CSC Smart Business UK Edition August - Cloud pleaser
Cloud pleaser
Analysts are reacting well to the launch of CSC BizCloud, the first on-premises private cloud to offer the speed to market, scalability and pay-as-you-go billing normally associated with the less secure, public cloud
CSC’s launch of the first on-premises private cloud to be charged on a pay-as-you-go basis has met with positive reactions from industry analysts.
BizCloud was launched earlier in the year in North America and is now available in the UK and the rest of Europe. It has been launched to offer a ‘cloud-in-a-box’ service to organisations that are keen to have a private cloud up and running within ten weeks, but without the traditional downsides of a self-build project.
Until the launch of BizCloud, companies seeking to implement a private, secure cloud have faced several potential disadvantages compared to a public cloud service. While a private cloud can be relied on for the highest levels in data security and management, they tend to be expensive, inflexible and can take many months to commission internally. Not only is the set up cost high but the cost of running the service remains constant, regardless of use and depreciation of equipment. Scaling up or down a service can also take longer within a private cloud environment, compared to public services where new servers can be commissioned with minimal delay.
So, seeing organisations needed the benefits of the public cloud’s speed to market, billing and capacity flexibility, to be combined with the security of a private cloud, CSC launched BizCloud. It is based around CSC’s CloudCompute Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform but adds a hybrid element.
An organisation’s mission critical data generation, retrieval and management services are housed within the private, on-premises network. In addition, to improve resilience, an off-premises cloud is made available for disaster recovery and business continuity. This can also double up as an environment for software development and testing.
Flexible options
The launch of BizCloud, incorporating CloudCompute, gives organisations more choice than before to commission cloud services around their specific requirements, says Siki Giunta, vice president of Cloud Computing and Software Services at CSC. Rather than force companies or public bodies down a pre-defined route, BizCloud offers the choice to mix and match the services which work best for each individual client.
“BizCloud and CloudCompute provide the centerpiece of the modern virtualised datacentre,” she commented.
“There is a model for every organisation - whether you want self-managed or a managed service option, or you want private, public or a hybrid cloud, CSC is following through on our promise of delivering the right cloud, the right way. With CSC, every organisation can easily make the initial move to ‘as a service’ - infrastructure, platform and software on-demand.”
Good reactions
BizCloud’s combination of an on-premises cloud, backed up by an off-premises cloud for business continuity has met with positive feedback from analysts. They have reacted favourably to this hybrid approach, particularly for the way it adds the pay-as-you-go billing flexibility and capacity planning of the public cloud to the higher security environment of a private cloud. The promise of a private cloud built and operational within ten weeks is also tipped to be well met by organisations.
For added peace of mind, analysts have pointed out, the BizCloud service has the potential benefit that it relies on tried-and-tested technology. In essence it comprises a vertical integration of VMware virtualisation software, Cisco networking and security products as well as storage, security and data management technology from EMC.
As ever, caution is being urged by analysts who remind potential clients of the needs to investigate in detail their requirements and what CSC has to offer through BizCloud. Nevertheless, a general taste of the analyst feedback is that CSC is at the forefront of a move among cloud providers to more closely build cloud offerings around the requirements of clients.
In the past, organisations have been expected to mould themselves into the confines of pre-set private or public cloud offerings. The launch of BizCloud is being seen as the start of a move by maturing providers to give organisations the flexibility to build private clouds around the way they work. The compromise of picking between the attributes of private or public cloud services is now replaced by the ability to combine the benefits of each without compromising security.
Find out more about CSC BizCloud.
Find out more about what analysts had to say about CSC BizCloud: Gartner, IDC, K2, PAC