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Fuelled by increased desires for greater efficiencies, supportability, extensibility and cost effectiveness in IT infrastructures, Cloud computing has acquired an almost mythical status as a powerful consolidated architecture for delivery of enterprise IT services. Despite its close association with long-established technologies like virtualisation, grid computing and clustering, the concepts behind Cloud implementations are still fairly young. Notwithstanding this newness, businesses are subscribing to the model in increasing numbers.

According to EMA research, Cloud computing services are already a $40 to $95 billion dollar industry. Industry observers expect this to quadruple to $160 billion by 2015 and yet it is clear that Cloud computing is still in its early-adopter phase. EMA survey results reveal just 16 percent of organisations have as yet considered Cloud solutions for their IT services, indicating a wide potential for future growth as the value proposition becomes more widely accepted. Building a responsible Cloud infrastructure - either from existing computing resources or from the ground up – requires three important steps at the design stage.

Step 1. Effectively Size the Infrastructure

The first objective must be to support the maximum amount of computing services with the minimum number of computing resources. Capital expenditure on brand new environments can be reduced greatly by investing in a smaller number of more powerful resources. Meanwhile established environments can utilise existing systems more efficiently through consolidation efforts or by maximising system utilisation with grid computing. The fewer physical components there are in an infrastructure, the fewer systems there are that must be deployed, configured and maintained.

The second aim must be to reduce the number of potential security and failure points and improve overall reliability. Consolidated servers are also more easily pooled and can better accommodate the use of shared services, such as with commonly accessible storage and clustering. This allows new resources to be more rapidly provisioned to meet service demands. For example, as requirements for Cloud services grow, new disk drives can easily be added to an existing storage pool and new servers can be easily introduced to a cluster without affecting service availability.

Capacity planning is critical to effective infrastructure sizing. Systems that consolidate a large number of resources, such as blade servers and mainframes, are physically larger and more powerful than standard servers. Organisations must ensure data centres do not exceed environmental conditions – such as weight restrictions, power availability, and network bandwidth – and that sufficient environmental resource are always available to support rapid expansion. Automated tools can help track system and environmental resources availability so that quick and informed decisions can be made on the most effective ways to size and expand Cloud services to meet an expected growth in service requirements.

Step 2. Ensure high Availability

Since Cloud services are expected to be continuously accessible, high availability is another critical infrastructure requirement that needs to be addressed. The virtues of clustered servers have already been mentioned for their ability to be expanded rapidly, but their chief value comes from their ability to load balance system resources across cluster members and to provide uninterrupted fail-over services in the event of a single server being subject to catastrophic failure or maintenance downtime.

Clustered environments are typically contained within a single physical location so that they can share storage systems and do not have any performance latency due to WAN traffic. Large Cloud implementations typically have multiple clustered environments at multiple facilities. This allows failover of a Cloud service in the event of a site disaster. Individual Cloud deployments can be expanded to operate across multiple clustered environments, both local and remote, to create a “hub and spoke” architecture that ensures highly available and highly reliable compute services. Even by eliminating the possibility of a single point of failure, however, catastrophic system or site failure can impact performance of Cloud services, so automated tools should be employed to monitor the health of these systems as well as the availability of support services, such as power and network connectivity.

Step 3. Minimise Operating Expenses

A core expected value from Cloud adoption is the reduction of IT operating expenses. In fact, EMA research has confirmed that roughly 76 percent of Cloud implementations have resulted in significant and measurable cost reductions. Consolidation efforts can certainly help to reduce capital expenditures, but with a little extra planning and consideration operational cost reductions can also be achieved. Administrative staff, for instance, can be reduced and yet still sufficiently sized to meet support requirements by simplifying the environment to be managed.

Unlike traditional data centre models, Cloud infrastructures provide the opportunity to standardise on only one or a few system architectures. The fewer server, configuration, and application types there are to support, the less specialised knowledge is needed to support staff pool. Similarly, standardising management practices and automating procedures reduce the amount of administrative tasks and effort that must be performed. Monitoring and asset discovery tools can also reduce the administrative burden by making it easier and faster to identify root causes of problems and to proactively prevent potential problems.

Cost efficiencies can also be achieved by reducing data centre energy consumption. EMA research indicates that, on average, more than 20 percent of data centre electricity costs can be eliminated with basic power management practices, and more than 80 percent reduction in consumption has been achieved by the most energy-efficient data centre reconfigurations. The most effective server level power management practices involve monitoring the environment to look for opportunities to reduce consumption during low use periods. Significant cost saving can also be achieved by reducing data centre cooling requirements. By identifying “hot spots,” data centres can be reconfigured to ensure proper airflow and heat dissipation so that chillers do not need to be run more often than necessary.

Conclusion

The foundation for end-to-end Cloud infrastructure intelligence is being established today. Visual modelling tools have the potential to revolutionise the concepts of IT management. By transitioning from a passive monitoring solution to an active management interface, the solution can be transformed into a centralised console for unified service management. In time such tools will be integrated with more extensible automated systems management processes for things like provisioning, configuration, security, patching, and remediation services. The combination will result in a very intuitive virtual data centre representation where individual services can be modelled at the process level as well as at the physical hardware level.

Nottinghamshire County Council has signed a five year contract worth £7.4m with Logica to transform their business support processes.

Mike Harounoff, business development manager at Logica, explained that the contract aims to implement an internal shared service within the council, bringing together the functions of HR, payroll, procurement and finance.

"We're implementing SAP ERP to replace existing systems, such as Cyborg, which the council uses currently for HR functions," said Harounoff. "Systems will go live for all functions in October 2011, that's the first phase."

The second phase of the project will be the rollout of payroll to schools across the county. There will also be added functionality aroundbusiness reporting, which will go organisation-wide.

The two phases will be delivered over 18 months, and then there will be support for the remainder of the five year period.

Once it gets the internal shared service in place the council will be looking to see how it can extend that service to the wider public sector within the county, for example the emergency services. After that it will consider sharing with other larger authorities.

Savings will come from job cuts, increased efficiency and a reduction of duplication.

"Technology is the enabler to make the savings. But if you don't have the right processes in place, you won't make those savings. The return on investment will come from the way in which the service is delivered," Harounoff said.

Source: http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/1930310/logica-wins-gbp74m-shared-services-contract

Fears over data security, downtime and loss of control has meant CFOs at mid-sized UK firms are unwilling to place their IT infrastructure in the cloud, with many unaware of the benefits cloud computing offers.

Research commissioned by SunGard Availability Services, the business continuity specialist, questioned chief financial officers at mid-sized UK headquartered organisations about their attitudes to the cloud.

The research found that 56 percent of respondents cited fears around the security of sensitive customer or commercial data. The research also showed that high-profile media stories around IT outages or data losses are heightening these fears, with nearly half (45 percent) of the respondents admitting that such cases make them more inclined to keep their data in-house, despite the cost implications.

And many CFOs say they do not have a clear picture of the cloud, despite cloud computing being frequently cited as a key technology to reduce IT spend.

Only one third (34 percent) of UK CFOs said they understood fully the benefits of moving their IT into the cloud, and less than a third (28 percent) say they know the difference between private and public clouds. "These are two very different approaches to cloud computing, with very different data security and integrity attributes," said SunGard.

Worries around control of data are also holding back investment. Loss of control concerns nearly 60% of CFOs when handing data over to a third party, and only 15% of CFOs surveyed said they would be happy to have all of their data in the hands of a third party.

Keith Tilley, executive vice president of Europe at SunGard Availability Services, said, "IT vendors and senior in-house IT employees need to do much more to educate financial decision makers about the benefits of moving to an appropriate outsourced IT environment and the related use of outsourcing partners."

The research was carried out by Vanson Bourne among 100 CFOs organisations employing between 250 and 1,000 staff.

Source: http://www.cio.co.uk/news/3252037/cfos-unwilling-to-place-it-infrastructure-in-cloud-over-data-security-fears/?olo=rss

Through synchronising product development roadmaps and technology architectures Cisco and BMC Software are aiming to a offer an Integrated Cloud Delivery Platform.

"As cloud computing evolves from a strategic idea to a business reality, companies are quickly discovering the complexities of deploying and managing cloud solutions in a hybrid data centre," said Bob Beauchamp, chairman of BMC Software.

"BMC's alliance with Cisco will enable our customers with large-scale cloud computing environments to make mission-critical cloud services a practical reality for their demanding businesses and customers. IT organisations can be more nimble, cost-efficient, scalable and, most importantly, better aligned to the business."

The Integrated Cloud Delivery Platform will initially be aimed at telecoms companies but will also be rolled out to enterprises looking to develop private cloud systems.

The offering combines Cisco's Unified Service Delivery platform with BMC's Cloud LifeCycle Management software.

"The Integrated Cloud Delivery Platform enables our customers to deploy end-to-endIT services running on a cloud infrastructure that spans networks, systems, storage and applications," said Padmasree Warrior, senior vice president of Cisco's enterprise, commercial and small business group.

Source: http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2273714/cisco-bmc-cloud-computing

Embattled outsourcing firm Mouchel has revealed it was facing potential hostile takeover bids after financial fears sent its shares plunging.

The group - which develops infrastructure for councils and Government agencies - said it had received recent approaches, but added it believes they do not "reflect the true value of the company".

Mouchel has been hit by a drop in demand after the change of Government in May as departments have reined in spending and postponed or scaled down projects.

Its shares have slumped to below 60p in recent weeks from a year high of 268p as investors have headed for the exit amid concerns over the impact of Government spending cuts and as Mouchel holds crucial talks over the refinancing of its debt pile.

Shares in Mouchel soared as much as 34% after news of the approaches.However, the group stressed it was making progress with self-help measures to get the business back on track. It is considering selling non-core parts of the business and is looking at a possible fundraising to shore up its balance sheet.

The group's lenders appointed accountancy firm Deloitte to carry out a review of Mouchel as they hammer out details of a refinancing.

Mouchel said these talks were "proceeding to plan" and added that steps to help the business were "proving successful". But it confirmed that there was no end in sight for the challenging market conditions seen over the past six months, with public sector clients delaying spending decisions.

The group axed its final dividend in October after posting a pre-tax loss of £14.7 million and a 15% drop in revenues to £632.6 million for the year to July 31.

It has rolled out a £25 million cost saving programme to help combat tough conditions, with further staff cuts taking job losses since 2009 to 2,000.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gPHXT2HN5BkcH2RftJ5i8yiRCyLg?docId=N0456451291623603415A

Most industry observers recognise that cloud computing represents a radical and irreversible transformation in the way business uses technology. The cloud's global reach, process automation and economies of scale make it possible for a single individual to perform essential functions that once required a team of in-house employees - and that individual may not need to be on the premises, or even in the country. But too few IT professionals understand that the cloud model represents a serious threat to their careers.

The cold, hard reality is that cloud computing will eliminate some IT specialities entirely, at least as disciplines performed on an organisation's premises by its own employees - and will significantly reduce the demand for many others. These changes won't happen overnight and they won't affect every business, every industry, every IT discipline, equally. But change is coming - and IT professionals who care about their careers need to start preparing now.

A key element of a successful career - in any field, but particularly in the endlessly changing world of IT - has always been matching individual skills to market demand. So, the IT professional needs to understand which sets of skills, and which personal and professional qualities, will make it possible to survive, and even prosper, in the cloud world.

What should the IT professional be doing now?

The key to survival and success in the future is a brutally honest appraisal of the present. IT professionals must measure their current and future capabilities against three fundamental sets of characteristics:

- technological skill

- business and socio-economical expertise

-and the elusive - but crucial - qualities of vision and creativity.

Most vulnerable: the narrow-focus technological specialist

The roles that will disappear into the cloud first are those that require intermediate-level, narrowly focused technical expertise, but little business expertise, and little vision and creativity. These specialists - who may, for example, include database, network and server administrators - perform functions that can be provided to organisations simply, cost-effectively and reasonably securely by third-party providers.

Less vulnerable: the business expert

IT professionals who clearly understand how the business works and what technology is needed to make it work - even if they lack advanced technical skills or strategic vision - are much less likely to get lost in the cloud. Application development analysts who understand their company's manufacturing processes, for example, and can articulate them so that programmers can implement a process control application are likely to see their role remain in-house.

More secure: the strategist

Roles that require substantial business expertise, significant technical knowledge, a comprehensive, strategic view of business and cultural issues, and vision and creativity - as well as the ability to communicate them with many different target audiences, both internal and external. These roles - which may include chief technology officer, senior architect and project liaison - may mean the difference between success and failure for the enterprise, and they will likely remain in-house.

Some will not only survive, but thrive

One very small set of IT professionals will be almost entirely exempt from the relentless replacement and reduction of enterprise roles by cloud services. Individuals with the highest levels of technical skill, combined with a broad and deep understanding of business and social trends and the vision and creativity and ability to innovate, will be able to remain with the organisation or to move into the cloud and become cloud creators or providers themselves.

Finding your place in the cloud world

IT professionals across a broad range of disciplines can use the above criteria to work out their current and future vulnerability to the emerging cloud-computing paradigm. This is a very personal process, and will require complete honesty and a careful assessment of both individual characteristics and technological and market trends.

If your assessment leads you to believe that your technical skills are narrow-scope, but you prefer to remain in the same organisation or industry, it is time to begin adding more business expertise to your portfolio of skills.

If you believe you possess a high degree of knowledge of your organisation's business, complemented by intermediate technical skills, your current position is likely to be reasonably secure. It is important to recognise, however, that the same factors that make your position in the organisation comparatively stable may also limit your mobility. The deep knowledge of only your own organisation may actually make you a less attractive candidate for other employers, especially those in other industry verticals.

If your assessment confirms that you excel across all three dimensions of the decision framework - technological skill, business expertise, and vision and creativity - consider your current position stable and rewarding and your value in the job market high.

If your assessment leads you to believe that your technical skills, business expertise, and vision and creativity greatly exceed the demands of your current position, consider looking for a more rewarding position - possibly with a cloud vendor.

Source: http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/12/03/244313/Stopping-the-cloud-taking-your-IT-career-away.htm

The value of the UK cloud market will more than double between now and 2014 from £2.4bn to £6.1bn, according to a report from analyst firm TechMarketView.

However, the report, called the 'UK Software and IT Services Market Forecast', argues that if the cloud market forecast was to include application provisioning (AP), it would increase from £5.8bn now to £10.4bn by 2014.

These forecasts would see cloud computing account for 15 per cent of the total UK software and information technology servicesmarket by 2014 (and 24 per cent with AP included).

TechMarketView foresees cloud adoption happening in three waves. The first wave will see the adoption of public computing for greenfield applications. The conversion of traditional datacentres to private clouds will be the second wave, and the migration of mission-critical legacy applications to public clouds will be the third.

It predicts that these will overlap, but the final wave will not peak until the middle of the decade.

The report says: "We expect that the public cloud market will grow much more rapidly than private cloud in the early years, as enterprises (especially SMEs) move ‘easy win' applications off premise.

"In contrast, private cloud implementations involve substantial investment in infrastructure and software installation and migration, and will therefore not move as fast.

"Beyond the forecast horizon we would expect public cloud growth to accelerate again as mission-critical legacy applications move to public cloud."

Source: http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/1929839/uk-cloud-market-predicted-total-gbp104bn-2014

Infosys Technologies is looking for acquisition in legal process outsourcing (LPO) business and says it will consider domestic firms with strong client base or US firms with technologies and platforms in the LPO space.

“We are looking for acquisition…We are looking at some LPO players in India for starters. But our major focus is people or firms who have the technology that services the legal industry, including areas such as e-discovery, intellectual property and compliance. Acquisition of technologies or platforms can provide us the transformational potential to impact client businesses,” said Mr Rahul Shah, Associate Vice-President, Principal – Knowledge Services, Infosys Technologies.

The plans for buyout in domestic market would be driven by focus on client base, credential and value play. “These will be more opportunistic… It could be an LPO which has not been able to scale up, is in distress, but has a good track record and strong client base…Only they may not have been able to spread their engagement within client organisations,” Mr Shah said.

A domestic acquisition could entail a 50-100 people firm. For the platform play in LPO, the company could look at the US market. “The US has been a hotbed of innovation and in a sense has a head-start in bringing-in regulations. That has paved the way for innovative products in the US marketplace,” Mr Shah points out.

The LPO operations are a part of Infosys BPO's knowledge services unit.

The company currently offers a full portfolio of legal services to global clients, including contract management services, document review services, intellectual property services, legal research services, litigation and administrative support services and consulting services.

LPO engagements account for 60 per cent of the total knowledge services business of Infosys, with over 500 professionals and $15 million in annual revenue.

Bulk of the work is done from Pune (about 400 professionals), followed by Bangalore (80-100 professionals) and Gurgaon (about 20 professionals).

The company also expects to start LPO service delivery from Manila, Philippines, by the end of next fiscal.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/12/06/stories/2010120650390200.htm

Birmingham City Council has extended its contract with Capita Group by five years.

The extension of Service Birmingham is worth approximately £300 million to Capita and will deliver £55 million in savings for the Council.

Source: http://www.publictechnology.net/sector/local-gov/birmingham-extends-capita-contract

TUI Travel lost key booking systems after merging First Choice and Thomson, it reported in its full year results.

The two firms became TUI Travel which carried out IT integration and standardisation projects following the merger. A post-merger enterprise application integration is one of the most complex IT operations however TUI also outsourced parts of the system.

Its CFO, Paul Bowtell, resigned after revealing that the organisation had been forced to restate its 2009 financial results to £117 million due to an accounting error in the sysyems.

TUI said in its preliminary results for the year ended 30 September:

“As part of a drive for further cost savings and efficiencies, processes around the two systems were streamlined, roles were consolidated and parts of the process were transferred to an outsource provider in India.

“As a result, it is now understood that control weaknesses arose and the level of differences between the two systems grew.”

Dave West, Forrester analyst, said businesses should who use cost-cutting as a main driver for outsourcing should see TUI as a warning.

“Cost should not be a primary reason for outsourcing. This case highlights that when you focus on cost without thinking about the implications of the cost, you can have lots of problems.

“With £117 million, you could have got some great software engineers in,” he said.

“When you try these integration activities, it is very risky – it needs to be managed in-house. Outsourcing is like giving away your core competencies. The outsourcer does not know how it [the system] is supposed to work.

“It highlights that integration testing is really important to do. It tends to be done at the end, when it should be done at the start. You can’t integrate first and then get it to work.”