in a Hybrid Cloud Environment

Remote Data Centre Management

www.cmsitservices.com

IntroductionData centres are the omnipresent nerve centres of any organization. The concept of a

data centre dates back to the late 1950s, when American Airlines automated one of its

key business divisions – the passenger reservation system1. The idea of an advanced

data processing system became a concrete reality in 1960, when agents were able

to electronically access and manage airline seat information remotely. Since then, the

automation of data processing systems has evolved and there have been revolutionary

advancements in data storage and data centre management systems. A paradigm

shift can be observed in data centre infrastructure, software, hardware and ownership-

models, which now need to operate in new cloud and subscription-based environments.

1http://siliconangle.com/blog/2014/03/05/the-evolution-of-the-data-center-timeline-from-the-mainframe-to-the-cloud-tc0114/

Whitepaper

Evolution of Data CentresRapid changes in technology have led to the transformation of data centres from huge

physical storage systems to more advanced online storage and backup architectures

that we see today. Over the years, data storage has scaled a progressive journey and

come a long way from mainframe computers to desktops to a virtualisation enabled cloud

environment.

Mainframe Computers

In the beginning (1960s) there were mainframe computers, which were able to host

multiple operating systems thereby enabling the functioning of several machines virtually.

Then came servers designed with parallel microcomputer concepts (1980s). In line with

local IT policies in that era, local users were able to gain more control of their systems

while still being connected to servers, through personal computer networks.

Cluster Computing

In the early 1990s, grid computing took shape enabling computers to communicate via

the internet to solve problems that were particularly big and demanded a large amount

of resources. The mid-1990s witnessed a disruptive age of data centre computing with

cluster or ‘commodity’ computing, where a group of servers called commodity clusters

were used instead of a single system to facilitate cost-effectiveness and improvement in

speed.

Emergence of Virtualisation

At the turn of the century, virtual machines came into existence. As a software

implementation of a hardware system, the virtual machine or hypervisor allowed for

sharing of different systems, each running on their own operating systems.

The Cloud Ecosystem

The next disruptive transformation took place with the advent of the cloud ecosystem.

Organizations started moving towards the ‘subscription economy’ where services and

resources were shareable, accessible and utilized on demand, online. By employing web-

accessible XaaS services such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service

(PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), small and medium sized companies were

able to utilize resources and services on demand. An umbrella term for XaaS later came

to be known as Cloud, which enabled virtualisation, scalable storage, computing and

networking, and on-demand, self-service accessibility through the internet.

Here’s a quick glimpse into the evolution of data centres over the decades:

Factors Driving the Evolving Landscape of Infrastructure Technology There is a dramatic shift in managing IT infrastructure in today’s complex and demanding

business environment. Innovative and disruptive technologies are being developed

and leveraged to enhance productivity and address the increasing complexity of the IT

environment. New and emerging 3rd platform technologies – built on a foundation of

cloud, mobile, social, and big data – are defining enterprise IT at a very fundamental level.

A recent survey of Indian IT professionals reveals that 91% of the respondents are of

the firm belief that these next-gen technologies will give their organizations competitive

advantage2 – highlighting the fact that Indian organizations are swiftly embracing 3rd

platform technologies to their benefit.

Big Data – With widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT), the size of data sets

and data-driven business analytics is only going to accelerate infinitely and become more

intricate. Big data is not only voluminous in nature; it is highly unstructured as well. The

industry is slated for a rapid growth in the coming years especially considering the amount

of data being churned out on a daily basis. It is predicted that the big data industry in India

will grow to US$ 1 billion in 2015 with a CAGR of 83%3.

To enable CIOs to perform advanced data mining and predictive analytics, there is a

pressing need for upgrading data centre infrastructure with next-gen technology, in

order to support petabyte volume of big data. To address the complexity and challenges

associated with storage and management of big data, companies are adopting hybrid

cloud models that support high density computing, storage and management.

Mobility – The proliferation of application and mobile device usage has led to the need

for advanced mobile infrastructure to support seamless collaboration while maintaining

security. Today, network infrastructure has to revolve around mobility solutions, including

Mobile Device Management (MDM), Mobile Application Management (MAM), Mobile

Content Management (MCM), Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) support, mobile security and

desktop virtualisation solutions.

1960 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005 2007

Parallel microcomputer designs - MPP / SMP

Cluster Computing SaaS, PaaS and IaaS

Grid ComputingProprietory Mainframe Cloud ComputingVirtualization

2http://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/mobility/prediction-2015-indian-organizations-will-move-to-the-3rd-platform-mobile-computing/454302803http://www.crisil.com/global-offshoring/gra-nasscom.html

With mobility rapidly changing the landscape of IT infrastructure, the key features that

have become the need of the hour include security, scalability, reliability and cost-

effectiveness. An advanced mobile infrastructure enables enterprises to be more agile and

support the hyper connectivity required in this digitally possessed ecosystem.

Cloud Computing – Advancements in cloud technology have enabled delivery of

services hosted on a network or through the internet. In today’s demanding environment,

data centres need to provide connectivity, scalability and security. To address aspects of

network uptime, low latency and fluctuating demand, advanced modular data centres are

now built to enable selling and sharing of computing resources.

Emergence of the Hybrid Cloud Model

It is a no-brainer that emerging platform technologies are redefining the paradigms

of enterprise data architecture. Organizations are realizing the importance of storing

enterprise data digitally and a widespread adoption of cloud systems for data storage

and backup is becoming the norm. Today, companies are choosing hybrid cloud models

to capitalise on the ease and low cost feature of public clouds and the security and

customisation possibility through private clouds. While cloud computing has enabled

enterprises to become more agile, responsive and resilient in a demanding marketplace,

the emergence of the hybrid cloud model is likely to realign the IT landscape. The

combination of flexibility, scalability and security has urged many enterprises to shift to

hybrid cloud services.

Technology Business Research predicts a growth rate of 50% for the hybrid cloud market

in 20154. Indian companies – quick in the utilization of cloud services – are showing a

faster adoption towards the hybrid cloud model. According to ‘The Cloud Computing

in Asia Pacific: The Annual Cloud Maturity Index’ report, 50% of Indian companies

particularly in the BFSI, telecommunications, and healthcare verticals prefer hybrid

clouds5. Organizations are using third party cloud services to augment their private cloud

systems by distributing enterprise workloads between public and private clouds, after

ensuring that known data privacy concerns are dealt with properly. Indian firms are looking

to the cloud as a catalyst of change and are extensively customising the hybrid cloud

model to meet their specific business needs.

Benefits of Hybrid Clouds

In the current IT landscape, one of the biggest challenges companies need to address

is connectivity and communication between different systems that interact in a

fragmented environment. The hybrid cloud model combines both private and public cloud

configurations leveraging the benefits of both models – from security, flexibility, scalability

to cost efficiency.

• Security – With the use of private cloud models, operations involving sensitive

information are more secure. In addition to security, the private cloud model also

4http://www.channelworld.in/news/hybrid-cloud-adoption-set-for-a-big-boost-in-20155http://www.channelworld.in/feature/hybrid-cloud-2015%27s-biggest-gainer%3A-netmagic-

meets regulatory requirements especially

pertaining to data sharing, exchange and

dissemination.

• Scalability – With the use of public cloud

models, a wider scope for scalability is

possible. By using large cloud infrastructure

through public cloud services, enterprises

can migrate non-sensitive processes to

the public cloud cost-effectively, while

reducing the pressure on private cloud

implementations at the same time.

• Cost Efficiency – Public clouds offer

economies of scale by enabling enterprises

to optimise as many business functions as required with centralised management,

allowing sensitive operations to move to the private cloud and therefore providing cost

efficiency. Businesses can reduce networking costs by up to 40% by virtualising their

data centre resources6.

• Flexibility – With the hybrid cloud model, enterprises can optimise operational

productivity by capitalising on the benefits of both public and private cloud models.

On one hand, private cloud models enable sharing and provide access to data and

resources in a secure manner. And on the other hand, public cloud models provide

flexibility and scalability in a cost-effective way.

By moving their virtual servers to the cloud, organizations can virtualize their data centres

and utilize resources across multiple data centres – thereby reducing the requirement for

resources by up to 35%7. Thanks to the hybrid cloud model, enterprises can now leverage

emerging concepts such as cognitive cloud computing solutions, big data lakes and

predictive analytics to improve efficiency and maximize productivity.

Remote Data Centre Management Given the increasing complexity in the IT landscape, integrating new technologies and

adapting them to existing processes can be a significant challenge. The dependency on

remote data centres to gain access to resources and services is also increasing. Managing

and maintaining remote data centres comes with a whole set of challenges ranging from

ensuring that the systems are functioning to avoiding network outages.

Challenges in Managing Remote Data Centres

• Managing complexity of integration across the IT landscape – The adoption of

public and private cloud solutions along with the benefits bring about a whole set of

challenges in terms of IT operations that need to be in place to facilitate integration and

support required by multiple providers. With the IT environment becoming increasingly

Security Scalability

FlexibilityCost

Efficiency

Why the Hybrid Cloud Model is the Most Preferred Choice

6http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/the-evolution-of-the-data-center-to-the-cloud-08.html 7http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/the-evolution-of-the-data-center-to-the-cloud-07.html

complex, virtualisation is no longer limited to servers; integration is required in

networking technologies and storage.

• Managing diversity in a hybrid environment – The IT environment is already diverse

with multi-layered technologies in play. The integration of hybrid cloud solutions adds

another layer of multifaceted complexity in terms of managing different technologies,

processes, people, tools and utilities. Reflecting the complex landscape, resolution

times have drastically increased affecting strategic business processes that are mission

critical.

• Managing interactions between systems – In order to capitalise on the benefits of

new technology, integration with existing legacy infrastructure on premise is crucial.

Many enterprises face the challenge of managing interactions, identifying problems

and providing solutions on time to enable a harmonious environment that can thrive on

multi-layered technologies.

• Regulating control on solutions migrated to public clouds – While public cloud

solutions provide the benefits of scalability, there is also a challenge of control over

IT operations. Especially in the case when on premise infrastructure needs to be

integrated with public cloud solutions, or data/assets from the public cloud need to be

transferred or utilised on premise, enterprises have limited control over the progress of

IT operations.

• Managing different SLA requirements across technologies – With the adoption

and integration of multi-layered technologies, IT contract management has become

increasingly complex. Escalating SLA requirements from internal and external

customers add to this complexity. In order to ensure high quality service delivery,

IT managers and CIOs have a demanding task of tracking metrics and various

components of solution delivery that support strategic business systems and

processes.

Overcoming Challenges in Remote Data Centre Management

Data challenges are getting bigger and more complex by the day given the massive

information proliferation from multiple structured and unstructured sources. Data centre

managers need solutions that enable them to effectively manage access to servers,

network devices, and other critical equipment. In a hybrid cloud dominated data centre

ecosystem, it is of utmost importance to deploy an integrated management solution that

can address and overcome the various challenges posed by remote management of huge

data sets. Organizations that utilize the services of third party managed service providers

can solve the myriad issues plaguing remote data centre management by deploying

centralized remote management.

Centralized remote data centre management offers several tangible benefits:

• Enables round-the-clock management of servers, devices, and networking

infrastructure from a centralized location, facilitating ease of access, remote monitoring,

troubleshooting, and diagnostics

• Reduces system downtime by providing instant access to IT infrastructure and

resources

• Ensures maximum availability of the data centre by reporting power overload thresholds

in a timely manner

• Simplifies and streamlines asset management and data centre capacity planning

• Heightens data centre security by ensuring adherence to security protocols and

schema such as LDAP, Active Directory, RADIUS, TACACS+, etc.

• Provides clear visibility to data centre managers through intensive auditing and

reporting

To keep up with evolving business needs, CIOs, CFOs and CTOs face the biggest

challenge of providing high quality services and integrating latest technology at minimal

costs. A careful analysis beyond cost-benefit components needs to be considered while

choosing a managed services partner to manage IT infrastructure. An experienced and

trusted partner can help organizations combat the numerous challenges in managing

remote data centres and ensure disruption free operations.

CMS IT Services Legacy

Typically, a managed IT services provider focuses on reducing total cost of ownership

(TCO), improving IT infrastructure performance and increasing flexibility to address

evolving business requirements. CMS IT’s Infrastructure Management Services includes

a solution based approach to enable companies:

• Improve infrastructure performance

• Provide high quality services

• Utilize agile technologies

• Reduce TCO and other operational costs

• Increase flexibility

CMS IT Infrastructure Management – a Solution Based Approach

ATM Upgrades/Migration

Wireless Collaboration

LAN/WANTablets/Pads Messaging MS SQL Server

CablingMobile PhonesWin7/8

Migrations Directory OracleBackup/Recovery

Network Management

Mobile Device Management

Desktop Management

Server Management

Facilities Management/Datacenter Operations Management/AMC Support

Enterprise Systems Monitoring/Application Performance Management

Asset Lifecycle Management Vendor ManagementITIL based Service DeskManagement

Database Management

Storage Management

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The CMS IT Services solution helps companies streamline and automate their IT

operations optimally in an integrated manner, blending both the physical and virtual

environments to ensure seamless functioning of mission critical applications, workflows

and business processes. The business benefits of our solution based approach include:

• Automation – Routine IT operations can be automated and virtualised systems can be

monitored effectively, improving compliance management processes

• Scalability – With the use of an advanced architecture, access to information is

centralized, therefore enabling scalability of operations in a secure way

• Seamless integration – The network operating centre with cutting-edge infrastructure

and skilled domain expertise provides seamless integration of systems, workflows and

networks.

• Support to diverse environments – CMS’s state-of-the-art IT infrastructure support

ensures that systems and processes are able to operate in diverse environments and

are responsive to change.

With CMS IT Infrastructure Management Services, companies will be able to boost ROIs,

secure maximum business value, and cost-effectively manage IT operations efficiently.

As a preferred partner for outsourcing IT support requirements, CMS IT Services provides

high quality, end-to-end IT infrastructure solutions.

About CMS IT Services

www.cmsitservices.com

CMS IT Services provides new, cost-effective and cutting-edge IT infrastructure

solutions that are reliable, resilient and responsive. We have extensive experience in

managing complex IT implementation projects and integration of emerging

technologies in a dynamic environment. CMS IT partners with leading IT vendors

such as IBM, HP, 3Com, Oracle, Acer and Lexmark to

ensure that clients benefit from the latest cutting-edge technology.