Cloud complexity
InfoWorld explains the complexity that comes with virtualisation. Citing the example of VMWare, the site argues that the elimination of physical x86 servers simply means ‘transferring them’ to virtual machines (VMs).
But reducing the number of physical machines needed to run software generally means increasing the number of VMs for every machine. Potentially, this means substantially increasing the number of operating systems and application components needing to be managed. And someone’s got to do it.
This complexity is further compounded when an organisation outsources multiple inter-dependent business processes to multiple service providers, which themselves manage multiple client environments.
The result is a complex integration requirement.
Tools to manage complexity
But with complexity comes tools. The tools exist today to resolve even the hairiest cloud infrastructure scenario, presenting a single interface of integrated services to the enterprise, one that is as untroubled as the surface of a lake on a quiet day.
A new generation of cloud services broking (CSB) tools manage the considerable complexity of cloud-based communications and computing installations, as ever more and different types of enterprise IT services are outsourced over time.
End result
The result is that technical complexity is extracted from the cloud value proposition as computing is offered as a service, unencumbered by the difficulties of managing it.
Whereas before, managing the integration of interdependent business services might have required writing extra application programming interface (API) code or managing the integration process, CSBs buffer organisations from the technical details of interacting with different clouds and providers.
No back-end skills required
No longer does the IT department have to build up divergent skills for back-end infrastructure such as SharePoint collaboration servers, Exchange mail servers and a host of other file and storage servers.
No longer need it concern itself with which operating system or collection of OSs needs to be in place, maintained and kept in compliance, how to set up configurations, or which complex application service, including telephony or call centre, is responsible for an outage.
Focus on higher ground
Whether an organisation favours an outsourced model from within its own environment (on-site or off-site) or in a public off-site data centre, the most it has to worry about to do with managing the virtualised ecosystem is physical server health.
And ultimately, this reduces costs and frees up IT staff to focus on achieving higher-level business objectives, which is what cloud was always about.
