SCALEnow. HP Cloud Services Enablement portfolio for communications service providers: Compute Services Solution brief
HP Cloud Services Enablement (HP CSE) for infrastructure as a service (IaaS) enables communications service providers to enter the rapidly growing market for services on demand to the SMB. There is growing evidence that small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) are becoming more accepting of cloud-based, infrastructure as a service options to meet computing needs. Why? Cloud computing services are typically offered on a monthly subscription or utility/usage basis, allowing SMBs to more closely align IT expenses with company activities and revenue. Procuring IT infrastructure in this fashion also allows SMBs to avoid the hardware, software, and service capital expenditures required to build and support on-premise solutions. And finally, cloud computing services allow SMBs to mitigate technology risks, putting the responsibility for technology choice and service uptime squarely on the shoulders of the service provider. Communications service providers (CSPs) are increasingly looking to IT services as a means to increase share of wallet with new and existing SMB customers. Existing CSPs IT business services revenues are drawn largely through serving the needs of large enterprises with custom products, dedicated infrastructure for managed and hosting services, and high-touch support programs, where revenue per customer is high. SMBs possess similar needs for information technology as their larger counterparts. CSPs, however, cannot afford the hands-on, dedicated approach for sales and delivery of these IT services for this lower-spendper-customer, more cost-conscious market. To address this market profitably with infrastructure as a service, and other on-demand business productivity services, CSPs have to create pre-packaged solutions that can be easily accessed, ordered, and implemented in a turn-key fashion with minimal hands-on on the part of the operator. For the CSPs, this can be achieved profitably through automation and streamlining of key processes needed to provide end-to-end on-demand service offerings. 2
Figure 1 The HP Cloud Services Enablement for Infrastructure as a Service solution is a pre-integrated, end-to-end solution for communications service providers. What is the solution? The HP Cloud Services Enablement for Infrastructure as a Service (HP CSE for IaaS) solution is a pre-integrated, end-to-end solution for communications service providers that enables them to create a complete compute services-on-demand offering for their small and medium business customers. It Includes the HP Aggregation Platform for SaaS, HP Cloud Service Automation, and HP BladeSystem Matrix servers. (Other third-party infrastructure can be supported as well.) For the communications service provider, HP Cloud Services Enablement for Infrastructure as a Service: Provides a solution for the rapid introduction of on-demand compute services Reduces component acquisition costs, power consumption, labor, and setup time for deployment of servers, storage, and consolidated network equipment for cloud computing infrastructure Reduces the business service delivery from months to days enabling faster ramp to market through easily defined service templates and rapid product and bundle creation Increases revenue with attractive information and communication technology (ICT) service bundles for the SMB market, allowing the CSP to enter the market for compute services Core to the solution is the HP Aggregation Platform for SaaS (AP4SaaS), which allows CSPs to manage the complete lifecycle of their compute services products and bundles. The AP4SaaS enables product creation based on service templates created utilizing underlying BladeSystem Matrix software and hardware. AP4SaaS provides a flexible set of web service interfaces for enhancing the CSP s customer portal and facilitates distribution, subscription, and consumption via a marketplace portal technology. AP4SaaS also has flexible charging functions enabling a CSP to offer a variety of pricing schema for compute services. Finally, AP4SaaS is a common platform from which the CSP can not only deliver IaaS services but also communications as a service and software as a service, either hosted on operator premises or integrated with third-party SaaS providers. The HP CSE for IaaS also leverages HP Cloud Service Automation (HP CSA) software, which facilitates the deployment of successful private cloud architecture. HP CSA automates key IT processes for private or public cloud environments, resulting in one consistent approach to IT for resources regardless of environment. CSA enables full lifecycle including application and infrastructure provisioning, monitoring, patching, and compliance. 3
Figure 2: Setting up hybrid clouds Fully integrated into business and IT service tools and processes 3 Publish through market portal in self-service format. 4 Service consumer orders. Marketplace portal 2 Design standard, repeatable service templates. 5 Automatically provision and mediate services on demand using resources. These are flexible up/down, as required. 1 Consolidate and virtualize infrastructure into shared resource pools. 6 Reporting and usage billing are continuous. To complete the HP CSE for IaaS solution, these software products are pre-integrated with HP BladeSystem Matrix, a breakthrough in infrastructure architecture and the ultimate platform for shared services. The HP Aggregation Platform for SaaS and HP Cloud Service Automation software can also be integrated with HP and third-party hardware infrastructure products to create a public cloud offering based on a heterogeneous combination of infrastructure. The solution supports the standard functions needed to create a compute services offering, such as: Administrative portal to be used by CSP s product for compute services offering creation Marketplace portal where customers can discover, order, and manage the compute services products and bundles using an easy-to-use web application Self-service portal to access tools for monitoring and rebalancing capacity, utilization, and power to keep the environment optimized once the system is up and running Customer charging through leverage of existing service provider s BSS systems Support charging models relevant to compute services business model Reseller support for allowing service providers to manage revenue streams due to reseller partners Monitoring the availability of compute services to uphold service level agreements CSP and the end-user experience The full closed-loop process from installation to consump tion and billing is illustrated in the six points below: 1. The CSP creates a virtualized environment based on shared resource pools of scalable, manageable, computing, storage, and networking infrastructure. 2. CSP can design a set of standard and repeatable configuration templates for the different hardware and software elements. 3. CSP can create an assortment of IaaS product offerings, such as bronze, silver, or gold, composed of different numbers of CPU, disk, and network together with software elements such as operating system, software data base, or office solutions. 4. These product offerings will be exposed to the end user and are accessed in a self-service manner through a marketplace portal. 5. The SMB employees or administrator will discover the different product offerings, subscribe, and be automatically provisioned for the IaaS service. Once provisioned, SMBs can also monitor the services using tools for monitoring, virtual machine (VM) rebalancing, capacity, utilization, and power to optimize their computing environments. 6. Finally, the HP CSE for IaaS will continuously monitor the consumption of the services and issue billing records for the CSP s billing system. 4
Figure 3 HP Cloud Services Enablement for IaaS solution architecture HP Aggregation Platform for SaaS SaaS service provisioning SaaS provider Service mediation and customer charging Product Public cloud Reporting Customer Revenue settlement Identity access HP Cloud Service Automation HP Network Automation HP Operations Orchestration HP Server Automation Cloud governance HP BladeSystem Matrix HP BladeSystem HP Insight Dynamics HP Virtual Connect HP StorageWorks Cloud resources The full process automated by the combination of the HP BladeSystem Matrix, HP Cloud Service Automation, and the HP Aggregation Platform for SaaS is depicted in the figure above. Solution architecture Public cloud: HP Aggregation Platform for SaaS Expose compute services products and bundles through marketplace portal for customers to discover, purchase, and consume. Allow faster time to deliver both virtual and physical infrastructure that leads to better return on investment. Handle all customer charging and interface with operator BSS. Deliver other on-demand services (software as a service, communications as a service). Component Service provisioning SaaS provider Description Provisions relevant end-user company and employee information into compute service to enable use of service by end user Informs billing system of new SMB organization, SMB users Notifies CSP s billing system of new product and bundle created on AP4SaaS Central control point for CSPs to manage all aspects of product lifecycle, including SaaS provider and SaaS service : Register and activate an SaaS provider Register SaaS services Define service plans for SaaS services Define revenue settlement agreement 5
Component Customer charging Product Reporting Customer Revenue settlement Identity access Description Generates call detail records based on the subscription period for each SMB user having subscribed to products Allows the service provider to charge SMB customers based on the following models: Trial (30 days per end customer and per product) Recurring subscription (monthly, quarterly, yearly) Portal for operator to manage complete lifecycle of products and bundles based on SaaS and hosted services Products and bundles can be defined and exposed to customers through the marketplace portal Definition of a product/bundle created through a simple user interface (UI) on the administrator portal Provides full suite of reporting capability for all entities engaged with the AP4SaaS, SaaS providers and usage on their services, SMB usage information, resellers Ability for SMBs to manage employee access, profiles, and service subscriptions and deletions Ability for CSPs to audit and manage SMB organizations and employees in same fashion as SMB Pre-defined tariff plans for supporting revenue settlement between the parties, which can be extended with new plans Usage information (i.e. subscriptions) collected for revenue settlement with SaaS providers Revenue settlement report Activity report tracing all the messages exchanged between the HP Aggregation Platform for SaaS and the SaaS services that can be used to resolve conflicts between parties Enables SMB customers to sign onto CSP s customer portal once, and access any service subscribed to without providing sign-on credentials again Support for proprietary single sign-on (SSO) mechanism Support for federated SSO mechanism (SAML, WS-Federation, Liberty Alliance) Cloud governance: HP Cloud Service Automation Manage the virtual cloud environment as well as the physical infrastructure with the same solution and provide the ability to blend virtual and physical environments. Manage advanced lifecycle, including baselines, provisioning, patching, compliance, full monitoring, and reporting/dashboards. Component HP Operation Orchestration software HP Network Automation software HP Server Automation software Description Reduces operational costs and improves service quality by automating routine tasks such as incident resolution, change provisioning, and repetitive maintenance Tracks, regulates, and automates configuration and software changes across globally distributed networks Provides advanced server lifecycle including baselines, provisioning, patching, compliance, full monitoring, and reporting/dashboards 6
Cloud resources: HP BladeSystem Matrix HP BladeSystem Matrix enables you to get to market quickly by integrating compute, storage, and network resources under a unified structure. HP BladeSystem Matrix is the industry s only solution for one-touch self-service provisioning of infrastructure, delivering services to the business in minutes versus months. It deploys services built on virtual or physical machines and results in the following benefits: Instantly adjust to dynamic business demands. Provision and modify complex infrastructure in minutes, not months. Transform the economics of your data center. Double administrator productivity and reduce total cost of ownership up to 56 percent. HP BladeSystem Matrix is integrated by design. It is built on the industry s leading blade architecture, pre-configured, and installed by HP experts. Component HP BladeSystem HP Insight Dynamics software HP Virtual Connect HP StorageWorks Description HP BladeSystem is the industry s only converged infrastructure built for any workload from client to cloud. BladeSystem is engineered to maximize every hour, watt, and dollar. BladeSystem is designed to share components between enclosures, making it fast and easy to create, customize, and grow. You can add storage expansion and data protection without adding more cables or special. And you can run your same business applications, trust the same HP server and storage components, and connect to your same networks. HP Insight Dynamics is advanced infrastructure lifecycle software that allows you to instantly adjust to dynamic business demands. Provision and modify a complex infrastructure in minutes. HP Insight Dynamics includes: Integrated infrastructure design with automated activation of servers, storage, and networking Built-in capacity planning and rebalancing tools Automated disaster recovery and failover capabilities HP Virtual Connect is a major innovation for customers because it provides a better way for IT employees to work together and offers benefits to all parties involved without the traditional compromises. It is simply the best way to connect servers to network LANs and SANs for the lowest costs and least amount of power. Key to the flexibility of the Matrix solution is having the operating system image and data reside on shared storage. They can then migrate from one physical server to another, retain their personality, and continue to provide application support after reboot. StorageWorks storage products provide the best integrated solution for BladeSystem Matrix. (optional) 7
HP CMS Services: enabling smooth deployment While deploying the HP Cloud Services Enablement for IaaS, communications service providers want to have very little operational network disturbance and to maintain a good customer experience. HP Cloud Services Enablement for IaaS is packaged to map the CSP s service installation needs, enhance the solution availability, and upgrade access to media resources and networks. The HP Communication and Media Solutions (CMS) Services offering encompasses a set of solution delivery services and solution manage ment services that support service providers across the entire HP CSE for IaaS solution lifecycle. HP Solution Delivery Services facilitate a rapid installation of the HP CSE for IaaS solution in the data center. They are delivered based on the proven four-step method ology, evaluate, capture, deploy, and operate: HP consultants analyze the service provider s business and architecture strategies to propose a dedicated installation plan, which enables seamless HP CSE for IaaS deployment. Tailored HP CSE for IaaS customization and services can be developed and captured in the standard solution. HP Services experts deploy and validate the solution, including application modifications, the OSS and BSS integration points, and system backup and restore. They trains the IT staff on operation of the solution. Operational services, such as performance optimization, infrastructure upgrade, and template creation projects help service providers increase the operational efficiency of the deployed solution. HP BladeSystem Matrix implementation services include integrating the hardware to the customer environment; installation and configuration of the central server and other required software; and BladeSystem Matrix solution orientation. HP Solution Management Services, once deployed, can help enable high availability and operational efficiency for HP CSE for IaaS solutions. Solution Management Services are delivered by HP experts and are governed to satisfy day-to-day challenges and longer-term developments. The Solution Management Services include: Reactive Services to immediately intervene and fix troubles if they arise Proactive Services to continuously monitor and adjust the operation of the solution Operation Services to help in routine day-to-day tasks The sooner we start, the better the business outcome. HP CMS can tailor the HP Cloud Services Enablement for IaaS to suit unique communications service provider requirements, helping to reduce TCO and start delivering new revenue-generating services. Our solutions can help cut costs and at the same time build a foundation for competitive, compelling, revenuegenerating services. We are ready to put our vast resources and expertise to work with you. Let s start with a discussion of your business strategies, tactics, and goals. HP CSE for IaaS is an opportunity to generate new revenue with a green infrastructure. To learn more about this, visit www.hp.com/cms. Share with colleagues Get connected www.hp.com/go/getconnected Get the insider view on tech trends, alerts, and HP solutions for better business outcomes Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. 4AA2-3635ENW, Created August 2010