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Cloud storage does that?

According to Forrester Research, in 2011 the costs for all forms of storage represented an average of 15% of the total IT budget.

I’m not surprised by that statistic – it makes sense when you consider the growth in devices generating and consuming data and in file sizes, in addition to the aggregation of disparate, seemingly unrelated sources of data to analyze, dissect, and decision (otherwise known as Big Data). Considering this, and the many other variables contributing to the growth in storage, these costs will continue to grow taking up even more of the IT budget. Knowing that the problem isn’t going away, how do we begin to tame this beast? How does IT make it less of a fixed cost and contribute that expense to the agility of IT and growth of the company?

Could cloud storage be the answer?

I think it can. There are a number of possibilities of what cloud storage can do for an organization to not only keep expenses down, but to help them make the most of their existing infrastructure and increase security. But if IT is even going to consider offloading some storage needs to the cloud, they really need to determine what data is valuable, and what they would like to see from this type of solution. Obviously cost savings are going to be a key driver for the adoption of cloud storage but there are a lot more benefits than just dollars:

Increased Physical and virtual server/ desktop support: A key driver of storage growth is tied to the number of desktops and endpoint devices in use. This is difficult to truly fix or limit, unless you want to consider VDI / DaaS options and enforce the use of mandatory file systems located on the cloud.
Secure file sharing: If you’re going to jump into cloud storage with both feet, you want users to know not only how to use the service but be able to lock it down even at the edges of the network, so that data doesn’t find it’s way to public cloud options, a USB drive, or the employee’s home computer because it’s easier and more convenient for them to have it accessible when they need it.
Leveraging the cloud for disaster recovery: If you’ve got data with a cloud storage provider, understand how it can be leveraged in the event of a disaster, and actually improve the SLA’s around Restore Time Objective (RTO). Look to your provider to have a Disaster Recovery (DR) vision and ask them to help you develop your strategy.

A few years ago I would have looked at the trend of increasing storage needs and thought not only are there not many options but how do I continue to make the case for more budget. With the role that cloud storage can play in so many other areas of IT, now I don’t have too. Nice.

Posted in Cloud, Cloud storage, NaviCloud | Tagged cloud, cloud storage, NaviCloud | Leave a comment

IT’s Identity Crisis

Posted by Marketing

IT seems to be undergoing an identity crisis. Are they responsible for the maintenance? For putting out fires when the network goes down? Are they supposed to be developing new applications to streamline systems? It’s enough to make your head spin. The changing needs of both internal employees and external clients are effecting what the organization ultimately needs from its IT department.

Today, because of the increasing acceptance of bring your own device (BYOD) policies, organizations are increasingly reliant on delivering applications that end-users can access anywhere, anytime, and on any device. Users are demanding applications be developed quickly and flexibly so it doesn’t interfere with job performance, putting IT in a position of either providing the corporation with agile application development and delivery mechanisms, or being viewed as a roadblock to improving the productivity of the business.

As IT professionals have begun to focus on more agile application development, and strategic business initiatives, they‘ve uncovered new and creative ways to service both the organization and the end-user. Cloud based development gives IT the ability to create and use application templates and a virtual application appliance, allowing them to dramatically improve its ability to react to the needs of the business. Knowing they can provision just the needed amount of compute, storage, and networking resources in minutes and turn it off just as easily, developers can afford to be more creative while keeping costs down.

In addition, these requirements are driving increased need for performance, stability, and scalability. All levels of the enterprise expect applications to be available and to perform. Cloud computing provides an important bridge between the development cycle and deployment. With inherent resiliency provided by high availability and performance managed by automated resource load leveling and cost-justifying scheduling, cloud computing provides the operational capacity to match the development agility.

Because of these advantages, progressive companies are offloading day-to-day IT management and refocusing resources to create and provide user facing applications. For example, DAI is an organization committed to helping developing nations. It’s IT resources are directly involved in executing projects in these countries but resources were bogged down with the management of internal application environments. They turned to NaviSite’s cloud-based managed application services for its Oracle® E suite, offloading day-to-day management of the Oracle environment and enabled DAI to devote more IT resources to end user facing projects instead of supporting internal applications and systems.

To learn more about the benefits cloud computing brings to organizations beyond ROI please download our free whitepaper here.

Posted in Cloud, Managed Applications, Managed Cloud Services, ROI, careers | Comments Off

Be Our Guest at Interop and Learn More About How Cloud Can Make Your Organization More Effective

Posted by Marketing

Business managers, IT professionals and channel professionals all attend Interop each year to learn more about cloud computing, networking, wireless and mobility, virtualization, data center, storage, collaboration, information security and risk management as well as IT Management.

We are very excited to be participating and showcasing our cloud-based solutions at the annual 2012 Interop Conference in Las Vegas. As a leading worldwide provider of enterprise-class, cloud-enabled hosting managed applications and services, we’re looking forward to introducing you to some of our latest innovations including Desktop-as-a-Service and Storage solutions. Visit us at Booth #915 in the Cloud & Virtualization Zone to learn more about NaviSite’s solutions and managed services.

In addition, NaviSite’s Chris Patterson, Cloud Product Manager, will be presenting at the Enterprise Cloud Summit Workshop at 11:00am on Sunday, May 6^th in the session titled “The Right Place in the Stack.” The session will focus on how IT should plan for the migration to cloud platforms. When migrating applications to the cloud, one size does not fit all. Some things work better as infrastructure; some as platform; and some can be replaced by SaaS. But what goes where? Attend this session to find out!

SAVE 25%* OR GET A FREE EXPO PASS

Click here to register. Use Priority Code CPQENL01 to receive your discount.

* 25% off discount applies to Flex Pass and Conference Passes only. Discount calculated based on the on-site price and not combinable with other offers. Offer good on new registrations only. Proof of IT industry involvement required. Price after discount applied: Flex: $2,471.25 // Conference: $1,721.25.

Posted in Events, Interop | Tagged Interop | Comments Off

Beyond Cloud ROI: IT Takes a Seat at the Business Strategy Table

Posted by Marketing

Traditionally IT has led the charge in not only designing and building systems to last a lifetime, but also maintaining them. The reality is that today, with the advent of the cloud IT’s role is changing…significantly. The new IT organization is moving away from constantly putting out fires and spending a large percentage of time maintaining costly networks. Instead, forward thinking organizations are aligning there IT departments with business strategy, focused on making the organization agile, flexible and capable of change at a moment’s notice.

In a recent article in CIO.com, Bernard Golden agrees. He notes that many IT executives haven’t quite gotten there yet because they don’t recognize the true transformative value the cloud brings to the table. He says, “…Cloud computing brings automation to the mix, and in every industry that automation has touched, profound disruption has followed. IT will be no different. Those who think of cloud computing as a segregated innovation, like virtualization, fail to recognize how profoundly it will change enterprise IT as we know it.”

Cloud services liberate IT teams and make time for innovation which ultimately benefits the company’s bottom line. For example, the IT team at a rapidly growing North American insurance company uses a managed cloud service to quickly provision infrastructure on-demand for test and development. The time to fulfill requests has decreased from weeks to minutes. Moving the applications to production takes a few clicks. What’s more, costs for test and production servers have gone down by more than 40%.

As with traditional managed or outsourced services, it’s easy for IT professionals to be worried that cloud computing means smaller IT staffs. In fact, cloud may be the IT department’s best friend. If done correctly and used strategically, the IT department can move from being an internal cost center focused on just keeping things running, to a strategic, business and innovation driver.

A case in point, iSentry provides software and services that facilitate secure document transfers, document tracking, and e-signatures by leveraging Digital Content Exchange (DCX) platform The functionality provided by DCX is applicable to many industries. However, each industry requires a slightly different version. With NaviSite’s application virtualization and cloud enablement managed services, iSentry is able to reduce the business cycle of idea to proof-of-concept to production for each version to days or weeks versus months or years. IT’s decision to move to the cloud has enabled iSentry to stay a step ahead of their competitors and gives them a real business advantage.

Hmmmm….maybe the cloud is not only IT’s new best friend, but the organizations best friend as well.

Posted in CIO, NaviCloud, ROI, business strategy | Tagged CIO, cloud, roi | Comments Off

The Real Value of Cloud – Beyond ROI

Posted by Marketing

Enter a decision making, technology discussion with virtually any business leader or IT professional and the conversation quickly turns to the subject of ROI and lower total cost of ownership (TCO). These have been mainstay criteria for decades.

However, the adoption of cloud services is changing the way organizations need to think about ROI. While ZDNet’s recent article nicely lays out the financial pros and cons of moving to the cloud, they didn’t include the benefits that extend far beyond the tangible costs of hardware and software.

As you know, cloud computing is shifting the burden of capital expense to a “pay as-you-go” model for IT infrastructure which ultimately translates to predictable operational expenses, lower IT staff costs, and a reduction in costs associated with the data center. But while lower TCO is a powerful driver in cloud computing migration, early adopters are reporting that the cloud’s impact on innovation plays an even bigger role in the benefits realized.

The true value is seen through business transformation that is fueled by continuous innovation. By shifting the focus of IT from time consuming operational chores cloud enabled delivery models and services are freeing up time for IT innovation and strategic thinking. The fruits of that innovation are new application delivery models and tools that empower employees to be more efficient and effective, fueling business success. And these cloud benefits are not just a one-time thing. The benefits gain momentum and continue to expand throughout the organization as additional applications, services, tools and technologies are moved to the cloud. With each new innovation that IT teams introduce, the business continues to reap the benefits.

A great example of this is Wolters Kluwer Finanical Services. Wolters Kluwer recently moved its SDX Secure Document Exchange service to NaviCloud to help mortgage lenders make the secure, electronic delivery of mortgage compliance documents to borrowers even faster, easier and more efficient.

“By moving SDX to a Cloud-based environment, we’re helping lenders realize even more efficiencies while making borrower data more secure within the origination process,” said Jason Marx, vice president and general manager of Residential and Indirect Lending for Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. “It’s part of our continued strategy to provide our customers with innovative solutions to their most pressing compliance, risk management and business challenges.”

Click here to learn more about how Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is using NaviCloud for IT Innovation and gaining business benefits beyond basic ROI.

Posted in CIO, Cloud, ROI | Tagged CIO, cloud, roi | Comments Off

BYOD vs Enterprise Security: Are they really at odds?

Posted by Chris Patterson

Since the launch of Apple’s original iPhone and certainly since the launch of the iPad in 2010, enterprise IT departments have been tasked with dealing with an increasing number of rogue devices entering the corporate infrastructure. Add in Android, Kindle and all of the other “iClones” along with the emergence of cloud-based applications and you have corporate security executives not sleeping for years.

Historically, enterprises have taken the approach of locking down the corporate network, and forbidding the use of non-corporate issued and approved devices. Limiting what applications can be downloaded or websites that can be accessed via corporate issued devices was seen as the most effective way to protect the data that also resides on the device. But in an age where employees are being asked to be more productive with less, and where companies are looking for ways to reduce costs is an iron fist approach to corporate security really the best answer?

The reality is that enterprises need to strike a balance between employee choice and corporate control if they are going to get the most out of what today’s technology options have to offer worker productivity and efficiency. Trends around mobility and mobile devices, virtualization, cloud-based applications, and cloud storage don’t have to be trends that keep IT up at night. Instead they can be leveraged to regain control over corporate data and information while still giving employees their freedom.

The concept of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) has been a media darling since the launch of those handy little “iDevices”. And while many companies have certainly been toying with the concept, a large scale move to BYOD has not yet happened. But many of the pieces of the BYOD puzzle are now starting to come together and more and more businesses are considering it as something that may soon be a reality.

Leveraging virtualization technologies, specifically desktop virtualization, provides enterprises the ability to maintain as much or as little control over corporate data, information, and applications as they want or need to for compliance reasons. Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)/ Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions allow IT to set individual user rights to determine what can be printed, copied or moved out of the virtual environment (by who), and maintain full back-ups of corporate information. With these solutions, since the data never actually exists on the device but is just viewed on them, an iPad left by a CFO on a plane or a sales executive leaving their smart phone in a taxi no longer have to be considered security breaches.

The bottom line is that the proliferation of consumer devices in the workplace, and the expectations for data access on these devices that were the bane of IT’s existence, can be used to give IT back control, enhance corporate security and compliance solutions, and still provide users the flexibility and tools they desperately want. Embrace the change and everyone wins.

Posted in BYOD, DaaS, NaviCloud, Security | Tagged BYOD, cloud, DaaS, security | Comments Off

Register Now – NaviCloud Expo is Next Week!

Posted by Marketing

On Wednesday, April 4 – Thursday, April 5, NaviSite, along with leaders in cloud computing will present NaviCloud Expo at The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills. Click here for the full agenda or to register for the event.

The expo is designed for business executives and IT professionals evaluating managed cloud services to share best practices and strategies, and hear directly from their peers how to effectively design, deploy and manage these solutions.

For most organizations, it’s not deciding whether or not they need to move mission critical applications to the cloud, it’s actually doing it that presents the challenge.

In this specific session, “Cloud: The Inside Story,” gain insight and hear first hand from customers who have already begun their migration to cloud computing and services. This forum will provide you the opportunity to learn from your colleagues as they share their experiences: what criteria they used to make decisions; how they developed an implementation strategy; and considerations they took into account before moving forwarding. The panel includes:

• Michael Sheehy, Chief Technology Officer, ASOS, a top online UK retailer
• Gareth Evans, Enterprise Solutions Architect, Isentry, a leading software and solutions provider for highly regulated industries
• Brian Lincoln, Director of IT Cloud Services, Pomeroy, a recognized leader in the service desk and managed desktop services market

The agenda also includes presentations and panel discussions on:

• Cloud Computing: A Decade of Change
• The Inside Story on Cloud Computing – The Customer Perspective
• Business Impact Beyond ROI
• Charting a Course for Cloud Deployment
• Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery – What’s Your Strategy?

And much more – don’t miss your chance to be part of this truly exciting and innovative opportunity. Register today.

Posted in Cloud, Events, NaviCloud | Tagged NaviCloud, NaviCloud Expo | Comments Off

Companies Must BCDR their Employees

Posted by Denis Martin

No, this isn’t a blog about cloning key staff members. It is, however, a blog about the need to have a real BCDR strategy in place for your employees. The industry regularly discusses the need for network redundancy and server resiliency delivered by technologies like clustering and high availability. Ensuring that corporate data is backed up and copies stored in multiple locations is common practice. But how much time do businesses spend on ensuring that individual groups of employees can continue to work in an emergency?

Certain industries, financial services for example, need a strategy for employees to be able to conduct business even if their primary place of work is not accessible. Typically that means contracting with some alternate location for temporary space in the case of an emergency. Or perhaps it means having space in a second corporate location to accommodate the displaced employees. But these strategies can be expensive and become cost prohibitive for many.

Telecommuting and working while traveling is extremely common place today, but many employees don’t have access to all of the corporate applications and information they may need to be away from the office for an extended period of time. So while a business may think their “occasional” remote workers have been BCDR’d, the reality is that working from home on a planned basis is very different from ensuring your employees have access to what they need from an alternate location with little to no advance notice. Additionally, having the ability to perform all of the tasks required of an employee for any length of time from somewhere other than the primary office is not something that is typically guaranteed when employees are allowed to work remotely occasionally.

A good illustration of this is the upcoming Olympic Games in London. Many businesses with staff based in London proper are starting to worry about these challenges as the Olympic Games approach. London traffic is already known to be challenging during rush hour on a good day but bring in thousands of athletes, their families, coaches, tourists, media, diplomats in addition to the residents of London and those individuals that commute to work on a normal day and you have what to many of those local residents and workers will likely consider disastrous working conditions. So corporations are looking at alternative options to ensure business keeps operating despite the distraction and challenges the Olympics will bring.

This is where cloud computing solutions have led to a tremendous shift in the business continuity and disaster recovery options available to businesses and their employees alike. With services like cloud-based collaboration and desktop-as-a-service available in enterprise-class solutions, companies can provide employees with critical business tools accessible from anywhere and on a variety of devices. No longer do employees have to be tethered to a specific corporate issued computer to access corporate applications and directories. Now teams can collaborate through messaging, conferencing, and video applications accessed via the cloud enabling teams to be productive whether they are physically in the same location or half a world apart. And IT’s efforts to keep these applications up-to-date and functional is minimal compared to traditional workstation maintenance.

By providing employees, whether permanently or in times of incident, tools such as virtual desktops with the full enterprise application suite, and corporate collaboration solutions for continued communication and interaction even when employees are not physically together, companies can ensure their business continues to operate as usual, perhaps even making some employees more productive. And the added benefit of solutions that have solid BCDR business cases is that they aren’t just for BCDR. All of these innovations can be leveraged by a business whether it’s a normal work day or a serious business impacting event.

Click here to lean more about Desktop-as-a-Service.

Click here to learn about NaviSite’s World Class Data Centers.

Posted in DaaS, Europe Cloud, NaviCloud, business continuity | Tagged business continuity, cloud, DaaS, Summer Olympics | Comments Off

NaviSite is proud to present the 2012 NaviCloud Expo!

Posted by Marketing

On Wednesday, April 4 – Thursday, April 5, NaviSite, along with leaders in cloud computing including Actifio, Alert Logic and Mimecast will present NaviCloud Expo at The Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills. Click here for the full agenda or to register for the event.

As cloud services gain momentum, enterprise organizations are looking to develop new strategies in to gain exponential efficiencies and competitive differentiators. The name of the game is business enablement and everything is under review: business processes, application delivery, end-user services and management tools, and ultimately business agility.

Moderated by industry analyst and leading cloud expert Zeus Kerravala from ZK Research, NaviCloud Expo will include thought-provoking topics including:

Collaboration in the Cloud: The Cloud has fully transformed the way individuals communicate and collaborate with each other. As a result, companies are looking to leverage cloud based collaboration solutions as cost effective ways to improve worker flexibility, communications, and performance while evolving how business is done and influencing innovation. Panelists: Mounil Patel, Director of Pre-sales Engineering and Professional Services, Mimecast; Mark Clayman, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Sales, NaviSite; Denis Martin, Chief Technology Officer.

Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery: Changing the BCDR Paradigm with Cloud: For some companies, leveraging the cloud for an element of business continuity and disaster recovery has been viewed as a good place to enter the cloud world. But as cloud services have evolved, companies are now realizing that the cloud can change their entire approach to BCDR by providing more flexible, economical, and scalable solutions to protect and ensure business continuity. This session will look at how the cloud can be leveraged to fully BCDR your business. Panelists: Jim Sullivan, President, Actifio; Chris Patterson, Product Manager, Cloud and Infrastructure Services.

The Silver Lining in Security & Compliance: Enterprises are now discovering that they can leverage cloud services to protect their business and reduce rick more effectively than with many traditional security and hosting alternatives. This session will provide attendees a look at 7 Steps enterprises can follow to ensure a complete security and risk management plan, including how to address the increasing challenges of protecting corporate data and resources in a mobile world. Panelists: Chris Noell, VP of Product Management, AlertLogic; Kent Welch, Director of Product Management, Courion; John Howie, Director CloudCERT, a CSA initiative; Allen Allison, Chief Security Officer, NaviSite.

Posted in CIO, Cloud, Events, NaviCloud, business continuity | Tagged cloud, NaviCloud, NaviCloud Expo | Comments Off

IT’s Identity Crisis

Be Our Guest at Interop and Learn More About How Cloud Can Make Your Organization More Effective

Register Now – NaviCloud Expo is Next Week!

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