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White Paper
Cloud Computing
Building a Framework for Successful Transition
Contents
Executive Summary 2
Defining Cloud Computing 3
The Five Essential Characteristics 3
The Three Service Models 3
The Four Deployment Models 4
The Benefits of Cloud Computing 4
Issues and Risks 4
Cloud Computing Maturity Model 5
Step 1: Consolidation 5
Step 2: Virtualization 5
Step 3: Automation 6
Step 4: Utility 7
Step 5: Cloud 7
GTSI Delivers on Cloud Computing 7
Transforming Government 8
Conclusion 8
References
Supplemental Material
About the Authors
2 GTSI Solutions / White Paper / Cloud Computing
Executive Summary
Cloud computing, with the revolutionary promise of computing
as a utility, has the potential to transform how IT services are
delivered and managed. Yet, despite its great promise, even the
most seasoned professionals know little about cloud computing
or how to define it. A recent study revealed that 41% of senior IT
professionals admit that they “don’t know” what cloud comput-
ing is. This research follows a similar survey highlighting that
two-thirds of senior finance professionals are confused about
cloud computing (Version One, 2009).
But as more players enter the market, as resources only when there is an increase
proven use drives up the acceptance of in their needs. Moreover, cloud computing
the cloud computing model -- and budget provides the ability to pay for use of com-
constraints force IT departments to puting resources on a short-term basis
look for savings wherever possible -- the as needed (e.g., processors by the hour
demand for cloud computing solutions is and storage by the day) and release them
expected to grow exponentially. According as needed (Berkeley, 2009).
to INPUT, estimates are that by FY2013
federal, state, and local government As for the bottom line, cloud computing
spending on cloud computing will reach enables governments to lower the expense
$800 million (INPUT, 2009). of existing IT services and to cost-effectively
introduce enhanced services. Moreover,
The reasons for the increasing interest government agencies not only benefit
among government agencies are myriad. from increased productivity engendered
To begin, cloud computing offers an by cloud computing, but citizens as well
entirely new way of looking at IT infra- benefit from the more efficient use of tax
structure. From a hardware point of view, dollars (INPUT, 2009). Costs associated with
“The Federal Government will cloud computing offers seemingly never- IT operations in many cases decrease
transform its IT infrastructure by ending computing resources available on significantly, because services can be
virtualizing data centers, consoli- demand, thereby eliminating the need purchased on-demand. Finally, administra-
dating data centers and operations, to budget for hardware that may only be tive time spent attending to the needs of
and ultimately adopting a cloud used in high peak timeframes. Cloud the IT infrastructure can be reduced, with
computing business model.” computing eliminates an up-front commit- personnel freed to devote more time to
ment by users, thereby allowing agencies an agency’s core mission objectives.
(GSA, 2009) to start small and increase hardware
GTSI Solutions / White Paper / Cloud Computing 3
Defining Cloud Computing promote use by heterogeneous thin Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Public Cloud. The cloud infrastructure is ently without the necessity of making
Motivators for Implementing a made available to the general public or a major capital investments. Capacity can
Cloud Computing Solution: large industry group and is owned by an be added as resources are needed and
organization selling cloud services. completed in a very short period of time.
• Increase capacity cost effectively Thus, agencies can avoid the latency,
• Reduce IT operating costs Hybrid Cloud. The cloud infrastructure expense, and risk of purchasing hard-
and effort is a composition of two or more clouds ware and software that takes up data
• Reduce hardware infrastructure (private, community, or public) that center space -- and can reduce the
costs remain unique entities but are bound traditional time required to scale up an
• Access SaaS applications together by standardized or proprietary application in support of the mission.
• Free up IT staff technology that enables data and appli- Cloud computing allows agencies to
cation portability (e.g., cloud bursting for easily move in the other direction as
(INPUT, 2009) load-balancing between clouds). well, removing capacity, and thus expenses,
as needed.
The Benefits of Cloud Computing
Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS). Resource Maximization. Cloud comput-
The capability provided to the consumer As cloud computing begins to take hold, ing eases the burden on IT resources
is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure several major benefits have become evident: already stretched thin, particularly
consumer-created or acquired applications important for agencies facing shortages
created using programming languages Costs. The cloud promises to reduce of qualified IT professionals.
and tools supported by the provider. the cost of acquiring, delivering, and
The consumer does not manage or maintaining computing power, a benefit Collaboration. The cloud presents an
control the underlying cloud infrastruc- of particular importance in times of environment where users can develop
ture including network, servers, operat- fiscal uncertainty. By enabling agencies software-based services that enhances
ing systems, or storage, but has control to purchase only the computing services collaboration and fosters greater
over the deployed applications and needed, instead of investing in com- information sharing, not only within the
possibly application hosting environment plex and expensive IT infrastructures, agency, but also among other govern-
configurations. agencies can drive down the costs of ment and private entities.
developing, testing, and maintaining
The Four Deployment Models new and existing systems. Customization. Cloud computing offers
a platform of tremendous potential for
Private Cloud. The cloud infrastructure Access. The cloud promises universal creating and amending applications to
is operated solely for an organization. It access to high-powered computing and address a diversity of tasks and chal-
may be managed by the organization or storage resources for anyone with a net- lenges. Its inherent agility means that
a third party and may exist on premise work access device. By providing such specific processes can be easily altered
or off premise. capabilities, cloud computing helps to to meet shifting agency needs, since
facilitate telework initiatives, as well as those processes are typically change-
Community Cloud. The cloud infrastruc- bolster an agency’s continuity of opera- able by making a configuration change,
ture is shared by several organizations tions (COOP) demands. and not by driving redevelopment from
and supports a specific community that the back-end systems (Heyward and
has shared concerns (e.g., mission, Scalability and Capacity. The cloud is Rayport, 2009).
security requirements, policy, and compli- an always-on computing resource that
ance considerations). It may be managed enables users to tailor consumption to Issues and Risks
by the organizations or a third party and their specific needs. Infinitely scalable,
may exist on premise or off premise. cloud computing allows IT infrastructures One of the key issues in cloud comput-
to be expanded efficiently and expedi- ing is the move towards a multi-sourced
GTSI Solutions / White Paper / Cloud Computing 5
IT environment, where some services to be implemented with the highest Consolidation is achieved primarily
are provided in house, some from other degree of security. Indeed, any signifi- through virtualization but can also be
government entities, and some from a cant data breach will exacerbate already approached by the use of denser
range of infrastructure, application, and existing fears about whether data is computing hardware or even high per-
process suppliers in the form of private, indeed safe in the cloud. formance computing. By boosting the
public, community, or hybrid clouds. speed of critical processes and enabling
To enable the cloud and fully realize its greater flexibility, the consolidation of
Any preparation for such transitioning potential, certain fundamental elements data centers and desktops allows agen-
requires a thorough review of an agency’s must be addressed. To begin with, the cies to do more with fewer resources –
IT strategy in light of its mission needs. cloud must function at levels equal to a significant concern in today’s economic
Which fundamental capabilities need or better than the current IT systems environment. Moreover, the shift to a
to stay in house as mission critical? – and must deliver tangible savings and unified fabric provides both physical and
Which are better suited for providers benefits, including raising energy efficiency virtual access to the storage area network
to deliver, and which lend themselves and reducing environmental impact. Users (SAN), creating greater efficiency and
to the pay-per-use cloud approach? must be assured of near-ubiquitous and cost savings by allowing more storage
These considerations should be made open access via the Internet, and be to be consolidated in the SAN.
in conjunction with the imperative to able to move among the cloud platforms
consolidate, simplify, and optimize an as needed – with the users’ rights to Network and application moderniza-
agency’s IT environment, to reduce the data clearly defined and protected. tion is also an important initial step
operational costs and free up investment Above all, as previously stated, user in enabling the transition to a cloud
for other mission-focused initiatives. data must be secure at all times. computing environment. A viable
alternative to replacing infrastructure
Implementing a cloud computing IaaS Cloud Computing Maturity Model components or rewriting critical applica-
model incurs different risks than manag- tions, modernization promotes com-
ing a dedicated agency data center. The establishment of a cloud computing munication between older systems and
Risks associated with the implementa- maturity model (CCMM) provides a frame- newer solutions, all while preserving the
tion of such a new service delivery model work for successful implementation. GTSI value in existing IT systems. Freed from
include policy changes, implementation of recommends a phased approach to the bonds of a mainframe environment,
dynamic applications, and securing the the CCMM, encompassing five key critical applications modernized through
dynamic environment. Most often, the components: a service-oriented architecture provide
mitigation plan for these risks depends • Consolidation agencies with the increased ability to
on assessing the IT services needed to • Virtualization leverage newer technologies.
support end users and how they will be • Automation
delivered, establishing proactive program • Utility As for security concerns surrounding
management, and implementing industry • Cloud cloud computing, modernization actually
best practices and government policies works to enhance the security of sensitive
in the management of that program. Step 1: Consolidation information stored on critical applica-
An agency’s migration towards cloud tions. When established properly, the
For cloud computing to be widely adopted, computing begins with the consolida- cloud platform provides security of all
assurances must be made that data tion of server, storage, and network data in motion, traveling between the
is not only always accessible, but also resources, which works to reduce cloud and the desktop, and all data at
totally secure. Agencies will undoubtedly redundancy, decrease wasted space, rest in cloud storage.
need to actively put in place security and increase equipment usage, all
measures that will allow dynamic through the measured planning of both Step 2: Virtualization
application use and information-sharing architecture and process. Virtualization forms a solid foundation
for all cloud architectures. It enables
6 GTSI Solutions / White Paper / Cloud Computing
Consolidation Abstraction Adaptive, Secure, Self-Service & Metering On-Demand & Scalable
& Modernization & Resource Pooling & Repeatable
of Resources
Server Consolidation erver & Storage
S Policy-Based Provisioning Service Metrics & Metering IaaS, SaaS, PaaS
Virtualization & Management
Tiered Storage Desktop Virtualization ITIL-Based Repeatable Service Level Agreements Service-Oriented
Consolidation Processes (SLAs) Architecture
Consolidation of Network Virtualized Network Multi-Tier Security Incident Response Inter-Cloud Federation
Services Services & Audit
Consolidation of Disparate Application Virtualization Multi-Tier Data Recovery Continuous Availability Integration of Web 2.0
Applications & Failover & Web Portals
Power & Cooling Green IT Data Center Security Situational Awareness Provisioning
the abstraction and aggregation of all centers and networks. Moreover, through Through a transformative procedure, the
data center resources, thereby creating consolidation – one of the critical ap- infrastructure is automated, and critical
a unified resource that can be shared plications of virtualization – agencies IT processes become more dynamic
by all application loads. Hardware such can regain control of their distributed -- and greater control is achieved by
as servers, storage devices, and other resources by creating shared pools of trusted policies. With automation, data
components are treated as a pool of standardized resources that enable centers can systematically remove
resources rather than a discrete sys- centralized management, speeding up manual labor requirements for run-time
tem, thereby allowing the allocation of service provisioning and reducing un- operations. Among the various forms
resources on demand. By decoupling planned down time. Ultimately, the result of automation in practice today, provi-
the physical IT infrastructure from the is increased use of assets and simpli- sioning automation is perhaps the best
applications and services being hosted, fied lifecycle management through the known and most often implemented.
virtualization allows greater efficiency mobility of applications and data.
and flexibility, without any effect on Rather than managing underlying
system administration productivity or Although many agencies turn to virtual- infrastructure, agencies in pursuit of
tools and processes. ization to improve resource usage and cloud computing need to move toward
decrease both capital and operating costs, managing service levels based on what
By separating the workload from the the ultimate goal in cloud computing is the is appropriate for the application users,
underlying OS and hardware, virtualiza- use of the abstraction between applica- whether it’s minimum tolerable applica-
tion allows extreme portability. When tions and infrastructure to manage IT as a tion latency or the availability level of
extended to every system component, Service (IaaS) in a true cloud environment. an application – whatever are deemed
desktop, network, storage, and servers critical factors. In this regard, automation
– it enables the mobility of applications Step 3: Automation becomes an essential element.
and data, not only across servers and In this stage, automation optimizes
storage arrays, but also across data an agency’s virtualized IT resources.
GTSI Solutions / White Paper / Cloud Computing 7
With centralized IT and self-service for especially for information and services a cloud computing platform is setting the
end users, automation helps agencies to that might leave the data center. A private stage for technological innovation – and
disentangle themselves from the burden cloud utility model answers the question, giving the government a leading role in
of repetitive management procedures, by enabling agencies to retain the data the cloud’s wider adoption. The vision of
all while enabling end users to quickly within their network security while scaling cloud computing could radically change the
access what they require. Ultimately, and expanding as user demands change, structure of how government entities deliver
automation can help agencies to reduce pooling IT resources in a single operating IT services to their constituents, the data
their operating expenses by: system or management platform. As a they make available, and the tools they use
• Reallocating computing resources result, anywhere from tens to thousands to collaborate and solve problems.
on-demand of applications and services can be
• Establishing run-time responses to supported – and new architectures that GTSI closely follows the five-step CCMM
capacity demands target large-scale computing activities described earlier to enable agencies to
• Automating trouble-ticket responses easily installed. migrate to a cloud environment. GTSI’s
(or eliminating trouble tickets for cloud computing offering consists of IT
most automated response scenarios) Step 5: Cloud infrastructure and services that begin
• Integrating system management and Through cloud internetworking federation, with infrastructure consolidation and
measurement disparate cloud systems can be linked in virtualization, then span to building the
such a way as to accommodate both the cloud infrastructure and providing secure
Step 4: Utility particular nature of cloud computing and cloud hosting and lifecycle management
In addition to automation, both self- the running of IT workloads. This federa- services that meet all federal security
service and metering -- feedback about tion allows the sharing of a range of IT requirements. GTSI supports the cloud
the cost of the resources allocated -- are resources and capabilities – including infrastructure including the network,
necessary requirements in creating a capacity, monitoring, and management – storage, computing, platforms, database
cloud service. With breakthrough capa- and the movement of application loads and middleware, and cloud applications
bilities for end users and agencies, self- between clouds. Moreover, since federa- securely hosted and wrapped around
service and metering facilitate not only tion can occur across data center and GTSI’s unique Technology Lifecycle
better IT management but the further agency boundaries, it enables such Management (TLM) methodology.
extension of the user experience. processes as unified metering and billing
and one-stop self-service provisioning. TLM represents a multi-phased approach
In the cloud, there is no intermediary that encompasses the planning, design,
between the user of a resource and the With cloud computing, communication acquisition, implementation, and manage-
processes for acquiring and allocating increases significantly, as data sharing ment of all elements comprising the IT
resources for critical mission needs between previously separate systems is infrastructure. This model enables agencies
and initiatives. Since the user initiates fully enabled – and collaboration within to better align their mission objectives
the service requests, IT becomes an on- and between government agencies with the technology, eliminate the burden
demand service and the costs of operation grows exponentially. Ultimately, rather and costs of IT asset ownership, and
drop significantly, because costs are than each agency operating in isolation, create a more predictable service delivery
incurred only when the service is used constricted by the boundaries of its own model for its users – allowing agencies to
and fewer dollars are spent attending to data center, not only can services be deliver IT Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
the needs of the infrastructure. shared among groups, but also costs
can be shared and lessened. GTSI’s TLM framework aligns with the
Essential to IT administration is the GTSI Cloud Computing Maturity Model
question of how to maintain service GTSI Delivers on Cloud Computing by delivering:
delivery in a fully virtualized, multi-tenancy • Multi-phased approach covering all IT
environment while at the same time Government’s current emphasis on optimiz- infrastructure elements
providing the highest levels of security – ing common services and solutions through
8 GTSI Solutions / White Paper / Cloud Computing
Conclusion
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