Cisco Supports Redfish Standard: API Enhances UCS Programmability

To cloud or not to cloud . . . that shouldn’t be the question

Article | February 24, 2020

In my discussions with clients about their journey to cloud, it’s becoming evident that many of them are viewing cloud as a goal, instead of looking at cloud deployments as a capability. In some cases, line-of-business owners are under corporate pressures to “adopt” a cloud-first strategy. A recent Forrester Consulting study commissioned by IBM, “The Key To Enterprise Hybrid Multicloud Strategy”[1] suggests that “75% [of 350 surveyed global decision makers] have received pushback while advocating for strategies outside of cloud environments.” The result of this, unfortunately, is the lack of continued investment on their on-premises (“on-prem”) environments. From my experience, this type of deployment focus may not yield the expected results. We shouldn’t think about problem solving as “To cloud or not to cloud?” Instead, we should ask ourselves, “What is the problem I’m trying to solve?” and “Are cloud deployments (public or private) going to optimize my solution?”

How to Decide Between a Hybrid Cloud and Multicloud Environment

Article | February 26, 2020

Judging from search engine traffic — and from the calls I receive — there’s some confusion out there about hybrid cloud and multicloud. More than once, I’ve heard the story of a technology manager’s boss returning from a conference a year or two ago raving about hybrid cloud, only now to insist that the organization needs to pursue a multicloud strategy. This rapid change in focus, combined with continued confusion over the terms themselves, is enough to make an IT professional’s head spin. In truth, hybrid cloud and multicloud (and even some combination of them) are completely viable models, with various organizations relying on each to achieve significant business benefits. But before IT and business leaders can decide which approach makes the most sense for them, they need to step back and ask themselves what outcomes they are trying to achieve.

10 Reasons to Migrate Your On-Premise Data Center into Colocation or Cloud

Article | March 9, 2020

At some point, many businesses will confront the strategic decision of whether to operate an on-premises data center or collocate in an outsourced one. Operating your facility can be quite an undertaking – requiring expertise in power and environmental controls and responsibility for ongoing maintenance of information technology assets, from hardware to security. Deciding whether to build and operate an internal data center or turn to an outside partner, is a major strategic technology decision.

Benefits of Kubernetes on bare metal cloud infrastructure

Article | March 3, 2020

Bare metal cloud infrastructure is being introduced to run 5G applications in containers. This is a natural development of the shift the industry is going through from virtualized network functions to cloud native applications. But what are the benefits of running Kubernetes on a bare metal cloud infrastructure compared to a virtualized infrastructure? Let’s start with a brief recap on cloud native and CNCF – Cloud Native Computing Foundation. With the introduction of 5G, new use cases drive the need for designing applications based on containers and service-based architecture to address some technology gaps associated with virtualization. The most important technology gaps involve smoother software upgrades, automation and the realization of a CI/CD software pipeline to end customers.