CWJobs.co.uk's cloud computing panel answers your questions
Q: Which IT roles are on the up because of cloud?
A: There's a lot of talk about ‘devops’, a term that means operations personnel and requirements are factored into the application development cycle. The trend could see a devops hybrid pro materialise, too. The model of ‘deperimeterised’ computing means that security can no longer focus on implementing measures at the boundary of the datacentre. Security engineers need to develop a new strategy and get involved early so that the appropriate security measures and processes are automatically injected into every instantiated computing endpoint.
Bernard Golden, CEO HyperStratus
Q: Which roles are going down?
Technical support and maintenance – these tasks can be automated. In the past, growth in computing capacity was mirrored by a linear growth in headcount. It's clear that this phenomenon is unsustainable for big scale data, more (virtual) servers, more applications, much larger applications, and many more highly elastic applications. Companies can't -and won't - support this scale growth with headcount as in the past.
Bernard Golden, CEO, HyperStratus
Q: What's a good service level agreement?
A: Most reputable cloud suppliers will offer a standard service level agreement. Unfortunately, this is likely to be restricted to what they can easily and cheaply deliver without too many onerous demands on them. Key requirements to look for are: availability; business applications available and their capability to meet your business requirements; a commitment to meet security requirements and compliance obligations such as the Data Protection Act.
Robert Mackenzie, partner, business technology and consulting, Scott-Moncrieff
Q: How do I to put my own IT house in order?
A: Moving critical applications to the cloud without a strong and flexible network in place is like building a house with no foundations. And if enterprises don’t ensure their own corporate networks have the right levels of bandwidth, flexibility, latency and security then they will at best never see the benefits, and at worst, open up their business to significant operational risk.
Craig Wellman, Azzurri Communications
Q: How do I know which cloud apps will suit my business?
A:It depends, of course, on what you need. The cloud is just a different way of delivering services you already use. You still access applications and data on remote servers – it’s the way those servers are run that makes the difference. Ask providers about resilience and failover, self-provisioning, bursting and utility billing options. Check for accreditation programmes that make it easier to identify reputable cloud service providers.
Carlos Rego, chief architect and MD, OnApp
Q: Is cloud lock-in a danger?
A: Most cloud offerings entail moving data to a single platform which can be as proprietary as any on-premise system. Integration complexities and costs need to be considered, both cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-on-premise. Most providers boast that it’s easy to move data to their cloud. In reality few disclose, at the time of signing a contract, the technological complexities and associated costs of migrating the same data at the contract’s completion.
Matthew Edwards, Chief Technology Officer at blue source
Q: What security questions should I ask?
A: What measures does the provider take to reduce the risk of a data breach? For example, is the data encrypted? Do you know who within your company and the cloud service provider can access your data and are they security cleared? Is end-of-life data erased and degaussed (magnetically wiped) from all hardware, who certifies that it has been deleted, and has it been erased to your country specific erase standards?
Robert Winter, chief engineer, Ontrack Data Recovery, Kroll Ontrack
Q: How to ensure sufficient capacity in the private cloud?
A: A datacentre must be built with significant bandwidth growth potential, such as 10g copper and 40/100g fibre technologies. The idea is to build now for the future and build the best affordable solution. The alternate approach is to build the datacentre pre-terminated, in a modular or Performance Optimized Datacenter (POD) fashion, as this will enable fast introduction of capacity with the correct performance. Also, if required the physical infrastructure can be removed and replaced in the oldest POD’s and then replaced with the next technology.
Craig Doyle, senior solutions market manager, EMEA, CommScope
Q: What are the data recovery considerations?
A: Are there robust back-up systems and protocols in place in case of a data loss? Do these systems and protocols meet your own in-house back-up standards? Is your data stored on reliable disk? Is your data regularly defragmented? Are the different types of data and applications managed appropriately? Does your cloud vendor have a data recovery provider identified in its disaster recovery plan? In instances of data loss, it is imperative that a rapid response procedure is adhered to.
Robert Winter, chief engineer, Ontrack Data Recovery, Kroll Ontrack
Q: Are you ready for the cloud?
A: For some organisations, a full scale move to the cloud now, will be suitable, for others such a move might never be appropriate. For the overwhelming majority, a considered, phased move to the cloud - with a mixture of hybrid or blended on/off -premise solutions, is likely to prove the best solution. Conduct a maturity assessment of the cloud offerings to see if their needs can be met in the short to medium term.
Matthew Edwards, Chief Technology Officer at blue source
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