Cloudy Cloud Services

Everywhere you read, or conference you attend, the topic is Cloud Service. It appears to me that we are not all on the same page on the definition of what is a cloud. I was in a conversation the other day with some colleagues, and one made the statement, “ We have a private cloud, we have our own data center….”

This colleague’s definition was we have our own data center and host our own applications, we have virtualization on servers, we are good to go. Really? I asked, do you have any automation to provide for self-service? Do you have defined resources to be allocated to the user’s request? What can the business user manage of their own environment in your private cloud? The answer was that only IT would setup the servers, there is no access to our data center for the business. So, really you have is a traditional data center, with no self-service, no automation, and traditional IT structure. That is not Cloud Services.

Cloud Services is focused on services. The reason Cloud Service has become successful is the fact that the business user can go get what they need, manage it themselves, and configure their environment as they want. It provides self-service, service level agreements, quick response, and agility to an ever changing business environment. Under the covers, yes there is a data center, server/storage virtualization, automation tools, resource pools, and some methodology(s) to ensure a positive experience. Such as performance monitoring, capacity planning, change management, and so forth.

So let’s talk for a few minutes about Cloud Services, such as SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, and so forth. It is my observation that corporations are going full speed ahead with many cloud offerings without engaging the IT organization. This will create problems down the road, and even some panic in the business. There are significant efforts that need to take place from a data integration point, security, DR, BCP, and in some cases governance. That single SaaS offering the business just purchased is not aware of any other applications, no one mapped out any integration points or data flow, single sign on or even how the data is protected. When I say protected, I am talking security, disaster recovery and business continuity. This is not to mention contractual challenges, and data ownership. Read the contract close, careful and ensure all the details are spelled out. If that SaaS provider goes out of business, and you are left to argue with the 3rd trustee on getting your data back and off the equipment before it goes to a recovery company, good luck. Your contract may not have survived the liquidation of the SaaS provider.

Don't let your business run out of control into the Clouds...... help them understand, manage and architect the right solution. Team work!

Keep ITIL methodology in mind, it still applies to Cloud Services, regardless if it is a private, public or hybrid.

Keep it positive!



Scott Arnett
scott.arnett@charter.net