A Practical Guide to Hybrid Cloud An Executive Summary and Ten Step plan for companies seeking to implement Hybrid Cloud Solutions. Executive Overview Hybrid IT vs Hybrid Cloud Today s CIOs are responsible for variety of application and infrastructure services (dedicated and virtualized) and in many cases are on the path to offering Private Clouds. In addition the same IT organizations are managing a portfolio of service providers for with Public Cloud services and Management Services. The combination of all of these delivery options is defined as Hybrid IT. So in effect most modern IT organizations are already Hybrid IT enabled. The difference between Hybrid IT and Hybrid Cloud is attributed to the level of automation, and interoperability between these various services regardless of the delivery model. Leading solutions from companies like VMware with their vcloud Suite of technologies and services enable IT consumers to access and use application and infrastructure services dynamically seamlessly between Private and Public Cloud environments. A recent article in ZDNET: Hybrid cloud: the 'Prius' of computing architectures (Sept 24, 2013) states Increasingly, the lines between on-premises and off-premises cloud keep blurring, to the point that enterprises are essentially building and offering composite services that pull from inside and outside the firewall. Shifting budgets A key challenge for CIO s is driven by the accelerating adoption of Public Cloud services by organizations outside of Enterprise IT. In many circles this is known as Shadow IT, in others it s the new reality as users of IT applications and services now have more choice in terms of where they go to consume new applications and services. In January 2013 Forrester published a very interesting article called Cloud Investments Will Reconfigure Future IT Budgets. Their research indicates that budgets for new application and service innovation will actually decline as the IT budget shifts to maintenance and operations for legacy applications. It also suggests that new applications and services will be sourced through third party providers as Public Cloud adoption continues to accelerate. This leads to the hypothesis that the role of CIO s and IT organizations will need to shift to focus on sourcing and vendor management to keep their IT budgets under control in the coming years. Further an article from CIO magazine dated November 14, 2012 cites Are CIOs losing control of Tech Spending? The article indicates that although many companies are spending more on IT than ever before less of the budget is earmarked for traditional forms of technology spending. In many cases, the primary beneficiary of this shift is the CFO who is now
looking to spread investment for IT across the business. Hybrid Cloud A question of balance practical hands-on experience enabling enterprise IT departments to become the Storefront to the Cloud across Private and Public Cloud environments. In addition this 10-step guide covers key responsibilities associated with sourcing, orchestrating and governing the various Cloud services offered. ITSM and ITIL Today, innovative CIO s have recognized that they need to play a delicate balancing act between providing access to the broad array of application, information and infrastructure services across a Hybrid IT delivery model while ensuring that the corporate information assets are governed and protected from a risk, compliance and security perspective. To accomplish this they have redefined their role as an increasing number of CIO s are shifting their role from plan, build, run to sourcing, orchestration and governance. It is our prediction that the next generation of CIO s in the era of Hybrid Cloud are experts in tracking consumption of cloud services across all providers and have employed a rich sourcing, orchestration, governance and financial management capability to maximize value to the business while limiting the risk or exposure for the corporation. The approach recommended in this White Paper aligns to IT Service Management (ITSM) and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL 2011) and industry best practices although certain aspects have been adjusted to accelerate the design and deployment of these Hybrid Cloud services. It is recommended that ITIL 2011 is a core capability in any organization seeking to implement Cloud related platforms and services. The figure below details the high level steps required to implement a Hybrid-Cloud enabled IT environment. A practical approach to implementing a Hybrid Cloud To ensure the correct balance of capabilities and lay the foundation for the new Hybrid IT model Sequoia Worldwide has developed a 10-step practitioner s guide to developing and deploying a Hybrid Cloud for your enterprise. This is based on
Services are available from Cisco (www.cisco.com) and a company called SkyHigh (www.skyhigh.com) that enable you to track Public Cloud services consumption within your network. 2. Define and Build your Service Catalog This is a critical process as the Service Catalog is the foundation for your Hybrid Cloud strategy. Once the applications and Workloads are identified it is possible to begin the process of defining your Service Catalog. ITIL defines a Service Catalog as: A database or structured document with information about all live IT services, including those available for deployment. The service catalog is part of the service portfolio and contains information about two types of IT service: customer-facing services that are visible to the business; and supporting services required by the service provider to deliver customer-facing services. 1. Assess and align Applications and Workloads The first step is to complete an inventory of the current applications and workloads in use within the enterprise. This should include both internal and external public cloud services. Workloads include: Infrastructure (Storage, Compute, Network, OS, Hypervisor), Platform (Application Development Platform) Software as a Service To ensure that a full inventory can be completed consider using network analytics to track cloud services consumed. A couple of software solutions to explore include: Cisco Prime Service Catalog CA Service Catalog One of the key roles as you look to develop your Service Catalog is that of Portfolio Manager and/or Service Designer. This function governs the service design and definition process, roadmap process and release process for new services in the Catalog. 3. Deploy a right-sized Private Cloud To ensure there is an effective infrastructure for provisioning Private Cloud Services it is recommended to explore the variety of Converged Infrastructure solutions from companies such as the VCE vblock platform based on Cisco, EMC and VMware technologies.
Refer to the CIO.com article posted March 19, 2013 Is Converged Infrastructure the Future of the Data Center? This article provides an excellent positioning of Converged Infrastructures, highlighting the power of Converged infrastructures such as VCE vblock to eliminate the busywork of provisioning services, SAN, LAN and applications. It effectively provides a plug-and-play option for Private Cloud deployments. From a right-sizing perspective there are multiple certified designs and configurations for VCE vblock sized to your specific environment and needs. Check it out at www.vce.com. 4. Design, source and deploy your Hybrid Cloud Management Platform Once you have your core Private Cloud infrastructure setup it s possible to now define and implement your Hybrid Cloud Management Platform. At this center of this platform is the Service Catalog software (see step 2). The additional software component is an orchestration and integration solution that automates the workflows and processes required to provision application and workloads. There are an ever growing number of Orchestration and Automation solutions available two recommended solutions include Cisco Process Orchestrator and VMware vcenter Orchestrator and vcloud Automation Center. Along with the Service Catalog and Orchestrator software solutions it may also be necessary to develop a customized User Interface or Self Service Portal. Many of the Service Catalog solutions also include this feature including Cisco Prime Service Catalog with its customizable user interface and User Interface portlet development engine is an excellent choice. The last element of a robust Hybrid Cloud Management platform is the integration capability offered through the platform. VMware vcloud Automation Center and Cisco Process Orchestrator provide excellent integration capabilities to applications, subsystems and alternative cloud platforms. Additional Recommendation: engage with Cloud Management Providers A number of IT Solution Providers are beginning to offer Managed Cloud platforms for their customers. This helps enterprises by removing the need to develop a custom Hybrid Cloud portal of their own. Sourcing a Hybrid Cloud Management Platform from a third party Presidio Network Solutions, Inc, a large US-based IT Solution Provider, offers Presidio Managed Cloud a fully integrated, deployable VCE vblock/cloud Management solution that enables Hybrid Cloud services for Compute, Storage across Private and Public Cloud services. Presidio is a good example of a company offering a new of Managed Cloud Platforms that brings together both the value of Private Cloud with the flexibility and accessibility of Public Cloud. Refer to the following link for more information relating to Presidio s Cloud Services: http://www.presidio.com/solutionsservices/services/cloud-hosting-services
5. Public Cloud Provider Sourcing and Negotiation To complement the implementation of the Private Cloud solution and the hybrid Cloud Management Platform it is also necessary to identify, select and source your Public Cloud Service Providers. There are many best practices on the web for how to select the best provider for your business. One article from CIO magazine helps to provide good advice on selecting Service Providers. Given the recent situation relating to Nirvanix, rapidly closing its doors and forcing customers to migrate with two weeks notice certainly is a warning to ensure that effective sourcing and negotiation is in place for your Public Cloud services: Link Here. Finally an excellent article on Negotiating with Services Providers can be found on the Stanford Technology Law Review site at: Link Here. 6. Transition your Applications and Workloads to Private and Public Cloud environment Once the core Private Cloud solution is deployed along with the Hybrid Cloud Management Platform it is now possible to begin transitioning specific applications and workloads. This process should align with the Service Catalog, roadmap and release schedule. The Transition and Migration options will vary based on Providers and technology options selected. In most cases these application transition and migration activities are provided through IT Professional Services companies. If your company has limited applications migration capabilities in-house it is a good best practice at this point to engage with an IT solution provider such as Presidio Network Solutions to provide services to support your migration to the activities. 7. Re-define Operational Policies and Procedures We are now entering the home stretch in terms of gearing up for your Hybrid Cloud launch. Step 7 is focused on re-defining and re-aligning the IT operational team to enable the end-to-end IT Service Management activities associated with running Hybrid Cloud services. By using best practices from ITIL 2011 and ITSM. The key output of this is the creation of run-books and operational policies for authorizing provisioning activities associated with the Hybrid Cloud solution. Many Cloud Management software solutions are now including Policy Management as a core element of their architecture. This helps to ensure that the operational policies and procedures can be codified within the workflows and processes automated through the software solution. Cisco Prime Service Catalog and VMware vcloud Automation Center both provide this capability in their software platform. 8. Transition to IT Operations and Service Providers A major step for the deployment of your Hybrid Cloud capability is the transition to your IT Operations team and/or a Managed Services Provider. Certainly it s important to make sure that the IT Operations team is involved every step of the way
during the design and implementation of the Hybrid Cloud capability. Managed Services option: Rather than transitioning the operations of the Hybrid Cloud platform to your own IT organization it may be of interest to transition the ongoing operations of this platform to a Managed Services Provider. IT solution Providers such as Presidio also offer a full set of Managed Services capabilities. (http://www.presidio.com/managedservices) 9. Develop your Financial Management, ROI and Chargeback models One of the most significant inhibitors for most Private Cloud deployments is the lack of Financial ROI analytics to ensure that the business investors in the platform an accurately track the consumption, savings and efficiencies gained through the platform. Thankfully there are a number of technologies available that help track the costs associated with the services being provided. 10. Launch Hybrid Cloud Services Now that all of the steps are complete and the service is ready for launch the fun starts. The process of enabling, educating, building awareness and driving adoption for the Hybrid Cloud services is a critical dependency for success. It is recommended that the following activities are covered prior and subsequent to launch: User training Collateral Internal and External Advertising Developing Incentives for adoption Many companies fail at this step as they don t drive the adoption in a coordinated manner. In many ways this step should be viewed similar to releasing a new product to the market. All of the key activities associated with launching a product should be considered when introducing Cloud Services within your enterprise. Along with the core functionality offered within the Cisco Prime Service Catalog and VMware vcloud Suite, Check out technologies such as: Cloud Cruiser (www.cloudcruiser.com) and Zuora (www.zuora.com) for alternative usage mediation and billing capabilities. About Sequoia Worldwide, LLC Sequoia Worldwide is a consulting firm based in Campbell, California. We specialize in Hybrid Cloud Strategy, Design and Implementation Services. Our team of Cloud Specialists offer Strategic Consulting services, Knowledge Services including training development and delivery and Integration Services. 2013 Sequoia Worldwide LLC