Step wise cloud implementation for the CIOs

The questions that usually perplex the CIOs about Clod are: We should implement cloud now? Should I put everything on the cloud or just a part of our infrastructure or applications? Is it necessary to shift everything to the cloud? Will I get a fast ROI if I shift to cloud? Would it make sense for me to shift to cloud? The list obviously continues…..

Cloud is definitely a sure bet—both for your OPEX and CAPEX. Hence, in the long run you definitely cannot do without the Cloud. So what would be a safe approach that the CIO can take?

Please note that it is not imperative to shift everything to the cloud at one go; you can take a step by step approach. As per industry experts, use the hybrid model. Divide your applications accordingly: a) Apps that you can move straightway, without any worries. b) Apps that you can move at a later time period. c) Business critical apps that you don’t want to move and keep on premise.

So as you can see, you don’t have to go the whole to cloud. You take the less critical apps to cloud and keep the business critical apps on premise! This approach can save you money and time, as well as give you a peace of mind—knowing that you still have control over your business critical apps.

But please note that I am not saying that business critical apps should not go to the cloud. I am all for cloud, and believe in its potential and security measures. The approach I mentioned is the one that the cloud doubting CIOs can take and enable a smooth transition.

Cloud security competent

Is there really a difference between security for cloud and the on premise security? There seems to be just a thin red line between the two. You need to be careful and vigilant irrespective of where you store your data. So if you think staying on-premise instead of going to cloud will solve all your security problems—you are gravely mistaken!! In fact experts point out that traditional on-premise system with local client storage on company laptops are even more vulnerable to attack or other threats than cloud-based systems. In fact, organizations can benefit by leveraging the added security skills and resources of the SaaS and cloud computing service providers.

Many of the cloud providers have to go through security and compliance audits, and follow the best practices. Additionally, the experience of working with different organizations has given them the domain expertise and knowledge. So practically speaking they are more suited and equipped to protect your data.

So stop worrying about the security aspects of the cloud. In fact many solutions and measures that would get a cloud security are far better than your on-premise solutions.

Protect Your Data on Cloud

Came across a really interesting article in ComputerWorld- When Your Cloud Service Vanishes: How to protect your data. Today, we upload a lot of data online. But as we are aware nothing is permanent and over the course of time, some of the online data in the online space might disappear. Are we being quixotic in believing the cloud so much? How do we ensure the safety of our data in cloud? How do we ensure that our data is authentic and no unauthorized persons have gained access to it? How do we prevent such the problems.

Read the article to gain an interesting insight!

Cloud give you an competitive edge

Do Cloud give you an competitive edge? I definitely believe so.

A recent white paper from CIO magazine listed the following as cloud computing benefits:

• Replacing capital expenses with operating expenses
• Reduced hardware costs
• Reduced capacity needs
• Reduced technology risk
• Increased productivity
• Improved user experience
• Reduced environmental impact

So do you still have doubts?

IDC Says Cloud & Virtulization to optimize management overheads

Organizations and their CIOs are going the cloud and virtulization path. I am a strong proponent of that approach. A recent IDC report really excited me as it mentioned:

• Looking forward to the near future and the impact of the development of Security-as-a-Service (SaaS), IDC predicts cloud computing and virtualization technology to be the long-term development directions for optimizing management overheads in the security software market.
• Automation and centralized management is the ‘paradise’ that organizations are looking for.
• A cloud-based security software will provide a real time protection to the information flows with broad user coverage as it just requires one single point for automated patches and thus quicker in terms of definitions generating and updating.
• Meanwhile, security software solutions in the virtualized environment have become the fundamental equipment amongst solution providers, as the highway to virtualized environment getting established and in a faster speed with the propagation of cloud computing.

IDC on Cloud Security

We still talk about security concerns that makes the organizations hesitate to go on the cloud. Many security vendors do say that the cloud security solutions are more robust than the traditional solutions. I also truly believe that security will not be that big an issue for the cloud and the existing security solutions are robust enough to withstand security threats.

So a recent IDC comment on cloud and virtualization really made me excited: 

"Looking forward to the near future and the impact of the development of Security-as-a-Service (SaaS), IDC predicts cloud computing and virtualization technology to be the long-term development directions for optimizing management overheads in the security software market. Automation and centralized management is the ‘paradise’ that organizations are looking for. A cloud-based security software will provide a real time protection to the information flows with broad user coverage as it just requires one single point for automated patches and thus quicker in terms of definitions generating and updating. Meanwhile, security software solutions in the virtualized environment have become the fundamental equipment amongst solution providers, as the highway to virtualized environment getting established and in a faster speed with the propagation of cloud computing."

 I definitely agree. What say you?

WiFi-- bridge the digital gap

I get really surprised when people say that Wifi is ‘a has been’ technology. But you got to know that Wifi is neither dead nor out, but is very much there. WiFi today is no longer just about providing access to the Internet, it is about enabling applications for the users. Whether you want to watch video, listen to music and read a book—you can do it all using WiFi!! The bandwidth, speed of access or the things you can do is really amazing. So guys WiFi has evolved to a much mature and stable technology.

But then you might ask where do you see WiFi? Well, just look at your mobile devices, specifically your cell phone. The ample coverage benefits, bandwidth and wide availability are encouraging the carriers, handset makers, and end users to embrace Wi-Fi. ABI Research says half a billion Wi-Fi enabled handsets will ship in 2014, with 90 percent of smartphones incorporating Wi-Fi.

WiFi is being used for last mile connectivity. The telecom service provides have realized that Wi-Fi is not a competitors but a facilitator; hence they are offloading their 3G traffic.

But where else do you see Wifi—you might ask? Hospitality, healthcare and education sectors are adopting WiFI. Imagine how difficult and expensive it would be to enable a mall or large hotel or a big university!! But WiFi makes it easy and cost effective.

Additionally, WiFi is a great enabler to the bridge the digital gap. So to take the internet and its benefits to the remote areas, WiFi seems to be a safe bet.

So you see—Wifi is still there, and it’s evolving and spreading at a fast pace!!!