It's a virtual world - Business Connexion can take you there

The benefits of cloud computing are such that no business today can realistically ignore them and still hope to get the most from investments in information and communication technology.

But the road to a virtualised, cloud computing infrastructure can be a daunting one - unless you have a partner that not only brings to bear the necessary expertise and knowledge to guide you on the journey, but also the vendor relationships to deliver the right technology solutions and products.

That's according to Ferdi Graupe, managing director of Business Connexion, Namibia. “The efficiency and performance gains that are possible with cloud computing today make this a de facto strategy for almost all companies. Whether it is a private cloud, or a hybrid public/private cloud, the ability to accurately match ICT delivery to business demand is unprecedented,” he says.

He explains that for many companies, the ideal structure is one where internal capacity can be augmented quickly and easily with external capacity when demand is high.

“This takes the IT department to a new level of efficiency; it need not be over-capacitated for those rare occasions when demand is excessively high, but rather can maintain equipment levels at or near the lowest average demand levels. With an external supplier, peaks in demand can be met with no fuss as required.”

This is in complete reversal to 'traditional' approaches to capacity, where the IT department, by necessity, had to have enough grunt to respond to spikes. “Simply put, that meant 90% of the time, expensive equipment stood idle.”

Businesses that are looking to take their infrastructure towards a cloud computing architecture need the support and insight of a suitably experienced and certified partner, he advocates.

“Track record is important. You want a partner that has proven experience in the cloud environment, not only in terms of providing cloud computing services to augment those of its clients, but also in terms of enabling the internal cloud architectures for those clients,” Graupe says.

He says key vendor partnerships and certifications are the essential underpinnings of a service provider's ability to provide the necessary roadmaps, hardware, software and other technology components.

“With the move to cloud, efficiency really is the watchword. You want a service provider that appreciates that existing equipment can, and where possible, should become an integral component of the internal cloud; most of it can be included to provide the necessary virtualised capacity.”

And you want a partner that can provide a range of options to best suit your particular environment and IT vision - and not shoehorn what it is selling into your data centre. Graupe says Business Connexion works with some of Africa's most recognised big companies, while it partners with the world's leading providers of data centre technology.

“Our company also operates some of the most significant data centres in the southern hemisphere. We know cloud computing from all aspects - and we know how to make it work for business,” he concludes.