Had to chuckle the other day, I was talking with a colleague in Atlanta, and he said Private Cloud is driving him to drink. I thought IT in general did that, not just Private Cloud. But that got me to think, what is Private Cloud really driving - how about virtualization.
Private clouds promise an agile data center, where workloads can be moved around to different physical servers, storage, and networking gear to meet challenging demand. And you can't have a private cloud without virtualization, since the private cloud architecture requires breaking free from physical network and infrastructure constraints. There are several organizations moving down the path of virtualization with great success, but how many are ready for that next step to Private Cloud?
IT vendors are introducing products aimed at private clouds like never before, expanding the virtual value. I see this innovation in interconnects, such as the PCI-SIG's Single Root IOV protocol for linking virtualized devices; in processors, with Intel VI-x and AMD-V, in storage, with hybrid cache mechanisms; in storage controllers with robust software APIs; in applications, with cloud delivery mechanisms, distributed processing, and encapsulation; in networking, with Virtual Private LAN Service and Cisco's Overlay Transport Virtualization. Now does that excite you?
How about the otherside of that coin? While the vendors are solving one problem of implementing private cloud, no one offers a good way to run this larger infrastructure. There is no enterprise wide management tool worth the cost that delivers what is needed. So without this management, how are you going to show your ROI? You increased capability, sure, but at what cost?
I am not discouraging anyone from driving towards private cloud, on the contrary. With some good planning, some holistic view, you can find a place to start. The standards, tools, and ROI will come along, but it is not there yet today. Keep focused on virtualization of your servers, storage, I/O and applications, but don't forget desktops,. Have a strategy around cloud, and how you will manage the technology, the process, and the people.
Keep it positive!
Scott Arnett
scott.arnett@charter.net
About Me
- Scott Arnett
- Scott Arnett is an Information Technology & Security Professional Executive with over 30 years experience in IT. Scott has worked in various industries such as health care, insurance, manufacturing, broadcast, printing, and consulting and in enterprises ranging in size from $50M to $20B in revenue. Scott’s experience encompasses the following areas of specialization: Leadership, Strategy, Architecture, Business Partnership & Acumen, Process Management, Infrastructure and Security. With his broad understanding of technology and his ability to communicate successfully with both Executives and Technical Specialists, Scott has been consistently recognized as someone who not only can "Connect the Dots", but who can also create a workable solution. Scott is equally comfortable playing technical, project management/leadership and organizational leadership roles through experience gained throughout his career. Scott has previously acted in the role of CIO, CTO, and VP of IT, successfully built 9 data centers across the country, and is expert in understanding ITIL, PCI Compliance, SOX, HIPAA, FERPA, FRCP and COBIT.
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