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Infrastructure
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Seeing Through
the Cloud(s)
Virtualization is currently all the rage, but you
don’t have to go all the way to get important
business benefits. Here’s a look at our roadmap
for creating a unified, dynamic and cost-effective
computing infrastructure that meets today’s
business challenges, while anticipating
tomorrow’s requirements.
Virtualization is certainly not a new concept. It began with timesharing in the late
1950s and accelerated in the 1960s with IBM’s 360 mainframe family. During the
1970s, virtualization moved into the mainstream with the Digital Equipment Corp
VAX/VMS minicomputer.
emerging opportunities. In this context, IT leaders should take the long view and look toward
a strategic roadmap that supports a comprehensive, step-by-step
approach to virtualization and beyond. Our Dynamic IT Infrastructure Maturity Mod-
el, outlined below, can provide a useful framework within which to begin or acceler-
ate the journey.
Why Virtualize?
Generally speaking, companies virtualize for two main reasons:
Fortunately, since the concept of virtualization is well established and is only new
to the Intel x86 hardware platform, virtualization tools, technologies and manage-
ment systems are mature, which makes it relatively easy for IT to get started and
realize benefits quickly. Even companies just dipping their toes in virtualization
have been able to:
App
OS ThinApp
OS App
ThinApp
OS OS
Virtualization Layer
Physical Infrastructure
FIGURE 1
Looking ahead, though, companies that focus merely on short-term gains run a
great risk of missing the larger, long-term benefits of virtualization. They may also
add to longer term costs if short-sighted, near-term initiatives make it harder to
adapt to emerging opportunities.
For instance, best practices for machine virtualization usually assume that new
hardware will be deployed to support the virtual infrastructure environment. This in-
volves a capital expenditure that might make some organizations balk, even though
the returns from investing in a hardware refresh to support machine virtualization
are often very compelling. In other cases, companies may consider upgrading ex-
isting hardware as an alternative. We’ve found that, more often than not, the cost
of upgrading existing hardware is equal to and sometimes greater than the cost of
purchasing new hardware. When considering ROI, the shorter life expectancy of
upgraded hardware can make this option even less attractive.
Current virtualization discussions tend to focus on two or three areas: Storage, serv-
ers and, perhaps, desktops. These are generally the most developed areas, but they
are far from the end of the story. In fact, the advantages of virtualization, including
efficiency, flexibility and reliability, are available up and down the entire IT stack.
A more comprehensive view comprises four dimensions of potential virtualization:
Considering all four dimensions is the first step toward developing a business and
technology roadmap capable of gaining the full benefits of virtualization, a com-
mon compute platform, cloud computing and dynamic IT infrastructure.
Neither is it yet clear that every company should go all the way to a significant
degree of reliance on a private or public cloud. The network and application dimen-
sions of virtualization, for example, are still relatively new and experiencing a more
Stage 1: Reaction
The first stage in the journey to dynamic IT infrastructure is basic awareness.
Cloud
Infrastructure
Optimized ● Physical
and virtual systems managed through
u
str
Virtualized environments
Stage 3
ic
Traditional
Infrastructure
FIGURE 2
Like most large communications players, this company has multiple oper-
ating systems and platforms that must work together seamlessly and with
the utmost reliability.
It's a very ambitious project, taking them from Stage 1 and pushing toward
Stage 4 and, in some cases, Stage 5 of our Dynamic IT Infrastructure Ma-
turity Model in just a few months. The company has received substantial
benefits even before the implementation is complete, including:
Perhaps most telling, the implementation team has been able to make fun-
damental changes in the application architecture midstream, with literally
no impact on the physical infrastructure. In fact, they have done so several
times, and have been pleasantly surprised at how such fundamental design
changes had no impact on the physical infrastructure design at all.
Few large companies have yet developed a comprehensive utility model for
IT infrastructure, but the experience of this global communications firm
provides an important illustration of the benefits of moving aggressively
in that direction.
As they mature through this stage, some companies may begin to configure net-
work components manually for better support of virtual machines, and start to
document application packaging standards to enable testing of application package
sequencing.
Stage 3: Virtualized
At Stage 3, companies are more fully committed to virtualization, and have integrat-
ed virtual tools, systems and applications into both development and production en-
vironments across the infrastructure. Along with more regular use of virtualization
in all four dimensions, they have management tools and processes in place to map
physical and virtual assets to business policies and requirements.
Also, companies have broken the dependence between their systems and the un-
derlying physical hardware. For example, storage is now platform independent and
can be deployed and utilized much more efficiently across the business. Network
management tools recognize physical and virtual components, with documented
processes to manage both types of components in an integrated fashion.
More important, companies understand and begin to reap the rewards of the in-
creased stability and flexibility that virtualized environments also bring to produc-
tion and mission-critical environments. The orientation toward virtual systems
changes from trying to justify why a system should be virtualized to implementing
a “virtual first” policy.
Stage 4: Optimized
Once companies have made a systematic move to virtualization, as in Stage 3, they
have laid a foundation for a more complete transformation of IT infrastructure and
an optimized approach, with multiple virtualization technologies working together.
The transition from Stage 3 to Stage 4 is among the most difficult for an organiza-
tion to make. Note that while organizations at the lower stages can certainly use
external cloud computing services, they will tend to do so in much the same way
that any outsourced data center service is used. There is no mature connection
from an IT service delivery and operations management perspective that seamless-
ly ties this external environment to their internal environment. The change is not
unlike the difference between the first and second U.S. Olympic Basketball “Dream
Teams” from 2004 and 2008. Essentially, moving from Stage 3 to
In such a hybrid Stage 4 is the equivalent of making the transition from having five
star basketball players with matching uniforms running up and down
environment, virtualized the court to having five star players actually playing together on
the court with an intimate understanding of their collective potential
systems and applications when playing as a team.
are moved between Likewise, the various technology and service components of virtu-
alization at this stage are designed to leverage each other’s capa-
public and private bilities synergistically. Each has a part to play in enabling the others
to go further. For example, virtual network components provide a
sections of the cloud common framework upon which the data and storage networks can
operate seamlessly. This network convergence greatly simplifies the
predictively and securely, physical components of the data center network and eliminates the
need for a separate storage network architecture. Components in
with allocations based on the data center at this stage are managed in the same way, regard-
less of whether they are actually physical or virtual in nature.
business need, user pro-
This ”optimized” stage assumes that organizations have a “virtual
files, managed risk and first,” if not a “virtual only,” policy, with proactive deployment of
virtual assets across the infrastructure to meet service level agree-
enterprise cost efficiency. ments (SLAs) and new business requirements. Common standards
and processes maximize efficiency and simplify new deployments.
Resources are allocated dynamically based on standard and new policies.
The results include additional savings, reduced overhead, greater consistency and
faster response to changing requirements. IT at this stage truly becomes a dynamic
enabler and contributor to business efficiency, agility and innovation.
Stage 5: Utility
Through Stage 4, companies typically rely entirely or mainly on internal resources
for IT. But the rise of cloud computing services -- wherein companies can take ad-
vantage of external virtualized resources over the Internet, as well as their own
internal assets -- adds another element entirely. Organizations operating at Stage
5 leverage a combination of proven technology and highly optimized, mature IT
service management processes and methodology. This enables them to manage
external cloud resources in ways that are as seamless and effective as how internal
IT infrastructure is managed.
Companies may not want to rely entirely on public cloud services due to perceived
and actual security and compliance shortcomings, as well as cost concerns. If the
scale of the compute need in question is large enough, public cloud offerings actu-
ally become less cost-efficient.
Drawing a comparison to air travel, there comes a time when it is more cost-effective
to buy your own airplane and fly yourself where you want to go than to purchase
a large number of airline tickets. Organizations facing this challenge can create
private cloud environments with internal resources and integrate them with public
cloud services to create a unified cloud environment. In such a hybrid environment,
virtualized systems and applications are moved between public and private sections
of the cloud predictively and securely, with allocations based on business need, user
profiles, managed risk and enterprise cost efficiency. Again, a highly optimized and
mature IT service management capability is a prerequisite for taking full advantage
of a hybrid environment. The result is an infrastructure that provides maximum flex-
ibility, efficiency and security.
● How much of the infrastructure should you or can you virtualize (i.e., which
of the four dimensions should you explore and when)?
The answers are unique to every organization and will likely change over time as
business needs change, technology continues to evolve and virtualization skills ad-
vance.
The general direction, however, will not change. As the bar keeps rising on IT to be
more efficient, flexible and supportive of rapid business innovation, moving closer
to the utility model will become standard practice. Leveraging our Dynamic IT Infra-
structure Maturity Model can help you advance as expeditiously as possible.
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