Enabling ‘new & old world’ enterprise scale applications: Spotlight session at the ‘Powering the Cloud’ events

CIOs are currently facing two major dilemmas: how to handle applications that involve high volumes of multimedia data within their existing data center infrastructures and how or whether it is practical to run Enterprise level applications in a service provider’s Cloud.
At the same time the hesitancy around deploying ‘Tier 1’ Applications in the Cloud is now being challenged as organisations are becoming more confident of the Cloud’s viability for running real Enterprise level applications.

When talking about Cloud however it is important to understand the three models that are being evaluated. There is the Public Cloud where services are open to a largely unrestricted universe of potential users who share the services. There is then the Dedicated Private Cloud which offers dedicated 1:1 physical compute and storage resources focused on the needs of one enterprise or extended enterprise.

The third model is the Virtual Private Cloud which is an adjunct of public cloud services with shared virtualized resources and a range of customer control and security options distinct from most public cloud services.

For enterprise scale Tier 1 type applications the public cloud option is basically being ignored however according to Robert Mahowald, Research Vice President, SaaS and Cloud Services at IDC, “IDC anticipates that virtual private cloud will be the predominant operational model for companies wanting to take advantage of the speed and lower capital costs associated with cloud computing while cloud service providers will welcome the move away from the expense of dedicated 1:1 physical systems for delivering their business process and data center outsourcing and other services”.

In our Spotlight Session, Enabling ‘new & old world’ enterprise scale applications, at this year’s ‘Powering the Cloud’ events we will address this critical issue through thought leadership presentations, case studies and panel discussions.

We will start the Spotlight Session by first looking at the changing nature of Enterprise applications and explore the impact of ‘new world’ applications, including Big Data, Video streaming, Unified Communications, Conferencing, Collaboration and Machine to Machine real time activity, as the CIO takes critical decisions on how best to deliver his enterprise scale solutions.
In particular we will look at what these new enterprise applications look like, how their structure, dynamics and volume vary from traditional enterprise applications and the issues that creates for the CIO.

In our second session we will then address the challenges of delivering new world applications from the Data Center and the impact that is having on its design. In particular we will look at examples of how data centers have evolved, how they have met the challenges and the lessons learned. We will also explore how organisations are also exploiting the use of hybrid Data Center and Cloud combinations to give them the speed, agility and flexibility to respond to the ever changing dynamics of some of these new applications.

Our final session, Tier 1 applications and the Cloud, will address whether it is feasible, practical and safe to move Tier 1 applications
to the Cloud.

Most organisations have been fearful to date about taking their mission critical applications to the Cloud despite the potential
cost savings and agility benefits. In this session we will explore the reality of such a move, assessing the practicality, regulatory and security issues. We will also look at examples of where CIOs
have taken this bold step and take their advice on the pitfalls and benefits.

As CIOs battle with the contrasting demands of more business responsive IT solutions against a backdrop of tight budgets they always have to keep in mind their responsibility to deliver the mission critical applications that keep their organisations operating and competitive.

This Spotlight Session at the ‘Powering the Cloud’ events is specifically designed to help the CIO look at the bigger picture and hear ideas, experience and opinions on the options open to them. In particular through the panel debates they will be able to question speakers and analysts and give their own opinions on the challenges and opportunities.

There are few opportunities for the CIO to share ideas with their peers across Europe. The ‘Powering the Cloud’ events provide that opportunity and I look forward to exciting insights and debate at this year’s event.

Registration is already open and early bird delegates can save the normal Ä120 fee by registering using the promotional code: P3M13
at www.poweringthecloud.com