How Cloud Has Re-defined Resource Utilization
It’s important to quickly understand that cloud computing isn’t going anywhere. In fact, the proliferation of cloud computing and various cloud services is only continuing to grow. To really put this into perspective, consider this - A 2013 Cisco Cloud Index report indicated that cloud traffic has crossed the zettabyte (1000^7 bytes) threshold in 2012. Furthermore, by 2016, nearly two-thirds of all data center traffic will be based in the cloud.
User transparency. One of the key components of any cloud deployment will be the end-user. As the user consumes your cloud – the entire process must be as seamless as possible. You can have the best infrastructure in place, but if the user experience is degraded; you cloud will face adoption challenges. In creating user cloud profiles, know what workloads they are accessing, the information they require and the amount of resources you’ll need to provision to ensure a good user experience. The elastic cloud. Cloud-based resources not only have to be carefully managed – but they have to be logically distributed as well. This is where the power of an elastic cloud can really come in. Modern organizations are able to leverage resources as needed and only pay for them when required. This “pay-as-you-go” model not only increases the efficiency of your cloud model, it also allows you to elastically utilize the resources that you need. This, in turn, helps prevent cloud sprawl. By utilizing the elastic cloud, administrators are able to dynamically provision and deprovision resources as needed.
[Source: Cloud Index Report, 2013] The digitization of the modern business has created a new type of reliance around cloud computing. However, it’s important to understand that the cloud isn’t just one platform. Rather, it’s an integrated system of various hardware, software and logical links working together to bring data to the end-user. With that in mind, your organization must understand how the concept of the cloud has completely re-defined the way we use data center resource. Cloud-ready hardware resources. Cloud computing revolves around the proper utilization of data center resources. This is why it’s important to understand your cloud and see where the latest high-density, multi-tenancy hardware is required. Don’t forget, cloud sprawl can be a very real issue and controlling cloud resources is an important part of the deployment process. Data control and security. The distributed nature of cloud computing necessitates planning around good data controls and logical infrastructure security. This might mean creating user-based roles for storage systems or placing entire applications behind virtual application firewalls. Remember, the cloud isn’t perfect – this is why it’s important to be proactive around your information and the security platform.
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Capacity planning. Whether you’re working with a private, public or hybrid cloud- the capacity planning process is integral. You’re not only planning for today’s needs; but you’re also ensuring that you have resource capacity to grow. Cloud computing is designed around placing numerous workloads and users onto single redundant cloud systems. These platforms must have the right resources to process data, user requests and the various cloud services which are becoming available. The capacity planning portion of a cloud deployment is actually an on-going process which must continuously evaluate resource utilization to ensure optimal cloud infrastructure performance. Already we are seeing entire organizations be born within the cloud. As IT consumerization continues and more devices connect into a cloud service, it’ll be crucial to work with a partner that understands the big cloud picture. When creating your cloud infrastructure, planning around resource not only creates a more robust platform, it’ll also save your organization money. It’s time to better understand resource utilization within your cloud – and how you can align key cloud services with your organization’s goals!