Intelligent Data Centres Issue 08 | Page 31

EDITOR’S QUESTION OSAMA AL-ZOUBI, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER (CTO), CISCO MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA aaS, or Infrastructure as a Service, is the virtualisation of an organisation’s infrastructure into the cloud. Contrary to the other types of cloud service trends such as SaaS and PaaS, the IaaS architecture is unique, allowing a cloud provider to host the infrastructure traditionally present in an on-premise data centre, including servers, storage and networking hardware. I IaaS providers often also cover ongoing systems maintenance, data backup and business continuity. In addition to being highly scalable, flexible and secure, IaaS appeals to many businesses because it is accessible by multiple users and is cost-effective. Cisco offers best-in-class, flexible and scalable cloud services for IaaS to help www.intelligentdatacentres.com businesses benefit from superior levels of service and security. According to Cisco’s Global Cloud Index, by 2021, IaaS will continue to gain public cloud share of workloads and compute instances. However, in practical terms – installing an IaaS solution is not as simple as it sounds. Organisations looking to become more agile will require a trustworthy IaaS partner that maintains the same levels of compliance, privacy and security when storing customer data. And with the large pool of vendors to choose from, enterprises can get confused which would best suit their business needs. At Cisco, we advise businesses to consider the following points when determining which vendor to work with: 1. Reliability and stability: Organisations are encouraged to look for ORGANISATIONS LOOKING TO BECOME MORE AGILE WILL REQUIRE A TRUSTWORTHY IAAS PARTNER THAT MAINTAINS THE SAME LEVELS OF COMPLIANCE, PRIVACY AND SECURITY WHEN STORING CUSTOMER DATA. single-source providers that manage the organisation’s infrastructure holistically; this way, the organisation can place its energy and focus on the core needs of the business. 2. Avoiding vendor lock-in: As business needs change, so will the choices the organisation will have to make. Organisations should identify how easy (or how difficult) it would be to move data and applications to an alternative provider if they are faced with a change in cost, service level agreements or conditions as a business. 3. Support: The support provided by an IaaS partner is all based on a trust relationship between the two. Before deciding and committing, the questions an organisation should ask itself are: How reliable is this IaaS partner? Will I receive monitoring, service, and support around the clock? Can they be held accountable and trusted? Issue 08 31