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Evaluating Infrastructure Delivery Options - Post 2 (Cloud)

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Sep 14 2009

In my last post, I wrote about Collocation and Fully Managed IT infrastructure delivery options, and what each means in general terms.  In short, these two delivery options give companies varying amounts of control and responsibility over their IT infrastructure. 

In this post, I'm going to focus on Cloud Computing.  I'm sure you've heard the term Cloud Computing, but do you know if it's right for your organization?  Here at CSG's Quaero, we've seen an increase in non-techno-centric companies wanting to focus less on the details of their technical infrastructure and more on the output of it.  For these clients, Cloud Computing can be an attractive delivery model. 

Let's take a look at Cloud Computing's three primary delivery categories: 

  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
    Operating systems, storage and network accelerators are all examples of infrastructure components that can be delivered over the Web, and in variable increments. This just means that you can access a virtual server image, storage volume, or network device over the Internet, and generally only pay for the resources you use. Microsoft's Azure Services Platform, Amazon's S-3 storage platform, Akamai's network acceleration framework, and Sun's Solaris in the cloud program are examples of IaaS solutions (in some cases they also qualify as PaaS - see below.)
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS)
    Software development projects require more than infrastructure; they also require development tools and integration services. PaaS solutions such as Google's App Engine, LongJump, and Engine Yard's Rails in the Cloud solution offer integrated development environments that reside in the cloud. ISVs use these PaaS environments to design, develop, test and implement custom solutions.
  • Software as a Service (SaaS)
    While IaaS and PaaS solutions primarily address infrastructure management and development challenges, SaaS is focused more on end-user applications. Consumers of SaaS based solutions access their applications over the web, agnostic to the infrastructure supporting them. SaaS solutions are widely available for many software products: Accounting products ranging from Quicken.com to Oracle On Demand; CRM & SFA solutions from Salesforce.com and SugarCRM; and many other solutions supporting email, project management, planning, expense management and other widely used applications.

If you're considering a move to the cloud, consider these potential benefits: 

  • Decreased upfront investment in infrastructure and lower run-time support costs.
  • Ability to rely upon the service provider for some aspects of regulatory compliance and security management.
  • Ability to focus your team(s) on higher value tasks.

If you investigate the cloud and find that it doesn't provide these benefits, you should dig a little deeper.  In my next post, I'll talk about primary benefit #1 - how infrastructure delivery via the cloud can decrease your upfront investment and lower run-time support costs.

In the meantime, if you want a more in-depth look at Cloud Computing, take a look at this Cloud Computing Basics article.  And if you have any questions or want to discuss your particular needs, feel free to email me at jay_keating@csgsystems.com

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Dec 11 2009

Joyce Emerson said:

Great reasons to "move to the cloud" -- computing that is!

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