Important Questions Board Members Should Ask About Cloud Computing

  By VAZATA Information | May 22, 2013 - 12:10 pm |
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VAZATA Board MeetingTo maximize the success of implementing cloud computing, it is essential that the board members see cloud computing as a business strategy, not as an IT project.  Effective governance processes will help to ensure a smoother transition.

Sidestepping established governance processes and failing to inform others within your enterprise about cloud computing initiatives may result in risk. Without close monitoring and proper discipline, cost overruns may result if services are not turned off when they are no longer needed. Individually purchased services may conflict with technology strategies being used. In some instances, acquisition of cloud services resulted in regulatory problems—problems that could have been avoided if usage plans were communicated and systematically considered beforehand.

According to ISACA, a nonprofit, independent association of more than 100,000 governance, risk, security and assurance professionals worldwide, boards should address five key questions to determine the strategic value that cloud services are expected to provide and the impact that the cloud may have on resources and controls:

  1. Do management teams have a plan for cloud computing? Have they weighed the value and opportunity costs?
  2. How do current cloud plans support the enterprise’s mission?
  3. Have executive teams systematically evaluated organizational readiness? For example, are the right skills available? Do cloud processes conflict with other established processes? Do cloud plans conflict with enterprise culture?
  4. Have management teams considered what existing investments might be lost in their cloud planning? Does the adoption of a cloud service nullify already-made technology investments that have not reached their planned end date, and is that noted and approved?
  5. Do management teams have strategies for measuring and tracking the value of cloud return vs. risk?

Getting answers to these question will help determine your enterprise’s readiness to adopt cloud computing. The challenge is for board members to have sufficient understanding of the opportunity that cloud presents. With that in place, they can effectively direct and manage plans to leverage cloud and promote success.

Public or Private Cloud? For 7 Out of 10 IT Pros, It’s Hybrid Cloud

  By VAZATA Information | May 15, 2013 - 2:31 pm | ,
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VAZATA - Hybrid Cloud ComputingFor 69% of the near 250 IT professionals quizzed by business process automation firm PMG, the hybrid cloud is the “wave of the future within their organizations”.

The most important reason for adopting hybrid clouds, according to 38% of respondents, was that cloud apps were deployed faster. Delivering better value (21%), and being able to meet requirements more easily (10%) were the next most popular suggestions.

Elsewhere, the survey touched on more general cloud trends. Only 18% of respondents said they weren’t going to procure more cloud services in the next 18-24 months, while more than three in five (64%) agreed that BYOD equaled corporate cloud usage.

A good cloud survey, hybrid cloud or otherwise, is rarely without a question on cloudy security threats, and this report is no different – in this instance, data security (79%) was clearly seen as the biggest storm cloud threatening IT.

Compliance (57%), network security (55%), loss of control (51%) and unmanaged applications (48%) comprised the top five. In something of a pleasing development, cost worries finished a miserable third last, with 31% citing it.

But what do you think? Are all companies going to be utilizing a hybrid cloud solution before long?

Get details about hybrid cloud solutions and more at www.vazata.com

Enterprise Cloud Computing Streamlines Business Operations

  By VAZATA Information | May 8, 2013 - 3:37 pm |
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VAZATA Cloud ServicesWhat matters most to CEO’s is maximizing every hour their business is operating.  To them, agility, scalability and efficiency are the key components to streamlined business operations. Having a cloud strategy is not enough for companies anymore. That’s where enterprise cloud computing takes center stage. Every application and platform component needs to contribute to the goal of reducing customer’s challenges of doing business.

Enterprise cloud computing utilizes cloud computing for competitive advantage through breakout opportunities, both for cost savings, and more importantly for business innovation, in terms of unprecedented speed and agility.  This means vastly improved collaboration among business partners and customers. What does “enterprise cloud computing” mean to CEOs? Here are three key points.

1) On the cost side of the equation, many IT and data center costs can be reduced and tied directly to usage, up or down as needs go up or down (rapid elasticity).

2) But there’s more on the revenue side. Risk and startup expenses for innovation initiatives can be cut dramatically, letting companies take more small bets and test out more new ideas. With no upfront capital expense, new projects can be scaled up instantly if they take off, or shut down quickly if they fail. Massive scalability and up-or-down elasticity give companies a whole new arena for testing new business ideas and growing them if they take off.

3) Companies don’t work alone, and, on average, over 20 companies make up today’s value chains. Cloud computing allows a company to collaborate in new ways with its trading partners, and collaboration is the key to gaining competitive advantage across the value chain.

Cloud computing is not a new technology or architecture or methodology. But it is a new Information Technology “delivery model” where all computing and networking resources are delivered as “services” that are elastic (use as much or as little as you need at any given time), massively scalable, and are available on-demand.

For more information about enterprise cloud computing, visit us at www.vazata.com.

Texas is a Hot Bed for Technology: Why You Need a Texas Data Center

  By VAZATA Information | May 1, 2013 - 1:56 pm |
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VAZATA Dallas DataCenterTexas has become the hot spot for enterprise data centers, attracted by the fact that the state had its own power grid and cost-effective electricity earlier than other major Internet markets. The growth has established a number of Texas cities as destinations for data center site location, with Dallas leading the pack. The early growth of the Telecom Corridor in Richardson also helped put the Dallas market on the map for Texas Data Center development.

Texas has a very robust supply of IT professionals and data centers are often located near the customer base to which they provide services. Whether they are internal customers or external customers, Texas has the right mix. With more than 26 million people, Texas also serves as home to more than 50 of the Fortune 500 companies. Combine these two and you can quickly understand why Texas Data Centers are so important.

Unlike the majority of the country, Texas’s economy has been growing over the last decade, thanks in large part to low taxes and low cost of living. What this ultimately means is more corporate growth in the form of existing company expansion, and more importantly to the rapid need for data center space, a large amount of companies relocating to Texas. In 2010, Texas ranked in the top ten for corporate relocations with more than 7,000 new businesses moving to the state, according to Site Selection Magazine. Robust job creation, a thriving oil and gas industry and a business-friendly environment all point to more activity for Texas Data Centers.

Contact us to learn more about Texas Data Centers managed and operated by VAZATA. Our quality data centers are designed for mission-critical colocation, managed hosting and cloud computing services in Dallas, Texas and other key cities across the US.

Understanding FISMA and Its Importance to Cloud Services

  By VAZATA Information | April 24, 2013 - 11:32 am | ,
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VAZATA SecurityFISMA stands for the Federal Information Security Management Act; a key step in promoting the development of key security standards designed to protect the Nation’s critical information infrastructure. Pioneered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Federal Government is working toward implementing a well-established security program. Several initiatives have taken place to date, including:

  • Standards for categorizing information and information systems by mission impact.
  • Standards for minimum security requirements for information and information systems.
  • Guidance for assessing security authorization of information systems.
  • Guidance for monitoring the security controls and the security authorization of information systems.

NIST intends FISMA to promote the following benefits throughout the Government:

  • Consistent, cost-effective application of security controls across the Federal Government.
  • Complete, reliable, and accurate information for authorizing officials.
  • Secure information systems within the Federal Government.

Today most mission-critical IT Systems have commercial or federal compliance requirements. VAZATA helps clients maneuver through the challenges presented by government compliance regulations and FISMA compliance issues to create a customized program that meets all information security management needs. These solutions focus on government data security and areas needed to achieve certificate of compliance.

VAZATA’s Information Security Management covers all forms of compliance: HIPAA, FISMA, SOX, DIACAP and more.  VAZATA is an expert in both enterprise and government data security with extensive knowledge of compliance, risk management, disaster recovery, secure data storage and information security management challenges.  Our data centers and vStructure(tm) virtualization platform have all achieved SSAE 16 Type 2 and FISMA accreditation, thereby enabling customers to leverage inheritable benefit in their own compliance initiatives.  We serve a wide range of industry sectors, including Federal Government Agencies, Healthcare, Software, NPOs and Consumer Brands

VAZATA systems and services are independently validated by commercial, federal and DoD compliance and regulatory standards. The processes, methodologies, control measures and audits implemented by VAZATA are based on sound ITIL/ISO criteria, using SSAE 16 Type II and SAS 70 II audited, so control measures are legitimate and designed to provide quality audits.

To discuss specific certificate of compliance needs, contact VAZATA today.

Key Points To Know About Disaster Recovery Solutions

  By VAZATA Information | April 17, 2013 - 11:40 am |
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http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-3d-businessman-lifebelt-image21758258Before making a decision about disaster recovery solutions, you might be well served to weigh your choices based on some of the following key points of consideration.

  • Vertical Market Regulations — Heavy regulation in industries such as healthcare, finance and legal means IT service providers must pay close attention to compliance when evaluating cloud disaster recovery solutions for each customer. Inquire about specific laws governing the protection, storage, retrieval, and retention of data, and make sure your customer will be compliant. Here in the U.S., common regulations include Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), the Patriot Act, and for European customers the EU Data Protection Directive (EUDPD).
  • Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) — What are your expectations around application and data availability when a disaster strikes? These should be clearly documented in the service level agreement and expectations set up front. Ensuring that the disaster recovery solution will allow you to meet RTOs set forth in the agreement is important. Cloud-based solutions can provide a faster time to recovery at a price point SMB customers can afford.
  • Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) — What are your RPO requirements? Generally speaking, small businesses can run on the prior night’s backup of their environment while that day’s data is being retrieved. Realistic and attainable RPOs are essential to any business continuity plan.
  • Virtualized or On-Premise Production Environments – Physical-to-Virtual (P2V) conversion can take longer in a disaster scenario than a fully virtualized environment. In many cases, it’s suitable for small businesses to have on-premise servers and local backup in combination. By having a solid understanding of how recovery in the cloud can accompany both virtualized and on-premise environments you’ll secure a spot as a trusted advisor for your customer.

Here’s a short list of factors to consider when choosing a company to provide disaster recovery solutions in the cloud:

  • Support hours and location – IT disasters don’t always happen between regular working hours. It is vital that the disaster recovery solution support team is available for critical incidents 24/7. Location of the support team is also key; when you are calling support at 2 am are you confident that you’ll be able to communicate and get answers from the person you call.
  • Automated vs. manual validation – If you need to test the backup of your production environment, does the solution enable you to log in to the User Interface through a web browser? If not, how dependent will you be on the vendor to validate the integrity of the data to ensure it’s not corrupted.
  • Web access — In the cloud, it’s all about instant and scalable access to your data. Will you have access to a web management environment that enabled instant access to production applications in recovery environments? IT service providers are expected to have access and manage their data in the cloud so they can not only test recovery, but perform recovery operations.

Disaster recovery expertise comes only from experience. VAZATA provides scalability, security and solutions that you need to ensure fast, efficient disaster recovery, 24/7. To find out more why VAZATA is your best choice for disaster recovery solutions, contact us at www.vazata.com.

What are the Major Types of IaaS Providers?

  By VAZATA Information | April 10, 2013 - 1:13 pm |
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VAZATA IaaS ProviderIaaS is a valuable part of the cloud value chain. Infrastructure services are growing and have captured the attention of businesses globally. Understanding the various types of IaaS providers and what they can bring to your business is vital to your decision making. There are at least 8 different kinds of IaaS providers and possibly more. Here are some of the more well-known types:

  1. Computing – IaaS providers that provide computing services give you the ability to compute via remote hook-ups and other types of over-the-net connectivity services.
  2. Enterprise IT - Many large companies with dynamic computing needs look at enterprise solutions. Rather than own their own hardware they can outsource the infrastructure to house their internal applications.
  3. Cloud Storage – This may include storage, backup and continuous data protection.
  4. Test/Development – Some IaaS providers specialize in delivering the ability to test and develop new applications. They provide the space you need for your testing. It’s a lot like a virtual lab.
  5. Resource Sharing – Resource sharing allows companies with similar goals or computing needs to share the expense, the maintenance and the infrastructure.
  6. Telecom– Virtual PBX, VOIP and other Internet telephony services.
  7. High Performance Computing – Also called supercomputing — using computers for large scale statistical computations.
  8. Wholesale Vending – Also called reselling or affiliate marketing. One company resells the infrastructure-as-a-service offerings of another.

A globally respected IaaS provider, VAZATA offers an IaaS platform called vStructure™

The vStructure™ uses a proprietary cloud architecture that allows enhanced computing capabilities, accessibility and fiscal viability in solutions designed to grow with organizations of all sizes. By combining managed services, virtual machine solutions and a virtual resource pool, VAZATA is able to deliver security, stability and scalability to thousands of customers worldwide.

For more details about VAZATA’s vStructure™ IaaS platform, visit us at www.vazata.com.

What is Cloud Migration?

  By VAZATA Information | March 20, 2013 - 11:03 am |
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VAZATA Cloud MigrationCloud migration is the process of moving data, applications or other business elements from an organization’s onsite computers to the cloud, or moving them from one cloud environment to another.

Cloud migration sometimes involves moving data or other business elements between cloud environments, which is known as cloud-to-cloud migration. The process of transitioning to a different cloud provider is known as cloud service migration. In any case, successful migration to a service provider’s environment may require the use of middleware, such as a cloud integration tool, to bridge any gaps between the vendor’s and the customer’s technologies.

Transitioning to the cloud or between cloud environments presents the usual IT issues, but the problems are compounded by having data stored and managed remotely by external organizations and often in multiple locations. Among these issues are special considerations for privacy, interoperability, data and application portability, data integrity, business continuity and security.

VAZATA offers cloud migration in a secure, stable and scalable environment. Of the four basic types of cloud deployment models: Private, Community, Public or Hybrid, VAZATA delivers Hybrid Cloud virtual computing solutions. This is the most in- demand by enterprise and security-minded organizations that want to gain the benefits of a virtual environment.

For more information about how VAZATA can provide solutions to your cloud migration contact us today.

 

Enterprise Application Hosting Offers Increased Value

  By VAZATA Information | March 13, 2013 - 10:43 am |
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Enterprise Cloud HostingThe transformation occurring within enterprise application hosting shows that dedicated infrastructure is taking the form of a more pure cloud computing model with dynamic virtualization of allocated resources.  Fortunately for customers, this means lower prices, more scalability and more flexible contractual agreements.

Traditionally, enterprise application hosting providers provide dedicated hardware on behalf of their customers, including the server, storage, networking and backup environment necessary to sustain your typical robust and highly availability enterprise application hosting infrastructure. This requires a sizeable investment in hardware and operating system software.

Cloud computing is changing this approach. Often using the same technology employed for server virtualization in the enterprise application hosting service, providers now utilize this technology to extend the same benefits of virtualization to their enterprise application customers: more efficient use of resources, more specific allocation of resource capacity and rapid provisioning of scaling resource capacity.

Customers of this approach to enterprise application hosting can also benefit from testing, development and resources that might be needed in high capacity during the early stages of application integration and customization.

Savings under a cloud computing approach to enterprise application hosting and management compared to the traditional hosting approach of dedicated hardware can approach 30% to 50% for the enterprise customer.

For more information about enterprise application hosting, contact VAZATA.

When Federal Cloud Computing Makes Sense

  By VAZATA Information | March 6, 2013 - 12:40 pm | ,
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http://www.dreamstime.com/-image23029150The federal government is fundamentally changing the way it operates.  It is confronted with system-wide challenges ranging from the economy, the environment, to healthcare; in addition public infrastructure is not performing adequately and there are operational and public safety risks. Such challenges have forced the government to take a front and center role in working across the public, private, and academic sectors. This will solve massively complex and cross-disciplinary, interdependent problems. Federal cloud computing is a major part of this.

From an operational perspective, all systems operate today via human interactions with technology and with IT infrastructure as the foundational grid from which those interactions and transactions are enabled. Increasingly, more demands will be made of Federal government, for handling, managing, and overseeing transactions (e.g. Recovery.gov, Ethics.gov, Data.gov, etc.). As a steward and provider of services to citizens, we provide the government with provisions that require 21st century infrastructure, know-how, and innovation.

Here is a list of benefits that an agency might use when implementing federal cloud computing services, IaaS being one of these valuable services.

Provide agile high capacity computingUse cloud-based virtual machines to quickly provision and ramp up capacity for compute-intensive tasks Provision and scale up multiple instances for a scientific computing task IaaS, PaaS
Provide secure and precertified computing infrastructure environmentsUse certified secure cloud-based images to provide the most commonly used Agency computing environments Provide agencies with instantly available secure and certified Windows or Linux server instances IaaS
Provide government website hosting servicesUse certified secure cloud-based images to migrate government web sites for improved scalability and reduced operating costs and environmental impact Migrate specific .gov websites to a cloud platform IaaS, PaaS
Provision on-demand IT infrastructure for new projectsUse certified secure cloud-based images to immediately provision infrastructure ranging from a single server to a virtual data center Provide instant archival infrastructure for NARA IaaS
Rationalize existing IT infrastructureMore fully use existing infrastructure capability through virtualization and private cloud implementation Make use of extra capacity at an existing data center to support census peak load IaaS

VAZATA is one of the premier providers of Compliant Solutions for federal cloud computing.  As a certified and accredited solution provider under FISMA’s recommended security controls for federal information systems, VAZATA is able to quickly deploy solutions without imposing an otherwise time consuming procurement process. For more information on Federal Solutions please visit us today.