Cloud Computing: The Reality of the Four-Tier Architecture

Grazed from MSP News. Author: Shahin Pirooz.

Moving to the cloud can mean different things to different people, and it all comes down to what exactly is being delivered as a hosted solution. As CTO at CenterBeam, I’ve heard from a lot of customers frustrated when moving to the cloud because they ended up having to do much of the work themselves.

They thought the cloud was going to simplify IT management, but in many cases, the consumer-class solutions that are offered from companies such as Amazon and others that offer Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) only solutions created more work in terms of integrating all the pieces to ensure they worked properly together…

The problem, they found, is that some providers host infrastructure (IaaS), others offer a virtual desktop (DaaS), and still others focus on the platform (PaaS), which includes Web and database functionalities. While it would be technically possible with some simple customization, very few providers deliver cloud solutions that encompass a four-tier IT architecture and address the integration frustrations of small and mid-sized enterprises.

To give enterprises a hosted solution that delivers the full promise of the cloud, we decided that we should offer all four tiers – Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS), and the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for Web and database – as a standardized service, and integrate them to ensure that all the pieces work together, seamlessly and effectively.

By doing so, we become an enabler for small- and mid-sized companies to take advantage of the robust IT resources only previously available to larger corporations, minus the high price tag (News – Alert) and need for a large IT team.

Not as Simple as it Seems

In theory, cloud services are billed as solutions to simplify IT for businesses, giving them a way to outsource the underlying technology and enabling IT staff to focus on their company’s mission critical applications and activities. But reality can be a different story.

Today’s cloud offerings are far from a “service.” Often limited to just one tier of architecture, these offerings can create more work for a company’s IT staff. With an IaaS provider, for example, the customer receives the infrastructure resources it needs, but will still be responsible for installing its operating systems, databases and applications on virtual machines and creating the proper connections for everything to work the way end users expect.

This process can be complicated, time-consuming and in many cases, can result in just as much work for IT staff as if they were managing infrastructure in-house, instead of freeing up resources and enabling them to focus on their company’s core business. And ultimately, the work that is required can easily defeat the main goals of simplicity and outsourcing that are associated with moving to the cloud.

Don’t Commoditize, Add Value

To achieve the full promise of the cloud, customers should not be held responsible for building and designing all four tiers of their IT architecture. Instead, they should have the flexibility to consume what they need, when they need it, and not have to worry about how the underlying infrastructure works. By offering anything less, cloud providers simply commoditize the infrastructure, virtual desktop, and Web and database platforms, neither adding extra value for the customer nor providing any particular “service.”

Building a cloud solution that is capable of delivering all four tiers of IT architecture gives businesses the IT services they need, while enabling the end-user experience to be very close to the familiar on-premise look and feel. There are other benefits to the four-tier architecture, as well:

• Faster Time to Market – By eliminating the need to build other layers themselves, configure a variety of virtual machines and ensure everything works together properly, businesses can deploy their cloud environment much quicker.
• Built-in Redundancy – When businesses have to build out their own infrastructure, there are several potential points of failure associated with each virtual machine. But with four-tier cloud architecture, all tiers are interconnected and load balanced, with redundancy built-in – exactly what is needed to raise the cloud service to enterprise-class levels.
• Lower Cost – By selecting a cloud provider whose solution encompasses a four-tier architecture, businesses can benefit from the low cost of commoditized and shared technology that is delivered in a way that provides an enterprise-class solution.

Bringing Real Service to the Cloud

The cloud is not simply a place where businesses can keep their virtualized “stuff.” As the “as-a-service” moniker denotes, the cloud should provide a service to its users by delivering robust solutions, as well as freeing staff from basic IT responsibilities and allowing them to focus on business critical applications.

The cloud should be an enabler for small companies, giving them the ability to use technology in an effective way to gain the operational and technical efficiencies that were once only available to Fortune 1000 companies with massive IT departments and extensive resources. By focusing on only a single tier of the IT architecture, cloud providers are not delivering the true services these businesses need and that can be attained with today’s technology.

A more integrated approach, which includes delivering on the four-tier architecture, will enable cloud providers to escape the dangers of being just another “me too” commodity offering and allow them to become a key component in their customers’ value propositions.