Cloud Computing Drivers, Challenges and Unknowns.
Cloud Computing Certified Across All Three CSPs.

CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud computing is all the rage as large enterprise organizations continue to shift technology investments from CAP EX to OPEX - but the main drivers are speed, agility and innovation.
Large companies seek to modernize their information technologies and Cloud Computing is their destiny.
In this short video, we’ll highlight some of the drivers and challenges, the various types of cloud computing… as well as perspective on the three major Cloud Service Providers, or CSP’s.
And I’m certified across all three AWS, Azure and GCP… so sit tight as dig in to CLOUD COMPUTING.

Cloud computing is the delivery of compute, storage and other services through the internet, including data storage, servers, databases, networking, and software.

Cloud-based storage makes it possible to save files to a remote database and retrieve them on demand.

And just to clarify what we mean when we say “CLOUD:” these are massive server farms that in my view are much like the the Telephone companies of old. And they’re not farms,

but rather Data Centers - massive and ever-growing. And the big three are AWS, Azure and GCP.

More on those gorillas later.

When thinking of the various types of cloud computing,

it can be helpful to think of it as a layer cake.

The base layer is known as IAAS - or Infrastructure as a Service - and just like a base layer, this is typically just basic IT infrastructure such as servers, storage and networks.

The next layer is PAAS - or Platform as a Service. This is more than just the baseline hardware as the application itself and the associated platform are provided by the CSP.

The last layer is SAAS - Software as a Service. Salesforce was the big leader here as they provided everything and users simply need to log in and go.

Now, let’s take a quick look at the four types of Cloud Deployments:

Public Cloud - shared compute services hosted by a CSP or other provider

Private Public - virtualized environment which is on—premise to client company

Hybrid Cloud - as it sounds, it refers to a combination of cloud and on-premise environments
Multi Cloud - in my experience, most enterprise organizations are multi-cloud -

meaning they have cloud systems with more than one cloud provider or other-hosted.

On top of that, many application vendors offer Managed Services which is a growing area - see Skills Gaps.

Now that we’ve covered the Layer Cake and the types of deployments, let’s get back to the big three CSPs: AWS, Azure and GCP.

We mentioned the main drivers of speed, agility and innovation, but what Wall Street and Finance Departments are really excited about is the shift from CAPEX to OPEX.


Legacy on-premise systems owned by the enterpris required years of planning and significant investment - which is the Capital Expense, or CAPEX, model.

The modern CSP approach is mostly a Consumption Model, pay as you go, Operational Expense, or OPEX, model.

That’s speed folks - the ability to immediately stand up a new system.

And as for agility, most new development of technologies is cloud-native - meaning if you want systems that can adapt to your needs (agility), you almost have to be in the cloud as a large enterprise - some new feature sets simply are not immediately-developed for legacy on-premise environments.

And to me, the third driver of innovation is the true value - innovation that is driven by speed and agility.

Once your organization is more focused on executing the business plan, instead of keeping the lights on - you’ll begin to realize more innovation.

But let’s not explode with joy just yet, as CLOUD COMPUTING has some real downside risks that you need to account for.

First of all, it’s a different world that doesn’t just speak a different language - it speaks several different languages - as each CSP offers hundreds of compute, storage, networking and other services that are individually branded. Like I mentioned, I’m certified across all three major cloud service providers, CSPs, it can be like three languages.

Secondly, while it’s a different world - it’s also two worlds. Because you have to account for Dual Run - the running of both systems until complete and final transition - including decommis

Thirdly, there can be many Unknowns and you need to have checks and balances in place to ensure you don’t get
Ecosystem incompatibilities - and sadly isn’t even more granular than that, as you not only need to be concerned with how your new platform or application connects with all of the other technolo
And the last Unknown that I’ll list is Run Away Costs. Y
This is TechGno - we’ve covered a lot. We’ve got other content too and we’re bringing out news daily and new features all the time.
TechGno - turning tech talk into biz talk. We’re here for you and hey, hope to see you on the other side.