Thomas Bittman presents a decent view on the steps required to build private cloud services. However, it is just that. For those who have been "in the cloud" for a while, it is nothing new or earth shattering.
While the ten steps are nothing new (presented in the following blog post), he does present an interesting approach to migration to the cloud. He presents a five staged approach:
Stage 1 begins with Server Virtualization where the primary advantages lie in consolidation and reduction of capital expense.
Stage 2 is distributed virtualization where flexibility and speed of operations with reduced downtime are touted as main advantages.
Stage 3 is the migration to a Private cloud where the concepts of self-serve agility, standardization, usage metering and "IT as a business" are emphasized.
Stage 4 is the migration to the Hybrid cloud which is useful in reducing costs and increasing flexibility for peak loads. Think "annual benefits enrollment" of HR as an example.
Stage 5 is the ultimate move to Public cloud with the eventual elimination of capital expense and total flexibility. However, not all enterprises are suitable to move into a public cloud.
While I agree with the first three stages and maybe stage 4, I am not sure stage 5 is right for all enterprises. Not withstanding compliance or regulatory constraints, assuming all enterprises are suitable to move into a public cloud is a mistake.
The next blog on this topic will detail the ten steps to building private cloud services
About Me
- Sree Sundaram
- Sree Sundaram is currently a Sr. Director of Enterprise Architecture at a major global technology firm. He is currently engaged at two major international biotechnology firms in optimization and migration of infrastructure from their current platform to a newer technological platform that is in line with their current and future business needs. Sree has solid experience in understanding the needs of both middle and top level management and has the ability to communicate at both levels. He is fundamentally aware that the transactional and short-term needs of middle level management are different from the long-term vision of top-level management. He has successfully dealt with such issues by providing an IT framework that meets both the short term and long term needs. In general, Sree helps to prioritize competing initiatives using a combination of his acumen, communication skills, strategic and operation plans.