Cloud Organizational Impact Presentation is Now Available for Download

My Cloud Organizational Impact presentation is now available.
Log on to the Open Group DC Conference site using the following URL to download: http://www.opengroup.org//public/member/proceedings/q312/APC.htm#objective

Quoted in the Washington Post: Companies show interest in being assessors for federal IT buying program

  Use this link to read the Washington Post article: http://lnkd.in/jXrvsG

Cloud Impact @ the Open Group Conference in DC

I will be speaking at the "Open Group Washington DC Conference" on July 18th. My session will be entitled "Cloud Computing’s Impact on Modern IT Organizational Structures". Here's a brief summary of this session:

Cloud Computing is promising a lot of efficiencies and cost savings but it's also presenting a huge paradigm shift to many IT organizations. Cloud Computing does not only affect the way organizations consume resources but  also calls for many changes in their supporting structures. The most common answer to this problem is the implementation of Enterprise Architecture and  Service Management frameworks such as TOGAF and ITIL. But these frameworks add to the complexity of the situation because they call for the alignment of organizational roles with their derived principles. This lecture discusses the opportunities and challenges of Cloud Computing then focuses on providing some suggested guidelines for using industry proven frameworks to  streamlining its impact on IT organizational structures.

Conference Event Timetable

Conference Home Page

You attendance is welcomed, encouraged and appreciated! 

Do I Dare Redefine the Cloud… Part 2 – The Simplified Private Cloud Formula

So what’s the best way to construct a clear, precise and consistent cloud definition? In my mind, nothing would work better than mathematical formulas. Bear with me for a second here… Mathematics has always been considered the most refined of sciences. It’s been said that in order for anyone to produce sophisticated but simplified depictions of scientific concepts, it would have to be represented using math. On the other hand, using formulas to define IT concepts brings about a major problem. Formulas paint the application of a definition in either black or white. There are no greys here. This means that if you are trying to apply my definition to your cloud strategy, it will either be a perfect fit or it will highlight some application gaps. Is this good a thing? Maybe!

The one thing I can voice here is that formulas are beautiful when they are kept simple (think E=MC²). By keeping the cloud formulas simple, I aim to keep the definition simple, and hopefully make it easier to align this definition with the reality of IT environments…  With that in mind, let’s give it a try.

In this blog entry, I will attempt to simplify the Private Cloud definition. So let’s lead with the formula:

Private Cloud = Virtualization + Orchestration + Service Catalog

Yes, it is that simple. And that is what transitioning to a private cloud environment should mean for the majority of organizations. Most of today’s establishments do not need more than a solid foundation of virtualization infrastructure to provide the resource pooling and rapid elasticity the NIST definition calls for. Add a layer of basic business process automation and a coating of service management, and you’ve got yourself a private cloud.

In a nutshell, organizations should focus their energy on deliberating, identifying, and codifying the IT services that could be included as part of their overall IT Service Catalog. This provides an immediate value to both the end users and the IT organization itself. It explicates and clarifies the mission of IT and prompts IT services to be more consumable. Likewise, the automation of service provisioning and maintenance activities would also increase the value of IT services and reduce their associated costs. This, of course, is no news… organization have been trying to achieve for years. However, it’s now easier to achieve with the flexibility of virtual infrastructures and virtualization management systems.

But, how about the remaining NIST cloud characteristics? Don’t we need “on-demand self-service”, “broad network access” and “measured service” to make it a real private cloud?

My answer is not really… The value of private clouds could definitely be extended if self-service and charge/show back capabilities are added to the mix. But these capabilities might not always be required to achieve the value and ROI anticipated from Private clouds. Realistically, many organizations will opt-out of self-service on the short run as it might clash with their current users’ culture. Users will continue to favor the traditional model of assisted service for the majority of their IT demands. Their level of IT knowledge as well as interest in being exposed to technology details might become the biggest hurdle to overcome. Subsequently, the internal IT team might become the only user of the self-service capability. Likewise, charge back and/or show back capabilities are another “great to have”. They do add a lot of value and can increase the outcome of private cloud implementations but are not required to complete our definition.

Let me be clear here. I am not saying that you should not consider self-service or charging as part of your private cloud strategy. But by all means, do not give it more weight than it deserves and do not make it stop you from capitalizing on the chief goals of private clouds. Instead, consider the key business drivers, the implementation costs, as well as the readiness of your organizational culture then determine applicability and plan smartly for adapting your organization to the implied changes.

Another thought, multi-tenancy is an optional consideration for private clouds. You are more likely to consider its implications if you are planning for a public or community cloud (I will work on formulas for those in a future blog, I promise) but not when you are supporting a single organization.

So how about the intersection of private clouds with the cloud service models. In other words, can the concept of private clouds gel nicely with all cloud service models (IaaS, PaaS, & SaaS) and their derivatives?

My answer is unlikely… For IaaS there is certainly a good match and a good business case to backup the marriage of the two. But the correlation starts to fracture with PaaS and SaaS. More about that in a future blog.

Do I Dare Redefine the Cloud… Part 1 - To Define or Not to Define

I cannot count the number of times I was presented with a PowerPoint slide depicting the NIST definition of Cloud Computing. I also cannot tally the substantial amount of time that many IT professionals spent trying to explain what the cloud means and how the NIST definition would relate to any use case in any environment.  Truth of the matter, I am not sold… I have tried time and time again to convince myself that having the NIST definition is better than having no definition at all. Or in fact better than having hundreds of colliding definitions. But why not give it a try…

According to Dictionary.com, a definition must meet “the condition of being definite, distinct, or clearly outlined”. In other words, definitions must maintain the characteristics (not to borrow from NIST) of simplicity, clarity, and preciseness.  Definitions are human’s way for simplifying complex constructs and controlling their knowledge of their focus subjects. Definitions use categorization and classification methods to narrow down the qualities and features of what’s defined.   Their components must not contradict or overlap, or they will lose their value.  

Additionally, definitions in the IT world must wed the reality and constructs of both business and technology. That only will make them a good tool for defining useful IT strategies and providing a clear path of technology adoption. Most importantly, good definitions become the basis of solid Enterprise Architectures and the foundational elements of the technical terminology that organizations communicate with. Otherwise, an IT definition becomes no more than a modest theory.

That’s why I believe that technical definitions should never be set in stone. They should rather evolve over time and with the collaboration of the industry, standards organizations as well as the community. In my coming blog entries, I will attempt to simplify and refine the NIST Cloud Computing definition. I will also make the case for how businesses and organizations could consume this definition and employ it to facilitate technology adoption. Stay tuned… 

The 11 E-Mail Habits That Annoy Me… (in random order)

1. E-mailing the same attachment back and forth… Just give me a link for God’s sake!
2. Sending a huge trail of FYI forwards… if it takes me half an hour to get to the original e-mail, chances are; I will just forward it with an FYI to someone else!
3. Replying with too many “Thank You” e-mails… yes, you can thank me enough!
4. Using tacky backgrounds and colors (stationary)… your fancy designs will be copied every time your e-mail is forwarded or replied-to creating a massive trail of repulsiveness!!!!
5. Footnoting your e-mail with a 2000 word legal disclaimer… once again the e-mail will turn “jumbo” after 2 or 3 forwards! No one reads them, stop using them!
6. Using capital letters to type your entire e-mail… STOP SHOUTING PLEASE!!!
7. Sending the entire e-mail content in the subject line… isn’t that why they created instant messaging!
8. Requesting delivery receipts for every single e-mail you send… why is it so important for you to know whether or not I read your “Thank You” email!
9. Not using signatures… if you want my attention and help, please tell me who you are and how I can reach you!
10. Marking all your e-mails URGENT… I know I’m not that important!
11. Manually signing your e-mail when you have already assigned an automatic signature. The resulting:“Respectfully yours, John Respectfully yours, John” is guaranteed to give you double vision for the rest of the day!

Quoted in GCN: The Lowdown on ITIL

 Use this link to read the GCN article: http://gcn.com/articles/2008/06/06/the-lowdown-on-itil.aspx

 

Quoted in GCN: ITIL a step at a time

Use this link to read the GCN article: http://gcn.com/articles/2008/06/06/itil-a-step-at-a-time.aspx