Understand the Cloud - ebook by EBC Group

your workplace technology partner

#UnderstandTheCloud

Your simple guide to cloud computing

introduction

IT is rapidly moving from a function that is run, managed and maintained in-house to an outsourced service hosted in a secure environment and managed by a specialist provider.

Cloud computing services are attractive because they enable businesses to

transfer the responsibility of running on-premises hardware and software to a

specialist provider, who manage the hassles and costs that otherwise burden IT

departments, such as software upgrades and hardware maintenance.

Over the next 5 years, the need for a local on premise IT department will be

dramatically reduced. The days of large upfront costs are gone, meaning high

capex expenditure on infrastructure, expensive maintenance and ever increasing

energy bills will soon be things of the past.

Cloud is a pay as you consume technology which means you can budget your

IT costs into a monthly manageable sum. A private cloud solution enables the

hosting of a range of services from IT data and applications, to disaster recovery

and telephony which provides significant cost savings.

#UnderstandTheCloud

2

HEAD IN THE CLOUD?

“As a business resource, IT today looks a lot like electric power did at the start of the last century [when it was routinely produced by individual businesses rather than utility providers]... executives are routinely sidetracked from their real business... by the need to keep their company’s private IT infrastructure running smoothly.”

MIT Sloan Management Review, Nicholas Carr.

In the next

5 years,

75% of all

IT processing

will be done

in the Cloud.

In 2015,

end-user

spending on

cloud services

will be

more than

£115 billion

Businesses

fully utilising

cloud computing

save on average

more than

15% on their IT

spending.

82% of companies

state they

have saved

money by moving

to the cloud.

80% of cloud

adopters saw

improvements

within 6 months

of moving

to the cloud.

#UnderstandTheCloud

3

DID YOU KNOW?

££ SOLD

ebcgroup.co.uk

did you know?

http://www.ebcgroup.co.uk

#UnderstandTheCloud

THE REAL BENEFITS

4

Scalability: Get the specific amount of power you need, when you need it, enabling

you to increase and decrease levels to suit your businesses demands.

Cost Savings: Thanks to the utility pricing model of the cloud, you only pay for

what you use. Avoid upfront hardware costs, as well as the costs of

maintenance, software upgrades, power, and the manpower to

manage it all.

Disaster Recovery: A full back-up solution of not just your data but your entire server

operating system and applications.

Accessibility: Host all your data and systems via a secure leased line connection which

provides a high-speed private link between you and your provider.

Resilience: Protecting your business against any potential IT failures that could cause

down-time or disruption, fully backed-up to provide a complete disaster

recovery solution.

Business Focus: When you rely on the cloud, you can apply your time and money towards

your business priorities, rather than worrying about your IT infrastructure.

ebcgroup.co.uk

££

benefits


Believe it or not, the basics of cloud computing and the differences between on-premise, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-as-service (SaaS) can be explained by using the example of making a pizza.

In each scenario you’re still having pizza, however in some cases your business

takes responsibility and expense for managing all elements of the process, whilst

in the latter you let a specialist do the work for you.

What’s pizza got to do with IT you may ask? Change the diagram into IT and it starts to become clearer how it translates into the different Cloud services:

The benefit of the ‘dining out’ model or SaaS is that your business outsources the entire process to a specialist provider who takes responsibility for everything, including the upfront cost of purchasing the infrastructure, maintaining the equipment, storage, security and running a team of specialists.

#UnderstandTheCloud

5

ON-PREMISE OR HOSTED – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Dining TableSoda

Electric/GasOvenFire

Pizza DoughTomato Sauce

ToppingsCheese

On Prem

You made at home

You

man

age

Dining TableSoda



ToppingsCheese

Take & Bake

You

man

age

Managed

by vendor

Dining TableSoda



ToppingsCheese

Pizza Delivered

You

man

age

Managed by vendor

Dining TableSoda



ToppingsCheese

Went PizzaDining

Managed by vendor

Iaas Paas SaaS

ApplicationData

RuntimeMiddleware

OSVirtualisation

ServersStorage

Networking

You

man

age Softw

arePlatform

Infrastructure

ApplicationData

RuntimeMiddleware

OSVirtualisation

ServersStorage

Networking

You

man

age

Managed

by vendor

ApplicationData

RuntimeMiddleware

OSVirtualisation

ServersStorage

Networking

You

man

age

Managed by vendor

ApplicationData

RuntimeMiddleware

OSVirtualisation

ServersStorage

Networking

Managed by vendor

IAASInfrastructureas a Service

PAASPlatform

as a Service

SAASSoftware

as a Service

Dining TableSoda



ToppingsCheese

On Prem

You made at home

You

man

age

Dining TableSoda



ToppingsCheese

Take & Bake

You

man

age

Managed

by vendor

Dining TableSoda



ToppingsCheese

Pizza Delivered

You

man

age

Managed by vendor

Dining TableSoda



ToppingsCheese

Went PizzaDining

Managed by vendor

Iaas Paas SaaS

ApplicationData

RuntimeMiddleware

OSVirtualisation

ServersStorage

Networking

You

man

age Softw

arePlatform

Infrastructure

ApplicationData

RuntimeMiddleware

OSVirtualisation

ServersStorage

Networking

You

man

age

Managed

by vendor

ApplicationData

RuntimeMiddleware

OSVirtualisation

ServersStorage

Networking

You

man

age

Managed by vend

or

ApplicationData

RuntimeMiddleware

OSVirtualisation

ServersStorage

Networking

Managed by vendor

IAASInfrastructureas a Service

PAASPlatform

as a Service

SAASSoftware

as a Service

ebcgroup.co.uk

The ‘Pizza as a Service’ example is quite simple and can be explained as:

You can make a pizza at home where you’re responsible for buying all of the

ingredients and providing the equipment and energy to cook the pizza.

You can purchase a pizza from the supermarket but cook and eat it at home.

Have pizza delivered to your home and just provide the environment to eat it in.

You can go to a pizza restaurant that provide everything you need.4

3

2

1

difference


CLOUD HOSTED ON-PREMISEVs

Expensive capital cost

D

if cu

lt to

scal

e as

bus

iness

grow

s

Easy

to sc

ale

and

add

new

upg

rades

Economical receive more resource for your money

Costly to maintain and keep updated

Un

stab

le a

nd u

nreli

able

Aff ordable, Capex Free – pay monthly

Stab

le, fa

st a

nd s

ecur

e

Expe

nsiv

e to

mai

ntai

n

Difcult to upgrade

Scaling is expensive

PBX phone system

Software based meaning no hardware to purchase and maintain St

able

, fas

t an

d se

cure

tel

epho

ne

calls

Features such as Presence information and Voicemail to EmailEasy

to

scal

e

and

ad

d a

dd

itio

nal t

elep

hone

s

Local network and

servers

Cloud hosted server

£

Data easily recoverable in a

matter of minutes

Allows SMEs to introduce Enterprise

level DR plans

Instantaneously backed-up

Backed-up and replicated at 2nd

data centre

Hosted DR


#UnderstandTheCloud

More expensive than cloud based back-up Complicated

and slow recovery process

Backup via tapes / network

Unsecure, data can easily get lost or stolen

Degradation of tapes could cause loss of data

Line

s &

cal

ls

SIP

Trun

ks

ISDN30 lines are twice the cost of SIP trunks

Expensive for multi-site businesses

Calls costs and line rental are expensive

Up to 50% cheaper than traditional phone lines

Flexible and scalable – instantly add or remove new trunks

No charges for calls between different geographical offices

Calls 25% cheaper than traditional telephony

Hosted in secure private data centres

Access to an expert team with a range of knowledge

Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees service

Cost to recruit, manage and train staff

Cover required during holiday or sickness

May not have specialism in all areas of IT

Outsourced IT support

In-house IT support

Dedicated team monitoring

systems and servers 24/7

Knowledge on all areas must be kept up-to-date

24/7

Vs

Vs

VsVs

Vs

On-PremiseCloud Hosted

Unsecure – security risks,

hacking or viruses

Unreliable and NO Service

Level Agreement (SLA)

Contention means slow speeds at peak time

Unable to send large files, video or voice

Guaranteed upload and

download speeds

Fully uncontended line

means no sharing with other users

Service Level Agreement

(SLA) and uptime of 99.9%

Flexibility to turn bandwidth

up or down

Broadband link to internet Fibre connectionVs

VoiP telephony

6ebcgroup.co.uk

difference


#UnderstandTheCloud

Public Cloud Private Cloud Hybrid CloudIs based on shared physical hardware which is hosted publicly and has multiple users sharing the same resources. It’s a cheaper option which may suit small businesses but does not provide a secure environment; think of services such as Google, Amazon or Dropbox. Many cloud providers give access to a shared cloud via the internet which doesn’t provide a true managed environment and relies on the businesses existing firewall to prevent viruses and security failures.

A bespoke infrastructure purely dedicated to an individual business which is hosted either on-site or at a service provider’s data centre. The private cloud delivers all the agility, scalability and efficiency of the public cloud, but provides far greater levels of control and security, making it ideal for medium and large businesses or those with strict data regulation and governance obligations. EBC Group’s Private Cloud enables customisation to best suit a business’s specific requirements including dedicated and/or hosted environments, something that cannot be achieved in a public cloud.

Offers businesses the best of both worlds and provides both security and flexibility. For example you can use EBC Group’s Private Cloud whilst also keeping some of your servers or applications in-house, which will provide extra control and resilience.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CLOUDS?

7ebcgroup.co.uk

difference


Private CloudPublic CloudOn Premise

#UnderstandTheCloud

DIFFERENT IT SETUPS

8ebcgroup.co.uk

All services are run, managed and maintained from within the business

On-site hardware, servers and PBX phone system. Broadband link to the internet and calls made over ISDN30 lines. Back-up via tapes or network

A traditional on-premise setup is expensive to run, manage and maintain. It’s less flexible and difficult to scale to multiple sites as your business grows

Key

Internet

Firewall

IT Team

Disaster Recovery Solution

On-site server

Back-up tapes

PBX telephony

Email services

Data backup

Secondary Data Centre

VoIP telephony

Secure email services and web

Managed print

Hosted telephony

Information Portal

Connection to providers data centre is via the internet meaning you risk losing everything if you lose access

Reliant on businesses own firewall protection against internet viruses and spam

Data back-up only, does not provide access to applications or instant availability of data

Dedicated leased line into Private Cloud

Dedicated infrastructure and/or hosted environment within the private cloud

Fully replicated to a secondary data centre providing virtual machine, back-up and disaster recovery solution.

Access to the internet via EBC Group’s secure leased line

Flexible and inexpensive to scale to multiple sites

EBC

Cloud

difference


#UnderstandTheCloud

NOT ALL CLOUD PROVIDERS ARE EQUAL

9

It’s a big step for your business to migrate some or all of its data and applications to the cloud. When your business is deciding whether to host your services in the cloud it’s important to consider how your data is being stored and to find out as much as you can about the specialist provider and the data centres they use.

Over the next few pages are 10 questions that you should consider when choosing a cloud provider.

1 Does the provider own their own data centres?If the cloud provider does not own their own data centre then they and you will be relying on a third-party, which raises a number of risks to access the data. Such as can they guarantee that the data is secure? What happens if something goes wrong, can they access the data immediately? What happens in the event of disaster, such as fire?

IDEAL ANSWER: EBC Group own 2 secure dual data centres which

we have immediate access to 24/7, with the secondary data centre

providing replication and fail-over.

2 Where geographically are the data centres located?

Ideally, you want your provider to have direct access to their data centre, whether this is onsite or within easy reaching distance. Those providers who distance themselves from the centres are unable to physically access your data should they need too.

IDEAL ANSWER: EBC Group’s data centres are onsite, secure and

maintained regularly by our in-house team of specialists.

3 What Tier data centre is it?

A tier system provides a simple but effective means for measuring and benchmarking data centres and identifies whether a particular data centre is suitable for your business needs. Quite simply, the higher the tier the more stringent (and therefore secure) the data centre is. Tier 4 is usually the preserve of companies looking for the highest level of security, such as banking groups and military organisations.

IDEAL ANSWER: To be secure you should be looking for a minimum of a

tier 3. EBC Group operates as a tier 3 data centre which is suitable for even

highly regulated businesses.

ebcgroup.co.uk

Q&A


#UnderstandTheCloud

NOT ALL CLOUD PROVIDERS ARE EQUAL Questions continued >

10

5 Do they own the hardware or are they just reselling someone else’s service?It is common to find IT companies that are resellers of various hardware and software brands. Although some do offer a good range of services, your provider may not have control over a resold service, which means if anything goes wrong they are unable to do anything about it. Most importantly, if you wish to get hold of your critical data, you are obliged to go via a third party.

IDEAL ANSWER: EBC Group is fully equipped with our own hardware,

and does not out-source to a third party.

6 How often are they backed up?Back-ups should be performed on a regular basis, and should be frequently carried out by your provider.

IDEAL ANSWER: EBC Group backs-up every night as a minimum, or more

frequently depending on the requirements of our client.

4 Does the provider have direct physical access to the data centres?Operating an in house data centre can have numerous advantages, including greater control, capacity, power and security. Direct physical access allows your provider a higher degree of control over facilities, ensuring the centre is secure, and that any issues are addressed with immediate effect.

Essentially, if your provider outsources to a third-party, you are not only entrusting your sensitive data with the provider, but also a further source that you know very little about.

IDEAL ANSWER: EBC Group has direct access to our dual data centres,

running them directly from our premises in Halesowen and Northampton.

7 How many data centres do they use?

A good provider should ideally have more than one data centre, making the over-all service secure and robust. If one data centre were to fail, you can be safe in the knowledge that any additional centre can still continue supporting your critical data. Additional data centres will also provide the capacity to keep pace with your business if you choose to expand.

IDEAL ANSWER: EBC Group has 2 state-of-the-art data centres,

located at our headquarters in Halesowen and in our regional

premises in Northampton.

Q&A


#UnderstandTheCloud

NOT ALL CLOUD PROVIDERS ARE EQUAL Questions continued >

11

8 What is their uptime or SLA (service level agreement)?An SLA or ‘uptime’ is simply the contracted agreement that indicates what the provider is obliged to offer. A good provider should be able to address all aspects of hosted data centre services, such as network connectivity, power & cooling and server hardware.

IDEAL ANSWER: EBC Group retain an industry leading uptime of

99.99962%

9 What security checks do they do?In order to meet the changing requirements of compliance and data protection, data centres are now typically designed with perimeter security, access systems into rooms, CCTV and locked cabinets as standard. However, it isn’t just physical checks that are considered important, but also the invisible checks on electronic security.

A reliable data centre provider should be carrying out regular penetration tests on your network firewall, helping to improve and maintain security and access. Crucially a provider should be able to show evidence of these tests, in addition to the electronic security measures that are in place.

IDEAL ANSWER: EBC Group is equipped with some of the most up

to date and secure technology to ensure our data centre stays fully

protected at all times, allowing us to exceed industry standards.

Do they have multiple independent network and power feeds to their infrastructure?It is essential to confirm if your provider has multiple fibre and power leads. Multiple fibre leads ensures your provider and data centre are still able to operate in the event of roadwork damage to any fibre cabling. Whereas, multiple power feeds, preferably one from mains power and the other from a generator, will ensure that any downtime is counteracted by making a seamless switch automatically.

IDEAL ANSWER: EBC Group has multiple fibre feeds to their data centre,

including a Virgin and BT presence. We also have the means to switch to a

powerful onsite generator in the unlikely scenario that we experience power

loss, as well as having the support of an additional data centre for full backup

and security.

10

EBC Group privately owns two state-of-the-art, secure data centres based onsite and maintained by our highly trained, certified team. There are multiple fibre feeds to

our data centre, including a Virgin and BT presence and onsite generator. Fully backed-up each evening (more frequently on request). We retain an industry leading uptime of 99.99962%.

Q&A

EBC Group are an award winning provider of IT, telecommunications, print solutions and document management services. As a total solutions provider, our model is designed to provide a viable solution for your business, helping to improve efficiency and save money. We have a proven track record of providing businesses with a new IT infrastructure at no extra cost.

We privately own our entire IT infrastructure which means we can provide businesses

with their own private cloud, hosted within our primary data centre with a fail-over from

our secondary data centre, providing a true disaster recovery solution.

EBC Group also has the ability to connect all of a business’s outlets directly to its private

cloud through private managed fibre circuits. This enables us to host a range of other

services, including Disaster Recovery, Telephony and Print. Bringing all of your services

together and managed by EBC Group will provide you with the most cost effective

solution for your business.

Through continual investment, development and training in the upcoming areas of IT,

EBC Group ensures it is at the forefront of future trends and can bring a substantial level

of the highest qualifications and certifications from most major

IT and communications providers including Dell, Cisco, Microsoft,

VMware, Veeam, BT and Virgin. Our expertise helped us win the

‘Best Private Cloud Project’ at the Datacentre Solutions Awards.

#UnderstandTheCloud

12

WHO ARE EBC GROUP?

“We work closely with businesses of all sizes across both the private and public sector, treating every customer with the same high level of service and attention to detail. Our commitment to provide a tailored and bespoke solution for each project we implement is how we have successfully built our customer base for over 25 years”.

yourworkplacetechnologypartnerebcgroup.co.uk

about


#UnderstandTheCloud

ebcgroup.co.uk 13

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO NOW?

IdentifyStart by identifying the people within your business who should be involved in the migration – including in-house technical expertise and key stakeholders.

Review Review your IT environment to determine what data and systems could be hosted within the cloud.

Select Select a cloud hosting provider that meets your needs for reliability, trustworthiness, transparency, and accountability.

Call us on: 0121 585 4412 or email: [email protected]

Your next steps with EBC Group...

1 Discover more about Cloud Computing by visiting ebcgroup.co.uk/IT-services

2 Learn more in-depth information by attending one of our free ‘Understand the Cloud’ workshops. ebcgroup.co.uk/events

3 Speak to us for free advice or let us investigate your current set-up to create a tailored solution for you.


next steps

http://www.ebcgroup.co.uk/IT-services

http://www.ebcgroup.co.uk/events


Technology

Understand the Cloud - ebook by EBC Group