System Integration Morphs To Cloud Service Integration

June 19, 2016 / G C Network / Comments Off

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Federal Cloud Computing Strategy Officially Launched

By G C Network | February 14, 2011

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra officially launched the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy today. While this is clearly not new news, the document does state the government’s position in a very succint manner.…

GEOINT’s Future is in the Cloud

By G C Network | January 31, 2011

Recently, Geospatial Intelligence Forum Magazine asked me for my thoughts on the role of cloud computing in the future of geospatial intelligence.My response was recently published in their December 2010…

eTechSuccess: Patterns of Success – Kevin Jackson

By G C Network | January 27, 2011

My sincere appreciation to John Baker for the eTechSuccess: Patterns of Success interview. John and I worked together IBM as part of the Wireless Emerging Business Organization. His team and…

USBE&IT Winter Issue Focuses on Cyber Security

By G C Network | January 19, 2011

Thank You USBE&IT Publisher Mr Tyrone Taborn for such an inspiring issue and my sincere appreciation to Mr. Frank McCoy for my inclusion in his list of Cyber visionaries! The Homeland…

Global GovCloud with Cisco and VCE

By G C Network | January 18, 2011

Last week I had the awesome experience of participating in a global telepresence conference on government cloud computing. Joining me as presenters were Blake Salle, Senior Vice President of VCE,…

NIST Cloud Computing Collaboration Twiki Launches

By G C Network | December 30, 2010

Today I received my credentials for the NIST Cloud Computing Collaboration Site. “The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been designated by Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra…

GovCloud Predicitons for 2011

By G C Network | December 30, 2010

Happy New Year All!! 2011 will be the breakout year for GovCloud! Pressure to reduce budget, pressure to manage I resources better and the political pressure of the next presidential…

Vivek Kundra Unveils 25-Point IT Management Reform Program

By G C Network | December 10, 2010

Yesterday the US Federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, unveiled an ambitious 25-point implementation plan for delivering more value to the American taxpayer. This plan focuses on execution and is designedto establish…

GSA and Unisys/Google Marks GovCloud Watershed

By G C Network | December 4, 2010

As widely reported this week, the United States General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded a contract to Unisys to create a secure cloud-based email and collaboration platform. The solution will…

NIST Moves Forward on Cloud Computing

By G C Network | November 8, 2010

Last week the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) held their second Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop. Skillfully shepherded by Ms. Dawn Leaf, the agency’s senior executive of cloud computing,…

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Cloud Service Brokerage is changing from an industry footnote toward becoming a major system integration play. This role has now become a crucial component of a cloud computing transition because they help organizations aggregate multiple cloud services, integrate services with in-house applications, and customize these services to better meet customer needs. CSBs also help by consulting and recommending the best fit cloud services according to business requirements and goals. Cloud brokers may also be granted rights to negotiate with different service providers on behalf of their customers. This transformation is driven by the rapid rise of cloud computing, which has risen from under $6B in 2008 to a point where the market is expected to almost reach $160B in 2020. The global Cloud Service Brokerage Market itself is expected to grow from $5.24 Billion in 2015 to $19.16 Billion by 2020.

Since CSBs merge the functions of reseller, systems integrator and independent software vendor (ISVs) into a convenient service delivery model, they deliver solutions by aggregating cloud services sourced from multiple cloud service providers. They can also customize those services to meet unique business requirements. Although CSBs often deliver transactional cloud services, their real value lies in the unique ongoing operational support they provide. Unlike financial or real estate brokers that typically end their customer relationship after the sale, CSBs:

Enable cloud service arbitrage based on cost, performance or operational need;
Help companies migrate operations to the cloud and assist with staff augmentation and training;
Provide cloud service auditing and SLA monitoring services;
Help in focusing and managing organizational cloud service demand;
Provided toolsets to assist in the migration and integration of enterprise applications; and
Help in change management and the selection and integration of other managed services.

By automating and operationalizing the governance of cloud services, CSBs can efficiently multi-source services and augment them with third party metering and monitoring. Using CSBs, organizations also accelerate their transition to hybrid IT models. This marketplace is typically segmented type of services: cloud brokerage and cloud brokerage enablement, wherein cloud brokerage enablement is further segmented into internal and external brokers. When used internally, cloud enablement platforms helps enterprises adopt the new hybrid IT and multi-sourced operating model. By building organic expertise, companies can personalize IT service consumption and unify
IT service delivery through the use of a corporate self-service store, a dynamic service marketplace, and continuous delivery. This centralized, supply chain approach unifies the order, execution, and management of multi-sourced solutions across legacy and cloud resources, by centrally delegating and tracking execution.

Another important management capability they deliver is performance auditing. Cloud Service Provider (CSP) price/performance has been shown to vary as much as 1000 percent depending on time and location. High levels of variability have also been seen within the same CSP processing the exact same job. This also means that the cost for an enterprise to processing the exact same job in the cloud could vary by this much as well.

Changes in instance types, pricing, performance over time and availability of services by location highlights the inadequacy of traditional benchmarking philosophies and processes. The use of “performance quotas” by service providers may also lead to operational cost increases. This generally happens if a customer meets a CSP-determined management quota and the performance of relevant instance is reduced. Active metering and monitoring by a CSB can help companies detect and avoid this hidden cost.

As the cloud service brokers market matures, they are destined to replace the traditional system integrator. Maturation of technologies and CSB offerings will also make this service a “must-have” for the foreseeable future.

(This post was brought to you by IBM Global Technology Services. For more content like this, visit Point B and Beyond.)