At the risk of being called a Pollyanna, I am going to go out on a limb and say that there are some positive outcomes of recessions. If nothing else, the current economic situation is forcing IT enterprises to take a hard look at their data centers and how they do business. With typical data center costs running approximately 25% of total IT budgets, increasing pressure from global competition, social responsibility and energy efficiency (“green”) demands, rapid technology changes, infrastructure complexity, information explosion, and user sophistication, enterprises are under pressure (if not duress) to find cost-efficient business solutions and models to operate their data centers. Cloud computing is one technology and service solution that offers enterprises a data center silver lining (go ahead and groan), which optimizes resources and drives efficiency.
With the proliferation of next-gen mobile devices, high-speed connectivity, and data-intensive Web 2.0 applications, more enterprises are recognizing the advantages of cloud computing. Three words, coincidentally A words, sum up cloud computing: anytime, anywhere, and adaptability. Cloud computing, whether private or public, is a model for provisioning processes, applications, and services while making IT management more flexible and responsive to the end user’s requirement of on-demand services regardless of location or the type of device the user is utilizing.
A cloud computing data center model enables rapid innovation, scalability, and support of core enterprise functions, resulting in significant economies of scale. Opex and capex savings are realized through the standardization of systems and software components. Virtualization reduces the need for additional hardware, software, and facilities as well as automation of server, network, storage, operating systems, and middleware provisioning and security issues, all of which are costly and time consuming functions.
Addressing and managing services within a cloud environment reduces infrastructure expenses without adversely affecting business requirements. With the deployment of virtualization solutions, utilization of servers can increase from 20% to 70% with a resulting decrease in required infrastructure. This hardware reduction translates to a dramatic decrease in some associated operation expenditures: rack space, real estate, power, and cooling.
Another important but often overlooked advantage of cloud computing is the ability to ensure continuity and data center longevity. The average life expectancy of a large data center is 12 years. With the cost of developing a data center at approximately $500M, cloud computing becomes both a business and operational value.
Not only does cloud computing improve system utilization, management, and provisioning as well as set the framework for data center longevity, it also increases service velocity; increases speed in service delivery within networks; reduces the overall costs associated with data centers; allocates resources more efficiently; establishes new revenue options; secures networks; and enhances customers’ experiences.