I attended Bernard Golden’s presentation on Hybrid Cloud: Myth and Realities. Hybrid Cloud is and will continue to be the most common Cloud implementation. There will be some companies that are 100% cloud, especially newer and smaller organizations and some companies that have no cloud but these will be fewer and fewer.
Each day AWS adds enough computing to power one whole Amazon.com circa 2003, when it was 5 Billion dollars in business. Estimated to be $20 B in hosting by 2016. Mr. Golden pointed out that we have seen this shift before and uses Henry Ford as an example. In 1908 the Model –T was introduced. In 1913 the assembly line implemented. From 1913 to 1920 the price of the Ford Model-T dropped 75% and Ford gained 75% of the auto market share!
IT will be significantly larger in next 10 years! New applications will be introduced and there will be challenges on how to implement and improve. The biggest issue is legacy.
Questions to consider regarding building up your data center or moving to Cloud:
Can you build and operate world class data center?
What do you do with existing apps?
What is your scale plan?
How can you manage security?
Can you carry utilization risk?
Do you know your economics?
Bernard Golden described three scenarios for IT in Cloud:
1. Cloud/Legacy Mix in Data Center
Agile development and traditional operations
“Avoids Big Bang” requirement
Not as disruptive
No need to retrofit existing apps
Key questions
Where do agile apps go?
Reducing costs in IT infrastructure
Need to build cloud operations capability
Probability : 50% Short Term, 15% Long Term
2. Mild Hybrid
Legacy data center, CSP for cloud apps
Avoids Cloud ops requirements
No need to retrofit legacy apps
Key questions:
What about high cost existing infrastructure?
What about shadow IT?
Probability: 50% Long Term
3. Maximum Hybrid
Legacy Data Center Squeeze
Service provider / SaaS forward strategy
Shrinks high cost infrastructure
Redirects budget to business objects
Key questions:
Cultural resistance
Managing infrastructure not assets
Probability: 30% Long Term
Action Items:
Recognize critical IT role in today’s business.
Understand the urgency for your future.
Recognize the sea change in IT economics.
Analyze application portfolio and look for application “life events.”
Be prepared for process, policy, and skill changes.
Be prepared for internal resistance.
Determine your cloud scenario going forward.