x — ‘September 2017 = = Gq a fluence and insight How Organizational Efficiency Can Be Improved with PRIVATE CLOUD WHITE PAPER Prepared by Zeus Kerravala ZKResearch ‘ADivison of Kerravala Consulting (020177 Reseach= ABOUT THE AUTHOR Zeus Kervavala is ZK Research. Kerravala ical advice to help hie cliente in both term. He de to the fllowing IT and network FIT hardiva financial community ZK RESEARCH | How Orga ee ee INTRODUCTION: THE CLOUD ERA HAS ARRIVED Businesses ofall shapes and sizes are moving into the cloud era. Not long ago, cloud opps were just on ffordable way for small businesses fo acquite the kind of tools only an enterprise could cofford; big enterprises preferred to build their own expensive data centers and design custom apps for everything they needed. However, those days are long gone. Now, big businesses are jumping into the cloud as they digitally transform their organizations to enable the quickimplementation of new services aimed at improving efficiency and maximizing revenue. The term “cloud! isin the news oll the time, mainly with regard to popular public cloud services such os emeil and music. Bu although they ae important, those services arent mission eitical So, toprovide companies with mission-critical services, private cloud services have been growing at breakneck speed os wel. Private cloud services are tcilored fo the needs of IT organizations that require greater contol, flexibility and security With two approaches tothe cloud available—public and private—most organizations take a hybrid approach. Some apps sit inthe public cloud, while other, more mission-critical apps stn the private cloud. Either way, the clouds akey ingredient inthe digital ransformation that most ‘organizations ave undergoing. The traditional IT methods that once revolutionized business have outlived ther strategic useful ness. They/te no longer agile enough to meet the needs of today's digital organizations. The cloud offers the kind of dynamism organizations need. Scaling resources up or down used to take time cond planning. Now, with the cloud, organizations can clicko few times and provision new services cr applications to handle peak demand, or they can spin down servers when demand slows. There's ne need fora time-consuming Visit tothe data center or any need to worry about hardware; it's all there in the cloud 2K Research’ five-year forecast forthe cloud morket shows traditional on-premises data cen- ters are on a sharp decline, with public and private cloud services ascending (Exhibit 1), In 2027, traditional on-premises dato centers account for 55% of the market, while public and private clouds hold a combined 45%, In two short years, traditional IT infrastructures share wil dip below 50%, and by 2023, it wll occupy 41%, while the combined public and private clouds wil hold 59% ofthe market. In the same period, the private cloud market will row from an 18% share in 2017 to 24% in 2021—an expansion in real terms of 33%. Although many factors could affect its continued ‘growth rate, ZK Research believes that the private cloud market will be on por with that of tro- ditional on-premises data centers within the next seven to eight years. Given the wide range of ‘opplications its almost a certainty that hybrid cloud environments will become the norm. The ZK Research 2017 IT Priorities Survey found that 83% of organizations are planning to Evaluate Openstack with commodity in-__ > Explore VMware vCloud/NSX: This infra eee eee Ea ees ete rs See vice features dedicated cloud, virtual private ee eee Cone esa Eee eee Senet ee eae ‘that works with OpenStack, containers and Se eae opener eas eee ae ee One eer oe roe Se ne ee eee Seen ‘operating system level as amethod to virual- kind of tool enables you to build the cloud orem ‘environment you need, to your precise sp rea 7« Reach: A Dison of Ktrovela Conauing © 2017 ZKRetsrch fou— Once a private cloud has been chosen, the neat step is lo find a web-scale networking solution. 7x Reach: A Dion of Ket vl Corsuling ©2017 ZK Resear Boe oeore SECTION IV: KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK SOLUTION PROVIDERS In their quest to evaluate the right private cloud solutions, businesses will hove to ask alot of, ‘questions. And, once a private cloud has been chosen, the next step isto find a web-scale networking solution. ZK Research has prepared this brief guide containing the right questions for businesses to ‘osk a web-scale service provider: 9? Ifthe provider offers only the software, a piace of the puzzle is sill missing. Look for a provider that can provide a package of highly inteligent software that willrun on commodity hardware. A provider that offers one without the other is not delivering everything a business needs. Does the provider have existing web-scale customers? Ifa provider talks a good gome, press for references or case studies. Ifit can't show proof of an existing roster of customers, move on to the next option. Does the provider offer a common operational model for the data center? Uiiizing Linux ‘cross the data center means that specialized network engineers aren't required fo operate pro- prietary systems. Plus, because i’ all Linux based, companies con employ the same fools used in other parts oftheir infrastructure. How easyisit to use? Ask for a demo, Lock at the dashboards and interfaces, and then give ite {ost run. [ft not intuitive and simple to use, keep looking, Does the solu deployment is unique, o lock for a provider that offers alot of options. I a provider wants to lock support a wide range of deployment models, such asL3 and L2? Every ‘customer into its model and doesr't offer any other options, it’s probably the wrong choice. Is there away to conduct fabrie-wide validation? The network plays a critical role in the suc- cess of a private cloud. Confirm that the vendor offers a tool that gathers telemetry information cond can ensure the network s elways behaving as intended. The tool should work across the full lifecycle of the network and be vendor agnostic SECTION V: FIVE REASONS YOUR ORGANIZATION CAN BENEFIT FROM BUILDING A PRIVATE CLOUD 1. Customized tools and processes: Every company is different, soto fulfill your needs, you'll probably need to customize the tools and processes. In contrast to.a public cloud, which you pretty much have to take off the shelf, a private cloud gives you the ability to make the solution fit your exact needs.— The cloud provides a foundation for digital businesses to implement new services quickly and keep ahead of their competitors. 7x Reach: A Dion of Ket vl Corsuling ©2017 ZK Resear Boe oeore 2. Automation and efficion: With a private cloud, you can cutomate several processes ‘ond eliminate labor-intensive activities that con keep your IT staff way from their core duties. ‘and cost: With public cloud solutions, the costs skyracket as the solution scales tohandle demands. In private cloud implementation, you can antic’pate the need to scale and not break the bank in the process. 4. Fle deliver new opplications. A private cloud, on the other hand, provides great opportunities for flex- ity and speed in application delivery: A public cloud offers litle opportunity to ibilty and speed in delivering the exact applications you need when you need them. 5. Option to gohybri option of bolting on a public cloud connection so that you can have the best af both worlds—cal- you op! fora private cloud implementation, you'll elways hove the endaring and email in « public cloud, for example, and more sensitive document storage and customer-focused apps in e private cloud SECTION VI: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Digital iransformation is putting immense pressure on businesses to move with unprecedented speed, Legacy compute models are foo slow and rigid to create the dynamic foundation needed for ‘organizations to become agile businesses and copture digitel opportunites. The cloud provides a foun- dotion for digital businesses fo implement new services quickly and keep chead of their competitors. There is a perception that businesses face a tough decision of either using a public cloud service cr deploying their own private cloud. However, most businesses take « hybrid approach and leverage the sirengths of each computing model—which means these companies must develop a strategy to build ond operate a private coud, Technology is evolving at a pace never seen before, and IT leaders must act with some urgency fo develop their cloud plons. As organizations head down the cloud path, business ond IT leaders should heed the following recommendations: Understand that public clouds don't solve all problems. Public clouds have brood appeal because they are easy and fast to deploy, but they dont solve all ofa company's problems. Large enterprises have several factors to consider—including compliance issues, regulatory concerns and alignment with DevOps—that could make a public cloud service the wrong choice for ceriain use cases Use private cloud for di to differentiate themselves from competitors should be deployed in a private cloud. Ths offers 9s. Any application that companies use entiating the business the greatest amount of control and security while providing the flexibility, scale and ‘automation required to enable business agility.CONTACT ‘seus @zhresearch.com Col 301-775-7447 fice: 978-252-5314 ©2017 ZKReworh _ADiviianF Kerala Contig ‘lighted. Reproduction ‘rtetinonin oy frm wind “Ze Resarchis expen rl Boe oeore Deploy aweb- port a private cloud is significantly diferent from a network deployedin a legacy data center. A lenetwork in conjunction with a private cloud. The network used to sup- web-scale networks simpler to deploy and scale at a significantly lower cost than a traditional network. Also, businesses should choose a vendor based on cloud altributes instead of traditional criteria. These include whether the network is open, adheres to industry standards, is software centric and is easy to align with DevOps.