Cloud Computing – Results are OUT

The survey results are out – we had over 200 respondents and some very interesting results!

Have a look here.

Survey on Cloud Computing adoption in Ireland

The Irish Internet Association’s working group on Cloud Computing has just published a market research survey which we would be grateful if members of this group could respond to.

This market research is really valuable to understand if Ireland is lagging in cloud computing adoption or not, whether it’s potential is living up to its promise and identifying what exactly are the barriers to greater adoption.

We thank you for responding to this survey which will help us to help Irish businesses benefit from the cloud. All respondents will receive a complimentary copy of our Whitepaper (working title: Why Ireland’s not Cloud Computing?) which is being written in collaboration with all the major cloud vendors (Google, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, etc.) and some major Irish enterprises.

If you have any questions about the group’s objectives, please do not hesitate to contact me at gpower@sysco.ie.

Some advantages and disadvantages of SaaS

Flexibility & Freedom

• SaaS applications can be accessed anywhere from any PC
• Less need for any internal IT management
• Security is actually stronger than on-premise, particularly for small businesses
• You can trial solution before buying
• You can go live rapidly since the standard application is already available
• In the multitenant model, you are always on current software versions since upgrades are forced

Better bottom line

• The upfront cost is radically reduced (e.g.  no hardware costs)
• System management costs can be reduced
• A fixed capital cost becomes a variable expense
• Commitment is low since you pay month by month
• You pay for what you want (SaaS’ variable pricing means user numbers can change month by month)

But the Bad Bottom line

• Over time, renting is more expensive
• It is a continuous monthly expense
• You do not own an IT asset

Delivery models for Cloud Computing

The Whitepaper started by adopting an independent third party working definition from the American National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The IIA Working Group have used the definitions of IaaS, PaaS & SaaS which are from this community.

http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/

The issue with sharing resources

Since cloud computing is essentially based on a model of `shared resources on demand’,  this architecture challenges heavy transactional enterprise systems which have to `share’ I/O paths and storage infrastructure. 

In other words, customers of the cloud not only need to worry about their own applications contending with each other but also contention between their applications and a myriad of other companies’  applications which will be sharing the same storage infrastructure.

There is a similar concern for intra node communications, which are vital if enterprises wish to provide a highly available clustered environment.

Guaranteed I/O performance (or at least guarantees that they would not be contending with other companies’ applications) are critical for enterprises considering deploying of their systems in the cloud but cloud vendors typically do not provide guidelines for I/O much less guarantees.

Why? Because “shared resources on demand” means they can’t.

Is this a Catch 22 for enterprise adoption? How will cloud vendors  grapple with the challenges this shared   storage model creates for heavy transactional enterprise systems?

Stay tuned for the vendor’s response…..

The cost of reliable uptime in Ireland is just too high

It stands to reason that a business that fully embraces cloud computing – particularly for critical applications that cannot fail – must have guaranteed broadband access to the cloud. The fact is internet connectivity options are limited in Ireland and wireless which is more accessible can be unreliable.

The issue for Ireland is not just that we are lagging far behind the broadband penetration targets that the government set itself but the high cost of guaranteeing this access.

The cost of SLAs from ISPs guaranteeing 99.9% uptime come at huge cost and this cost contributes to the total cost a business must incur to migrate its critical applications to the cloud.

Until Irish ISPs can guarantee Irish businesses reliable uptime at a reasonable price, the cost benefits that cloud computing promises cannot be fully realised. This is a huge inhibiting factor to adoption and one that much be esclated to government to resolve.

Kicked off the cloud

Yesterday, the Irish Internet Association’s Working Group on Cloud Computing was formally kicked off as we began our task to  publish a whitepaper by the end of September. The meeting was well attended with all the major cloud vendors (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Salesforce, etc.) outnumbered by industry representatives (elan, Kepak, Friend’s First, Merrill Lynch, etc.).

The first hurdle was easily cleared when the NIST definition (http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/index.html) was unanimously adopted.

The second hurdle – the scope of the whitepaper – proved a little more contentious when Google’s figures contradicted Microsoft’s on Ireland’s enterpise adoption of cloud applications. Google’s figures showed Ireland to be well ahead of its European counterparts while Microsoft’s showed Ireland to be lagging.

After much debate, agreement was finally reached that cloud computing needs to be categorised into simple and complex applications since there are obviously many more obstacles to the adoption of complex applications so they need to treated differently.

The fact is real obstacles exist so this is the task we have set ourselves to either resolve the perception of these obstacles or propose recommendations to counter them in the hope that our whitepaper will encourage Irish enterprises to get on the cloud.

Have a chat …

We’ve been getting great exposure and response from our Cloud Computing Tutorials. Gerry has been spreading the word. For anyone who’d like to have a chat, contact Gerry at gpower at sysco dot ie

http://www.techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=13594

So what is Cloud Computing?

Need a 5 minute explanation of Cloud Computing, check out this video!

Cloud Computing Working Group

The Irish Internet Association Cloud Computing Working Group seeks to educate decision makers on the advantages of Cloud Computing while also cognisant of the disadvantages. It aims to support businesses to analyse the issues involved in transitioning their IT infrastructure from on premise to cloud applications and advise businesses on areas of concern such as availability, security and data protection. The group aims to clarify the objective opportunities beyond the hype.

It is intended that membership of the working group be split evenly between expert practitioners and business leaders (e.g. CTOs) from a variety of business sectors, including the finance, public sector, SME, tourism, media, technology and not-for-profit sectors. This will allow input from all stakeholders on issues pertaining to this area.

The Group will meet 2 to 3 times a year and will primarily work using Basecamp – an online collaboration tool. The number of members will be kept to 10 and if required the working group will be split into subgroups to work on specific tasks.

The group will be chaired by Gerry Power, Consultant, Sysco.

If you would like to get involved please contact Roseanne Smith at members@iia.ie or 01 5424154. All enquiries welcome.  

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