Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the set of disciplines, technologies, and business models used to render IT capabilities as on-demand services. "On-demand" permits agile deployment of services within an enterprise; it also permits delivery of services as utilities in an open market subject to competition. Internet powerhouses, such as Google, Amazon, and SalesForce, have built large-scale server, storage, data, and compute infrastructures. Perfecting the cost models have helped maximize business agility and profit. These dynamic infrastructures are no longer the sole domain of Internet-based services; a growing number of enterprise clients are leveraging these concepts to drive down cost while increasing business agility.

• When to apply cloud computing, and when it should be avoided^TV
• Moving internal services to pay-as-you-go^TV infrastructure
• Quick provisioning and de-provisioning of users and resources
• Mobility advantages – accessing your application or data anytime, anywhere
• Reducing specialized IT administration expertise through cloud infrastructure
• Improved economics due to shared infrastructure
• Lightweight entry/exit service acquisition
• The business, security, and privacy concerns of cloud-hosted identities and data^TV

Whether an enterprise chooses to build their own cloud infrastructure or leverage an external party, getting the underlying architecture right is critical. Burton Group provides practical advice for the underlying architectures, technologies, and platforms necessary, including:

• Building cloud-friendly applications
• Public, private, and internal clouds
• Server virtualization, migration, and fail-over strategies
• Segmenting data to leverage outsourced storage
• Understanding software-as-a-service (SaaS) , platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS).
• Improving business continuity by exploiting cloud-based architectures

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