Most websites contain both static content and dynamic content, a combination that can really slow down user experience.
Of course, you want to avoid this slow-down at all costs and improve your user experience which can be achieved by scaling the web layer.
You might think to throw more server instances at the issue, though ultimately this is both ineffective cost-wise, and eventually not scalable.
Fear not, however, there is a solution, and it’s called caching.
If you lack control over the performance and reliability of the network that connects you to the cloud capability, then no amount of resilience and technical wizardry on the part of your cloud provider will be of any value at all.
Typically, cloud providers do not own or provide the network connection. Net neutrality on the public internet backbone means that neither you nor your cloud provider will have any control over how your data packets are handled. If someone or something suddenly uses more bandwidth than expected, you may see a significant degradation of your application performance. If the application in question is mission-critical this could have a serious impact on the business. The importance of the network to cloud services means that a strong Service Level Agreement (SLA) and appropriate monitoring are vital in order to maintain optimal business continuity.
Reliance upon the network for access and application performance makes it essential to find a cloud infrastructure provider that understands and has expertise in networking and IT security. An Integrated Cloud Provider can deliver both the cloud resources and a fully controlled network. This means that you can set priorities on your traffic, as the link is direct from your in-house network fabric straight to the cloud provider, with no reliance on the public internet or an intermediate ISP. So as part of your cloud agreement, you can reserve a certain minimum network capacity for each of your mission critical applications.
Honest assessment of needs, hybrid implementation, and innovative deployment key to maximising ROI, says Claranet
Analysis firm Forrester claims in a recent report into business agility that “cloud really doesn’t matter” when it comes to increasing revenues, and that there is no clear dividing line between high- and low-performing organisations in terms of knowledge and use of cloud technologies. This is not surprising, says Claranet’s UK Managing Director Michel Robert: rather than boosting performance directly, the true ROI of cloud services lies in their power to enable new applications and ways of working.
The report reveals that “Infrastructure Elasticity”, Forrester’s measure of agility afforded by cloud computing, accounted for almost no difference in enterprise performance. Robert believes that organisations need to understand what workloads they are moving to the cloud and why, as well as what benefits to expect from doing so:
Jumping headlong into a wholesale migration of IT infrastructure simply because the cloud is the ‘next big thing’ is not likely to get an organisation very far. For example, Claranet’s own research shows that while 87 per cent of organisations cite increasing flexibility and scalability as a key objective for migrating to cloud, a large majority (75 per cent) indicate that their actual requirement for scalability is ‘average to entirely predictable’. This disparity suggests that many organisations are investing in the cloud without properly understanding their requirements and the level of investment needed for their needs. After all, if they are not experiencing frequent or extreme variance in demand, they may be wasting time and money chasing the scalability that cloud computing offers,” he said.
“In cloud computing, there is no such thing as ‘one size fits all’. It is important for organisations to honestly assess their needs at the outset, make improvements to their IT systems gradually, and mix on-premises infrastructure with migrating elements to the cloud in a hybrid approach that reflects their changing priorities and needs. It is a case of ‘evolution, not revolution’,” Robert continued.
Despite the potential cost-savings inherent in moving to the cloud, Robert believes that its true value lies not in the infrastructure itself but in how organisations use the cloud to improve the development and use of applications: “Increasingly, it is the ability of a cloud provider to both host applications and manage their development that enables innovation within organisations,” he said.
“Claranet’s latest research found that many organisations are capitalising on their cloud adoption to launch ‘cloud-native’ applications that they would not otherwise have been able to run. This is especially the case with communications services, where unified communications deployments are 58 per cent cloud-native, VoIP services 59 per cent, and video conferencing facilities 66 per cent,” Robert continued.
Choosing the right provider is key to unlocking the full potential of the cloud, Robert said: “Organisations must look for a cloud service provider that will take a consultative approach to recommending an appropriate service based on a full understanding of an organisation’s requirements, rather than simply delivering ‘cloud for cloud’s sake’,” he concluded.
Find out more:
Increased demand for flexible working and BYOD driving need for development
Claranet is to build on its membership of the Citrix Service Provider (CSP) programme by using Citrix XenApp to deliver enhanced security, low-bandwidth optimisation for limited or mobile connections, and a like-for-like Windows 7-style end-user experience. This comes as Bring Your Own Device and mobile working trends increase demand for remote access to corporate data and applications.
With organisations increasingly keen to accommodate more flexible working patterns to boost productivity, the ability to replicate employees’ desktop experience, with full access to data and applications, is a crucial factor in enabling employees to work effectively on any device, wherever they are,” said Michel Robert, Managing Director of Claranet UK.
“Equally important for businesses is having confidence that the data and applications being accessed are secure. Claranet has an existing high-performance, customisable and easy-to-consume Hosted Desktop service, based on Microsoft Remote Desktop Services. Our relationship with Citrix means we will be able to build on this expertise to provide security enhancements alongside other benefits such as more granular control over user experience, easier customisation, and reduced bandwidth consumption,” Robert continued.
Claranet’s most recent research into cloud adoption trends, completed in September 2013, showed that 71 per cent of organisations see data security and data privacy as a concern when it comes to migrating data and applications to cloud services, with more than half of those citing them each as a major concern. These concerns are in part driven by the heightened risk to data security caused by remote access through portable devices.
“In many traditional IT environments, increased security often implies greater restrictions and control of users. With Claranet’s hosted desktop service, users’ workspaces reside remotely and securely in the cloud and can be accessed from any Internet-enabled device. This makes access to an organisation’s corporate desktop – from any device, anywhere, at any time – a reality,” concluded Robert.
With the growing trend toward businesses enabling mobile ways of working and the growth of BYOD programmes, the demand for desktops-as-a-service is set to continue into 2014. As a leading independent managed service provider in the UK and Western Europe, and a Citrix Service Provider partner, Claranet’s broad portfolio and expertise in hosted desktop services gives it a strong position to help drive adoption of DaaS. The planned enhancements to its hosted desktop platform will help Claranet to build on its experience in delivering hosted desktop solutions and establish even greater trust as a provider,” said Ken Oestreich, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Desktops and Apps, at Citrix.
Find out more:
Claranet research points to redefined role with reduced administrative burden
Half of organisations believe that cloud adoption has changed the role of their IT department, but more than four-fifths still anticipate having a need for a distinct department as far in the future as 2020, according to research by Claranet. While the transformative potential of cloud computing is having a profound effect on how the IT department operates, it is facilitating a change in focus towards strategy and innovation rather than rendering it obsolete, says Claranet Managing Director Michel Robert.
Claranet’s third annual cloud adoption survey, which polled 300 IT decision-makers from a range of small and medium-sized businesses, and enterprises, found that 49 per cent of respondents have seen their organisation’s adoption of cloud solutions change the role of the IT department. Of these, 57 per cent said the IT department was now more strategic in its outlook, while 55 per cent said that cloud computing had put their IT department in a strong position to innovate new solutions for the organisation.
This shift in focus was emphasised by organisations’ expectations of what the core activities of their IT departments will be in the future. 54 per cent said that data security would be a key function in 2020 (down from 66 per cent today), while technical support was cited by 46 per cent (compared with 60 per cent for whom it is currently a major focus). More than four-fifths (82 per cent) believe that their organisation will still have a need for a distinct IT department in 2020, rather than its functions being entirely outsourced or absorbed by other internal departments.
Organisations are increasingly aware of the true potential of cloud adoption and outsourcing, seeing it as presenting an opportunity to redirect resources and take a longer-term strategic view of their IT operations. This might mean investigating innovative new ‘cloud-native’ applications that they would not be able to run on their on-premises infrastructure, and that will facilitate new business opportunities, rather than simply porting existing applications,” Robert said.
Claranet’s research also found that reducing pressure on in-house IT teams was a key objective of cloud migration projects for three quarters (75 per cent) of organisations. However, of those organisations for whom adopting cloud services has changed the role of their IT department, less than a quarter (23 per cent) have seen it reduce in size.
“The fact that the vast majority of IT departments are seeing no change to their staffing levels once they migrate functions to the cloud is a strong sign that – far from sounding the death-knell for internal IT departments – cloud adoption can relieve pressure on in-house teams. By outsourcing resource-heavy tasks that contribute little to the bottom line, organisations can free up their IT departments to focus on the kind of innovation and strategic thinking that ensures IT best serves the needs and direction of the business,” Robert concluded.
Find out more:
Nearly half of businesses are concerned about cloud’s dependency on internet access, finds Claranet’s 3rd annual cloud adoption survey
Around half of UK cloud users are concerned about cloud’s dependency on internet access, potentially inhibiting organisations’ experiences of cloud computing, Claranet’s third annual cloud adoption survey has found. The findings, states the Managed Services Provider (MSP), serve as a reminder of the importance of the network to any cloud services offering.
The research, which polled 300 IT decision-makers from a range of small and medium-sized businesses, and enterprises, found that 73 per cent of respondents were using some form of cloud service, up from 62 per cent in 2012. However, 53 per cent of cloud users stated that cloud’s dependency on internet access was a cause for concern during the migration process.
Claranet’s UK Managing Director, Michel Robert, said that working with a provider with closely integrated cloud and networking services can help to allay concerns about cloud connectivity.
Robert said:
While worries about internet access haven’t held back the overall cloud adoption rate, it’s clear from these figures that there may be implications for the types of workloads and data that some businesses feel confident hosting in the cloud. After all, these services are only as reliable and secure as the network down which they are delivered. To take but one example, business-critical accounting and finance applications, which end-users must be able to access whenever they need them, are still held on in-house infrastructure by 85 per cent of organisations.
“Unreliable, unsecure networks will do little to reassure cloud users, but the connectivity question needn’t be a cause for concern when it comes to cloud provision. It’s possible to circumvent these issues by opting for an MSP that has a strong and deep understanding of network services and has closely integrated cloud and network services. In doing so, end users need only rely on a single supplier with a single SLA for the safe delivery of their applications,” he continued.
“Although it’s possible to outsource these functions to separate providers, businesses risk encountering supplier management issues. With responsibility for uptime split between two or more service providers, with separate SLAs, it is often unclear who is accountable in cases where service is disrupted or has degraded and how to get the service back online.
“As ever more organisations entrust their business-critical workloads, to the cloud, providing a complete, network-integrated service has never been more important, ensuring that customers can safely access their applications as and when they need them,” Robert concluded.
Find out more:
Claranet has today announced the appointment of Andy Wilton as its new CIO. The move comes at a time of rapid development and strategic growth for the company in the UK and across Europe, with continued investment in its technology platforms and business systems.
As head of Claranet’s Technology Group, Andy will be responsible for existing IT systems, infrastructure and platforms, together with technology and service integration of newly acquired businesses.
His appointment marks the eve of the first anniversary of Claranet’s acquisition of Star (in the UK) and Typhon (in France) and the company’s establishment as one of the leading managed services providers in Western Europe to the mid-market, including its recognition as a ‘leader’ in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for European Managed Hosting.
Andy has qualifications in physics and computer science, having studied at the University of Nottingham and later Aston University where he received his PhD. His professional career includes senior positions at 3Com, Siemens Network Systems (now part of KCom) and more recently seven years as IT Director of 2e2.
Charles Nasser, CEO of Claranet says:
Since our acquisition last year we have taken the time to create a fully integrated business that takes an expanded range of services to market. Andy’s skill in handling company integration and experience in managing cloud hosting environments made him an ideal choice to join our team, helping to consolidate our share of market as a leading MSP in Europe.”
As one of the few European headquartered providers with a pan-European presence, Claranet is in a strong position as the market continues to mature.
Andy Wilton comments:
Claranet’s extended period of growth and innovation makes this a very exciting time to join the business. The big challenge for cloud providers is how to respond to the rapid changes in market demands in what is still a comparatively immature landscape. Ensuring a fully integrated service that is flexible to every customers’ need is no simple task.”
Find out more:
Managed Services Provider wins SVC’s inaugural customer service award
Claranet took home the Award for Best Customer Service Strategy at the Storage, Virtualization and Cloud (SVC) Awards last week (21st November 2013), where it was also a shortlisted finalist for Private Cloud Project of the Year. The Awards ceremony was held at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in Knightsbridge, London. The SVC Awards honour the IT industry, specifically companies and teams operating in the cloud, virtualization and storage sectors.
Wiebe Nauta, Claranet’s Operations Director said:
Claranet has always put service excellence and customer service at the heart of its operations. We are delighted to have received the Best Customer Service Strategy Award, which validates our customer-centric approach and recognises our continued commitment to our customers.”
As the leading independent managed services provider in Europe, customer service has been central to Claranet’s business and its success to-date. Claranet adopts industry best practice to its service operations, with an ITIL-based service management approach, which ensures that the highest standards of service are delivered at all customer touchpoints. In addition to winning the SVC’s inaugural customer service award, Claranet has also been shortlisted as a finalist for Quality Service Provider of the Year, at the UK Customer Satisfaction Awards, which are run by the Institute of Customer Service.
Wiebe continues:
We place great emphasis on establishing genuine dialogue with our customers, and pride ourselves on building long-term, collaborative relationships. No matter how big or small the customer, Claranet places the relationship at the centre of its work, from the initial design and delivery of solutions right through the full lifecycle of those products and services.”
Find out more:
MSP partners with Peugeot to host charity car wash microsite
Managed Services Provider (MSP) Claranet has teamed up with Peugeot, as part of its corporate social responsibility programme, to support their work with BBC’s Children in Need, hosting the microsite for their annual charity car wash event, ‘The UK’s Largest Car Wash’.
Running since 1980, Children in Need is the BBC’s corporate charity in the UK. They provide grants to projects throughout the UK, which focus on children and young people who are disadvantaged. Peugeot began fundraising for the charity in 2012, launching ‘The UK’s Largest Car Wash’, for which they invited their customers to ‘Get Sudsey with Pudsey’, at over 200 Peugeot dealerships across the country.
To mobilise support for the campaign this year, Peugeot has launched a stand-alone website, and turned to Claranet to host it on their infrastructure as a service platform, the Virtual Data Centre (VDC). The microsite (www.pudseyscarwash.co.uk), which went live in October and runs through to December, is a fully interactive portal through which supporters can find and organise local charity car washes, learn about the project and, importantly, donate money.
Steven Fahey, PR Manager at Peugeot, said: “Our online presence and digital communications strategy is central to our fundraising work with Children in Need. Without a fully operational and reliable website for the campaign, we would risk missing out on important donations and support for the charity, something that we couldn’t risk. Due to the nature of the campaign, traffic to the site can change rapidly. This meant that we needed a hosting partner that could handle these demands and keep the site running smoothly. Having worked with Claranet since the start of this year, we had seen their Virtual Data Centre (VDC) service in action, and knew that they would be the right provider for this project.”
Claranet’s cloud platform (VDC) is designed to handle the sudden surges of interest that are part and parcel of the Children in Need campaign. The platform gives Peugeot the ability to scale the site to their needs, to cope with times of peak demand, while the resilience of the service ensures that the highest levels of availability and uptime are maintained.
Claranet UK’s Managing Director, Michel Robert, added: “Claranet’s cloud platform ensures that Peugeot’s microsite can cope with spikes in traffic, which are driven by calls to action on the Children in Need programme. Working with the team at Peugeot, Claranet can work out the likely impact of planned programmes and advertising schedules, and dynamically increase compute capacity to meet peak traffic. Corporate social responsibility and charities hold an important place in our company ethos, so we are delighted to be able to participate alongside Peugeot to support such an important and worthwhile cause.”
Find out more:
53 per cent of organisations now see where data is held as a key decision factor
More than half of organisations that outsource their IT to a cloud service provider are concerned about whether their data is going to be located at home or abroad, and see this as an important consideration in deciding which provider to work with, according to new research by Claranet. While encouraging, this suggests that a sizeable minority may be failing to fully appreciate the potential implications of data sovereignty, and highlights the importance of asking providers the right questions, says Claranet’s UK Managing Director Michel Robert.
52 per cent of organisations that have migrated at least one IT function or application to the cloud described data sovereignty as a concern. This is up from 47 per cent last year.
“Heightened concern about data sovereignty is perhaps not surprising in the current climate, especially in the wake of recent revelations about the NSA’s Prism surveillance initiative. But, there is still a need for education as to the importance of having clarity and control over where and how your organisation’s data is being stored,” Robert said.
“Different data sets will, of course warrant different levels of consideration about where they are located, depending on importance, access, sensitivity, and regulatory requirements. But, even if organisations trust their providers to store data in a safe, compliant fashion, they should not be doing so blindly. They need to be asking potential providers the right questions about where their data will be held, and what this means for the security and accessibility of that data by third-parties in the country of storage and beyond.”
Claranet’s third annual survey into cloud adoption trends also revealed that 83 per cent of organisations believe security expertise to be an important factor in determining their choice of cloud service provider. 81 per cent indicated that their ability to trust a provider was important.
“It is no surprise that such large numbers regard security expertise as so important. After all, any CIO or IT manager in a data-driven organisation that isn’t concerned with security probably isn’t doing their job properly. But security and sovereignty should go hand-in-hand, and the disparity between perceptions of the importance of these two factors does perhaps show sovereignty to be something of a blind spot for end-users,” Robert said.
“Ultimately, outsourcing your IT does not equate to outsourcing the responsibility for what happens to your data – however much you trust your provider. Trust has to be earned, and organisations must ensure they are asking the right questions of providers,” he concluded.
Find out more:
You must be logged in to post a comment.