| According to analysts, 20% of enterprises will have | | | | computational research applications, cloud computing |
| no capital IT assets by 2012. Those companies | | | | contains the mechanisms to enable a company to |
| are looking at strategies to "rent" resources for the | | | | "rent" those computing resources to meet those |
| right price to enable employees and business units to | | | | occasional peak demands. The benefits are that the |
| have access to resources, applications and data, | | | | research organization is able to leverage the |
| when and where they need it in an on-demand | | | | resources of a pre-negotiated vendor agreement to |
| model. Other businesses are analyzing ways to | | | | meet the deadlines of their project without investing |
| improve the way they automate existing internal | | | | in new capital or affecting core applications and |
| virtualized infrastructures to provide dynamic | | | | business needs. |
| resources to their company's business constituents | | | | |
| while reducing costs and improving agility in the | | | | A Journey of a Thousand Miles starts with one Step. |
| organization. The basis of what companies look for | | | | Although the cloud model of deploying applications, |
| in the cloud; minimizing IT capital and operational | | | | services, infrastructure in a nimble and efficient way |
| expense while delivering required services to their | | | | is attractive, the path to the cloud is incremental. |
| organization. | | | | As a Cloud consultant, we meet with our clients |
| | | | | to understand the benefit that they perceive for |
| Why the Cloud? | | | | their business through cloud computing, and help |
| | | | | them quantify that into business value. Through the |
| Why are companies viewing the cloud model as | | | | process we begin to paint a picture that captures |
| strategic? The cloud computing model aligns closely | | | | where they are, what they may gain, and next |
| with goals of consolidation, cost reduction, and | | | | steps. The challenges that we help identify and |
| aligning resources to quickly deliver against business | | | | address touch many facets of the business including |
| requirements. Cloud computing enables companies | | | | technology, process, regulatory. |
| to "right size" their IT organizations by delivering | | | | |
| services that can be presented as a catalogue item | | | | Once we have that level of understanding, we are |
| to their internal business organizations to be | | | | able to begin advising on technology, milestones, |
| provisioned as needed and decommissioned based on | | | | and incremental means of measuring success. This in |
| measurable business rules. | | | | turn helps the organization reach their goal of an |
| | | | | external or internal cloud model. |
| Cloud computing changes the rules of the game in a | | | | |
| dramatic fashion, for example, a company may have | | | | Written by: Brett Dean, Virtualization Practice |
| a surge in on-line orders due to seasonal products, | | | | Manager at Solutions II. |
| cloud computing enables the organization to quickly | | | | Solutions II is an infrastructure systems integrator |
| ramp up additional servers or resources to handle | | | | that has deep knowledge and focus on Virtualization, |
| that demand. Another example is a research | | | | Storage Optimization, and Business Continuity. |
| organization may have requirements to occasionally | | | | Solutions II has local representation stationed in the |
| consume more computing power for highly | | | | Western United States. |