1. DMZ sites

Consider websites, extranets or other public facing applications that have no dependence on your in-house systems. Keep them completely isolated, where they can pose no risk to your internal data and resources in a public cloud.

2. Capacity on demand

Don’t invest in physical infrastructure to support seasonal or occasional traffic spikes.  Copy your existing VMs to the cloud and turn them off when not in use to save money.

3. Disaster recovery (DR)

All of your applications aren’t mission critical, so don’t pay for mission critical DR for them.  Re-create your catalog of server images for Low and Medium priority applications in the cloud and keep them powered down until you need them.

4. Temporary marketing sites

Tired of having your IT staff jump through hoops to deliver a temporary marketing or promotional site? Simplify your operations and use the cloud to quickly give your business the capacity they want.

5. Development and testing

Have a feature or function that you are considering adding to one of your enterprise apps? Develop and test it in the cloud. Take advantage of the pay-per-use pricing and global footprints that Cloud providers can offer to reduce costs and improve your cycle times.

6. Mobile apps

Leverage the ubiquity of the cloud to host mobile apps for your employees, partners and/or customers.  Global data center footprints and high-speed Internet access combine to create the best possible user experience.

7. Social networking

Don’t bog down your valuable network, computers, and storage infrastructure with content generated from your social media efforts like blog sites, FAQ forums, and community pages. Offload these workloads and their associated storage to the cloud.

8. Temporary use

Have an upcoming maintenance window, migration or other planned outage? Hedge your bet by standing up a temporary instance of your key applications in the cloud. Even if it is a slimmed down version of the real application, letting users know that you are performing enhancements, it is better than a “404 Error Page.”

9. Regional/global sites

Deliver content specific to certain countries or geographies from the cloud. Similar to the Content Delivery Network approach, use low-cost, on-demand compute and storage resources deployed in global cloud data centers to serve up web content, instead of bringing it all back to your corporate data center.

10. Hybrid clouds

Utilize private network connectivity (i.e., MPLS) along with hypervisor utilities, like vCloud Connector, to securely link your internal “private cloud” infrastructure to the public cloud to create hybrid environments that supplement your existing investments with extra capacity when you need it.

There you go. Ten enterprise-grade use cases for the cloud; certainly there must be at least one of these that makes sense for your organization. Do see an opportunity for your business? Are you using the cloud in any other beneficial way?

As an AT&T employee, I wonder if visitors to the exhibit will be aware that there is a deeper connection between the company and this landmark event in history.  Back in 1962, the United States government was still relying on the AT&T public switched telephone network (PSTN) as the underlying technology for its various defense systems infrastructure.  And although it provided levels of reliability that are still the benchmark for today’s services (Is there anything we can rely on more than picking up the phone and hearing a dial tone?), it was a hierarchical design that aggregated traffic into a small number of nodes that could be considered an easy target for enemies with long range weapons, as well as other non-military types of threats.

As the Department of Defense’s dependence on technology was increasing at the same time as global unrest, it was time to find a new technology that provided a more distributed, decentralized, and recoverable architecture.  This, along with the fact that computers were growing larger and more powerful (and therefore moving into specialized research facilities, with users around the country now needing reliable remote access), led to the development of the packet switched network.  The first iteration, called the ARPANET, went on line in October of 1969 but crashed two letters into its first transmission…so instead of sending “login” between UCLA and Stanford…all that made it was “lo.”

Obviously the problem was resolved, and we have been rebooting our computers ever since.  Only now, a few iterations later, the network that we are booting up on is called the Internet, and AT&T’s backbone is once again a major part of delivering that traffic.

Necessity is truly the mother of invention

Switch to today and the fear has shifted from big missiles to big DATA. Lurking out there, just out of site and ready to “attack” – its sheer enormity potentially bringing every server and spindle to a virtual halt. Generated by just about every conceivable device or application from medical images to smartphones to kitchen appliances, data is on the attack.  Customer information, photos, software logs, RFID tags, search engines, and social media – it’s all contributing to the situation.  In fact, in March 2012, The White House announced a national Big Data Initiative that consisted of six Federal departments and agencies committing more than $200 million to Big Data research projects. Is this the Cuban Missile Crisis of our generation, from an IT standpoint? Are we at the “brink” again?

Developing ways to effectively store, backup, analyze, and secure the data has become a focal point for all of the leading networking providers, hardware manufacturers, and information management software companies. One report estimates the industry to be $100 billion and growing. And no industry is immune from the phenomenon — it is affecting them all, including manufacturing, retail, financial and medical.  Complicating the situation is the changing backdrop of technology, with companies also trying to pivot to cloud-based and mobile infrastructure models to reduce costs and improve business operations.

A diplomatic resolution

In Mastering Big Data: CFO Strategies to Transform Insight into Opportunity (December  2012), Gary Simon suggests that success in resolving this conflict starts at the top with the CFO.  First, with a clear vision of what they are trying to solve with Big Data. Next, is ensuring that they have the right organizational foundation in place (talent, experience and insight) to legitimately treat data as a corporate asset.  And thirdly, the right technology foundation – with the proper data sources identified, capable hardware and software in place, and the right components to integrate the two.

Despite the challenges of the situation, it will undoubtedly be a great opportunity for the companies that execute best on an effective Big Data strategy, providing them with the valuable and reliable information that they need to quickly evaluate the market, analyze their environment, assess their competitors, and plot a course to success.

For those not armed with this type of “fire power,” it could very well become another landmark crisis.

What do you think? What approach should we take to protect Big Data before its security becomes a crisis?

What’s driving companies to private cloud?

Private cloud solutions can deliver many of the benefits of a virtualized compute and storage environment but, unlike the public cloud, they are delivered on single-tenant, physically-dedicated hardware with security enhanced network connectivity.  Because of this, they can minimize concerns you may have about the privacy of your data and the performance of your applications.  Some of the common drivers for this type of solution include:

1. Technology Refresh

For many companies, existing hardware and software platforms are reaching “end of life.” Some companies are using the opportunity to migrate to private cloud solutions. One of their primary advantages is that private clouds are delivered on pre-engineered, converged platforms that include all the required network, server, and storage elements – already integrated and fully-tested by the manufacturer. No need to go through lengthy and costly integration processes – just power up and go! If you are considering a new virtual desktop or ecommerce deployment, these turnkey systems can greatly reduce your time to market.

2. Disaster Recovery

As companies continue to look for alternatives to the traditional disaster recovery model of maintaining a cold/standby facility somewhere in case their main data center goes down, private cloud can offer real advantages.  The fact, again, that these platforms are pre-engineered, fully-integrated, and ready to deploy works very well for the disaster recovery use case.  In practice, we are seeing many of our customers deploy multiple instances of these dedicated, private clouds in geographically diverse locations for higher levels of recoverability. And when you don’t need the resources for DR, they can be used for development and test purposes. After all, nothing is more important for Dev-Test than having an environment that is an exact replica of production.

3. Total Cost of Ownership

In many cases, not only can private cloud offer technology benefits like those mentioned above, but those can typically translate into substantial financial benefits.  Offloading the typical tasks involved in engineering, installation, integration, and testing can mean significant savings and can free up your internal staff for other mission-critical initiatives.  Improving your availability through redundant, active-active deployment models can not only reduce the dollars lost to unplanned downtime, but also can replace the high cost of traditional DR arrangements.  Using a provider’s data center to house these private clouds can help avoid space, power, and cooling costs. And, the reduced time it takes to get these pre-built systems online can translate into competitive advantage and increased revenue.

Extending your technology investment

A final advantage of the private cloud approach is that these solutions can usually be built on platforms that are interoperable with any current and future technology investments the business has.  Whether an organization needs to connect with existing legacy platforms or is plotting a course to use more public cloud services in the future, compatibility is not likely going to be an issue.  Many of the private cloud solutions available can be configured to cross the bridge to the public cloud, creating a “hybrid cloud” model that utilizes private, single-tenant resources as the primary resource pool, but allowing workloads to shift into temporary, public cloud space to handle peak loads or unanticipated spikes in traffic on an “as-needed” basis.  And using the company’s existing MPLS or company VPN for that hybrid connection maintains the same levels of security and performance that were already in place.

If your to-do list for 2013 includes new compute infrastructure — whether it is for technology refresh, business continuity, or to reduce the cost of supporting legacy systems — are you taking a closer look at private cloud options? What key drivers are leading your business toward the private cloud?

A quick glance at my smartphone, and I can find a dozen or more similar time-saving tools that are making me more productive.  In addition to buying music from the comfort of my home, I can tune my guitar, get directions, check the weather, read a book, or take an impromptu photograph. There truly is an app for everything.

To that point, I recently attended a conference where one of the guest speakers was praising the “app model” because applications generally do one thing – and do that one thing very well.  He compared this to a futon, which was designed with the flexibility to perform multiple functions but it isn’t very good at either of them – going on to explain that a futon is really just an uncomfortable sofa by day and an uncomfortable bed by night.  This theory immediately resonated with me, and I was surprised I hadn’t heard it before.

But then it got me thinking…is my smartphone actually becoming a futon???

That is…if I keep asking it to do more than just be a phone, am I slowly contributing to its place in history alongside the Swiss Army Knife, the fanny pack, and other once-popular contraptions that also tried too hard to combine convenience with functionality?

Even as I write, I am bombarded with advertisements and announcements by today’s device manufacturers that are working feverishly to overcome some of the leading futon-like flaws with today’s devices – things like battery life, better keyboards, and improved displays.  There are now touchscreen tablets that swivel to become laptops or have attachable keyboards when we have some serious typing or data entry to do. There is wireless charging to help us fight the constant battle of keeping devices powered up in light of all the new uses we have found for them. There are even plans for computerized glasses that improve the way we view the content that we download using a “Terminator-style” display that we wear at all times.

But I don’t think we have to worry about the demise of the smartphone in the immediate future.  We are clearly only in the beginning stages of this phenomenon.  And as we continue the pivot to cloud-resident solutions, these devices will become even more valuable for access to virtual desktops, collaboration tools, and workflow automation platforms.

The call to action for providers, customers, and businesses is to continue to innovate, create, and apply the capabilities of these emerging devices so that their functionality remains just as compelling as their convenience. And to the device manufacturers , let’s continue putting some serious thought into the next generation of devices so that we don’t have to sacrifice usefulness for convenience, and risk our smartphones  ending  up at home in our fanny packs under a pile of laundry – on top of the futon.

What multi-purpose uses do you look to your smartphone for? As a business user, do you have a wish list for smartphones of the future?

Similarly, how often in business, and IT business in particular, do we plan for the unlikely catastrophe and overlook the more likely surprise of the unexpected?

When I meet with customers, and the subject turns to disaster recovery, most of them by now have some kind of documented (though rarely tested) plan to invoke in the event that a meteor strikes their data center or a hurricane takes out their call center.  But they seldom have a quick or certain response when the question is…well, less disastrous.  Imagine that your fiercest competitor unexpectedly closed its doors or landed on the front page of the paper for corrupt business practices or bankruptcy filings. Would your infrastructure be able to take on all of the activity that would now likely be headed your way? Or what if your flagship product was suddenly the subject of a large-scale recall or defect? Could your current operations handle the onslaught of customer inquiries and any required efforts to remedy the situation? Especially with all of the social networking channels that would very likely be activated to propagate the details of your misfortune.

Now I know that disaster recovery is by far the most talked about use case for the cloud; however, I am not just referring to cloud computing for additional capacity or cloud storage for data recovery. Consider the variety of cloud and “cloud-like” solutions out there to help enterprises bundle together a comprehensive solution to handle the unexpected event, regardless of its magnitude.

How about incorporating a content delivery network (CDN) to supplement your internal resources and distribute large-scale software updates or product patches from the edge of the network and not from your core internal assets. Or in times of unanticipated volumes to your website, CDNs could be used to deliver a “lite” version of your content or a splash page explaining that you are experiencing unusually high volumes of traffic. This technology has been around for years, but I am still surprised how rarely it is part of a DR plan.

Another part of any good recovery plan should include your ability to communicate with your employees, key partners, and suppliers.  Cloud or network-based audio and video conferencing can be there to provide timely and on-demand information and updates to your key personnel.

Finally there are VoIP-based contact center solutions that are designed around a multi-tenant, shared infrastructure, allowing temporary capacity to handle peak call volumes without additional infrastructure cost to you. And because the equipment resides in the cloud, not on your premises, it can be there to take over if your internal resources are unavailable.  A final benefit is that it can be configured to distribute overflow calls to “non-traditional” agents, like off-duty employees, sales folks, and remote workers who can help answer calls in your time of need.

So, as you begin to shortlist your key business initiatives or look for ways to advance your cloud adoption priorities for the coming year, it may be worthwhile to take another look at your disaster recovery program and make sure that it not only covers you from the unthinkable, but also from the unexpected.

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]]> http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/small-business/have-you-planned-for-the-non-disaster/feed/ 0 http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/why-didnt-princess-leia-just-use-the-cloud/ http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/why-didnt-princess-leia-just-use-the-cloud/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:30:02 +0000 Dave Johnson http://stagingneblog.att.com/?p=11074 I just recently watched the original Star Wars movie (since renamed A New Hope) in its entirety for the first time in years. One thing dawned on me this time through that I had never picked up on before – even in all of the times that I have watched this film. Apparently, the Rebel Empire didn’t trust their Cloud either.

What other explanation could there be? I mean with all of the technology that they were capable of – droids, hyperspace, laser beams, etc. – they must have at least had some kind of communications network in place, right? Spaceships communicating with each other as well as with various space stations and command centers.

This would have all required some kind of ability to send and receive data, right? And if they did have such a network in place, then one can only assume that it was deemed as insecure or unreliable. Otherwise why didn’t Princess Leia just email the blueprints for the Death Star back to headquarters and spare everyone a lot of grief?

Or why not send a distress text message to Obi wan Kenobi or even better, why not just update her status to “Captured?”  Instead, she chose to use the snail mail equivalent – essentially having her propriety information hand delivered aboard R2D2? That was the main storyline if you recall. Princess Leia had collected sensitive data that happened to include blueprints for the Empire’s new state-of-the-art space station and she desperately needed to get that information into the hands of her Rebel counterparts.

The info would help them find a way to destroy the Death Star before Darth Vader and company could use it to rule the universe. I agree, it made for great entertainment, but in the end caused a lot of death and destruction that could have easily been avoided with a VPN connection.

Back in our galaxy, the latest reports all list “security concerns” as a leading reason that enterprises aren’t adopting the Cloud for more of their applications. However, that should begin to change as “network-enabled” compute and storage environments begin to emerge and compete with traditional Cloud services. These still raise concerns about privacy and performance when it comes to their ability to support enterprise application.

In this next generation of Cloud, providers like AT&T will leverage the security, reliability and controls that customers have already trusted for the foundation of their private networks and integrate those with on-demand compute and storage resources.   David Berlind recently made similar observations after attending last week’s “Cloud Carrier Forum” in Santa Clara, CA. He stated in his February 14^th article, “Not only do the carriers already own the networks across which all cloud-based data and content is already trafficked, they have a decades-old and relatively bulletproof track record in delivering secure and highly available services”.

The next logical step will be to “on-net” these data center storage and compute resources with a customer’s existing MPLS network – extending security, performance and class of service into the virtual data center. When you add to that all of the other benefits a major service provider can offer- things like end-to-end service level agreements, high-touch support model and intergalactic (or at least global for now) reach – the carrier-based cloud will be – well a FORCE to be reckoned with.

So, what do you think? What do you see ahead for cloud security? What role do you see carriers playing in cloud access and security? We look forward to your comments.

]]> http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/why-didnt-princess-leia-just-use-the-cloud/feed/ 0 http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/i-got-the-cloud-for-christmas-now-what/ http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/i-got-the-cloud-for-christmas-now-what/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:08:43 +0000 Dave Johnson http://stagingneblog.att.com/?p=10070 After months of deliberation, evaluation, comparison, and research, I finally bit the bullet and got myself some new technology for Christmas. I had been holding out, waiting for the next wave of devices, features and lower prices to hit the marketplace.

I did the same thing a decade ago prior to purchasing my first computer. Afraid of investing in something that would soon be obsolete, I waited and waited until I was relatively certain that things were leveling off for a bit and then I made my move. This time, I finally gave in, as it seems nothing will be leveling off anytime soon in terms of mobile devices and the related features, applications and services that goes with them.

Doing some last minute Christmas shopping brought me to the AT&T Wireless store in my local mall where they were advertising the latest Android tablet. If you bought the tablet, the accompanying Android smart phone was free. I had been looking at that tablet anyway – I liked the compact size and 4G capability, the offer for the free phone sealed the deal for me. I frequently travel and wanted an alternative to lugging my laptop around for short duration trips where I primarily need to triage email and view spreadsheets and presentations as they trickle in.

I also liked the promise of being able to reduce the size and weight of my carry on briefcase by offloading the usual novels, documents, magazines and other content to a single device – enter the cloud.

I have been talking with customers for years about the benefit of the cloud for their traveling workforce, but this was my first real experience. I was relieved that it was really as simple and easy to do as I have been telling everyone. I literally had all of my materials uploaded and ready to read on the plane in less than five minutes. From my computer desktop, I downloaded the AT&T Synaptic Storage application, launched it, and then browsed my hard drive for items that I needed to have access to while I was going to be away.

From my mobile devices, I accessed the Android marketplace, downloaded the mobile application and was able to download and view all of my Cloud documents in the time that it would normally take for my computer to boot up. Some pre-installed software even allowed me to make changes to these documents – from both my tablet and my smart phone.

When I was done with my document review and editing, I then opened up the eBook application that I had installed and downloaded the novel that I had been waiting to move to paperback. With my newly-acquired technology I didn’t have to lug around the massive hardcover edition and because it synchs my progress back to the Cloud, I can quickly go to my tablet or smart phone and pick up where I left off. I would have never carried a book around with me in the past, but I always have my phone close at hand. So, while I am waiting for the restaurant to bring my food or the flight attendant to complete the pre-flight check of the cabin, I can unwind a little bit with a few pages of a good book.

I still have a lot to learn – I am finding a ton of productivity tools out there as well as some interesting music and media services – they will likely be my next place of exploration. For now I am just sorry that I waited so long to make the move to the Cloud.

What about you? What technologies have you acquired recently that are helping you in business and/or your personal life?  What particular technologies do you “love” and which do you “despise.”  Your fellow readers would love to hear from you.

]]> http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/i-got-the-cloud-for-christmas-now-what/feed/ 0 http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/i-want-good-service-without-having-to-cancel-to-get-it/ http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/i-want-good-service-without-having-to-cancel-to-get-it/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:58:42 +0000 Dave Johnson http://stagingneblog.att.com/?p=8272 No less than four times in the last month I have had customer service experiences that I can’t seem to shake. These included a car dealership, a furniture store, a VoIP provider and a mail order purchase. Although completely different products, services, and providers, the incident was the nearly the same in each case. It wasn’t until I contacted them to cancel the product or service that was in place or being ordered, that the “real” customer service was turned on.

If I had only been treated that way from the beginning, things may have turned out differently for them and I may have remained their customer.  Invoice credits, fabric upgrades, free months – They were all very nice, but not enough and too late in the game to change my mind.

I am part of a dying breed I think. I know a 10-minute call here or there can save me 15% or more on my insurance, but I like my agent.  He and his team have never let me down in 15 years and I will pay a premium for that.  Recently, I could have saved .5% on my auto financing rate by using the dealership’s offer, but I like my credit union and they gave me their best rate upfront, not as a last ditch effort to get me to finance with them.

So it is not surprising to me that many enterprises that first adopted low-cost hosting, network, and even cloud solutions are learning that they, too, want a better customer service experience, and are now willing to pay more for it.  I have heard this directly from the companies I work with as well as in industry surveys and reports that show customers want higher or “enterprise-grade” support options.  It is very uncommon for the cheapest provider to be the best and in your time of need, you want to be sure that your provider has the experience, control and people in place to get you a quick and acceptable resolution – especially when it is your company and its customers at risk!

We are still in the early stages of the cloud adoption curve and as we hear on-going reports of outages and security breaches. It is very rare that affected customers go on the record afterwards to applaud how their service provider reacted and resolved the issue.

But when it does happen, it makes you realize that all clouds are not the same.  You can’t quickly resolve a problem, if you don’t have visibility or control over the underlying architecture.  I know there are a lot of good providers out there, but what if the problem isn’t easily solved? What if it takes experienced network engineers or security experts? What if it takes a team of resources with enough clout to immediately round up top-level support personnel from the leading hardware and software component providers in the industry?

Everyone can’t offer that level of response and support, and sometimes it is worth the added cost to be sure that you have those resources standing by in the event you should ever need them.  I expect to see this trend continue in the Cloud market, especially as companies start to migrate business applications that were previously not Cloud candidates.

My advice to those companies is to first be sure your provider has a history of reliability, and for the times when their reliability may be put to the test, be sure they have a history of support.

What about you?  Do you have any stories of exceptionally good (or bad) service from a Cloud provider?  What do you feel needs to be done to enhance customer service in the Cloud?  We look forward to your comments.

]]> http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/i-want-good-service-without-having-to-cancel-to-get-it/feed/ 0 http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/its-time-for-a-tiered-system-for-cloud-providers/ http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/its-time-for-a-tiered-system-for-cloud-providers/#comments http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/iStock_000015222227XSmall-120x120.jpg Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:03:34 +0000 Dave Johnson http://stagingneblog.att.com/?p=5758 I don’t know why my great revelations seem to only come to me at elevations greater than 20,000 feet, but here is part two in my series of high-altitude blog posts.

The flight attendant just provided me with my three in-flight dining options – peanuts, pretzels or cookies. I immediately choose the peanuts and I as I tear them open, I notice a warning message that states “Caution: This product was packaged in a facility that processes peanuts.” They must be kidding right? Have we really gotten to the point where we need have peanut warnings on peanuts?

So that got me thinking of what other crazy, obvious warning labels could be coming next??  Then it came to me, “Caution: The Cloud service that you are buying contains a network.”
I mean that’s the case, right?? The Cloud always includes the network…Or does it?

I think back to the very first AT&T meeting I ever attended nearly 18 years ago and how it started with some subject matter expert stepping up to a brand-spanking new whiteboard technology and drawing a bunch of buildings – some representing client premises, some were call centers, central offices – all with a single line connecting it to a cloud smack dab in the center of the board.

Back then the CLOUD was introduced to represent the complex collection of hardware and software, people and processes that were in place all over the map.  The pieces were working together behind the scenes to seamlessly deliver dial tone or toll-free or private line or other network service that you may have been considering.

Its only purpose was to simplify the discussion, so that everyone could focus on the business solution at hand, without getting pulled into the weeds.  Very few customers ever really wanted to know how capacity planning, Erlang theory or FASTAR* really worked – they just wanted to know that it was there and that it was working.  So the first Cloud was born – and with one simple stroke of a Dry Erase marker, we now have a universally agreed upon way to depict all of the things that make up a network.  It rose to instant stardom and even found a home alongside the square and circle in the toolbars of most drawing and word processing software packages.

However, now it seems, to me anyway, that this representation may have gone too far and that we are losing sight of the fact there IS a complex set of physical infrastructure underlying today’s Cloud solutions and that this infrastructure is more critical than ever. The Cloud symbol may be the same from provider to provider, but it’s what’s behind that symbol that is the real differentiator.  That should be as much a part of your decision in choosing a Cloud services provider as the functionality that they promise to your end users or business.

Although drawing a Cloud is simple, delivering the highly-available, secure and on-demand capacity it represents is no easy task and something that shouldn’t be oversimplified.  Just look at the list of outages, breaches and other incidents that have plagued many of the early Cloud entrants to date. It seems that a true Cloud provider must have visibility, control and responsibility over the infrastructure that is delivering their functionality, otherwise what can they really commit to?

A Modest Suggestion

To address this, I suggest it may be time for a tiered Cloud standard like we have for ISPs and data centers? This would be something that quickly calls out exactly how much skin a provider actually has in the game. Instead of having to guess from their website or sift through shifty marketing materials to find out what a provider is actually delivering, we would have a quick rating system that could be displayed on a provider’s site.  I suggest  something like:

Cloud Provider Classification Tiers
Class 1	Provider owns/operates the network, data center, infrastructure and application.
Class 2	Provider does NOT own/operate the network.Provider owns/operates the data center, infrastructure and application.
Class 3	Provider does NOT own/operate the network or data center.Provider owns/operates the infrastructure platform and application/service only.
Class 4	Provider does NOT own/operate the network, data center, or infrastructure platform.Provider owns/operates the application/service only.
Class 5	Provider is a reseller.

Of course there would be a lot more detail, metrics and criteria that would go into each tier, but you get the general idea.   Then, the next time you step up to the whiteboard, you could draw the usual cloud. Only this time it could be further clarified by adding a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 in the center, like shown below.

“Why, you might ask, do I care about this as a consumer?  Well, it is all about truth in advertising.  You deserve to know what you’re getting when you purchase a service — particularly one as important as Cloud Computing.  If someone is only a reseller, they might have lower prices, but are they as reliable?  Do you need a full service (5 cloud rating) for a minor task?  By having a rating system like the one I’m suggesting, you, as the consumer, will know what you’re getting before you buy.”

Let me know what you think. Please leave your comments below.

]]> http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/enterprise-business/its-time-for-a-tiered-system-for-cloud-providers/feed/ 0 http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/small-business/did-your-phone-save-you-40000-last-year/ http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/small-business/did-your-phone-save-you-40000-last-year/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:30:00 +0000 Dave Johnson http://stagingneblog.att.com/?p=4520 On a recent commuter flight to Newark, the passenger sitting next to me woke from his nap and promptly decided to strike up a conversation.  After seeing the cover of the book that I was reading, he asked what I did for a living. When I told him that I worked for AT&T, he, like most others I encounter, quickly assumed I was in the wireless side of the business. Before I had a chance to set the record straight, he immediately offeredup to everyone within earshot on the cozy 74-seat Bombardier Q400  “My Smartphone saved my business $40,000 last year!”

With that claim echoing through the cabin— and everyone hanging on for his follow-through — it seemed pointless to explain that I wasn’t part of our wireless group, so instead I countered with, “Really…how did you manage that?” Expecting him to tell me about some killer application that I couldn’t care less about, I was surprised with the simplicity of his story.

Turns out he owns a residential landscape business in the Pacific Northwest.  After some relatively easy detective work, my seatmate discovered that his delivery truck driver was robbing him blind through a combination of deceitful activities.  These included overbilling for hours that he didn’t work and, keeping a portion of the stone, gravel and other landscaping supplies that he was supposed to be delivering to paying customers. At this point, I was sure that he was going to explain how he came across some slick mobile ERP application or a GPS tracking function that prevents this kind of stuff from happening now, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

So how did he do it? I asked him and he replied, with a look of surprise that I had not connected the dots on my own.  “I fired my dump truck driver.”

“Now, I do the deliveries myself,” he said proudly. “I can do the work in about 12 hours a week, versus the 40+ I was paying my driver. And I make sure the supplies are actually going into the business .  That’s an easy $40K back into my pocket.” An even bigger benefit, my seatmate said is he gets more face time with his crews, customers and suppliers.  He explained that he can drive the truck now and with his smartphone he can conduct all the business activities that used to keep him tethered to the office – phone calls, email, sending  quotes or purchase orders, etc. He can send and receive photos too – a big advantage in his industry, allowing him to exchange samples of plants and other landscaping materials with clients and suppliers across the state.  He wondered how any small business could get by without this type of capability these days.

Take a look at the following video to see how another business is becoming more efficient by using smartphones…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RAyRwotPSw

As the networking industry continues to grow in depth and complexity, it was refreshing to see how such a simple application of technology could energize an everyday small business owner to tell his story to a complete stranger…or a plane of complete strangers for that matter.

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