For organizations weighing their IT options, the cloud has opened up a world of choices. Cloud technologies offer several benefits, including reduced or no hardware costs, aggregated computing power at an affordable cost, near-instant scalability in either direction, deployment flexibility, and more. But is it truly the solution to all your communications and network problems? Those in IT know there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
There is no question that cloud computing is one of the most important technology trends in the IT world today. It has completely changed the way businesses of all sizes conduct their operations and is similarly creating a revolution in the way service providers deliver their offerings. Some hosted services companies are rebranding their products as “cloud-based services,” which is not always accurate.
Organizations need to make several important decisions when it comes to choosing which IT solution is best: for many organizations, a hybrid model is the way to go because it offers a greater level of flexibility and control. Gartner defines a hybrid cloud service as a cloud computing service that is composed of some combination of private, public and community cloud services, from different service providers. A hybrid model can also be the result of the public cloud working in sync with on-premise environments.
Regardless of whether an enterprise chooses cloud-based, on-premise or hosted services (or a combination thereof), IT professionals need to look at how much they really know about their service provider, their infrastructure and policies – and whether the service(s) will truly provide the enterprise with the desired benefits and goals.
Control is a critical factor when organizations evaluate a hosted or cloud-based service. How much is within your sphere of control? What do you know about their security policies and access control infrastructure? Should you consider migrating some of your applications to the cloud, while continuing to host others internally? Which ones are best suited for a cloud environment, and which are you unwilling to move from your internal data center?
Answering all of these questions is most likely a daunting task for IT professionals. This week at ITEXPO Miami 2013, experts will address this important subject during the session, “Making Sense of the Options: Hosted vs. Cloud vs. On-Premises Solutions,” which will be held on Jan. 30 from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Among the panelists are: Pam Bernardinom of OpenText; Kerry Garrison of ?Vitelity Communications; Lindsay Kintner of Tadiran; and Jose Pastor of RingCentral. Dan O’Connell will serve as moderator.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
