Application Independence

Another compelling reason to go with hosted infrastructure

When to make the jump to hosted services is a big decision with significant impact on the network, security, operations, etc.  It has vastly different stake  depending on who you ask.  The flexibility that it buys is undeniable. It is just a matter of time before all but the most sensitive of data sets make the migration.  

Enterprise vs SMB adoption

Corporate decision makers, faced with crucial stewardship obligations of customer data, and for that matter, crippling penalties if sensitive information is leaked, have been highly incented to work with a ‘secure the perimeter’ approach to their data centers.   Many are realizing though that the external access points are many and growing, and that the ‘perimeter’ is fast becoming less about the physical location of servers and storage and more about network design.

Informal consensus from the panel was that adoption by SMBs is happening much faster, and that large enterprise - particularly key healthcare and finance data applications, will remain in-house for a considerable time longer.      

That being said infrastructure consultants and service providers are working flat-out to address the high volume of new customer demand.

Quick review; Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) means that compute, storage and networking resources reside in a hosted facility, with the prime advantages of being able to expense the cost, purchase capacity on demand and deploy over distance.    Implemented the right way, the customer is given maximum flexibility to manage data and applications remotely.

Bonus of freeing apps from hardware

Halfway across the US, Infrastructure as a Service provider, PeakColo, is making a name for itself among the giants by providing some of the most advanced new solutions in cloud hosting and flexibility, including software defined network capability.  Their recent whitepaper along with insights from CEO, Luke Norris, on Wikibon’s The Cube at Brocade Tech Day in Sept., show the freeing options for end user decision makers that are already a reality, and exciting to consider.

On the hardware side, there are the usual named benefits of being able to buy growth capacity as needed and to have burst capability on hand, yet not incur the overhead cost of idle assets in the majority of off-peak conditions.  E.g billing cycles, annual reporting and tax time, or special testing environments.   It is not unlike what electric utilities have to plan for during the occasional heat-wave.

One less recognized, though possibly more far-reaching, benefit is the newly realized ability to update applications independent of the traditional 3-5 year hardware upgrade cycle.  Without having to plan around hardware, hosted customers can now focus on application lifecycle, which is much closer to the core of business operations.  

If a given customer’s applications will benefit from changes as frequent as 6 months, then there is now maximum flexibility to address.

Norris notes that by providing infrastructure and addressing a big portion of capital expenditure, the conversation among C-level decision makers becomes much more dynamic.  More leaders can engage and the business options are greater.   With infrastructure lead times no longer a gate, this now drives faster deployments to the benefit of all.

Latest and greatest solutions

And there’s more. Because of rapid growth and continuous addition of new capacity, PeakColo notes their opportunity to test and implement the newest in storage, servers and switching.   Their customers, in turn, are running at speeds, flexibility and efficiencies much sooner than most can implement on their own.   Most of us would agree that the available capital and resources to match this in-house is mostly found at the private data centers of large, but very conservative, financial houses.  

When it comes to deploying globally, there is again an advantage for SMB’s making inroads in ecommerce and other verticals where global reach and speed over distance are now more critical than ever before for businesses of this size.  IaaS providers with widely deployed services represent a new level of cost effectiveness.

As security steadily improves, access points become more widely deployed and costs come down, it is easy to see how even the most conservative of operations want to consider a move to hosted services.

Until next time, we’ll see you in the cloud…

 

Ray DeMeo

VP, BD for DCV Engineering