Economies of scale within the data center are highly beneficial in controlling costs related to cloud computing, says the senior vice president at Europe’s leading provider of colocation services.
“Outsourcing cloud services helps companies that cannot afford to build or continue to expand their own data centers, thereby reducing their capital expenses and operating expenses,” writes Kevin Dean of Interxion in a recent issue of Data Center Knowledge.com. “Facility costs are growing rapidly, and according to the Uptime Institute, the true costs of running a server are often four to five times the cost of the server alone over a five-to-10-year lifetime.”
Cloud computing is shaping up to be the driving force in IT worldwide, with IDC predicting that spending on cloud services will reach $42 billion by 2012. IT organizations are already facing challenges as they confront this “cloud revolution,” and Dean is convinced that outsourcing to carrier-neutral MSPs such as EasyStreet makes the most sense.
“Using a third-party data center equates to great savings in both cost and administration for the business,” he says.
Since EasyStreet opened its doors in the mid ‘90s, the company has been synonymous with superior connectivity. Now — with the worldwide IT community poised to take advantage of the rapidly growing presence of cloud computing — connectivity is even more vital.
“As virtualized infrastructures and the demand for ‘anywhere, anytime’ access continue to increase, connectivity has become as important as processing power for users — meaning a company’s implementation of cloud computing will succeed or fail based on the quality of the end-user connection,” says Kevin Dean, a senior vice president at Interxion, Europe’s leading provider of colocation services.
“Maximum bandwidths and multiple connectivity options will drive adoption of the pay-per-use model, and anything less will have the reverse effect,” he adds in support of colocation offerings such as EasyStreet’s. “A carrier-neutral data center can provide the widest possible range of connectivity options, and with increased choice, comes more opportunities for lower costs.”
Dean’s comments appeared in a recent article in Data Center Knowledge.com.
Despite the appeal of rapid deployment and several economic benefits, new data depicts IT managers as remaining cautious of the cloud computing.
Nearly half of 1,800 IT professionals polled as part of the first ISACA IT Risk/Reward Barometer survey said that the cloud’s potential risks still outweigh its benefits. The survey also revealed that only 10 percent plan to use cloud computing for mission-critical IT services while 25 percent won’t use the cloud for any IT services.
“The cloud represents a major change in how computing resources will be utilized, so it’s not surprising that IT professionals have concerns about risk vs. reward trade-offs,” according to Robert Stroud, international vice president of ISACA and vice president of IT service management and governance at CA.
“But risk and value are two sides of the same coin,” he continued. “If cloud computing is treated as a major governance initiative involving a broad set of stakeholders, it has the potential to yield benefits that can equal or outweigh the risks.”
Benefits of virtualization are eluding many companies because their IT staffs lack the technical know-how to effectively deploy it. That was the startling finding of a recent report from Forrester Consulting after interviewing nearly 300 IT managers regarding adoption of virtual systems.
Some say the estimated level of virtualization today is about 30 percent, or about what it was two years ago. Not only do virtual systems require new skills, but new management and automation technologies also must be introduced into the environment. According to the Forrester report: “The proper skills for the future are difficult to attain and retain.”
“As functions are automated, reliance on skilled staff decreases,” the report reads. “A potentially dangerous skills gap is emerging. Another skills concern is how virtualization fits into an overall service management movement. Such expertise is currently in short supply.”
Industry observers say delays in greater implementation of virtual systems could also stall adoption of cloud computing. The cloud utilizes a pool of virtualized resources allocated on demand—growing and shrinking as needed—that should rely on virtualization. Yet without virtual server adoption peaking beyond 30 percent, cloud environments could be stymied for the time being.
The concept of storing data in the “cloud” is not especially popular among IT decision makers, according to a new survey by Forrester Research. The survey wanted to know who planned to use cloud storage services offered by companies such as Amazon, EMC Atmos, Nirvanix, and AT&T.
Three percent of the survey respondents said they already are using cloud storage. Another three percent plan to implement cloud storage in the next year, while five percent they plan to do so next year or later.
But an overwhelming 43 percent said they’re not interested, and the balance said they may be somewhat interested in the concept but had no plans to adopt it.
“There is long-term potential for storage-as-a-service,” wrote Forrester analyst Andrew Reichman, “but Forrester sees issues with guaranteed service levels, security, chain of custody, shared tenancy, and long-term pricing as significant barriers that still need to be addressed before it takes off in any meaningful way.”
The 1,200 IT administrators Forrester surveyed are from small and mid-sized businesses in North America and Europe.
