There has been a lot of talk about private versus public clouds because of data security concerns. A private cloud is a proprietary network or data center that supplies hosted services to a limited number of people. Private clouds generally pose fewer security and privacy risks than public clouds.

What distinguishes private clouds from the average data center is the ability to pay-per-use and scale usage up or down as demand dictates. This scalability is made possible by the pooling of storage resources.

With cost and scalability being two important business issues, private clouds are extremely attractive to many businesses. According to a recent InformationWeek survey, more than half of the business technology professionals interviewed said that “they’re either using private clouds (28%) or planning to do so (30%).”   That said, there is still a lot of hesitation when it comes to implementing a private cloud environment.  With a heavy technology investment needed, businesses quite rightfully are trying to determine whether the long-term savings will be worth the upfront investment.

Forrester Analyst, James Staten, believes that most businesses are not ready for an internal cloud because they “lack the experience and maturity to manage such an environment.”  Staten says that “to be ready, they must first scale operational standardization, automation, and virtualization mountains.”

With automation and consolidation being best practices for running a better, more efficient data center, perhaps preparing for a private cloud will inadvertently help companies optimize their data center?

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings are finished applications that companies rent. SaaS applications are delivered via the Internet and priced based on consumption (number of users or “seats”).  While you cannot modify SaaS applications, it is possible to make small customizations.  Some examples of software-as-a-service are online social media monitoring tools such as ScoutLabs.com and CRM tool Salesforce.com.

The cost to use an SaaS application ranges from $0 to $500 per user per month depending on the application, use, and addition of supplementary modules.

When we talk about the maturity of the various cloud computing offerings, SaaS, which has been around as a technology solution for more than 10 years, is at a higher level of maturing than most other cloud services that have fewer than three years on the market.

According to Forrester, SaaS has become an established software delivery model for certain segments of the market. Forrester survey data shows that 20% of enterprises and small-to-medium size businesses have implemented or are piloting at least one SaaS solution. All major enterprise ISVs have SaaS offerings, and all major SIs are building large SaaS practices.

That said, software-as-a-service still has room for growth.  Not all applications are suited to SaaS delivery, and not even all implementations of SaaS-suited software are appropriate for a SaaS delivery.  SaaS does, however, have the potential to significantly increase corporate efficiencies and productivity.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) refers to software and product development tools hosted on the provider’s infrastructure.  You pay the host for the use of their platform, but may also pay someone else for other software or services.   A good example of PaaS is Google Apps.

According to Forrester Analyst, James Staten, PaaS is a “build-deploy-manage environment.  These cloud services provide a framework and a software system for application developers to create new services and rapidly deploy them on the Internet. They typically support a particular type of programming language or environment and provide cloud-implemented services that the developer can integrate into their application. It’s becoming common to see PaaS offerings designed specifically for the enhanced use of a SaaS service. For example, Force.com is primarily
used to create new applications that directly leverage the Salesforce.com CRM service.”

The biggest challenge with PaaS is how limited it is in terms of applicability. Many PaaS platforms are focused on a particular class of developer or application, which means that applications will not run on other platforms.  The “lock-in” that PaaS provides is therefore a big downside.  According to Staten, PaaS will take 3 – 5 years to reach the next stage of development because “significant function build-outs are still needed, as well as maturity of the platforms and greater enterprise adoption.”

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is often referred to as Utility Computing because it offers a “pay-based-on-what-you-use” model for data storage.  Via IaaS, Cloud Computing enables companies to only pay for the storage capacity that they need and use.  IaaS is, in essence, an on-demand virtual hosting environment.

IaaS is used to deploy Web service, VM- or SOA-based applications to the Internet. Examples of vendors using IaaS are: Amazon, AT&T, GoGrid (ServePath), Rackspace, Savvis, Terremark and Verizon. Estimated cost to implement IaaS starts at $0.10 per CPU hour.

As Forrester Analysts, Jennifer Bélissent and James Staten, state in a recent whitepaper, “despite the overwhelming buzz of cloud computing, few firms worldwide have adopted a pay-per-use, self-service model of computing, based on virtual service at a public service provider.” Adoption varies from region to region; IaaS clouds are local and so are their implications.

Forrester’s data shows that IaaS adoption is slower in North America and Western Europe than in other emerging markets such as Latin America and Asia.  Data security and privacy concerns are certainly top of mind for IT professionals in North America considering cloud computing as an option.

The physical location of the cloud data center is important because of data protection regimes.  Customers need to understand where their data will be transferred, processed and stored.  According to Forrester, “Rather than merely claiming that data is in the cloud, tech vendors must be prepared to identify the location of data and provide location guarantees (at a premium) if required. The implications of local legislation necessitate a greater degree of transparency than that currently offered by some cloud providers.”

On July 19th, Evolving Solutions was pleased to welcome Forrester Analyst, James Staten, to our annual customer event.  Staten delivered a presentation on Cloud Computing, including the challenges and the benefits.

According to Staten, the biggest challenge with Cloud Computing is understand what it really is. Forrester defines cloud computing as “a standardized IT capability (services, software, or infrastructure) delivered via Internet technologies in a pay-per-use, self-service way.”

Over the next 7 weeks, we will be posting a series of blog posts introducing you to the various types of Cloud Computing:

1. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (Iaas)
2. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
3. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
4. Private Clouds
5. Public Clouds
6. Combined Private & Public Clouds
7. Is the Cloud Right for You?

Check back next Wednesday (August 4th) for a post on Infrastructure-as-a-Service.

Green IT Expert John Lamb, PhD

Green IT is a subject we have dedicated significant (virtual) ink to on this blog.  In discussing Green IT, we strive to illustrate the link between eco-friendly energy management and significantly lower business costs.

Helping us illustrate this link is John Lamb, PhD, as he contributes his insight to our Data Center Leaders interview series.

Lamb is a Senior Certified IT Architect with IBM Global Services.  He has authored over 50 technical whitepapers and four books including, “The Greening of IT:  How Companies Can Make A Difference For The Environment.”(1)

Below, we discuss the steps needed to make your data center eco-friendly, the cost savings that can be expected, and the future of green IT:

Evolving Solutions:
What tips would you offer for business seeking to reduce data center costs through green initiatives?

John Lamb:
A very straightforward process, and probably the most significant improvement data center management can make, is to use the standard server refresh policy (which is typically every four years) to move to virtual servers.  Virtual data storage would follow.

Of course, the very first step would be to “get the facts” and diagnose where your data center energy is being used. In addition to the diagnose step, four other steps are to measure/manage, cool, virtualize, and build.

Additional steps such as communications/appointing an energy czar, analysis of application efficiency, and making use of rebates and incentives could further help improve the business case for going green.

Improving energy management is an ongoing endeavor. Improving energy efficiency requires focusing on a number of areas: the IT equipment, the data center facility, and the on-going energy management. The five-step process is a way to show a set of actions across all these areas. The idea should be to have continuous improvement.

Evolving Solutions:
Are there inherent dangers in trying to make your data center too cost efficient through green IT?

John Lamb:
There could be the “gold plating” syndrome. An engineer or IT architect can actually try to go too far in reducing energy use. The basic business case with a focus on a good return on investment (ROI) always needs to apply.

Back in the late seventies we designed solar heating for several IBM buildings and actually implemented a few solar heating projects. We could realize a significant reduction in energy use, but if the payback period is 20 years and the life of the solar heating system is only 20 years, then that’s not a good investment.

However, for data centers the cost saving incentives are so great companies have significant motivation from a financial standpoint to go green.

The Greening of IT by John Lamb, PhD

Evolving Solutions:
Your book, The Greening Of IT, describes how IT vendors are touting eco-friendly policies such as carbon-neutral computing in their sales pitches.  With corporations typically driven more by bottom-line factors, do you fear taking the “green” angle may cause sales pitches to fall on deaf ears?

John Lamb:
I believe most companies do feel a corporate responsibility to help the environment.  However, the best motivator to get started – whether it’s a company or an individual – is to show the economic benefits of reducing energy use.

Let’s face it, if a company or individual can be shown methods to cut energy use and save money by following best practices, that’s always a great motivator. If a company can be shown that along with cost savings the company is also helping the environment, then we have a real “win-win” scenario.

So, to answer your question, the primary goal should be to cut costs through energy efficiency.  That goal will automatically lead to the goal of helping the environment.

Evolving Solutions:
Toby Velte, Global Technology Strategies with Microsoft, describes how he helps to ensure Green IT initiatives are funded by always relating projects to the pressures of capitalism, rather than the pressures of altruism.  Do you find this to be true across the board, or have you seen some firms consider start to implement green IT purely from a sense of corporate responsibility?

John Lamb:
I agree with Toby. The first and best motivator to go green is to show the financial benefits from the energy savings.

As mentioned in the response to the previous question, after showing the economic benefits it’s a great idea to also show the benefits to the environment.  Then we have a win-win situation for both the CFO and the executives who want to show corporate responsibility with improvements to the environment.

Evolving Solutions:
How would you recommend selling the idea of green IT to upper management who see it as little more than a fad?

John Lamb:
I’d recommend giving upper management some real life case study examples of the money that can be saved.

A typical US data center of 25,000 square feet will use approximately $2.6 million in energy costs per year at 12 cents per KWH. Improvements in energy management can save up to 50% of those costs.  Over a million dollars in savings is typically a motivator that will drive sufficient interest.

If upper management can be given references along with business case details of other companies that have experienced significant energy cost savings by going green that should do the trick.

All companies will become serious about reducing energy through green IT once they realize the significant cost savings possible even by initially only going after the low hanging fruit.

Evolving Solutions:
Anything else you’d like to add on Green IT or data center cost avoidance?

John Lamb:
Two emerging technology areas for green IT that intrigue me are the use of fuel cells to power data centers and the use of private cloud computing for the ultimate in server and data storage virtualization.

Fuel cells are not new – they powered the space capsules that carried men to the moon. Hydrogen powered fuel cells are very environmentally desirable since the only output, in addition to energy, is water.

The problem is in obtaining the hydrogen.  Currently hydrogen is usually produced through a very energy intensive process using natural gas and immense amounts of electricity.  When technological breakthroughs allow us to produce hydrogen efficiently, then fuel cells for data center energy will be a significant step forward.

Cloud computing allows companies to move to virtualization of all computing systems and to very high levels of utilization. Cloud computing – both public and private – is evolving quickly and is already having an impact on green IT.

(1) Publisher disclaimer: “The Greening of IT: How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment” by John Lamb; ISBN 0137150830, published April 2009 by IBM Press (Copyright 2009 by International Business Machines Corporation). To view a sample chapter, please click on “Sample Pages”: www.ibmpressbooks.com/title/0137150830”