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The three layers of cloud

Joanne Carew
By Joanne Carew, ITWeb Cape-based contributor.
Johannesburg, 21 Aug 2013

Two to three years ago, if you asked most people about cloud computing, only a few would have described it as a "game changer".

Others would have said there is no substance to the technology and that the buzz around cloud is all marketing hype.

Today, we are seeing that our previous ideas about cloud were incorrect, said Bob Plumridge, EMEA CTO at Hitachi Data Systems, at the company's Information Forum in Johannesburg yesterday.

Plumridge pointed out that cloud is enabling many of the big data projects that large organisations are tackling at the moment. "If you can't move data around and share it easily, you are going to find it extremely difficult to analyse and utilise the data. Cloud enables this flexibility," he said.

For Tony Reid, EMEA pre-sales director at Hitachi Data Systems, a comprehensive cloud delivery strategy involves three layers. The first being the infrastructure layer, which constitutes the hardware and software layer that everything else is built on, he said. Reid added that virtualisation is a key element of this layer. "Without the infrastructure cloud layer, many of the other things you need to do simply won't work."

The next layer is the content cloud, which Reid noted is the layer that allows the business to derive value from its data. According to Reid, given the huge growth in unstructured data, the content cloud layer allows for the analysis of information and enables a business to archive unimportant data. Plumridge added that this layer is really about having the right information available when the business needs it.

The final layer is the information cloud, said Reid. "This layer incorporates analytics by allowing us to analyse the information and gain true value from it," he said, pointing out that this will become more important to businesses over the next few years.

According to Plumridge, businesses should be aware that cloud is not "one size fits all". The focus should be on making offerings as flexible as possible so that the business can achieve increased flexibility and gain value for many years to come, he concluded.

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