A pathway into the cloud

By MARTIN YATES
September 6, 2011, 11:42am
NEW YORK — Before spacecraft are blasted off into space, the astronauts that travel in them, mission-control personnel, and other key staff undergo specialised education and training, launch procedures are verified and rehearsed, and policies are drawn up so that everyone is clear about their respective roles, especially in exigencies. Organisations wanting to move into the cloud computing space and technology need to employ similar rigour.
Although cloud service technology is easily available and is a potential business game-changer, it is best for enterprises to not plunge straight into it without a well thought out plan. First, be clear on your business strategy and what the specific our drivers for change are. In the current climate many are prioritising on growing the business revenue, reducing operational costs and importantly winning new customers, correct use of cloud computing services may well be able support in these business goals.
Understanding what cloud computing is all about will help organisations to identify the potential business value in what seems a myriad of choices.
What is cloud computing?
In its purest form cloud computing is simply a style of computing delivery and not a technology as it is sometimes perceived. In cloud computing resources such as compute power, storage assets, applications etc. are virtually pooled and delivered as services, which are shared by many users and organisations from a cloud provider.
This form of economical sharing of IT resources is often referred to as the multi-tenancy model. Cloud providers build large datacentres employing multi-tenancy infrastructure with massive scaling capability, this is what gives cloud computing customers significant cost savings for services, in many ways it is akin to taking a public transport service to the office rather than your more costly private sedan.
Paying only for what services you use in cloud computing is what often sets traditional IT outsourcing apart when it comes to contracts and pricing.
In cloud when a user needs IT resources, he/she provisions them from the available resource pool, uses them as long as needed and, typically, pays for them based on usage and not in form of a fixed charge. When the resources are no longer needed, they are returned to the pool, where they can be used by other organisations and users.
It’s important to understand that such sharing while highly cost effective often hits emotive boundaries on security and data protections concerns. Despite great efforts are being made to assure customers of public cloud security many organisations seek the benefits of the cloud delivery model without using shared public services. The logical solution to those who have security concerns in sharing spawned the now popular term “private cloud”. Here organisations duplicate the efficiency of the public cloud model, but build the cloud inside their protected premises sharing resources only within the organisation.
The private cloud is akin to having a company owned employee bus for better sharing cost efficiencies without having the security concerns real or not about public passengers boarding your bus service. Many organisations are figuring out, whether it makes sense for them to use public or private service; many feel there might be a hybrid approach as the best solution.
Commonly cloud services are delivered in three configurations: Software as a Service (SaaS), in which users have access to shared commodity-like applications hosted on an internal or external cloud service provider’s infrastructure; Platform as a Service (PaaS), essentially software and services running above the server operating system such as development tools, databases, middleware, authentication and security software; and finally Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which enables organisations to self-provision base operating systems such as Windows and Linux pay as you go.
Using IaaS eliminates the long waiting times such as purchase and installation of physical servers and has a powerful business case for many organisations. An essential characteristic of cloud computing is called “elasticity.”
The service elasticity makes it easy to provision up to hundreds of services rapidly and the when the service capacity is no longer needed it is just as simple and fast to sun down those services. For organisations using IaaS no further cost burden is generally incurred after switching off, in the same way a light bulb after switching off incurs no electricity cost. This cloud elasticity is an essential component needed for another cost saving feature and functionality known as cloud-bursting discussed later.
The cloud computing connectivity model breaks down into four types, private, public, hybrid and community cloud. Private cloud as previously mentioned is installed on business premises running on the internal corporate networks and while using the multi-tenancy concept it is an exclusive resource for the internal organisation. Public cloud service unlike private cloud is accessible from routable world-wide internet connections , the infrastructure and services are shared with potentially thousands of pay-as-you-use customers.
Hybrid cloud is a carefully selected blend of public and private services; powerful use cases in hybrid occur in functionality such as “cloud bursting”. Cloud bursting can be enabled where internal company IT capacity is exceeded in peak utilisation periods and excess workloads are simply transferred into an external cloud provider’s capacity to be processed. Cloud bursting can avoid service degradation in choppy unpredictable IT demand scenarios as well as predictable peak periods. Cloud bursting is touted as one of the great operational saving potentials of cloud computing for many business situations, in short never pay for what you don’t need all the time.
Finally the less well known “community cloud” is a collection of clouds between organisations where a level of trust or grouping exists between the entities. Typically governments and scientific communities might employ such configurations for resource sharing while retaining certain elements of independence of each government or scientific research body.
Besides providing better alignment of cloud computing with the business goals, the preparatory effort prior to cloud entry also gives an organisation the opportunity to improve its process framework. Invariably, internal business processes related to SLA, service management, incident management, disaster recovery, and so on will need to be tweaked, especially for public cloud utilisation.
Laying the virtual foundation for private cloud and self-service
In planning the journey to a private cloud service implementation a well architected combination of server, network, software and storage virtualisation layer is an essential design consideration for the IT strategy team.
Effective cloud management is critical for resilient and performance orientated cloud service environments. These environments should include for example stringent automated IT operational security controls, effective monitoring and alerting with high availability failover capabilities in place. Another key element of cloud computing is consumer cloud “self-service”, where business departments could avoid the complexity of dealing with the IT department and haggling over cost, time to market and service transparency discussions.
In the world of cloud computing savvy business departments needing resources simply browse and select from the IT department service catalogue, configure, add to the shopping cart and click to agree to pay a monthly fee.
Yates is Practice Director for Cloud Computing at Dell Asia Pacific Japan and Chairman for Cloud Computing for Singapore Computer Society. Dell solutions for cloud computing include consulting, implementation and support services, cloud-in-a-box, cloud security, private cloud management, and intercloud connection solutions.
Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/333233/a-pathway-cloud

Clark Wine Center was built in 2003 by Hong Kong-based Yats International Leisure Philippines to become the largest wine shop in Philippines supplying Asia’s wine lovers with fine vintage wines at attractive prices. Today, this wine shop in Clark Philippines offers over 2000 selections of fine wines from all major wine regions in the world. As a leading wine supplier in Philippines, Pampanga’s Clark Wine Center offers an incomparable breadth of vintages, wines from back vintages spanning over 50 years. Clark Wine Center is located in Pampanga Clark Freeport Zone adjacent to Angeles City, just 25 minutes from Subic and 45 minutes from Manila.

Wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rhone, Loire, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Alsace, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, South Africa, Chile and Argentina etc. are well represented in this Clark Wine Shop.

This is one of the frequently visited places for wine lovers from Manila and Angeles City to buy international wines in Pampanga.

http://www.ClarkWineCenter.com

Getting to this wine shop in Pampanga Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Philippines from Manila

Getting to the Clark Wine Center wine shop from Manila is quite simple: after entering Clark Freeport from Dau and Angeles City, proceed straight along the main highway M A Roxas. Clark Wine Center is the stand-along white building on the right, at the corner A Bonifacio Ave. From the Clark International Airport DMIA, ask the taxi to drive towards the entrance of Clark going to Angeles City. From Mimosa, just proceed towards the exit of Clark and this wine shop is on the opposite side of the main road M A Roxas.

Clark Wine Center

Bldg 6460 Clark Observatory Building

Manuel A. Roxas Highway corner A Bonifacio Ave,

Angeles Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga 2023

(045) 841 4006 / 0922-870-5173 / 0917-826-8790 (ask for Ana Fe)

Wine@Yats-International.com

YATS Wine Cellars

Manila Sales Office

3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,

Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605

(632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393 ask for Rea or Chay

Best place to buy wine in Clark Pampanga outside Manila near Subic and Angeles City Philippines is Clark Wine Center.

Wedding couples looking for wedding reception venues and beach wedding venues can log on to this Philippines Wedding Venue web site for free information and assistance:

http://www.PhilippinesWeddingVenue.com

While in Clark, it might be a good idea to enjoy an evening of wine-and-dine in the fine dining Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar that features an award winning 2700-line wine list. It is located in Mimosa Leisure Estate of Clark Freeport Zone. For more information, visit http://www.YatsRestaurant.com

YATS Leisure Philippines is a developer and operator of clubs, resorts and high-class restaurants and wine shops in Clark Angeles Philippines http://www.yatsleisure.com

Looking for interesting hotels near Manila Subic Clark Angeles City Pampanga?
Trouble free hotels and well recognized hotels in Subic Clark Angeles City Pampanga
Clearwater Resort and Country Club offers a good place to stay in Subic Clark Angeles City Pampanga. In offers nice place to have rest in Subic Pampanga outside Manila.
One of the Philippines top hotels in north Luzon.

Looking for a restaurant in Clark for a Business meeting? Or a place to eat with friends? Yats Restaurant offers exclusive dinner venue for groups, a good place to celebrate special occasions, it can be a party venue in town. Yats Restaurant is a recommended restaurant for private dinner in Philippines, a well-recognized restaurant that serves good food and good wines for dinner.

Looking for famous tourists spots, places to visit and see, relax and unwind in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines? You may want to check out these sites also:

http://www.LondonPubClark.com

http://www.HotelClarkPhilippines.com

http://www.ClarkPhilippines.com

http://www.YatsWineCellars.com

Yats Restaurant is the best restaurant for special dinner, best restaurant for dinner with friends near Manila, also the best place to celebrate special events.

Famous Restaurant in Pampanga, a place to dine with friends in Clark, cozy restaurant with a nice ambience, a nice function place for special occassions

Are you looking for an attractive restaurant or a nice place to eat with friends in Clark, Angeles City Pampanga? Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar is a restaurant with good food and good wines for dinner located at Clark Angeles City Pampanga. Perfect for exclusive dinner venues for groups, recommended for private dinner in Philippines. A Restaurant in Clark for business dinner meeting. Private dinner place or dinner restaurant in Clark Subic Near Manila Angeles City Pampanga. Yats Restaurant is one of the Good Restaurant in Pampanga Angeles City Clark near Manila.

www.YatsRestaurant.com
Where to go in Clark? Hotel Clark Philippines is a De Luxe Hotel in Clark and Subic, a risk free place to stay, cozy and nice ambience, a nice function place for special occasion. It is one of North Luzon Philippines’ top hotels that is trouble free, risk free, and a nice place to have rest in Subic. A well-recognized and interesting hotel.

www.HotelClarkPhilippines.com