RedPeak Solutions Blog

Key decision points to move to the cloud

Michelle — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:00:35 +0000

To make the leap to the cloud, you should compare the cost and manageability of in-house servers to the cost and manageability of external hosting to the cost and manageability of RedPeak Solutions’ Virtual Private Data Center offering.

The initial comparisons can be made on cost; looking at purchasing resources with depreciation versus leasing the same resources. However, the ultimate decision to move to a new solution should be based on more subtle factors such as;

lease versus own,
rapid provisioning,
manageability,
scalability,
reduced time-to-market
compelling event ( i.e.; an upcoming release, a new marketing campaign)

In most cases, the best way to move is incrementally and gradually based on a pilot trial project.

What to look for in a Cloud Vendor

Michelle — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:00:23 +0000

Companies looking to tap into the full potential and promise of cloud computing should partner with a trusted vendor who can devise a solution that meets their specific needs. Note that capabilities could vary based on client requirements, so one size does not fit all, but here are some capabilities you should consider when evaluating a cloud provider. Does the vendor:

Have experience developing, deploying, and implementing different cloud solutions, such as private, public, and hybrid clouds? Do they specialize in a particular solution?
Have complete transparency in managing compute capacity and facilitates? For example, do they have similar setup, configuration, and tear-down of compute resources in both private and public high performance computing cloud environments?
Provide fool-proof user authentication and authorization? • Guarantee data security while data is being transported to the cloud?
Provide a complete cloud computing software stack including Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Lab as a Service (LaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS)?
Have extensive security audit experience for real-world customers?
Provide guarantee in the contract and/or insurance about the persistency of your corporate data within the cloud environment?
Have an architecture that can address any system integration concerns?
Provide support for older versions of your operating system in the cloud environment? Can they provide support for newer operating systems?
Provide solutions that are open and portable to prevent vendor lock-in?
Provide 24×7 support and are there when you need them?

Barriers to entry on the cloud

ernaz — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:00:52 +0000

Many companies are hesitant to make the jump due to the fact that we are currently in the early adopter stageof the cloud computing lifecycle. For most companies, the cloud environment presents many challenges and unknowns that must be overcome before corporations can include cloud in their IT strategy. The prospect of transferring data and Intellectual Property (IP) out of the data center and into the cloud environment strikes fear among many data center managers. Hence, data security, accessibility, and data persistency are paramount when deciding what data remains inside the corporate firewall and what data can be transferred to the cloud.

Cloud computing requires data center managers to make certain trade-offs with respect to control, visibility, and performance. Companies must compare internal and public clouds with respect to the performance benchmark results in the public cloud, financial model to compare operational expenses versus capital expenditures. Companies must also consider if their insurance coverage is sufficient to host their IP in the cloud environment.

Additionally, configuration management, security, and compliance issues raised by today’s cloud solutions must be properly addressed.

Are these barriers preventing you and your company from moving to the cloud?

Understanding the cloud player landscape…

ernaz — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:00:11 +0000

Back in 2008, cloud computing blogger,John Willis, posted about the different levels of cloud computing in an attempt to demystify the cloud. He described it as follows:

There are multiple “levels” of cloud players. We are categorizing cloud players into three levels: Level 0 players that are not quite cloud players; Level 1 that are niche players in the cloud market; Level 2 that provide the backbone of cloud computing offerings; and Level 3 players.

Fast forward to 2009:

Many are starting to divide cloud computing providers into multiple levels

Join us to learn more about cloud offerings from RedPeak Solutions

ernaz — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:00:09 +0000

Join our COO, Reinald Schneller, as he talks about cloud offerings from RedPeak Solutions.

RedPeak offers Virtual Private Data Center and Virtual Lab solutions based on 3Tera’s market-leading AppLogic platform.

Please click here to watch.

The evolution of the cloud

ernaz — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:00:13 +0000

Just over a decade ago, grid/cluster computing introduced us to the concept of optimal utilization of enterprise hardware resources. Today, priorities like resource flexibility, cost efficiencies, reliability, fault tolerance, power consumption, and environmental footprint of the data center are top of mind for CIOs. These concerns have given birth to cloud computing. So, if asked the difference between the grid and the cloud, the pat answer is virtualization.

Static compute farms are being replaced by an on-demand, dynamically provisioned infrastructure that provides the flexibility to burst to the public cloud time and again by tapping into additional compute capacity made available by a public cloud. Due to the huge potential and cost-saving promise of both public and private clouds, a vast majority of enterprises are seriously considering, if not already using, cloud computing for their computing needs.

Learn more about our offerings at the RedPeak Solutions website.

What is cloud computing?

ernaz — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:27:17 +0000

Pooled resources, utility computing, elasticity, grid computing, computing on demand, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), disposable infrastructure, fiber computing….There is a reason so many experts, in attempting to define cloud computing, have resorted to utilizing established technologies within definitions or analogies for this relatively new concept.
As you can see, cloud computing is many things to many people. This “data center on the internet” can facilitate flexible computing for enterprises of every size. Think of cloud computing as a cluster of virtual servers creating essentially an Infrastructure 2.0, enabling a new level of agility and nimbleness that is unfathomable with the traditional silo computing model.

Beyond this, cloud computing represents a paradigm shift in corporate expenditures. Companies are graduating to a pay-per-use model offered by cloud computing with a focus on operational expenditures instead of building in-house data centers utilizing capital expenditures.

The cloud computing model is enticing more and more companies to explore expanding their computing resources to meet peak demand by tapping into the on-demand capacity offered by the cloud. It is an entirely new business model with its own set of value propositions for enterprise computing environments, including application scalability, improved economies of scale, reduced costs, resource efficiencies, resource elasticity / flexibility, faster deployment times, value-based pricing model, disaster recovery, and an on-demand infrastructure enabling the truly dynamic data center.
Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the internet. A cloud service has three distinct characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting. It is sold on-demand, typically by the minute or the hour. It is elastic; a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time. It is fully managed by the provider. All the consumer needs is a personal computer and Internet access. Significant innovations in virtualization and distributed computing, as well as improved access to high speed Internet and a weak economy, have accelerated interest in cloud computing.

RedPeak Solutions to Partner with 3Tera to Provide Cloud Computing Services for Enterprise Customers

RedPeak Solutions — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:04:33 +0000

Relationship Builds on the Growing Demand for Migrating from Traditional Datacenter Environments to Cloud Computing Solutions

(Mountain View, CA—June 10, 2009) — RedPeak Solutions, a cloud computing consulting expert and managed services provider, announced today a strategic partnership with 3Tera, Inc., the leading innovator of cloud computing technology and utility computing services to provide consulting, implementation, and deployment services. Target customers include enterprises, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers, Web 2.0 companies and software development and quality assurance organizations who are moving to cloud environments using 3Tera’s award-winning AppLogic™ cloud computing platform. RedPeak Solutions’ consulting, implementation, and deployment services enable companies to accelerate time to market by combining the right type of cloud solution – internal, public or hybrid – to fit their business needs….more

Get on the cloud with RedPeak Solutions!

RedPeak Solutions — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:00:01 +0000

Thinking about moving your company to the cloud? RedPeak is here to help!

RedPeak Solutions is a cloud enablement provider that offers grid based solutions for Enterprise, Web 2.0, SaaS, and software development and quality assurance departments by performing physical to cloud migrations and providing ongoing support.

Our solution delivers Virtual Private Data Centers and Virtual Private Lab environments powered by offering on-demand scalability, high availability, efficient resource utilization, compliance and security at a lower cost.

RedPeak Solutions experts design, develop, and deploy cloud environments internally, externally or as a hybrid model; and provide managed services to keep it up and running 24X7.

If you want to learn more, we welcome you leaving a comment on this blog, send us a message on Twitter (@RedPeak) or visiting our website at www.redpeaksolutions.com.