Private Cloud or Hybrid Cloud?  Which one is for me?

First of all, let’s define the Cloud.  A Cloud is a consolidation of hosted computer services (storage, computing power) and is delivered as a service.

Cloud services are often fully managed by the provider and are usually sold based on usage (for example, per hour or even by the minute). One of the main benefits of the Cloud is that it is elastic, allowing organizations to use as much resources as they need.  They can easily add or reduce those services without the need to deploy equipment.  This can be really useful in situations where companies have a project (for example, a development project or marketing promotion that requires a special new temporary website) or their business has a lot of associated seasonality (i.e., they need more computing resources for the Christmas season).  In that case, a company can call a company such as AISN and simply request another “virtual machine” or more storage.

Many of our customers like the cloud model also since they don’t have to put out upfront capital for equipment and software, but instead can pay a set amount each month.  It’s more predictable and it is captured as an operational expense, which can be beneficial.

As for the deployment models, here are the main types of Cloud:

  • Public Cloud is a cloud that is available to all customers and these customers share the resources of the cloud.  Examples of public clouds are Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure  and Google Cloud.
  • Private Cloud allocates resources to be used solely by your organization from a shared infrastructure.  Your data is stored in dedicated, segregated silos.  With Private Cloud, adding more storage or CPU is easy and often instantly available.
  • Dedicated Private Cloud is a cloud infrastructure built solely for your organization’s use – with all services and hardware dedicated to your organization.  Some organizations prefer dedicated private cloud for additional security but the down side is that there are reduced economies of scale. That being said, adding and reducing computing resources is much easier to do as with any cloud.
  • Community Cloud shares infrastructure between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns (security, compliance, jurisdiction, etc.).  This allows the community to customize the cloud based on these concerns and spread the cost – making it generally more cost effective than a private cloud, but less so than a public cloud.
  • Hybrid Cloud is a combination of more than one cloud type.  For example, you can combine a private cloud with a public cloud.  This will give you benefits of more than one deployment model.  Often an organization will deploy hybrid clouds to provide the flexibility of in-house applications with the fault tolerance and scalability of cloud-based services.

 

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AISN Attends COVITS 2012

September 24th, 2012
Posted by: Donna Hemmert

By Donna Hemmert
AIS Network Vice President, Strategic Development

This year was AIS Network’s first chance to attend COVITS and that is just what we did.  COVITS, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Innovative Technology Symposium,  is a chance for decision makers from state and local government, business, and education to discuss solutions for Virginia’s technology needs.   The one comment I heard over and over was the quality of the keynotes and how relevant the topics in the panels were to the problems that were being solved.

For AIS Network specifically, it was such a great opportunity to meet with so many people in our extended community.  We met with many state and local people who were focused on a variety of issues.  We also saw a lot of interest around the Cloud (especially Private Cloud) and Bring Your Own Device.

We definitely plan to attend next year.

 

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Private Cloud Success Trends Upward

July 17th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

How successful are private clouds, anyway?

That’s the question asked by a recent research report from Information Week.  The survey reveals that most companies with private clouds in place are pleased with the results and are experiencing heightened efficiency and lower costs.

I find this report particularly interesting, since we’re building more and more private clouds — and particularly SharePoint private clouds — every day.  While it’s not entirely clear to me how many of the companies surveyed are hosting their private cloud with a hosting provider or building their private cloud on premise, I think that the takeaways are broadly applicable.

Network Computing editor Mike Fratto, who wrote the 66-page report, said in his abstract:

The big takeaway? Those with private clouds experience more efficient use of hardware and superior scalability and reliability, and they make better use of IT’s time.  These are all measurable benefits that can make your IT department shine in the eyes of users and the CFO.  Those with private clouds also report success in lowering capital and operational costs and total cost of ownership.

There are some keys to success, though:  Have a well-thought-out migration plan. Make sure new software can leverage the scaling and reliability features of your private cloud, and be prepared to train employees on the new systems. They’ll love you for it, and you’ll get better results.

A majority of the 414 IT professionals surveyed said they aren’t running private clouds yet.  However, 21 percent of respondents said they have private clouds in place, and 30 percent more said they’re beginning private cloud projects.  Of the respondents with private clouds, 72 percent described their implementations as “very successful” or “a complete success.” Another quarter said they were “somewhat successful,” while only 1 percent chose “somewhat unsuccessful.”  Most reported having successfully lowered capex and opex.

The report digs deeper into cloud expectations, cloud costs, cloud maintenance, challenges, obstacles, vendor choices, best practices, keys to success and more.  You can download the report here.

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Top 6 Benefits of AIS Network’s Managed Private Cloud

May 3rd, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Jay Atkinson
AIS Network CEO

You want to spend more of your IT dollar on the innovation that your customers expect.  So in order for you to focus on your business, the ratio of what you build out “new” versus what you spend time maintaining and running has to improve measurably.  Plus, you want maximum control over your IT environment with the least hit to your organization’s bottom line.

You’re sure you get every bit of that and more by moving from a traditional deployment to AIS Network’s Managed Private Cloud architecture.  But, how do you persuade the C-Suite to let go of the current environment?

What are the six most compelling benefits for AISN’s Managed Private Cloud?

  1. Security. Industrial strength security and integrity of data are paramount.  AISN’s Managed Private Cloud offers the benefits of cloud technology, but keeps all your data on hardware dedicated to and controlled by you.  Under the umbrella of a security framework that you define, you can best address your customers’ security needs and meet the most stringent of compliance requirements – a big enhancement, when compared with open, more heterogeneous systems.
  2. Compliance. Stringent compliance is a priority.  A key component of any high-level compliance program such as SOX, PCI, HIPAA/HITECH or FISMA is the ability to segregate your data from others.  With AISN’s Managed Private Cloud, you control your own SAN, which eliminates the possibility of database cross pollination.  For PCI compliant solutions, we can easily provide you with your own dedicated firewall.  AISN is SSAE 16 Type II-compliant and our methods are explicitly documented and verified by an independent auditor.
  3. Scalability. Managing growth confidently is critical.  As the pure IT content of your business grows, so does the ability to have a flexible – and essentially infinite – expandable computing base.  With an AISN Managed Private Cloud, you don’t have to purchase and maintain additional hardware.  We manage the technology so that you can focus on business strategy.
  4. Cost. Saving money is smart business.  Deploying an enterprise-scale system in AISN’s Managed Private Cloud can cost significantly less than others would charge you to implement the same system in a public cloud or a hybrid cloud.  And, as you grow, you get the benefits of economies of scale, meaning your per virtual machine cost decreases.
  5. Performance. Speed matters.  Since you’re in your own AISN Managed Private Cloud, you don’t have to share resources with other customers and worry whether another customer’s application failure will impact you. Faster response times and a healthier infrastructure is a good thing.
  6. High Availability. 100% uptime rocks.  AISN’s Managed Private Clouds have both physical and virtual redundancy built in to ensure High Availability.  Our SSAE 16 Type II-certified data centers safeguard your data against natural and man-made disasters, including physical security breaches.  Our rock-solid Service Level Agreement guarantees it.

AISN’s Managed Private Cloud positions you at a competitive advantage by accomplishing your business need to go FASTER – confidently.   For more details, get in touch with us.  We’d love to help.  (Jay Atkinson, jay.atkinson@aisn.net).

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Private SharePoint Cloud: For Large Enterprises, It’s the Way to Go

March 21st, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Jay Atkinson
AIS Network CEO

Just last week, we made a bold statement that has captured quite a bit of attention within the SharePoint community.

We revealed that we are now deploying SharePoint Server 2010 in a single private cloud for less than our competitors are charging for a public or hybrid cloud implementation.  And, we expressed our strong view that enterprise-class Microsoft SharePoint 2010 customers should look only to private cloud environments.  In short, it’s the only way to go based on sheer practicality and bang-for-the buck.

private cloud

Enterprise-class SharePoint Server 2010 is hosted most cost-effectively in a private cloud.

Plain and simple, you want the most control over your SharePoint 2010 environment with the least hit to your organization’s bottom line, and you get every bit of that and more by moving from a traditional deployment to a hosted private cloud architecture.

Currently, hosting providers are steering enterprise-class SharePoint 2010 customers toward public cloud and hybrid cloud hosting models.  Our cost analysis research shows that those deployment approaches are needlessly costing more than they should and the customer sacrifices control at multiple levels.

A private SharePoint cloud is simply more economical and easier to manage for a large organization with security and compliance concerns.  An enterprise SharePoint Server 2010 platform implemented wholly in a private cloud, including the online storage components, exceeds core compliance requirements and surpasses the benefits of a public cloud or hybrid cloud.

With SharePoint 2010 deployed entirely in a private cloud, the customer gets:

  • a hosted environment that is exclusively internal to the organization,
  • complete control of its servers, security, permissions, policies and customization,
  • seamless federation between line-of-business systems and various data sources,
  • quick scalability for system resources, and
  • the ability to move other core applications and platforms to the same private cloud.

Public cloud services like Microsoft Office 365’s SharePoint Online and deployments of SharePoint Server 2010 in a public or hybrid cloud are okay for small to mid-size businesses, but they’re very impractical when it comes to serving the best interests of a large business.

The private SharePoint cloud model is an ideal outsourcing alternative.  Sooner or later, global and large enterprises evaluating SharePoint 2010 deployment platforms are going to realize that an enterprise SharePoint Server 2010 platform implemented solely in a private cloud is, indeed, the only way to go.

Have a different opinion?  I’d love to hear your thoughts below.  Need a free quote on a Private SharePoint Cloud?  Naturally, we’d be happy to help you with that.

 

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Cloud Computing Is Spurring Worldwide Job Creation

March 9th, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

The cloud will have an enormous impact on job creation.  It’s a disruptive technology that will transform the world as we know it.  It will drive down IT costs, foster innovation and create millions of new employment opportunities around the world.

Yep, that’s pretty much what we were thinking last month, when we doubled the size of the AIS Network cloud.   However, this week, new research from industry analyst firm IDC makes it official: 

Spending on public and private IT cloud services will generate nearly 14 million jobs worldwide from 2011 to 2015. 

And,

IT innovation created by cloud computing could produce $1.1 trillion a year in new business revenues.

Researcher John Gantz, senior vice president at IDC, led the study and authored the white paper.  Both were commissioned by Microsoft.  Gantz is  a remarkably knowledgeable and interesting colleague for whom I have great respect.  Since I used to work alongside him on the Business Software Alliance’s worldwide piracy studies (from 2001-2006), I was eager to read his newest findings.  Among them, there was a note on small businesses.  Although small businesses make up the majority of employment in most parts of the world, they are generally less computerized. At the same time, IDC expects small- and medium-size businesses to adopt cloud services faster than large companies, many of which are constrained by existing legacy investments. “So when you put it all together, the two trends balance out, and you get a 50-50 split,” says Gantz.

The study also found that the number of new jobs produced by cloud computing will be somewhat proportional to the size of each industry, but not entirely. In some industries, such as professional services and retail, the high percentage of small- and medium-size businesses will drive up adoption. In other sectors, such as banking, security issues will slow the move to the public cloud, but may increase adoption of private IT cloud services.  Overall, three industries expected to generate the most cloud-related jobs are:

  1. communications and media (2.4 million),
  2. banking (1.4 million), and
  3. discrete manufacturing (1.3 million).

The highest percentage of new jobs will occur in emerging markets, according to the study, especially China and India, which together are expected to produce nearly 6.8 million cloud-enabled jobs between 2011 and 2015. This can partly be attributed to the size of their workforces, and partly to the fact that many Chinese and Indian companies aren’t bound by large legacy system investments. “We tend to think of China and India as emerging markets, but they’re actually early adopters of the cloud,” Gantz says. “They’re not bound to existing systems. They’ve skipped that step, so there’s less holding them back.”

Nearly 1.2 million new cloud-related jobs will be created in the U.S. and Canada, according to the IDC study. An early adopter of cloud computing, the U.S. accounted for 62 percent of worldwide spending in public IT cloud services in 2011.

IDC developed its results by analyzing cloud spending trends in more than 40 countries and then using this information to forecast the number of jobs this spending will create.

The Cloud Improves Quality of Life

With these unprecedented opportunities also comes an improved “quality of life” for IT managers.  The cloud is helping companies to be more innovative by freeing up IT managers to work on more mission-critical projects.  To that point, here’s a good snippet from the Microsoft press release:

“We deployed Microsoft Office 365 and Windows Intune for one of our clients, and the comment we heard from the chief operations officer is that he can actually schedule a meeting with the IT director to talk about strategic applications,” says Carol Reid, sales director for Agile IT, a Microsoft Tier 3 Cloud Champion Member headquartered in San Diego, Calif. “Whereas before, the IT director was chasing fires and tending to pretty basic plumbing, he now has the bandwidth to pursue truly strategic projects that move the business forward.”

In addition, many businesses are using the cloud to improve how they work with customers and partners.

“One of the trends we’re seeing is that companies are using cloud-based collaboration software not just for their internal employees, but to engage and share information with partners and vendors,” says Aaron Nettles, co-founder and CEO of Vorsite, a Microsoft Tier 3 Cloud Champion Member based in Seattle, Wash. “So it’s really not just about maintaining technology but also about leveraging it to drive revenue for the business.”

To accommodate the growing interest in the cloud, Nettles plans to double the size of his workforce this year. “It seems like a threshold has been crossed where customers are no longer asking, ‘Is the cloud right?’ but ‘When can we get it deployed?’”

Among the enterprises making use of the cloud to boost innovation is Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a global company that provides safety testing and certification for a wide range of product categories. In recent years, the company has acquired several businesses to broaden the services it offers to customers. Because Office 365 frees the company from adding and maintaining new servers, UL has been able to complete its technology integrations very rapidly. Whether it’s a large acquisition in China or a small one in Australia, UL can now integrate new employees within a few weeks instead of several months.

“I didn’t have to staff up with a bunch of contractors or take project managers off other projects,” says Christian Anschuetz, the company’s chief information officer. “And that allowed us to take resources that would otherwise have been needed for our internal integration and focus them instead on growing the business to the benefit of customers. I can’t tell you how much that’s worth.”

Will the cloud be an important force in helping to restore worldwide economic health?  Well, that remains to be seen.  However, from our experience (and apparently that of Microsoft), the cloud is top of mind for CIOs in the U.S. and Canada and, in fact, around the world.  They want to understand how they can use it to grow their companies, and they want to ensure they have the best people (and skills) in place to make it happen.  We at AISN stand ready to help guide them through that educational process.

What’s your view on the new IDC study?  Take a look at the chart below and leave your comments.

Cloud services

Public and private IT cloud services will generate nearly 14 million jobs worldwide between 2012 and 2015, according to a new study by IDC.

 

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Demand for Cloud, Partner Program Is Driving Growth at AIS Network

February 8th, 2012
Posted by: admin

Kurt Baumann

In the data center, Kurt Baumann doubled our cloud earlier this month.

By Jay Atkinson
AIS Network CEO

More companies are shifting from on-premise computing to cloud-based services, and that means cloud providers are attaining sales goals earlier than expected.  It’s plain to see why Forrester Research analysts are predicting that the private cloud market will double to more than $15 billion in 2020.

At AIS Network, we’re experiencing a good deal of that momentum too.  Yesterday, we announced that we have doubled the size of our public cloud several months earlier than anticipated.  Last year, we brought on more new customers in one year than in any single year of the company’s 19-year history.  Notably, at AISN, new cloud customers are outpacing more traditional managed hosting customers by three to one.

In large part, I attribute this growth to the great success of the AISN partner program, which we launched last March.  Through the support of our wonderful partners, we’ve added numerous new enterprise-class customers, particularly those needing customized, cloud-based SharePoint, SharePoint for Internet Sites (SharePoint FIS) and high-end SaaS applications.

Thanks to those who refer us and to those who partner with us.  Most especially, thanks to our terrific clients.  We are looking forward to another great year!

 

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What Is Cloud Computing?

January 18th, 2011
Posted by: Laurie Head
Cloud computing icon
Image via Wikipedia

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President, Marketing Communications

Cloud computing is no longer just hype or a buzzword for the times.  It’s here to stay and it’s reshaping the IT marketplace as we know it.

The media is thirsty for stories about the cloud.  “The cloud” and “cloud computing” have become ubiquitous in business and technology news stories.  It’s popping up in consumer ads and quickly making its way into the high-level discussions of policymakers in Washington, DC.

Early cloud adopters in both the private and public sectors are yesterday’s news story.  They have paved the way for the rapidly expanding early majority. And to that end, IDC industry analysts expect that worldwide IT spending on cloud services will reach $42 billion next year — in large part because the cloud computing model “offers a much cheaper way for businesses to acquire and use IT.”  And these days, who isn’t cost cutting?

So, if cloud computing is such a big deal, why does the concept itself still leave many scratching their heads?  What is cloud computing, exactly?

Well, the term has been used many ways lately.  According to the Business Software Alliance, “The key features of the cloud are the ability to scale and provide, as needed, data storage and computing power dynamically in a cost efficient way, without the user having to manage the underlying complexity of the technology.  Cloud computing offers tremendous potential for efficiency, cost savings and innovations to government, businesses and individuals alike.  These benefits will improve government services and citizen access; transform businesses; provide new innovations to consumers; improve important services such as health care and government-provided services; and create energy savings.”

As the new decade unfolds, we can expect to see more businesses, consumers — and even lawmakers — rushing to educate themselves about cloud technology and the implications that it holds for the way they work, live and play.  And, they will be asking lots of questions.  How will it alter the landscape of traditional IT offerings?  How will it drive down costs?  How will it dovetail with traditional IT architecture?  Will it give rise to new policy debates?

BSA, the voice of the world’s software industry on a range of business and policy affairs (and for whom I once worked), has produced a solid educational video “to help speed this transition, especially for policy-makers.”  The video provides the fundamentals of cloud computing — including what defines it and how it is being used, touches on its many benefits (increased efficiencies, scalability, enhanced functionality, cost savings, etc.), and then outlines key policy considerations for lawmakers.

If you are already familiar with the news coverage around cloud computing trends, you might wonder if cloud computing has the potential to usurp existing server, desktop and mobile technologies altogether. BSA’s video explains why the cloud model will instead “complement more-established IT architecture.” The video describes public, private and hybrid cloud-based implementations and responds to a wide range of policy questions on privacy and security, technology standards, intellectual property and more.

Watch the video. I would be interested in your thoughts.

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