We know that the existing IT infrastructure and platforms can cause headaches. Hence, for businesses inclined to move to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), the research process to select a capable provider can be tricky. This is partly because different vendors offer a range of capabilities. However, it is absolutely critical that no stone is left unturned.
Oracle research revealed various challenges organizations face related to cloud adoption, such as mission critical application security on the public cloud (41%), managing security across different platforms, applications and solutions simultaneously (40%), and integration of legacy systems (38%). It might be tempting to try to just guess future business needs and find a provider that helps bridge the gap. Nonetheless, the more effective approach is to focus on finding the most flexible, scalable and capable IaaS provider. This means that the solution should support the business regardless of its direction.
Keeping this in mind, the following checklist should help businesses ask the right questions when making the move to IaaS.
Business needs
- Are infrastructure capabilities up to date? Without support for the very latest features an organization will be hampered in its efforts to exploit IaaS to the full. For example, Amazon Aurora is missing critical features, such as online transaction processing, that Oracle shipped 20 years ago.
- Can public cloud capabilities run inside the company firewall? Organizations not yet ready to move fully to public cloud need this capability to avoid making choices that are not aligned with current business needs.
- Does the provider support legacy applications and the development of new ones? Rather than re-engineering legacy applications, organizations should seek a provider that can handle them efficiently, so that a phased approach can be taken to application development.
Flexibility
- Can you move workloads between on-premises and the cloud? This is vital if an organization is to continue to use existing applications and keep its investment costs down. Can you ‘lift and shift’ workloads, databases and applications into the cloud without making any changes? This supports speed and efficiency and avoids unnecessary spending.
- Greater flexibility means better support of existing hybrid approaches which may have developed in a piecemeal way over time. It is crucial for any organization wanting all the benefits of cloud right now.
Price and Performance
- Is price and performance competitive? A well implemented IaaS gives the organization faster workload handling for improved efficiency and competitive pricing structures.
- To ensure high-level performance it is important to check guaranteed latency and the level of capacity operated by the providers’ network. Over-subscribed networks will be less efficient.
The ultimate goal with IaaS is to help the business transform its technology infrastructure, saving costs, increasing efficiency and reducing technology silos and ‘shadow IT’. Meeting the right provider will also help organizations to leverage cloud at a greater scale and strengthen collaboration across the business.
By Pascal Giraud, Senior Director IaaS Foundation and Cloud Platform, Oracle EMEA
