Your Path to the Cloud
Lonnie Elwood, Sr. Client Success Manager – Cloud/Hosting
Today’s business technology can’t stand still and still stand competitively. Regardless of the specific vertical your business occupies, your IT team must provide solutions to the business that are secure, stable, scalable, flexible and efficient computing for their organization. In previous articles we have covered a number of different Cloud hosting options. Since the timing of those previous articles technology has continued to move forward and we would like to keep you updated on the options available to you and the paths to get there. The options we see most clients embrace include:
- Private Cloud
- Public Cloud
- Multi Cloud
Cloud adoption continues to ramp up for businesses. There are many factors that can drive an organization to seriously consider Cloud hosting for their enterprise applications (i.e. JD Edwards Cloud, Peoplesoft, EBS, etc.). These options may include:
- End of maintenance on company owned equipment
- Expiration of lease on existing corporate data center space
- Initiatives to reduce CAPEX and shift to more OPEX
- Dissatisfaction with current hosting provider
- Application upgrade projects
Depending on the needs of the organization that drove you to different options, options for migrating your workload can be varied. Some of the options are:
- Build net new - “greenfield” - This option involves provisioning brand-new systems. In this scenario, no data or application functionality is brought over from an existing environment, but the team builds out the system to meet the needs of the company’s project initiative.
- Build net new - migrate data - This migration option involves the setup of new compute resources and networking configurations, but leverages the data that currently exists elsewhere. Depending on specific needs, application functionality can be migrated as well, but this option allows for the new computing environment to be architected to the latest best practice standards and newest infrastructure technologies
- Build net new - upgrade application - Sometimes, a move to a new Cloud environment is motivated by an application upgrade initiative. New systems are provisioned with the new application installed, and the application is upgrade from its current location to the new Cloud location. Users are re-directed to the new systems at the point of cutover.
- Lift and shift - This is where we have seen the biggest development in options to move to the Cloud. At this point, most major Cloud providers offer the ability to directly import virtual machines (VMs) to their platforms. In this instance, an environment can be moved entirely as is. This can be accomplished via backups of systems provided by removable media, or via replication tools. Although presenting a unique set of challenges, this option sometimes makes the most sense for an organization.
The roadblocks to Cloud adoption are getting less and less every day. There are many different paths to the Cloud, and each organization’s needs differ. If you have any questions about the cloud or are looking for assistance with your migration project, GSI is here to help you. We have a Cloud Value Assessment offering that provides you with a Cloud Migration Strategy/Roadmap that is in complete alignment with your business goals. We also have a series of educational webcasts that are focused on the cloud.
To find about GSI's products or services, call us at 855-GSI-4ERP or click on CONTACT US to send us a request for more information.
Meet the Author
Lonnie Elwood