On your marks

Cloud computing is gaining popular acceptance in South Africa, and the general expectation is that around a quarter of all organisations in the country will implement cloud computing in one form or another by the end of 2012.

Customers are shrugging off earlier security concerns over cloud computing.

Martin May is regional director (Africa) of Enterasys Networks.

This is encouraging, although not particularly inspiring, when compared to global estimates that are often double this figure, depending on the research company involved in the reporting.

Nevertheless, a 25% adoption rate is acceptable in the light of network bandwidth constraints currently facing local businesses. Bandwidth, a key factor in cloud computing, is more expensive in SA than in most developed countries. However, there are expectations that prices will fall dramatically once infrastructure developments and new undersea cables come on stream.

The new West Africa Cable System, for instance, is centred on a 14 000km submarine fibre-optic cable that is geared to raise SA's broadband capacity by more than 500GBps in 2012.

With this in mind, many of SA's corporate decision-makers are increasing their focus on cloud computing and the ultimate benefits of cloud-based services. Falling prices and greater bandwidth availability will also motivate larger, multi-sited companies to build their own private cloud systems and then deliver hosted services within their organisations.

Cheaper bandwidth will have a number of other spin-off effects, the more important of which includes bringing next-generation technologies based on video and presence within reach, allowing users to efficiently share data and information in various formats.

The technology, while introducing many thousands of small and medium-sized businesses to cloud computing, will also be a boon for public sector organisations.

Significantly, increasing cloud computing adoption will allow organisations to implement 'on-demand' software or software as a service (SaaS) platforms.

The SaaS delivery model (in which software is accessed by users using a Web browser from a cloud-based repository) is expected to become the dominant cloud service, and grow globally from a 37% adoption rate in 2011, to 50% by the end of 2012, according to Forrester Research.

According to a Gartner estimate, SaaS sales will increase globally from US $12.1 billion in 2011 to a projected $21.3 billion by 2015. Gartner also identifies CRM as the largest market for SaaS.

Will SA mirror these trends? The chances are good. Customers are shrugging off earlier security concerns over cloud computing, as new generation data encryption capabilities, three-phase authentication methods - already common in financial institutions - multi-protocol label switching and other security barriers help sharpen the focus on the cloud's advantages, rather than its (shrinking) risk profile.

What's more, local software companies are already discussing updates to their licensing models to accommodate cloud users - and they're coming to terms with the changes in market dynamics that will eventually transform the entire software industry.

One of the key changes required is to the level of integration between hosted environments and customers' back-office environments (such as SAP systems), in order to guarantee end-to-end availability and performance reliability.

Notably, more emphasis will have to be placed on SaaS processes to ensure their sustainability. For example, mature processes will be required to effectively manage automated billing models as well as other Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) practices.

ITIL is a set of best-practices that align IT services with an organisation's business needs. It describes procedures, tasks and checklists used by the organisation for establishing a minimum level of competency. ITIL also allows organisations to establish a baseline from which they can plan, implement and measure competency.

With cloud computing at an embryonic stage in South Africa, it is a good opportunity for businesses to pay attention to a warning that's already been given by international cloud implementers. This is that the unfettered growth of cloud services can lead to a lack of integration between applications, the fragmentation of systems, and other inefficiencies.

Therefore, cloud computing adopters must put the management of their IT environments - whether outsourced or internal - at the top of the priority list.

ITIL (and similar frameworks) will allow the full benefits of cloud computing to be realised.

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