Private Cloud Considerations: Control and Confidence for Enterprise Teams on-premises Today s enterprises are looking for ways to leverage cloud computing strategies to assist with the growing list of requirements for IT. As security considerations increase the popularity of private cloud architectures, many are digging in and uncovering tremendous value in the private cloud approach. Cloud computing is now a widely accepted, essential element of IT, as well as a key driver for many organizations business processes because of the flexibility, cost efficiency, elasticity and scalability it brings to computing resources. Most IT executives are either already overseeing cloud computing architectures in their organizations or have initiatives in the works. In fact, of the 1,200 IT professionals surveyed for the 2013 State of the Cloud Report from solutions provider CDW, nearly 40% already have some form of cloud computing architecture in place. Public cloud computing continues to appeal to organizations looking for affordable solutions and ways to offload applications and services to an external resource. In addition, many users have brought consumer based technologies into the enterprise, and often, these applications live in public clouds. However, while public cloud computing is alluring, many enterprises cannot risk having data reside outside of their controlled network. As such, private cloud computing is quickly gaining popularity and adoption is building. And although private clouds are generally defined as proprietary computing architecture that provides hosted services behind a firewall, more sophisticated cloud vendors offer performance-driven private clouds on purpose-built, highly tuned infrastructure that is vendor-managed 24/7, 365 days a year.
on-premises Specifically, at midsize and large enterprises, private cloud computing holds a strong appeal for business executives and IT strategists demanding the highest levels of control, privacy and security for sensitive business data. In fact, data from Unisphere Research indicates that nearly one half (45%) of organizations with more than 10,000 employees already have deployed a private cloud solution for production systems. Private cloud computing is appealing to organizations for the two key issues of cost and control, as well as a way to help business leaders feel comfortable with dedicated cloud solutions, points out Jeff Kaplan, managing director of THINKstrategies, a research and consulting organization with a cloud computing practice. But even for organizations committed to a private cloud architecture, there is an important decision to make: host a private cloud on-premises to run on internal infrastructure, or leverage a hosted, private cloud model where applications and services are deployed externally in third-party data centers. While both approaches have advantages and merit consideration, many IT leaders adopt the on-premises private cloud philosophy in hopes of turning the private cloud into a strategic asset. However, with so much increased emphasis on private cloud computing, it s important to keep in mind that not all private clouds are the same, even if they are all dedicated to a single organization s needs. IT and business executives committed to a private cloud approach should consider these five frequently asked questions to help ensure that a private cloud architecture is a truly strategic resource, and not just a quick way to save money or deal with dwindling internal IT resources: cloud require more time and attention by my internal It should be the opposite, as long as your on-premises private cloud is managed and monitored by a reputable third-party provider. For an increasing number of organizations, 24/7/365 monitoring is a must, given the global, always-on nature of business transactions. Yet trying to do that with an in-house staff is expensive and, frankly, counterproductive. If you have an experienced cloud partner monitor and manage your on-premises private cloud, it frees up your stretched internal IT resources to focus on transformative applications, rather than on network monitoring, systems management and day-to-day administrative tasks. on-premises First of all, a big advantage of using an onpremises private cloud is that you continue to use your own firewalls, giving your staff the benefit of a tried-and-true first line of security that they are intimately familiar with. Of course, you ll need strong encryption capabilities, but keep in mind the importance of deciding where those encryption keys are 2
on-premises stored ideally with your own IT organization. Consider the blind-subpoena scenario: If your cloud service provider is subpoenaed to give law enforcement agencies access to your data, you don t want your service provider to have the encryption keys. Above all else, you ll want your cloud partner to deploy a multilayered security architecture to ensure that mobile devices and other ubiquitous endpoints are protected against identity theft, malware, intrusions and many other security threats. Large and small organizations alike grapple with how to support the flood of mobile devices many of which would be considered consumer-grade in a private cloud architecture. This becomes tricky when numerous types of devices with different operating systems are brought under the private cloud umbrella, so be sure your partner embraces a platform-neutral support model that preserves as much of the unique functionality of each device as possible. While consumer-class devices such as tablets and smartphones and their familiar social media, e-commerce and collaboration tools have generated a lot of popularity among end users, it makes IT deployment, security and support challenges more difficult. Be sure your private cloud partner builds in support for a wide range of mobile devices throughout your on-premises private cloud or many of your users will be shut out from accessing corporate data, essential services or businesscritical applications in the private cloud. money in our private cloud deployment by using low-cost, we already have? Be sure not to dismiss the importance of high-performance, high-availability, resilient and scalable hardware infrastructure for your on-premises private cloud. That s especially true as you continue to move more businesscritical applications and data to the cloud. Essentially, you need enterprise-class infrastructure that comes with an affordable price tag. Some innovative cloud service providers build robust, on-premises private clouds using the same class of computing, storage and networking infrastructure they deploy in their own data centers for hosted private clouds or public clouds. These typically come as small-form-factor appliances, which saves physical space and power consumption and reduces costs without sacrificing the performance and resilience needed for enterprise requirements. backup, recovery and restore processes to ensure that data and applications in our private cloud remain protected and Backup, recovery and restore should be integral components of your infrastructure strategy from the start. It s not something you 3
on-premises want to address after the on-premises private cloud is put in place because disaster recovery and business continuity become more expensive and less effective when backup functionality is duct-taped onto an existing architecture. Backup and recovery also should be approached in a comprehensive rather than platform- or application-specific manner in order to ensure seamless, reliable restoration of data, applications and services after an outage. Be sure to identify your endpoint backup needs early on, and be sure your cloud serviceprovider embraces such concepts as user self-restore, byte-level data deduplication, end-to-end encryption and streamlined data migration that cuts time, cost and complexity for backup, recovery and restore. THE POWER OF THE PRIVATE CLOUD FOR ENTERPRISE END- POINT BACKUP The Code 42 Way: Managed Private Cloud for Maximum Control, Efficiency and Confidence Once you have in-depth answers to these and other important questions about deploying an on-premises private cloud, evaluating and selecting a partner boils down to a few key issues, such as experience, reliability, flexibility and accountability. One cloud partner whose capabilities may be an excellent match for your needs is Code 42 Software. Since its founding in 2001, Code 42 has developed a wideranging cloud computing skill set, supporting a number of different cloud options, including public clouds, on-premises private clouds (managed private clouds) and hybrid clouds. The company has created cloudbased endpoint backup solutions for large enterprises, small and midsized businesses and personal users, and has the flexibility to deploy and support the proper cloud approach for each customer s needs. As the creator of the popular CrashPlan endpoint backup solutions including CrashPlan for the Enterprise Code 42 understands what s at stake in managing business-critical workloads. The company manages more than four exabytes of data at its own data centers, excluding data stored on-premises at customer sites. Its numerous global data centers allow for maximum redundancy and easy, reliable failover and recovery, and Code 42 can and does support extremely large installations, including the company s own cloud, which currently manages more than 1 million devices. The CrashPlan managed private cloud solution is designed to give organizations the high level of security typically delivered in a private cloud, but with maximum customer control via an on-premises approach. Real-time, seamless and scalable endpoint backup across the entire enterprise is supported by Code 42 s around-the-clock monitoring and management resources. This approach minimizes the impact on in-house IT resources, while ensuring enterprise-grade security and resiliency in an affordable solution. 4
on-premises Code 42 s purpose-built endpoint backup and cloud computing platform is ideal for organizations that are looking for the security of private clouds but that also need the control and cost efficiency of deploying the private cloud on their on-premises infrastructure. Not only does Code 42 provide 24/7/365 monitoring and management freeing up internal staff to concentrate on more strategic requirements but it also works closely with clients to build the necessary cloud infrastructure on-premises. Using robust, high-performance, small and efficient cloud appliances the same appliances Code 42 uses in its own data centers ensures massive scalability and an eco-friendly data center design that reduces cooling and power costs, as well as physical space requirements. 5