Ebook Five Key Steps Cloud Takeoff

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

BY JOSH CROWE SVP, Product Development, Internap
2012 Internap Network Services Corporation. All rights reserved. Internap is a registered trademark of Internap. All other trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. 08/12 Tweet this eBook! | 877.843.7627 1 contactsales@internap.com | www.internap.com
TABLE
of contents
3 -------------------- Moving to the Cloud 4 -------------------- Whats So Great About Cloud? 6 -------------------- Iaas is Ready 7 -------------------- Cloud Strategies 9 -------------------- Step One: Prioritize 10 ------------------ Step Two: Realign Goals 11 ------------------ Step Three: Be Hands On 12 ------------------ Step Four: Test a Cloud-Ready App 13 ------------------ Step Five: Just Do It 14 ------------------ Summary 15 ------------------ About Internap 16 ------------------ Sources

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MOVING TO THE CLOUD

one app at a time
Leading IT organizations are realizing that it can be easier to consume quality infrastructure from vendors than to build out ever-more assets into their own data centers. This isnt a slight to the work that enterprise IT organizations have done over the past few decades. Its simply a function of the fact that highperforming, reliable infrastructure is most efficient at scale, and the demand for these services is being better met with each passing day. So, what are world-class IT organizations doing? They are getting out of the infrastructure business. While wholesale outsourcing of infrastructure still presents a host of challenges, most IT departments are now using Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) for at least some of their applications. IaaS provides preconfigured hardware and storage over the Internet. This is a cost-effective delivery model, where the service provider is responsible for owning, hosting, running and maintaining the equipment. In this type of model, organizations typically pay only for what they use.

WHATS SO GREAT
about cloud anyway?
With organizations all over the world abuzz about cloud, the question is no longer if cloud, but when cloud? The advantages of the cloud are many, including: decreased operating costs, increased flexibility and improved service levels. In a Tier1 survey, respondents cited the ability to reduce costs after migrating workloads to the cloud as a top driver for making the switch.1 Companies are seeing these benefits and acting accordingly. One survey found that 7 in 10 companies using cloud services will move new apps to the cloud and that an estimated 60% of servers will be virtualized by 2014.2
top drivers for your public cloud project

1
based on a Tier1 survey
20%
TIME TO MARKET
18%
FLEXIBILITY/ SCALABILITY
43%
COST REDUCTION
12% 7%
REDUCED COMPLEXITY
CONSOLIDATION
top roadblocks you had to overcome when moving to the cloud

based on a Tier1 survey
While it may seem like the cloud is a fix-all,

1
this technology does not come without its share of concerns. Security, privacy, cost, implementation time and reliability are issues many have about the cloud. Ultimately the
22% 15%
COST
choice to outsource infrastructure to the cloud quickly leads to another question: Can I trust my mission-critical applications to the cloud?
COMPLEXITY
43%
LEARNING CURVE
12% 8%
SECURITY BUY-IN
IaaS IS READY
for enterprise applications

Over the past few years, IaaS has rapidly matured to the point that many applications can be hosted reliably with few or no problems. To be sure, there are those who make a living based on the complexity of enterprise IT environments who will provide well-crafted objections about the shortcomings of current IaaS offerings. In some cases they will be right, but IaaS providers are increasingly addressing concerns about reliability, performance and security, and doing so at a lower cost than internal IT.
who is using the IaaS model?

2
Terremark/Verizon Internap Amazon Web Services OpSource Savvis/Century Link
IBM
Microsoft

EXECUTION IS DIFFICULT
so you need a good strategy
Its easy to say that IaaS is ready, right? But youve got mission-critical applications with real-world requirements that are not set in the current context of the capabilities of IaaS providers. For better or worse, expectations have been set by the custom, high-performing environments that the budgets of the last 20 years allowed. Everyone is looking for the benefits of cloud, along with application performance and functionality. Reliable and scalable infrastructure is simply expected. Your reward for building a worldclass enterprise infrastructure is to find a way to gradually make it more efficient, reliable and scalable.

So how and where do you get started in building an IaaS migration strategy?
FOLLOW THESE FIVE STEPS

ONE
understand and prioritize your application portfolio

In classifying the value of each application to your business, use criteria such as: How critical is this application to the business?
P O RI RI TY
Does it support revenue? What are the impacts of application downtime? How hard would it be to move this application to a new platform? Are there specific performance requirements? Are there privacy or compliance issues? What about hardware and software
HEAVY
requirements? Will application re-writes be needed?
COACH
ST S FIR LAS C
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TWO
reallocate resources and realign goals

You may need to assess how to realign both people and budgets around the application. Refocusing your efforts higher up the stack may require retraining people who have been focused solely on building and maintaining infrastructure. Some people wont want to make the transition, and thats okay. Dont forget incentives during this process, including your own. Set realistic metrics and objectives, but dont create an artificial roadblock by placing too much emphasis on setting perfect goals at this point or youll never get started. Most importantly, dont be short-sighted stay focused on long-term goals and results.

THREE
take a hands-on approach to evaluating your options

Dont write an RFI/RFP/RFQ; these are all methods of learning about what the post-sale experience will be like. Instead, spin up some infrastructure with a few providers, and turn it off when youre done. By doing so, youll gain a more in-depth understanding of what the offerings provide in terms of performance, availability, customer service and ease-of-use, among other criteria. Your staff will get invaluable hands-on time, and youll likely spend less time and money than you would in a protracted sales process. This type of evaluation will give you a realworld view of how well a providers infrastructure will support your specific applications.

11
FOUR
test a cloud ready application

After youve removed dependencies on bespoke infrastructure, perform a pilot in which you test a cloud-specific application to the cloud. Once stable, follow your existing, proven application release methodology, and move it officially to the cloud environment. Through trial and error, you can smooth over any bumps in the process and be better prepared for future migrations.

FIVE
just do it
Go low-risk with your first application. Begin your migration with the easiest application to transition that still provides the greatest possible value by moving. Inevitably, issues will arise, and everyone will be quick to blame the infrastructure. So focus on an application that is robust and has a supportive user community. The real key is to start the process and prove to your organization that it can be done, thus setting the stage for a more comprehensive application migration strategy.

13
SUMMARY
As cloud providers roll out more features, locations and capacity, IT organizations are increasingly choosing to buy cloud services over capital equipment. Theyre moving their applications to the cloud, and their mission-critical applications are soon to follow. Prioritizing your apps, setting goals, running preliminary tests and getting started with the right application will add up to a strategic approach that makes the transition successful.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Crowe leads the Product Management and Business Development functions across the complete portfolio of Internap solutions including Data Center Services and IP Services. He is a seasoned executive with extensive product management, development and strategy experience, with particular emphasis in the areas of cloud computing, managed hosting and network services. Mr. Crowe most recently served as Internaps Senior Vice President of Product Engineering. Previously, he was with Savvis, where he served as Vice President, Global Software Development for the network, managed services, security and cloud computing portfolio. Mr. Crowe holds an M.B.A. and a Masters in Information Management from Washington University in St. Louis, as well as a B.A. from Missouri State University.

ABOUT
Internap
INTERNAP CLOUD
Increased flexibility, improved efficiency and enhanced security Maximum performance by distributing workloads to the optimal environment Integrated options to flexibly connect with other Internap platforms Optimized application agility with on-demand provisioning Unlimited capacity for both your day-to-day and unforeseen events Improved performance from the cloud to your end user Dedicated, award-winning enterprise support One application environment, one support contact and one invoice Transform your IT Infrastructure into a competitive advantage with IT IQ from Internap, intelligent IT Infrastructure solutions that combine unmatched performance and platform flexibility. Our unique trio of route-optimized enterprise IP, TCP acceleration and a global content delivery network improves website performance and delivers superior end-user experiences. Our scalable colocation, managed hosting, private cloud, public cloud and hybrid offerings provide enterprises the flexibility to adapt to changing business needs and future-proof their IT Infrastructure. Since 1996, thousands of companies have entrusted Internap with the protection and delivery of their online applications.
Click here to LEARN MORE FIVE KEY STEPS about INTERNAPS PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND CLOUD to a successful cloud takeoff storage solutions
SOURCES
1. Henry Baltazar, The Progression of Cloud Storage: Hybrids, QoS, and Beyond. http://www.snia.org/
sites/default/files2/cloudburst2011/presentations/HenryBaltazar_Progression_Cloud_Storage.pdf
2. Gartner, Cloud Computing: Whats It All About? June 2010
2012 Internap Network Services Corporation. All rights reserved. Internap is a registered trademark of Internap. All other trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.


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FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

MOVING TO THE CLOUD

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

top drivers for your public cloud project

based on a Tier1 survey

top roadblocks you had to overcome when moving to the cloud

While it may seem like the cloud is a fix-all,

for enterprise applications

who is using the IaaS model?

Terremark/Verizon Internap Amazon Web Services OpSource Savvis/Century Link

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

FOLLOW THESE FIVE STEPS

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

understand and prioritize your application portfolio

requirements? Will application re-writes be needed?

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

Tweet this eBook! | 877.843.7627 contactsales@internap.com | www.internap.com

reallocate resources and realign goals

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

take a hands-on approach to evaluating your options

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

test a cloud ready application

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

2. Gartner, Cloud Computing: Whats It All About? June 2010

FIVE KEY STEPS to a successful cloud takeoff

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