We continue today with six more changes that will come to enterprises as more and more organizations move to cloud computing based on a recent Network World article “12 ways the cloud changes everything”. Here is what analysts had to say:

• IT organizations will become the master of all cloud services agreements
• Traditional IT workers may fear that cloud computing will commoditize IT work and increase outsourcing. Enterprises will need to stay on top of preparing its workforce for moves to cloud computing to prevent a skills gap.
• As with any new technology, some vendors may try to stick to the ‘old ways’. Be sure to pay attention to which of your vendors are embracing cloud computing and which are not.
• With public cloud computing vertical specialization will prevail
• Much like with the PC revolution, the most successful cloud-based IT teams will be those who know how to balance the enterprises’ needs with the users’ work styles.
• The rapid adoption of cloud computing is an opportunity for CIOs, executives and the whole IT team to lead the business into faster, more economical IT tools.

More and more organizations are steadily moving their applications to the cloud. In a recent Network World article “12 ways the cloud changes everything” analysts report that 80% of new enterprise applications will be developed for cloud computing in 2011. Organizations moving to the cloud will see some profound changes, such as:

• Cloud computing will enable the work-anywhere mentality creating tens of millions of applications, new mobile applications, social technology and analytics.
• Creation of a ‘shared cache’ as server virtualization continues to impact operations
• New models of software licensing
• Business groups may view IT as the “internal app store” thus moving IT to be more of an “IT services” concept versus “IT build/develop”
• Public clouds will become more important than private clouds as IT executives take a holistic look at what cloud computing offers as a whole
• Cloud computing creates valuable consumer data giving IT a chance to lead the charge on researching their own companies’ customers and markets

Check back Friday, July 29th for more changes that will come from cloud computing.

What is WAN optimization? What are the benefits of using WAN optimization as a service technology? Erin Harrison’s recent post to TMC, “WAN Optimization as a Service Cuts Costs, Increases Efficiency and Capacity” states that the same thinking that went into connecting local area networks (LAN) will not work as you connect your remote users.

WAN optimization as a service technology looks at the following:

• Data and bandwidth compression
• Elimination of transmission redundancy
• Data prioritization
• Quality of Service (QoS)
• Optimization of protocols and WAN solutions

Building WAN optimization into a project can improve data transaction time, protect business-critical traffic and increase usable WAN capacity.

Ken Hess from Zdnet.com puts a creative spin around the decision to go with virtualization in his recent blog post “What are You Looking for in Virtualization?”

So who has the answers to whether to move to virtualization or not? Mr. Hess argues that the organization has all the answers and it needs to answer its own questions first before challenging vendors and consultants to help create a plan that will work best.

Where should an organization start? Mr. Hess definitely does not recommend turning to virtualization simply because ‘it’s the way of the future” or based on pressure from outside forces. He recommends listing your needs in order of priority, listing out areas where you hope to gain better efficiency and cost reductions and determine the support materials needed to adopt this new technology at your organization.

In a recent article from CIO, “Virtualization: An Easier Path to the Cloud”, analysts are seeing a recent trend where virtualization is being seen as the perfect lead-in to cloud computing.

As one analyst points out, “virtualization gets you in a cloud state of mind”, because virtualization starts an organization’s thoughts around easier maintenance, lower costs, improved reliability and better scalability.

If an organization is interested in taking the next step into cloud computing, analyst recommend weighing the following:

• Define the benefits you hope to gain from moving to the cloud
• Discuss what challenges cloud computing could bring to your particular business
• Find a cloud computing business model that works for end user and the business
• Gain a comfort level with how data is handle by you cloud vendors

Michael Brandenbug from SearchNetworking.com breaks down the key components of a data center network fabric:

• A network built where traffic from any port can reach any other node with as few latency-inducing hops as possible
• A data center fabric generally features high-speed ports, new multi-pathing alternatives to spanning tree, and simplified management and automation
• Enhancements to Ethernet standards to build true any-to-any links between services in the data center are Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) and Shortest Path Bridging (SPB)

Why the change in the data center network fabric? Data center virtualization is fundamentally changing the requirements of enterprise data center network architecture, making the traditional north-south traffic and client-server application architecture obsolete.

In early June, IDC published an article focused on small and medium-sized business IT spending. Despite continued economic challenges and limited access to credit small and medium-sized business IT spending has recovered more rapidly than expected since the recession officially ended in 2009. Here are some other findings of interest:

• U.S. small and medium-sized business will spend more than $125 billion on advanced technology in 2011
• Small and medium-sized businesses are responding to today’s new economic realities in distinct ways and, in many cases adapting differently than large enterprises
• The number of small and medium-sized businesses with local area networks will exceed 4.5 million in 2015

IBM recently conducted a Global Chief Information Officer Study based on a poll of 3,000 CIOs. Here are some of the thoughts shared by CIOs around the world on cloud computing.

• Organizations interested in cloud computing have almost doubled over the 2009 survey. One reason for this increase is that companies are seeking simple, meaningful and direct access to their enterprises’ Big Data – terabytes and petabytes of information, and the applications that cloud computing can deliver in a cost-efficient manner.
• CEOs are increasing looking at CIOs as not just an “IT Mechanic” but looking to the CIO to turn today’s complex and changeable Big Data into usable information and intelligence to make better decisions.

Overall, cloud computing is becoming a much bigger priority for many CIOs across the globe.

Bernard Golden in his article “Cloud Makes Capacity Planning Harder: 3 Fight-Back Tips” states that cloud computing will make managing utilization risk a new data center capacity planning challenge for internal IT groups. He shares three ideas to mitigate this challenge.

• Implement governance and resource rationing
• Implement competitive chargeback rates
• Develop a meaningful mixed deployment strategy

Although stated plainly these ideas may seem simple and all encompassing, each idea has its limits and its challenges. For example, resource rationing could very likely prove to be unsuccessful with the unlimited number of external cloud providers and ease to use. Creating a chargeback structure or a mixed strategy bring the need for internal IT to pare capital and running costs, achieve high utilization rates to price competitively with external cloud providers, including a greater level of price transparency.

Yet with many unknowns out there, Mr. Bernard finds that overall cloud computing growth will for sure bring much more emphasis on increasing utilization rates within the internal data center.

How will data center capacity planning change as cloud computing grows? Bernard Golden in his CIO article “Cloud Makes Capacity Planning Harder: 3 Fight-Back Tips” points to some new changes that will effect data center capacity planning.

First, demand will grow as apps groups begin to realize that there are fewer barriers to overcome to obtain resources and funding. Second, in the past, application groups had to obtain the capital needed to fund compute resources to operate the applications. It is common to hear that those are “HR’s servers” or “Finance’s servers”. The new world of cloud computing assumes that a central IT group will fund the resources, and then allow apps groups to use them in a shared fashion, paying only for what they use. Finally, cloud computing brings a change in responsibilities. Utilization risk will no longer be a factor for the application group but utilization risk and management will move to the cloud provider.

These factors will lead to an explosion in applications development and a capacity planning challenge. Check back on Monday, July 11th for Mr. Golden’s thoughts to meet these challenges.