Think twice

Chances are, many businesses already run part of their activities “in the cloud". And if they don't, then they will in the very near future.

The growth of cloud computing - or Internet-based applications and services - is becoming so pervasive that analysts such as Gartner expect as many as 20% of businesses to rid themselves entirely of their IT assets by 2012 and rely solely on the cloud.

Even if a business is not moving into the cloud yet, it is becoming increasingly important that the company considers the pros and cons of cloud computing, now.

Cloud computing - which encompasses both internal and external cloud environments - changes the IT game entirely. The current trend is away from investments in expensive hardware and software to manage the business, and towards services and infrastructure provided through the Web; services that can be scaled, added to or upgraded as and when the business needs it.

Cloud computing means it is simple to add more power to a company's infrastructure to cope with peak periods or general growth, and scale back when the company doesn't need it. And even if a business hosts its own on-site virtualisation environment, it means adding another server to the existing set-up to cope with additional demands is just a click away.

It's a compelling value proposition, except for one thing. When handing over the processes and data to a cloud service provider, or investing in virtualisation software, is the company also handing over control of its business processes to a third party?

What happens if company needs change? If it is unhappy with the service being offered? Or it just needs to move the business elsewhere for cost considerations? Can this be done? How easy would it be to do it? Or will the company be locked in to a relationship that is expensive to get out of?

The primary value of investing in cloud services and virtualisation is for the flexibility it offers. This flexibility, however, needs to extend beyond simply being able to increase capacity and capabilities. It needs to include the ability to move between services, manage applications on multiple platforms and retain control over company data.

Will the company be locked in to a relationship that is expensive to get out of?

Muggie van Staden is MD of Obsidian Systems.

Which is why open standards and open source software are still key considerations in the world of cloud computing. And choosing a provider that offers a service without limiting the company's options, as well as a service that spans multiple platforms, is key for the business' future.

Not all of the cloud service providers currently offer services that fit this bill. Many will restrict a company to one platform, or wrap data up in proprietary formats that will make it near on impossible to move away from them, except at great cost.

So, when making a decision on cloud infrastructure, consider these two issues: Does the company's chosen service or provider work across platforms, or is it restricted to one environment? Open source and open standards like those provided by Linux developers such as Red Hat ensure a company's future is flexible. With open standards-based virtualisation, a company is not locked into a single environment and its infrastructure is able to grow with the business.

The other consideration is whether the business is able to access a range of different cloud services using the software it uses. Cloud infrastructure is not homogeneous. Part of the business may run on Amazon EC2, another part on an internal private cloud running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and a third in a Windows environment. Managing all of these environments through a common interface, or API, such as DeltaCloud, is important in ensuring the cloud networks are integrated. Software such as Red Hat and others that support the likes of DeltaCloud ensure present and future flexibility.

While Gartner predicts that many companies will move their entire infrastructure into the cloud, there are many organisations that will not. They will likely get rid of just part of their IT assets and move the balance into the cloud. The result will be a mix of internal private cloud and external cloud investments. On top of that the underlying hardware and software will very likely be from a range of providers, the result of previous investments. Instead of throwing out everything and being forced to start again, businesses need to work with vendors that allow them to put these assets to work irrespective of where they come from.

Interoperability is key to maximising the potential of virtualisation and cloud computing. Red Hat's Cloud Foundations, for example, allow enterprises to build internal clouds using their choice of virtualisation software and hardware, and manage applications on both these and public cloud environments through a common set of management tools.

It's these kinds of capabilities - open standards, flexibility, interoperability - that make cloud computing a viable and attractive opportunity for businesses. Without these, the business could simply be locking away its assets in a private, inflexible cloud from which it could find it hard to extricate itself.