vion_benefits of cloud_whitepaper_d6_v3

196 Van Buren Street–-|–-Herndon, Virginia 20170–-|–-(571) 353-6000–-|–-(800) 761-9691–-|–-vion.com

The Benefits of Cloud:

Maximizing Resources, Maximizing

Value White Paper

May 2015, Version 1.0

The Benefits of Cloud: Maximizing Resources, Maximizing Value -|- WHITE PAPER

2

The Benefits of Cloud: Maximizing Resources, Maximizing Value

Across sectors as diverse as state and local government, education, and commercial

enterprises there is a desire to move to the cloud to save money and use technology more

efficiently. While both are key benefits of cloud solutions, the money-saving value proposition

is a bit more complicated than it may appear at first glance. Looking at bottom-line

numbers, cloud solutions may end up costing the same as other technology approaches,

but the value that a service-based cloud solution provides is more than just dollars and cents

on a balance sheet.

Citizens, students, and consumers all expect online services not only to be available, but to

be a consistent part of daily life. They believe they should have the same service experience

whether they are renewing a driver’s license or setting up a monthly home delivery (neither is

exciting, but both have to get done). Cloud will help institutions and organizations meet the

expectation of increased service levels while still being responsible stewards of taxpayer,

donor, and shareholder investments.


3

Organizations have invested a lot of money in existing infrastructures that in most cases work

fine for their intended purposes. There may not be funds available to rip out and replace

infrastructure to meet customers’ increasing demands, but there is budget for continuing

operations. This is where cloud comes in. Cloud solutions can be purchased with operational

budget dollars and help extend the life of existing capital investments. Multiple organizations

can share the same cloud-based infrastructure and applications, allowing them to further

defray the bottom line expenditure for each group. This non-infrastructure investment can

make it possible for organizations to greatly expand their physical bandwidth and provide

the applications their users expect.

Shared Service Enabled by Cloud

When considering cloud, it is best to think of it not so much as a technology but more as an IT

business model, a way to deliver technology. In this model, cloud capabilities are delivered

“as a service,” an approach that is changing the way technology is developed and

deployed. Whether organizations look to purchase software-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-

service or platform-as-a-service, customers of the cloud have the power to use a provider’s

offerings in the way that works for their organization. Whatever is being used from the cloud,

be it an application or infrastructure, it is there to serve the end user’s needs. This as-a-service

perspective changes how organizations share resources among themselves for a more

holistic IT infrastructure.

Shared service is where the value of cloud is found. There are three main ways of using cloud

to deliver services to an organization and its constituents.

Software as a Service provides applications to users from a cloud environment rather

than depending on hardware within an organization’s IT infrastructure. This allows

organizations to take on projects that they could not have previously handled. For

example, if a small company is looking to develop a new product, their R&D team will

need a specific piece of software for 60 days of the project. Without the cloud, the

investment in buying and installing the software would not be justified, but with a cloud

structure they can buy the software as a service for only the 60 days needed.

Platform as a Service serves as an extension of the IT department, providing a place

for applications to be deployed and used by a large, dispersed user base.

Educational institutions use these platforms to accommodate varying student

registrations in online classes from semester to semester, and ensure every study group

on campus can log into collaboration workspaces during mid-terms. Cloud provides

the flexibility to scale up and down with no effort on the part of IT.


4

Infrastructure as a Service allows IT professionals to automate the provisioning of

computing power and resources such as storage, networks, and processing. For

example, state and local governments have multiple data centers. Even if each data

center is being highly utilized, there is still typically 30 percent of capacity not being

used in each one. That’s 30 percent of the investment sitting idle. If those data centers

are consolidated into a single cloud, the entire network will require less overall

capacity and can still share any unused capacity across all connected organizations.

This cost savings and efficiency is great for organizations, but what does it offer end-users? If

a state like Tennessee used infrastructure as a service and a shared services model, for

example, small rural towns could afford to provide citizens access to the same level of

services as those provided in large cities. The government could equalize the level of service

across the state and make a huge improvement for a fraction of the cost to offer the

services on a town-by-town basis. This is the type of value that cloud provides beyond dollars

and cents.

Value Beyond Cost

The bottom line cost of a cloud solution may not always offer the dramatic “cheaper, faster,

better” benefit in every case, but it can deliver a tremendous value in certain organizations

and applications.

A recent GovLoop survey of 230 public-sector employees highlighted some examples of how

their organizations found value in the cloud:

Accessing a shared pool of tools and infrastructure

Collaborating between government and public staff

Conducting assessments and valuation and creating maps with GIS software

Connecting to programs and shared data files on state servers

Developing dashboards

E-mailing, file sharing and archiving of documents

Operating an information technology service desk and case management system

Promoting telework and facilitating web meetings, document sharing and

asynchronous communications

Sharing and storing data at reduced costs

Storing large data files that are sent from outside resources

Tracking program effectiveness


5

When considering how to attain the potential value from cloud, organizations need to look

at how they are paying for cloud. Because it does not

require investment in new infrastructure, cloud can be

procured using Operations and Maintenance funds

rather than being classified as a Capital Expenditure

(CAPEX). Not every service can be improved or

instituted by using Cloud, but by funding those that are

suited to cloud, capital funds may be assigned for

other services improvement or development. It may

take a budget cycle or even two to realize this savings,

but it will be there once technology investments

become an operational expense rather than a capital

one.

How do we get to the cloud?

With the monetary and business value defined and agreed upon, there still can be

roadblocks to “buying the cloud.” IT procurement is a tried and true practice, but cloud

procurements are a mix of technology buys and consulting services. For many, this is a new

way of doing business.

Before engaging with a cloud vendor, organizations need to define a number of key

elements:

What is success – What should users be able to do? What does the system allow your IT

team to do (or not do)?

What is the goal – What are you looking to get out of the move to cloud – speed, cost

savings, new functionality, consolidation?

What do you need the cloud-run applications to do for employees, customers and/or

constituents?

What data will people need to access?

What security does that data need?

Providing clear answers to these questions should yield valid Request-for-Proposal responses.

When evaluating the responses, cloud buyers need to pay close attention to the service

level agreements (SLAs). Do they match your goals? Is there a penalty for moving things out

of the cloud? What is the plan should the cloud provider go out of business?


6

Defining goals and making sure SLAs match them is good practice and shows that cloud is

not in fact a commodity buy. Cloud solutions need to be customizable and purpose-built to

provide economic and service value.

ViON Agile Cloud

Organizations with significant security and performance

concerns may find that a private cloud solution is best suited to

their needs. ViON’s Agile Cloud Solution was developed to suit

those needs. It is the product of expertise gained in 35 years of

working with the federal government, combined with 12 years

of delivering private cloud solutions that meet the unique

needs of our customers.

A key component of our Agile Cloud Solution, ViON Agile

Cloud Platform is a complete package of infrastructure

(servers, storage, networking, and software) developed to

enable delivery of enterprise-class private cloud. It was

designed to help organizations gain maximum value through

customizing options and features to best meet specific needs.

The Agile Cloud provides a prescribed set of building blocks that

can be flexible in terms of size and scope with built-in capacity and workload planning.

Understanding Your Cloud Options

In the classic definition of cloud IT, the cloud services provider (CSP) owns the technology

and charges the customer by usage. Similar to how you pay for electricity based on usage,

you plug into the cloud environment and pay for what you use. This provides customers with

flexibility to adjust spending based on their demand for technology. It also provides

customers with more cost predictability and removes cost risks associated with oversupply

of capacity..

Cloud services are delivered in various ways, depending on the organization and its needs.

At ViON we are defining cloud deployment in this way:

Private Cloud – Technology dedicated to a single customer, not shared with other

customers.

Public Cloud – Technology shared among a set of customers, also called multi-tenant

cloud.

Hybrid Cloud – Mixed use; some technology is shared, some dedicated.

On customer premise – Technology located in the customer’s own datacenter.

Off customer premise – Technology located at a remote location not owned by the

customer.


7

ViON Agile Cloud Platform includes:

Hardware components needed to run application environments (servers, networking,

storage)

Software components to create a highly efficient and cost-effective virtualization layer

Cloud enablement software that allows the delivery of private cloud and its

associated benefits

User portal with graphics highlighting usage and other critical metrics of the cloud

platform

Agile Cloud Platform can be installed quickly and easily on premise to deliver enterprise-class

private cloud (a private cloud focused on highly secure, high-performance, high-availability

application environments).

Two cutting-edge technologies allow for the provisioning of computing resources in a new

way for maximum efficiency:

ViON Extreme Virtualization (EV) Technology – Specialized technology that allocates

resources in smaller increments for more cost-effective provisioning.

ViON Vpool Technology – Technology that takes extreme virtualization a step further

by allowing easy tracking and charging only for the resources used.


8

Determining Your Cloud Needs

Before implementing any cloud solution, ViON works with customers to fully understand their

needs and determine the right cloud for their business and mission. This is accomplished with

our Cloud Advisor service.

Advisor is a structured, multidimensional analysis and reporting solution designed to facilitate

the transition to a more efficient virtual infrastructure or cloud architecture. It includes a data

collection tool deployed into the client’s infrastructure to “listen” to the client’s environment

and provide a comprehensive analysis based on the organization’s core business objectives,

existing compute infrastructure and operational requirements. Deliverables from the Advisor

include performance metrics and statistical analysis that provide fully detailed Return on

Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) projections.

In Conclusion

An investment in cloud is just

that, an investment. And as

with any investment you

expect to see returns. For

private clouds, that return

should be in the form of

improved constituent service

with little impact on IT team

workload or effectiveness.

Maximizing the investment in

cloud requires strategic

planning, goal setting and

results measurement.

Implementing a cloud

environment is half the battle.

Operationalizing the cloud to

get the most from your

investment is the critical

component in ensuring

success.

ViON has the expertise to help you deploy the right cloud solution to meet your needs,

overcome barriers to implementation and achieve your strategic goals. We partner with you

from beginning to end to ensure your success.

vion_benefits of cloud_whitepaper_d6_v3

Documents