Cloud computing saves dollars, server sprawl
August 21, 2011
With the advent of cloud technology, the archaic model of information technology asset acquisition based on the "I have a new application, so I will acquire a new, dedicated server" men-tality will need to give way to the concept of applications not being tied to specific servers. Cloud computing is based on the premise that IT is managing elastic and pooled IT resources and services from which agencies can rapidly procure IT services, scale them up or down as needed, and release them when finished…
Organizations dedicated to delivering IT services have long been considered cost centers. This positioning hails from the dawn of client-server computing, when the bureaus, subagencies and even programs within agencies began purchasing servers and software solely for their own use. Over the years, to reduce server sprawl, increase utilization of IT assets and reduce operating expenses, IT has embarked on a series of consolidation projects. Alas, the most difficult challenge was in wresting control of the assets away from the departmental or program owners. Ironically, even though many IT shops have managed to successfully pull off these consolidations, the legacy IT asset acquisition model remains.
Former federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra touches on this issue in a 25-point plan to reform IT management. One item of this document concerns the need to consolidate IT spending under agency CIOs. It’s all too common for agencies, departments, bureaus and programs to have similar IT service needs. However, because of the way IT spending is managed, these groups design, build and operate similar IT services.
By consolidating commodity IT budgets, CIOs will be liberated to begin approaching IT from a more strategic vantage. This will allow CIOs to look at IT services that are needed by the agency as a whole and to provide an infrastructure more agile and responsive to agency needs. This advantage applies also to the consolidation of IT services, virtualization and even standing up cloud computing platforms.
A virtualized or cloud-based computing platform is ideal for such commodity IT services as email, collaboration, Web-based services, content management systems and database platforms. Taking Web services as an example, were CIOs able to either consolidate all agency spending for Web services infrastructure or designate that all new Web services be built on an agencywide Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud platform, benefits would emerge. There would be a common and standardized platform for new service development. There would be a single backup, archive and electronic management method for all of those services. There would be a single disaster recovery plan for all hosted services.
There would be greater agility to deploy new services, as the design, procurement and deployment of the Web services platform would already be in place and available. And, there would be a single service delivery platform that could be secured as opposed to dispersed and often nonstandardized Web service platforms. Some of these benefits may seem intangible, but there are real dollar savings in the form of fewer physical servers, software licensing, support costs, data center space, skills development, and power and cooling costs.
Alas, this transformation will only flourish once CIOs can untangle the asset acquisition model, so they can begin to build these virtualized or cloud computing platforms.
However, once the decoupling of servers and software from a specific IT service is allowed and CIOs are able to take more control over how IT budgets are spent, they can turn their focus to deploying highly efficient on-demand computing platforms. With these agile and efficient IT service delivery platforms in place, IT organizations will be positioned to take their place as a strategic resource center delivering IT as a service to their agencies.