Tech coalition simplifies the cloud

Cloud computing in a box has arrived and been touted as a trend that's likely to stay because of its significant cost savings.

This follows last week's announcement of a joint research and development coalition between VMware, Cisco and EMC, called the Virtual Computing Environment (VCE).

The VCE coalition expects its virtualised data infrastructure, code-named Vblock, to significantly reduce operating and hardware costs, because of its ability to virtualise and consolidate servers, storage, and networking in one unit.

The coalition revealed its technology will also support next-generation computing and Web 2.0 applications.

Andrea Lodolo, technical manager of CA southern Africa, predicts cloud computing in a box is a trend many vendors are likely to drive, whether it's via partnerships or acquisitions. “We are going to see a lot more of this from vendors because of the technology's benefits in terms of reducing costs, economy of scale, and energy efficiency.

“With Eskom's tariff hikes, companies are looking for ways to minimise their increasing operating costs. CA is also gearing up for the cloud and investing in solutions to better manage cloud environments. We expect there will be a huge amount of activity in this space going forward.”

IDC senior analyst Hannes Fourie says the cost to manage, power, and cool servers has doubled since 2000. “IT budgets have been lowered resulting in companies being pushed into a corner where they have to do more with less. But with Eskom's 25% tariff increase, power and cooling will play a bigger role in companies' strategy going forward, and how they invest in technology.”

VMware, Cisco and EMC claim the technology brings a paradigm shift in the market, but HP says it's been driving the strategy of the converged data centre for years.

Bhoola explains that HP's move to acquire 3Com last year stemmed from the company's plans to expand its Procurve division and virtualise the networking space. “HP has all three elements of a virtualised data centre already: virtualised servers, storage and networking,” says Bhoola.

“We made a $250 million strategic partnership with Microsoft earlier this year to drive research and development into the virtualised environment. However, VMware is still one of our crucial partners.

“There's space for both VCE and HP to compete, but we have been doing this for years and have all the components in one company and we believe that we have the advantage,” he adds.

VCE was first introduced in the US in November last year. Locally, the Vblock solution will be driven by integrators Business Connexion and Dimension Data, both of which claim the technology will enable organisations to accelerate their journeys into the private cloud.

Dimension Data and Business Connexion are the first two companies to be certified and accredited by VCE to roll out the Vblock solution to customers. Rather than building a cloud from individual components, Vblock is an integrated IT solution combining virtualisation, networking, storage, security and management technologies as well as support services.

Craig Hockley, GM of data centre solutions at Dimension Data, said: “Locally, the public sector, financial services, and corporate markets are ripe for the technology solution sets delivered through the venture and we see this being a significant market. Most companies in SA are 20% to 30% virtualised, and this will help them through the level of complexity.”

Derek Peyton, Cisco business development manager, indicated the coalition is an extension of its unified computing strategy. “What's significant is that as the VCE takes off, we will see the legacy problem being challenged. Two years from now, the service provider landscape will be very different. This innovation from VCE frees the way for business to be far more innovative in reducing costs, supporting software-as-a-service and infrastructure-as-a-service, as well as new applications in the future.”

EMC business development manager John Jordaan said the technology's key differentiator is that it does not reinvent the wheel. He noted that the partnership between EMC, Cisco and VMware addresses the traditional challenges enterprises experience when integrating disparate technologies and going over budget.

Jordaan adds: “The South African market is yearning for this because of a huge lack of in-house skills and experience in the industry.”

Worldwide spending on data centre technology infrastructure and services exceeds $350 billion annually, with half of that being spent on capital expenses, and the other half on operating expenses, according to research by McKinsey & Company. In addition, 70% of an organisation's total budget spend is on maintaining existing infrastructure, and only 30% on innovation.

According to Jordaan, within the next quarter of this year, Microsoft's Exchange platform and SAP's ERP platform will be certified with the Vblock solution.

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