The move towards cloud computing services

1. The move towards cloud computing The move towards cloud computing services services Risks and benefits in cloud and workload migration Channel providers and vendors offering workload migration for cloud adoption or data centre consolidation are now dime a dozen, but more than 75% of projects run late or over budget resulting in business disruption and a high level of risk that can be damaging financially or in terms of customer relationships. There are hundreds of variables to consider when planning and executing a data or cloud migration. Poor understanding of existing customer systems and of future hosting requirements leads to delays and flawed execution. An end-to-end platform that designed to ensure migration is as smooth as possible, minimising risks, overspend and disruption, is crucial to an efficient and effective process. Using a Decision Engine Cloud computing offers a scalable on demand service with greater flexibility and lower investment. Cloud based services are delivered using network protocols over the Internet which has implicit vulnerabilities. Newer systems may not be entirely secure and lead to privacy concerns. Data loss can occur due to operational failures, unreliable data storage or inconsistent use of encryption keys. A Decision Engine brings advanced machine learning techniques to the process of cloud selection and migration. It does so by leveraging historical data, past decisions and behaviour patterns to generate recommendations, options and exceptions in simulation to facilitate planning and execution with minimal risk of data loss, data breach, overspend and delay. vClarus as a Decision Engine vClarus is an example of an advanced Decision Engine deployed to plan and implement cloud computing services and workload migration in data centres. vClarus analyses the customer’s current estate from services through to applications and infrastructure. The Decision Engine then selects the most suitable hosting options for business applications and infrastructure based on technical and business criteria to produce rules-based recommendations for fully cloud hosted, in house or hybrid solutions. Decision Engine processes There are three main phases to the vClarus Decision Engine for cloud computing services selection. The first involves current state discovery and analysis. This includes top down as well as bottom up discovery involving data asset auditing, inventory lists, discovery tools and network probes. Infrastructure, apps and app to server mapping lead to the second phase, migration planning. Migration planning is possibly the most critical stage as it is here that a business roadmap is generated as well as the approaches, rules and schedules that will determine the third stage, execution. A decision engine is vendor agnostic and at this stage provides a detailed, transparent and accurate report detailing the most suitable hosting options for the data environment.

2. Migration to cloud computing services Once the hosting decision has been made, the vClarus Decision Engine can plan the best approach, taking into account service constraints and the migration schedule. The data migration project is then managed using vClarus as a single point for all the data relating to the migration to be stored. This single point system lowers the risk, improves consistency and ensures successful migration. The risk of migrating to cloud computing services has been discussed, but there are numerous benefits to rules-based workload placement. These include reduced risk and indecision, a fixed cost and outcome, less delay in execution, and reduced time to return on investment. Expectations are exceeded and data integrity is maintained throughout the process. About us: Bell Integration provides expert IT services and consultancy to businesses across Europe and Asia-Pacific. Their services are focused on four key capabilities – transact, transform, run and recycle – to provide their customers with an end-to-end service and a wide range of propositions to help meet business challenges. Bell is at the forefront of helping companies drive down operating costs and improve their ability to engage with their own customers, either by supporting the growth of their channels to market, or by aiding their responsiveness and service quality. Bell Integration is proud to have won listings in The Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 and The Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 and has featured in The Business Magazine’s Solent 250 and Southern Tech 100. Bell Integration continues to grow and now has over 300 permanent staff and over 50 associates employed at their offices in London, Portsmouth, Wokingham, Stevenage, Hyderabad, Singapore and within many of their customers’ sites. For more information Please visit: https://www.bell-integration.com/ Call: 44 2392 825925