Cloud or Managed Service : What is the difference?

February 15, 2013

Firstly, cloud computing is not managed hosting. They are two completely different service layers. One refers to a compute resource ie RAM, Chip set and a host, the other to a management resource

The term cloud computing refers to the actual computing layer at a resource level. Cloud computing is generically defined as an elastic and redundant computing resource usually in a multi-tenant environment. Cloud computing and Virtulisation are both very closely related

Managed hosting refers to the managed service layer that sits on top of the computing resource layer. This management layer is generally made up of two and sometimes 3 elements:

  1. Hardware & Network management
  2. OS management including basic service management i.e. Windows, Apache, IIS etc
  3. Application management i.e MS SQL, MS Exchange, MS Dynamics etc

Then there is an additional segment to the term ‘managed hosting’ being ‘complex managed hosting’ Complex managed hosting usually refers to more complex environments that may involve application management, v-lans, load balancing, complex SAN in our case 3PAR configurations and the configurations/management of these in addition to the regular inclusions of managed hosting. Complex managed hosting is typically referring to multiple server (per project) environments rather than single server environments

If you look at Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a good example of cloud computing, they do not provide any Layer 7 management services as standard inclusions. They provide simple compute instance and that’s pretty much it. You need to perform all your own systems administration including OS, services, applications etc.

C24 is a traditionally, managed service providers (MSP) that provides the management layer on top of dedicated servers and virtulisation layers. The recent explosion of ‘cloud computing’ or cloud instances has now seen these MSP’s offer a management layer on top of ‘cloud instances’.

While people require a compute resource they will also require a management resource. Some may perform the management in-house, while others may decide to outsource the management. Most MSP’s provide both the cloud compute layer and management as a combined service.

To put cloud computing into a really simple model, it essentially takes the focus off the physical hardware layer and places the focus on a computing as a resource. Virtulisation works pretty much the same except you still have a host node. The underlying technology that most cloud computing platforms reside on is no different to traditional virtulisation without the focus on the hardware resource. Many cloud compute platforms still use as an example Citrix Xen, VMWare or Parallels as the platform on which to provide their instances, yet the instances are spread over a number of clustered hardware nodes. Cloud computing and Virtulisation still deal with the deployment of instances or virtual machines as a compute resource with zero focus on the hardware.

Many people incorrectly define cloud computing and virtulisation. They are both very similar yet different enough to deserve different definitions. Additionally many refer to items such as SaaS as cloud computing. SaaS (Software As A Service) as an example may or not be delivered via a cloud computing model. A service provider may deliver SaaS via a dedicated hardware resource which would not qualify as a cloud computing service.

C24 is a complex managed service provider as we do the whole piece from design, implementation, network installation, full system monitoring that includes the hardware, software and comms stack and delivers applications at speed globally. We truly are a specialist provider.

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Posted by david ricketts

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Cloud? [INFOGRAPHIC]

October 10, 2012

The following infographic from CA Technologies’ CloudViews is based on a recent survey of IT leaders; it shows just how and why some companies have been slow to adapt.

Among its more interesting findings: While 80% of respondents say cloud computing drives innovation, more than 50% say they had no immediate plans to implement it. Why the disconnect? Job anxiety could be one reason. A shade under half of respondents say they believe companies will have to create entirely new IT jobs to accommodate a transition to the cloud, while 56% say cloud computing will require current employees to learn new skills.

Thanks to Mashable

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Posted by david ricketts

The Healthcare Market Opportunityy

August 31, 2012

Over the past 6 months there have been a number of data breaches within the healthcare market. With data security breaches costing the U.S. healthcare industry about $6.5 billion a year1 and even with the recognition of these breaches, 50% of respondents to RedSpin’s (an IT security audit firm) say nothing is being done to protect data2, the healthcare market represents a huge opportunity for managed service provider’s to provide cloud backup and recovery services to address this growing issue.

Market Opportunity Abound

With the size and frequency of data breaches alarming the health care industry, now is the time to capitalize on these unfortunate security concerns by stressing the benefits that cloud backup services offer in terms of keeping records secure as well as ensuring Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance. With more than 19 million individuals affected by major healthcare information breaches since September 2009 and data breaches from unencrypted devices having increased 525% in 2011, this represents a huge market opportunity for managed services providers already selling services into the healthcare market, or those looking to sell to the healthcare market. Not just every managed service provider can effectively ensure adequate healthcare clinic / hospital data protection so ensure you can speak their vernacular and understand all the compliances and regulations required. As a managed service provider looking to offer or already offering cloud backup services, in order to go after the healthcare market, you need to ensure you have a HIPAA compliant cloud backup platform in place with a FIPS 140-2 certification being a huge bonus.

Why Healthcare Clinics/Hospitals Should Invest in Cloud Backup Services from Managed Service Providers to Protect Patient Privacy?

Investing in cloud backup services ensures a secure backup system for healthcare clinics/hospitals where BYOD is prevalent (as well as those that are not) – as not all backup can protect endpoint devices such as laptops, tablets and smart phones. Investing in newer technologies improves the reliability and speed of recovery for patient data should there be a disaster and minimizes risk of data theft or loss by utilizing the highest encryption security possible ensuring data is encrypted in flight and at rest and only the healthcare clinic/hospital has the ability to decrypt. It also eliminates the shortcomings of tape backup which includes being expensive, vulnerable to obsolescence, potential inability to recover data due to tape failure or being lost/stolen when transported off-site.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to invest in cloud backup services, please visit www.c24.co.uk

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Posted by david ricketts

Optimising your cloud backup

August 1, 2012

You’re ready to move into the cloud, but before you can get there you actually have to get your data to the cloud. Below are some tips on how you can optimize your first cloud backup deployment.

Backup the Most Important Files First

When you sign up for a cloud backup service, your trusted managed  service provider will have to make an initial backup before they can begin to back up your data incrementally. Depending on the amount of data that is required to be backed up and on the speed of the internet connection, this initial backup can take a long time to complete.

With the first backup taking so long, it is important to prioritize your data. You may want to organize your organization’s operational documents (word processing files, spreadsheets, etc) to be backed up first and have uncommon file types backed up last. Depending on your managed service provider, you may be able to determine which files are used most often in your business and back that up first.

Take Advantage of Bandwidth Throttling

Although your initial backup may take a long time, you don’t want it to affect your network during working hours while people are trying to get their work done via the internet. During the day, you should be able to strike a balance between getting your backups done and having enough bandwidth for the workday. After business hours and on weekends you can increase your bandwidth to focus on your backups.

Deduplication and Compression

It’s best to minimize the data being sent over the wire and to the cloud through deduplication, especially if you’re paying for backups per gigabyte on a monthly basis.

One way to decrease the amount of data being backed up (without sacrificing data protection) is to use de-duplication. When seeking the services of a cloud backup services provider, this feature should be standard. The way de-duplication is performed can often be unique to each managed service provider.

Some providers will only back up each file once and if the same file exists in multiple locations, pointers to the files will be created. Other service providers will provide block-level de-duplication. Rather than skipping duplicated files, the software which powers the cloud backup service will create a checksum for each block that’s being backed up and then uses the checksum value as a way of determining whether a duplicate block has already been backed up.

Keep a Local Copy of Backup Files

It’s important that you continue to store backups on premise – it will always be easier and faster to restore data from a local backup then from the internet. Local backups also allow you to further align the value of data with the cost of protecting it. Using the cloud for backup will allow you to recover in any situation when data loss occurs, but creating a second local backup is best for accidental file deletion or to quickly recover a single server in your network.

For more information or to request a demonstration please visit http://www.c24.co.uk

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Reading the tea leaves : Transforming for growth

June 20, 2012

Tiffani Bova is a Vice President with Gartner Research, where she covers IT sales and channel strategies. Her area of specialization includes the development of comprehensive indirect channel strategies, including program development and optimization, go-to-market sales coverage models, the impact of cloud on the traditional channel, and trends in wholesale IT distribution. In the last two years, she has conducted new research in the area of cloud services brokerage (CSB) as a new role for the indirect channel to play in its quest to stay relevant with cloud services.

In addition to her responsibilities at Gartner, Tiffani is a regular on the public speaking circuit at major channel events across the world and we’re honored to have her here in Toronto for the 2012 Asigra Cloud Backup™ Partner Summit.

In her keynote presentation this morning “Reading the Tea Leaves: Transforming for Growth,” Tiffani discussed how managed service providers can work to use cloud services effectively on a strategic level to effectively compete in what is seemingly becoming a crowded marketplace.

She began with a look at some of the top channel trends for 2012, which served as an overview as to where the industry is going and how service providers should differentiate themselves in order to outmarket the competition.

The cloud opens up new business dynamics, as purchasers can go indirect and direct cloud. What really stood out is when she noted that cloud purchasers are looking for business outcomes – not technology. It is a completely different sell and as such, the channel needs to adapt to a new way of doing business and utilize services to differentiate in what is a highly competitive and fragmented market. Simply put, a service provider’s success relies entirely on how much the customer cares, and not how great the technology is!

Benoit Lheureux’s recent Talking Technology event, “Does a CSB Make Sense for Your Business?“, explained how Cloud Service Brokerage is an emerging business model where a company acts as an intermediary that helps its customers through navigating their options, while removing complexity through aggregated and value added services.  The model can be a key differentiator for any Cloud Service Provider competing in today’s marketplace.

If Managed Service Providers want to really grow into the cloud, they will have to invest in marketing to create an integrated experience. The transactional model that exists today will change in Cloud Environments and the channel must evolve in order to service

Tiffani also spoke to the key technology trends as identified by Gartner and include mobile tablets, mobile apps, contextual and social experiences and the “Internet of things“. She noted that the Cloud is very much part of these trends, which in turn is driving exponential growth in data centre infrastructure investment.

Table 1 Top 10 CIO Business and Technology Priorities in 2012

Top 10 Business Priorities

Ranking

Top 10 Technology Priorities

Ranking
Increasing enterprise growth

1

 Analytics and business intelligence

1

Attracting and retaining new customers

2

Mobile technologies

2
Reducing enterprise costs

3

Cloud computing (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS)

3
Creating new products and services (innovation)

4

Collaboration technologies (workflow)

4

Delivering operational results

5

Virtualization

5

Improving efficiency

6

Legacy Modernization

6

Improving profitability (margins)

7

IT Management

7

Attracting and retaining the workforce

8

CRM

8

Improving marketing and sales effectiveness

9

ERP Applications

9

Expanding into new markets and geographies

10

Security

10

Source: Gartner Executive Programs (January 2012)

Source: Gartner Press Release: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1897514

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Gartner Report: Backup and Disaster Recovery Modernisation

June 7, 2012

55% of Gartner’s 2011 CIO Survey respondents are currently pursuing modernization, suggesting that the CIO focus enabled funding and implementation of IT DRM modernization.

Once considered an afterthought or a very expensive insurance policy for a low-probability event, IT DRM is increasingly becoming an important data center initiative and an ongoing optimization priority for many client organizations.

In this report, you will find a thorough analysis of Gartner’s findings from their 2011 CIO survey and Gartner’s business recommendations which include:

  • Invest in IT disaster recovery management (IT DRM) modernization to meet increasingly stringent business resilience requirements.
  • Invest in classifying applications and services based on mission-critical requirements to develop appropriate recovery tiers that balance risk mitigation with affordability.
  • Charter a backup modernization initiative to assess current recovery capabilities, scope present and future recovery requirements, and prepare enhancement service options to be addressed.
  • Look to deploy, or more fully deploy, recent proven backup products, such as incremental forever or synthetic full processing, de-duplication, server virtualization improvements, and snapshot and replication integration.

 

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Posted by david ricketts

Getting started with cloud compliance

April 18, 2012

Cloud compliance issues arise as soon as you make use of cloud storage or backup services. By moving data from your internal storage to someone else’s you are forced to examine closely how the data will be kept so that you remain compliant with laws and industry regulations.

It’s a common misunderstanding that regulatory compliance requirements preclude many organizations being able to leverage outsourced, managed cloud services. Depending on the cloud services provider you choose, you may not only be able to meet your existing compliance concerns, but the cloud provider is likely to have controls and processes that improve your compliance program.

The main questions in regard to compliance:

Virtually every regulation requires organizations to adequately protect their physical and informational assets. To do this, there is an implied and assumed ability to control and prove:

  • What information is store on the system?
  • Where is the information stored?
  • Who can access the system?
  • Is the access appropriate?

All of these questions imply some level of ownership of the assets in question, and that is where cloud compliance issues become apparent. In the public cloud environment, you are able to answer the first of those questions with certainty; the other four however, end up posing a compliance problem.

In a typical corporate data center or a co-location center, everyone knows where the disk and physical server reside, and that fact can be proven during an audit. Even a shared service provider can typically tell you which physical systems you are utilizing and identify the data location for audit purposes.

As far as the “who” is accessing your data, you can control that inside your organization, but you also have to take into account that your provider’s staff can access your systems as well. The main people you need to be concerned about in this regard are the administrators, both systems and application. With that being said, regardless of who will have access to your application and storage data offsite, it should be encrypted before it leaves the boundaries of your organization

Finally, the question of “why” they need that access. This is basic as it relates to security – access should be based on job role and a clear description of the level of access needed should be provided.Working with a reputable managed service provider may be an excellent way to leverage expertise and processes you may not otherwise have in-house, and mitigate some risk by assigning responsibility to a 3rd party you can hold accountable to protect your data. The cloud is rapidly becoming the data protection platform of choice for highly regulated industries because more organizations are leveraging the expertise of these pure information-centric service providers.

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Backup vs Archiving

March 29, 2012

There is some confusion amongst SMBs as to the differences between backup and archive. These two processes are mutually exclusive – they cannot occur at the same time and are different processes with different objectives. The most discernable issue around the key differences between the two processes relates to security, compliance and governance.

An archive is just a stored set of organized data and the goal is to achieve an intelligible data set for long periods of time and in a form that enables granular data retrievable. This is important for businesses in highly regulated industries that include healthcare, legal, banking and securities.

Archived data can be stored on multiples types of devices including tape, disk and in the cloud. There are benefits to each; however it is important to determine the length of time for which you will need to keep your archives and the most cost effective means for your business is without sacrificing the integrity of your archives.

Here are the thinks you should consider when thinking about data archiving:
•The archive needs to be able to operate with different data collections while treating them at the same level of integrity — individual data records from a database as well as entire documents
•The access speed of an archive can be slow, but archive should have an extremely high level of reliability
•Data integrity must be maintained over the entire period of the archive existence – there is no point in having an archive that you can’t trust

The key reason for the existence of a backup is to provide an alternative data source in case the primary data source is corrupted or destroyed. Backups are copies of data designed for short-term storage and its most identifiable characteristic is that it will go through frequent replacement and update under controlled circumstances. At that point, the old backup will become less relevant (or irrelevant) for operational purposes and the data will need to be backed up again.

Here are the things you should consider when thinking about data backup:
•The backup needs to be quickly accessible
•The backed up information should survive with full integrity and availability for several months on the backup media
•The backup should be able to span multimedia media (if backup set is larger than media capacity)
•The solution should be intelligent enough to enable different backup sets (full backup, incremental backup, differential backup, etc)

While backup and archive solutions are both very important, they provide two very different functions. It’s important to take the time to understand the difference between the two or consult a managed services provider that can help you better assess your business needs.

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Posted by david ricketts

Adding a cloud tier as part of your business continuity and disaster recovery plans

March 20, 2012

Cloud Backup and Recovery plays a significant role in data protection strategies, but there are slight nuances to its use in these situations. In each case, a copy of data is stored in a cloud container and can be retrieved to facilitate recovery.

  • Backup Software-as-a-Service is when a service provider offers an online backup application and cloud-based storage for backup process. Backup SaaS can leverage the Public and Private Clouds as well as take a Hybrid approach, by combining both on premise and off-premise storage. The solutions provided by Asigra service providers fall under this category.
  • Cloud Storage Services provide a third-party, cloud-based tier of storage for  on-premises backup and archive solutions. On-premises, licensed backup products integrate with cloud storage providers’ APIs to enable the transfer of data into the cloud tier. This tier includes lower-end solutions  like Dropbox, Box.net, EMC Mozy, Carbonite, Acronis, JungleDisk, etc.
  • Cloud-based Disaster Recovery combines both cloud computing and cloud stage services to enable failover to a cloud-based instance on an on-premises server.

Using the cloud as a tier

The “Cloud” can provide an additional tier of storage, working well to compliment data backup as a replacement to tape. The “Cloud” is unlimited in size and by employing a Managed Services Provider, can eliminate the resources required to acquire, install, configure, maintain and provision on-premises backup storage. This also provides a key component in Disaster Recovery planning and operation – the backing up of data to an off-site location.

You may be thinking about leveraging the cloud in your business – and you’re not alone.  Your primary concern is probably security, access and control once data leaves the boundaries of your company’s firewall. It’s important to look for service providers who can provide you with FIPS 140-2 Encryption certification and SAS 70 or ISO 27001 accredited data centers. You’ll also need assurances that you can easily retrieve and move your data if necessary – all of which should be outlined and detailed in the Service Level Agreements.

The greatest thing about implementing Cloud Backup for your business is you will likely see an improvement in recovery time objective when recovering individual files and small data sets because they can be located and sent back directly over the network. This alone beats Tape backup hands down.

At C24 we are experts in cloud based back up and recovery solutions for more information please visit www.c24.co.uk

 

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Posted by david ricketts

C24 Sandbox Solutions : Worldwide Application Hosting Specialists

February 13, 2012

The team at C24 have been successfully delivering business applications and solutions from the cloud for many years.

Throughout this time, as with all forms of new technology, initially we were faced with resistance, questioning and caution around delivering applications in this way.

In order to address the concerns, C24 created areas for testing. These areas, commonly known as Sandboxes allowed clients to not only test the Cloud delivery model, but also to test the application before it is implemented. This service is now widely used on new deployments, and has many benefits for the end-user and also the software provider alike, which include:-

End User

• There are no large initial upfront costs, and ongoing costs are insignificant in comparison to purchasing equipment and spending time internally to configure it. This is particular important as and it is estimated that approximately 50% to 70% of the on site technology infrastructure earmarked for testing is underutilised.

• It provides the opportunity to either take the first steps into Cloud computing or to sample the suppliers service levels before a long-term commitment is made.

• The application can be available very quickly, thus allowing a longer period of time to sample the service and test and mould the application to make sure it provides the maximum benefits to a client’s organisation.

Software Provider

• A testing environment is provided quickly in a cost efficient way with minimum distribution in day to-day activities.

• The service is able to deployed quickly and changes can be made simply to meet on going and changing requirements.

• It act’s as an assistance to sales as Customer are able to sample the application quickly and the sales cycle isn’t extended while additional infrastructure is justified, procured and configured to allow a test to be carried out.

In addition to the above:-

• A Monthly payment model and contract period is available

• Standardised environments are used to deploy the systems

• Solutions run on the latest technology

C24 and clients alike have found this solution to be beneficial due to the factors listed above but also due to the fact that studies estimate that 30% of defects and poor deployments are attributed to inaccurate configuration of test environments, so highlighting the need for a simple and quickly available solution, which will then allow the focus to remain on the key testing areas.

C24 have extensive experience of operating such models and have taken countless SME’s from a cap-ex to an op-ex model allowing them to benefit from cost reductions and plugging them into a pool of resource that is usually not available to them from existing staff. We have also worked with numerous software developers that are testing their applications to see if they are cloud ready.

Finally C24 take the following areas very seriously:

Adherence to standards: We endeavour to work to the current best of breed standards including Prince 2

Security in the cloud: As a managed service provider that provides applications to some of the world’s largest IT companies we are totally aware of the security concerns around cloud based solutions. And we address them in a number of ways, which we discuss upon engagement.

SLA’s: We offer full SLA’s based around our sandbox solutions and takes into account numerous areas that are discussed at length during initial engagement.

Infrastructure: We operate out of a tier IV datacentre one of the best in the country and have invested significantly in the latest, physical, virtual, connectivity and storage.

Planning: We deliver a full plan that will enable you to fully understand what is involved in your environment and how this is affecting your solution.

Moving the testing to the cloud is viewed as a strategic initiative and the C24 sandbox solution gives you the confidence to create proof of concepts or to enable you as an organisation to understand fully the benefits of cloud solutions. This is delivered by an organisations that has decades of experience delivering such solutions.

C24 will establish the success criteria for pilots and testing with specific objectives in mind we work around you to give you total confidence of our solutions.

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