From Virtualization to Cloud: Back to Growth by Leveraging Technology

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER From Virtualization to Cloud: Back to Growth by Leveraging Technology Sponsored by: Dell Sergio Patano July 2014 SITUATION OVERVIEW Cloud services, social business, Big Data and analytics, and mobile computing are the 4 pillars that are definitively changing the information and communication technology (ICT) landscape. The most important trends and events in the ICT market will cluster around these 4 pillars on what IDC calls the 3 rd Platform, an ecosystem with a higher level of complexity characterized by a greater number of applications, information, and users. The ICT infrastructure is moving away from the 2 nd Platform, which was mainly characterized by distributed computational capacity driven by the diffusion of PC clients and servers (primarily x86 servers) and stimulated by the use of Internet and LAN environments within organizations, and is running toward a new dimension for growth and innovation, where the 4 Pillars will help companies address the challenges of economic downturn and face an increasingly globalized market. FIGURE 1 The 3 rd Platform Source: IDC, 2014 Organizations must know that in order to get the most out the 3 rd Platform, datacenters have to evolve and become more efficient, scalable, and flexible. In IDC's opinion, this is the only way to effectively transform the IT infrastructure in order to anticipate business needs and thus to support and meet company goals. July 2014, IDC #IDCWP21W

2 THE JOURNEY TO THE CLOUD: DATACENTER EVOLUTION The 3 rd Platform technology evolution brings an exponential increase of the number of devices and users that can, and must, have complete access to information and business applications. It also drives dramatic growth in structured and unstructured data volumes that must be stored, classified and managed, putting enterprise datacenters and service providers' facilities under pressure. To meet the new IT and business requirements, the whole datacenter must evolve so as not to become the biggest barrier to innovation and business growth. Many companies have already undertaken this transformation process, which starts with pervasive adoption of virtualization solutions within datacenters, as shown in Figure 2. However, while there are already high adoption rates of hardware virtualization in today's datacenters, the road to software, platform, and client virtualization is in some cases still long. FIGURE 2 The Journey to the Cloud Source: IDC, 2014 Phase 2 of this roadmap is the adoption of process automation solutions, which will free up IT specialists from their daily maintenance activities to focus on value-added activities such as the development and evolution of IT infrastructure to support business growth. Automation solutions guarantee a higher level of elasticity and of pooling of IT resources and are pivotal in the evolution of datacenters: the adoption of converged infrastructures. Without automation solutions, the management of IT infrastructure would be less efficient and less effective IDC #IDCWP21W 2

3 The adoption of integrated systems is the real cornerstone of this journey to the cloud. IDC defines an integrated system as a preconfigured, vendor-certified system containing server hardware, disk storage systems, networking equipment, and basic element/systems management software. Integrated infrastructure systems are designed for general-purpose, distributed workloads that are likely to have differing performance profiles. The implementation of integrated and converged systems has a positive impact on both IT infrastructure management and costs. Based on the latest surveys, companies that have adopted these solutions achieved the following benefits: Accelerated Business Improved time-to-market and reduced time-to-revenue, allowing IT and LOB to achieve an effective alignment Managed Thru Peaks, thanks to a better resource utilization Implemented Big Data and analytics, now essential to compete in a modern, dynamic, and data-driven economy Simplified IT Simplified maintenance processes Improved IT resource utilization increased utilization up to double Consolidated applications and data Accelerated IT deployment processes Lower Costs Reduced hardware and power&cooling costs (on average of 50%) Cut lifecycle maintenance Improved app and data density Reduce Risk Reduced incidents and downtime by 50% Improved security (data protection and intrusion prevention) Implemented back-up and disaster recovery solution more efficiently and cheaper Facilitated policy and regulatory compliance As explained above, the adoption of convergent systems is essential in the roadmap for the adoption of private cloud. However, following IDC's Taxonomy, in order to be classified as a cloud computing solution, authorized users should have access to a self-provisioning console where they select the corporate IT resources they need. The first wave of cloud adoption involved experimental and tactical projects with the deployment of collaborative solutions such as and UCC. Good results obtained in this wave are driving organizations to extend the private cloud delivery model to more business-critical workloads such as CRM, ERP, and business intelligence IDC #IDCWP21W 3

4 IDC expects that in the near future companies will direct their cloud strategies towards a hybrid cloud model. In such an environment, companies will be able to manage most critical and sensitive workloads within the private cloud, while being able to build a more flexible and cost-effective infrastructure thanks to the opportunity to scale resources up and down in a public cloud environment. Access to public cloud will allow companies to achieve better cost control with the pay-per-use model. The opportunity to build a hybrid cloud as the principal IT delivery model allows companies to rethink issues related to backup and disaster recovery. Enterprise class organizations can reduce the management costs of installed backup and DR solutions by moving less sensitive workloads and data to the public cloud, while maintaining direct control over more business-critical workloads in a private cloud environment. In this way, companies can reduce the overall dimension of their secondary site and therefore achieve cost savings in the management of IT infrastructure and facility spaces. The public cloud offering gives small and medium enterprises access to backup and disaster recovery solutions for the first time. Until now, these solutions were inaccessible to SMEs due to the high price and the lack of skills in internal IT staff. With the hybrid cloud model, users have only to choose which solutions best fit their business requirements through the self-provisioning console, without caring about where the resources are located. All the user has to know is that all the resources he or she uses will be activated with respect to regulatory compliance and policy effectiveness, regardless of whether they are delivered by the enterprise datacenter or from an external service provider. CIOs and IT managers are now able to meet business needs with faster time-to-market and lower deployment and management costs. Allowing a faster, more dynamic, and more secure scale up and scale down, IT departments are now able to meet the request to "do more with less," and to tend to "do better with less." 2014 IDC #IDCWP21W 4

5 THE JOURNEY TO THE CLOUD: IDC CLOUD MATURITY MODEL IDC developed a "Cloud Maturity Model" to trace the increasing value and investment of cloud computing across five stages of maturity and awareness. The Maturity Model is based on IDC's continuous market research programs. It is designed for organizations that want to transform their IT Infrastructure and are willing to assess their current IT status so that they can take the necessary actions to move forward in a step-by-step process. Stage 1: Ad Hoc Companies are beginning the exploration process to increase their awareness of cloud technology options and its contribution toward IT efficiency. There is limited enterprisewide awareness of these activities, and initiatives are not promoted to the business lines. At this stage, projects are embraced because of the immediacy of the need and the ability to procure capacity with minimal investments that require little or no outside approval. To advance to the next level, organizations need to: classify and validate the benefits of cloud deployments; understand the technology and the cloud services providers, and drive the transition that maximize IT efficiency; inventory all current cloud usage (including "shadow IT"); develop policies and procedures that enable further developments. Stage 2: Opportunistic Companies are experimenting with more standardized offerings and developing short-term improvements regarding access to IT resources via cloud. They also acknowledge the need for a companywide approach. They are testing their ability to transition workloads from existing traditional in-house or outsourced IT deployments. They consider cloud for new solutions or isolated computing environments with minimal impact on existing business processes and on implementation costs. Organization that want to access the next level need to: create a dedicated team to encourage and learn from (managed) experimentation; design and implement a range of organized pilot projects that can deliver quick value to specific user groups; identify the gaps in current IT resources and consider cloud as a means of filling those gaps; take deliberate steps to operate with standards; develop a cloud road map to extend and maximize the initiatives. Stage 3: Repeatable Companies are enabling more agile access to IT resources through aggressive standardization, identifying cloud best practices, and increasing governance. Business and IT users are beginning to rely on self-service portals to access cloud services based on transparent cost and quality of service as well as to automate approvals. To advance to the next level organizations need to: begin to incorporate cloud standards into the overall IT infrastructure; document the associated risks and develop policies for data portability; add cloud services options to the list of available options and incorporate cloud decision making into overall IT plans and policies, rationalize the IT procurement process to support a shift to subscription, pay-as-you-go pricing; extend your vision of IT beyond the enterprise, introducing new services to customers and partners IDC #IDCWP21W 5

6 Stage 4: Managed At this stage, organizations are expanding the boundaries of cloud. This is a consistent, best practice enterprisewide approach to cloud, speeding iterative improvement cycles to increase cloud adoption and business value. Companies in this stage are orchestrating service delivery across an integrated set of resources and collaborating internally and externally to support their future technology needs. Users can procure additional services, add new users, and increase or decrease compute capacity as needed through self-service portals, expanding the organization's ability to operate not just more efficiently but also more strategically. Organization that want to access the next level need to: explore the role of a cloud-based architecture in supporting new ways of doing business; require compliance with industry standards for interoperability and workload and data portability; ensure access to resources via a common self-service portal; communicate the business value of cloud, providing metrics that reduce costs and increase productivity; identify the relationship between risk and reward in cloud investments, and explore new ways to manage risk, including risk sharing. Stage 5: Optimized Companies are driving business innovation through seamless access to IT resources from internal and external service providers and making informed decisions based on the true cost and value of those services. At this level, companies are using cloud to lower the costs and speed up the delivery process. The business impact is most noticeable for new initiatives as well as for high business value or highly innovative projects, where some level of customization of IT resources is critical and risk sharing creates an environment that fosters innovation. These organizations have the ability to leverage their IT capabilities as a component of new products and services. IT is perceived as an equal partner in achieving long-term business goals, and it is responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of IT services throughout the life cycle of those technologies. Stage 5 is not a resting state. Companies need continuous improvements. For this reason organizations need to: evaluate investments in key and emerging technologies, so to continue to allocate funds for continued innovation; encourage business and IT to continually review and update internal processes and service standards to take advantage of Hybrid Cloud architectures; use cloud to create opportunities for revenue, using IT as a launching point for new products and services; foster IT and LOBs collaboration with the aim to increase business value through technology. This roadmap helps companies to recognize that the most significant opportunities for cloud come from the development of intelligent industry solutions, which build on top of the 3 rd Platform that includes Cloud Computing as well as Big Data and Analytics, Mobile, and Social. Over the next several years CIOs need to envision and develop these next-generation systems, taking a path that considers people, processes, and technologies together IDC #IDCWP21W 6

7 POWEREDGE VRTX: THE "CLOUD-IN-A-BOX" APPLIANCE As mentioned, converged systems are key elements in the datacenter evolution towards cloud. These systems provide pre-integrated server, storage, and networking hardware components that are managed as a pool of highly flexible and scalable resources thanks to an embedded and integrated management and automation software layer. An example of this kind of system is 4ward Appliance "Cloud-in-a-box", build on the Dell PowerEdge VRTX, a converged system that in addition to server, storage, and networking capabilities also provides a pre-installed Cloud solution based on Microsoft Hyper-V 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2 together with an installation wizard providing adaptability with multiple end user networking and authentication needs. As a result, this appliance provides in a single platform space and energy savings and reduced noise production, and combines all the characteristics, functionalities, and benefits of either a private or a hybrid cloud. Given those elements, Dell has referred to the PowerEdge VRTX as a "Datacenter in a box." The product is scalable so it can meet the needs of both small and medium-sized businesses and the branch or remote offices of larger firms that do not have local full-time IT expertise. This is the case, for instance, of companies belonging to the retail sector or financial services (banks, insurance), rather than universities or research centers, where distributed computational needs and IT resources at department level are needed. Organizations that adopt PowerEdge VRTX can rely on an integrated system running in less than two hours. Moreover, thanks to its capacity to support virtual machines, it allows the journey towards private cloud environments that might represent the ideal solution for centrally managed distributed branch offices. The combination of management functionalities with pre-integrated server, storage and network resources meet the needs of those organizations who suffer the proliferation of hardware components and - consequently increasing physical space needed in their datacenter, together with a growing complexity of IT systems management and control. These features allow companies to gain benefits from fast interaction among different hardware components and from a low latency assured by shared resources within a single platform. Technical Features PowerEdge VRTX uses bladed server modules housed in a chassis that presents up to four servers as individual racked systems or as a cluster of server nodes. The integrated network component includes a 1GbE internal switch module, with extensive future options: a 10GbE network switch module and a Pass-Thru optional module. The system provides up to 48TB of storage capacity, with a combination of 12 x 3.5" or 25 x 2.5" hot plug HDDs. Optional redundancy inside the chassis is also available. All of these features mean that VRTX has the potential to do the job of a small datacenter rack, but in a less complex way. The management stack is composed of multiple services provided by both physical and virtual servers. It is hosted on a single-domain Active Directory forest, to be integrated with further existing domains or forests through a wizard that defines an Active Directory trust IDC #IDCWP21W 7

8 This domain will contain all necessary tools needed to support the following steps towards cloud: Management of virtualized on premises and cloud infrastructure through System Center Virtual Machine manager 2012 R2 and App controller Simplified distribution of Linux and Windows operating systems through pre-configured service templates Simplified distribution of certified third-party virtual appliances Monitoring of both hardware and software resources through Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2 Simplified definition of disaster recovery solutions through the Hyper-V Replica feature Execution and management of either local or hybrid local and cloud backup, through System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 R2. Orchestration and advanced automation through System Center Orchestrator 2012 R2. The pre-integrated console allows even those members of staff that may not be specialized to run daily IT maintenance or upgrades. The management software and "wizard" in fact provide the necessary guidance to non-it professionals or network experts. This is possible thanks to the Dell CMS (Chassis Management Controller), a system allowing a single management console for servers, storage, networking, and power&cooling resources. As shown in Figure 3, PowerEdge VRTX provides 8 PCIe slots, flexibility, and expandable resources, together with high availability and redundant solutions. FIGURE 3 PowerEdge VRTX Source: IDC, IDC #IDCWP21W 8

9 Regarding virtualization, Dell and Microsoft joint developments provided PowerEdge VRTX with native support of Microsoft Hyper-V. However, VRTX is also certified to support multiple hypervisor including VMware technology. Depending on the infrastructure requirements, VRTX provides capacity from 10 up to 100 virtual machines (VMs). From Box to Private and Hybrid Cloud Cost controls and the economic downturn have affected companies and especially small and medium business over the past few years, and have limited or blocked innovation and evolution in IT infrastructures. The PowerEdge VRTX aims to help those companies to fill the gap in the journey to the cloud thanks to the pre-installed and easily configurable virtualization features. This will help the organizations to benefit from cloud computing in a shorter timeframe with fewer costs and lower complexity. Leveraging its strategic partnership, Dell supported 4ward in building an appliance that can create a private cloud based on Microsoft's cloud platform and can easily be integrated with the existing infrastructure in less than two hours. This solution simplifies some management procedures that require constant updating: Wizard for the integration of the appliance into the target network Wizard to add additional hosts (blades) or chassis to the appliance cloud-in-a-box Automatic updates feature to upgrade the application and integrate new features Instant overview of the state of appliances Wizard for integration with Microsoft Azure to perform datacenter extension with the capability to connect to third-party Cloud OS service providers Wizard for integrating cloud-in-a-box resources into the existing Active Directory infrastructure Thanks to the development of cloud-in-a-box on the Microsoft platform, companies can easily aim to reach the last phase of the datacenter evolution: the hybrid cloud. The solution indeed allows for the delivery of infrastructure-as-a-service (ITaaS) both locally from the appliance and remotely from the public cloud offering of Microsoft Azure and of other cloud service providers. This enables companies to: Independently decide which data should reside within the "walls" of its own datacenter and which can be stored externally at the datacenter of a cloud provider. They can also dynamically move data to or from public cloud when priorities and needs change, or following the typical trend of business seasonality. Likewise, a company can easily migrate workloads not only from or to the public cloud but also from one cloud provider to another. This feature allows organizations to simplify consolidation and migration processes. Exploiting cloud infrastructure capabilities makes it possible for small and medium businesses to access value-added services that were previously too expensive. Thanks to the advantages of integrated solutions, and thanks to the opportunity to access cloud services (private, and/or hybrid), companies can now easily and dynamically: 2014 IDC #IDCWP21W 9

10 Implement geographical back-up and disaster recovery solutions both internally across multiple appliances or to a public cloud that are defined and designed on specific needs and levels of criticality Host temporary or test environments internally or externally Improve service availability and support services Guarantee access to IT resources from outside the company's network Through the Active Directory Trust, companies can provide private cloud services to the existing IT infrastructure. Organizations will able to migrate workloads from physical or virtual infrastructure (VMware, Xen, Hyper-v) to the VRTX. ESSENTIAL GUIDANCE Considering the evolution of IT infrastructure towards the 3 rd Platform, the question is not whether CIOs and IT managers have to invest in the adoption of cloud computing, but when they must plan this adoption. They must focus their attention on which cloud model best fits their IT and business needs, and how they can manage and govern it. The cloud computing delivery model is becoming mainstream. Any reluctance towards this innovation would entail: Losing the benefits of cloud computing in terms of reduction of complexity, increased flexibility, and cost savings The possibility and risk that lines of business bypass the IT department in the technology adoption process, directly benefiting from the public cloud offerings (shadow IT) Being perceived by lines of business as antagonists rather than partners in achieving the objectives of business growth IT departments must bring real innovation into the IT infrastructure in order to continue to be relevant for the business and to establish a close partnership with LOBs for budget allocation, technological development, and solutions adoption. New cloud solutions provide disruptive innovation, challenging traditional infrastructure rationales; overwhelming data volume tests the limits of legacy datacenter capabilities; and virtualization shifts the focus from hardware to software. 3 rd Platform disruption calls for a total rethinking of the infrastructure role and makeup, especially datacenters, and requires CIOs and IT leaders to reevaluate their long-held assumptions and best practices: CIOs must start a journey toward rationalizing their datacenters and transforming their operations into flexible, scalable, and optimized environments IT organizations must adapt their roles to deliver the required business capabilities CIOs must innovate IT to innovate the business IDC #IDCWP21W 10

11 About IDC International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,100 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For 50 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. IDC Italy Viale Monza, Milan, Italy idc-insights-community.com Copyright Notice This IDC research document was published as part of an IDC continuous intelligence service, providing written research, analyst interactions, telebriefings, and conferences. Visit to learn more about IDC subscription and consulting services. To view a list of IDC offices worldwide, visit Please contact the IDC Hotline at , ext (or ) or sales@idc.com for information on applying the price of this document toward the purchase of an IDC service or for information on additional copies or Web rights. Copyright 2014 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved.