NYC Metro Ethernet Aligns Well With Cloud Push - CNSG Converged Network Services Group

NYC Metro Ethernet Aligns Well With Gartner's Private Cloud Push

NYC Metro Ethernet providers found cause to celebrate a story coming out of Gartner research; the well-known information technology research and advisory company.  Gartner’s most recent report there is huge potential for significant future growth in the private cloud segment.  At the IT Infrastructure, Operations, and Management Summit 2011 in Orlando, FL Gartner analysts professed the benefits that businesses will recognize by migrating to this model.

Gartner’s report, released last week, advises businesses to shift from traditional private computing models into virtualization with the focus on leveraging a private cloud.  Considering the critical need to keep a private cloud “online” for the benefit of all parties accessing the information, data center service providers and telecom providers are working to educate companies about the benefits of the combination of offsite private cloud location and high speed connectivity; through MPLS, Metro Ethernet, and fiber connections. 

Gartner analyst Thomas Bittman decreed the benefits are based around the concept that “delivery of service levels at cost and with agility” is key to the future of companies and their approach to IT.  He furthered his stance by remarking that IT departments need to understand the responsibility that goes beyond merely hosting and managing equipment.  The setup will be to have IT departments provide IT services to the units in an organization that truly need them, departments will then adhere to a chargeback basis.  Virtualization will play an important role in this model.

“Transitioning the data center to be more cloud-like could be great for the business, but it causes you to make some difficult architecture decisions, too" remarked Gartner Analyst Chris Wolf.  Gartner representatives continued to note that the physical diagraming required for developing this type of solution demands a strategic approach, and highlighted the need for IT managers and CIOs to avoid the path of least resistance to construct a private cloud.  The approach warned against is not to simply add virtual machines to existing physical servers.

Gartner focused squarely on developing solutions that work best for a business, even if the setup is does not equal the full definition of the term.  The solutions may be “cloud-like” from the service providers and vendors, who insist that full automation in operations are required for a solution to be considered a cloud by definition.  Wolf continued to profess, “Some manual processes have to be expected.”

Telecom providers and data center providers alike are aware of the current market in the virtualization segment.  VMware dominates the landscape; however, Hyper-V from Microsoft has seen steady growth and XenServer from Citrix is beginning to become more prevalent as well.  The challenge for IT decision makers is, as always, the need to leverage new technology without paying too much for the benefits.  IT decision makers may wish to hold off on making any long-term commitments to a solution as VMware currently has high licensing costs and restrictions on “per-VM use in the cloud.”  

Another drawback to developing a long-term model is that using multiple virtualization providers in a solution could present operational challenges.  Wolf stated that there is a “disconnect” between what CIOs need from the market and what the market is supplying regarding these tools.  He noted that a recent forum of CIOs that were overseeing the development of internal private clouds revealed that three quarters of them were using “home-grown” management tools for activities such as ticketing and connecting to asset management systems.  The overall takeaway on the topic was that Gartner noted the lack of mature management tools in the market today.

The report encourages companies to embrace plans to construct a long-term private cloud strategy, and made note that the approach should also include awareness for the typical marketplace development for new products/services.  Suppliers and vendors who are part of the current trend will ultimately cease to offer services as competition and mergers/acquisitions take their natural course.  

Gartner continued to promote the concept that private cloud planning “will involve updating procurement and change management processes used internally today”, and also noted that a determination will be needed to understand which applications work well in the cloud and which do not.  The conventioneers were provided an example showing that enterprise level Microsoft SharePoint does not work well in VMware.  This was the catalyst for those in attendance to understand that companies considering private clouds can benefit by stipulating in their future RFPs to software vendors the need for their applications to work properly in a virtualized environment.  By noting this aspect in an RFP, companies can save time and money by avoiding companies that try to shoehorn their solution (complete with promises of “bug less functionality”) into a virtualized environment on the unsuspecting company’s dime.

Gartner highlighted a very notable change to IT operations in the virtualized world; the approach to networking and its relationship to Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP) and a multiple office environment footprint.  Per the exchange at the conference, Gartner eluded that under a virtualized setup there is a significant increase in bandwidth.  This will result in as much as 25 times the current bandwidth from a similar existing physical footprint; therefore, the need for high-speed connectivity is paramount.  The concept casts telecom providers into the role of ensuring that the new arrangement has “wings to fly.”

Interconnections between multiple office locations (manufacturing plants/distribution centers/back office infrastructure/external data centers) will rely on the strength of the carriers and their network.  The success of any company focused on constructing a private cloud will be determined in part by internal decisions and external factors.  The external factors will largely be the provider of the connectivity and the external data centers that may be leveraged in the strategy due to their ability to handle enormous amounts of bandwidth that enterprise clients need to operate efficiently.

Development of secure private clouds is not an overnight solution.  Strategic planning and in depth discussions with business units and vendors need thorough attention. The upside to the solution however is the anticipated increase in security and connectivity, as well as a centralized solution that avoids the confusion of disparate legacy systems.  Telecom providers should be focused on connecting with firms who may now be in the early planning stages of a private cloud solutions.  Many options are available for heavily populated metropolitan areas, especially on each coast.  Providers will likely be pushing the benefits of all connectivity options, including NYC Metro Ethernet.