Enterprise-level
business and IT executives and decision-makers may now have a greater
understanding of the benefits of private and hybrid cloud computing
environments, but a new study has found that there is still a large gap between
expectations and the reality of what cloud computing and virtualization offer.
Symantec’s
“2011 Virtualization and Journey to the Cloud Survey” surveyed 3,700 executives
and decision-makers from 35 countries about their perspectives on the adoption
and deployment of private and hybrid clouds, as well as virtualized
technologies. Symantec found there are different approaches being taken with
cloud computing, but perhaps the most troubling finding of the survey is the
gap between the expectations of what cloud delivers and what, in reality, it
actually provides.
“There’s
a lot of understanding. There’s also a lot of misunderstanding on what private
and hybrid clouds can do in an environment,” said Sean Derrington, director of
cloud product management at Symantec.
Perhaps
not unexpected, IT executives and business executives were out of sync in what
they were looking for from cloud computing, and the gap between expectation and
realization was also different.
“We’re
also seeing a lot of companies increasing the deployment of business-critical
applications in these private and hybrid clouds, much more so than before,”
Derrington said. “I think it’s one of the early signs of maturity, but it’s
also to keep in mind that as companies look to deploy cloud applications, they
have to [attain] quality of service.” They need to get the same quality of
service in private and hybrid clouds that they’re getting in traditional IT
environments, he added.
Quality
of service is proving to be a challenge, and it’s become a top priority among
enterprises. When asked about virtualization and cloud technologies, 76 percent
of respondents who have implemented server virtualization said performance was
a somewhat or extremely large factor in making people concerned about placing
business-critical applications on virtualized servers. Of those who have
implemented private or hybrid clouds, 72 percent said performance was a
significant or extreme challenge, so there are still a lot of wrinkles to iron
out before enterprises are completely happy with private and hybrid clouds.
The
Symantec survey asked IT and business executives about their adoption of
storage virtualization, desktop/endpoint virtualization, server virtualization,
private storage-as-a-service, and private/hybrid cloud computing.
Unsurprisingly, the smallest gap between expectation and realization was with
the most mature technology – that being server virtualization, with a 4 percent
gap between goals and reality. All of the other technologies were well into the
double-digits between expectation and reality, with storage virtualization at
33 percent, desktop/endpoint virtualization at 26 percent, private
storage-as-a-service at 37%, and private/hybrid cloud computing at 32 percent.
What’s
the lesson to be learned? Simple. There is still a lot of confusion around what
virtualization and cloud computing can actually provide to organizations in
terms of benefits. The expectations of benefits pre-deployment are much
different than what is actually being realized post-deployment. Derrington
noted that some of the problem is that if businesses don’t deploy
virtualization and cloud computing technologies correctly, then the benefits
people are expecting won’t be fully realized. He said he believes there is a
lot of over-selling on what the technologies can do.
Part
of the problem that still exists is in evolving the way IT organizations
function, Derrington said. To get the full benefits of virtualization and cloud
computing, it’s necessary to remove the silos of administration found in
traditional IT infrastructures. If that’s not done, then the full benefits
can’t be gained.
“There’s
a lot of process that has to happen to take advantage of some of these new
technologies,” Derrington said.
Additionally,
some people are confused about what private cloud computing is. As Derrington
noted, it’s more than simply deploying a VMware-based environment.
“Private
clouds really are about looking at virtualizing the resources of storage and
server, looking at resource utilization, and having a dynamic environment that
can be elastic as you scale and contract resources on an as-needed basis,”
Derrington said.
It’s
likely the gaps between expectation and reality will begin to shrink in the
coming years. Symantec plans to survey companies on this topic again next year,
so it should be interesting to see what has changed at that time.
Derrington
noted there is much interest in cloud among enterprises, and most enterprises
surveyed are, at the very least, discussing cloud adoption. There is still some
confusion about what private and hybrid clouds are, but that’s more on the
business side rather than the IT side.
“I
think in enterprise there is more of an understanding of what cloud is and its
capabilities, but there is still a little bit of a disconnect,” he said.
There
is also an increasing focus among enterprises when it comes to virtualization
and cloud technologies. Some are even going beyond deploying business-critical
applications in virtualized or cloud environments and starting to discuss
moving mission-critical applications over to virtual servers and the cloud.
“I
personally wasn’t expecting 41 percent of respondents looking to virtualize ERP
applications,” Derrington said.
As
he noted, putting financials, human resources or any other mission-critical
applications in virtual environments is betting the business on that
environment. CIOs are more open to the idea of moving mission-critical
applications to the cloud or virtual environments, whereas CEOs and CFOs are
much more risk-averse. Business leaders, as opposed to IT leaders, tend to want
to be a little behind the technology curve instead of leading it, Derrington
said.
Many
enterprises are relying on third-party service providers for their cloud and
virtualization needs.
“They’re
relying more heavily on outside providers,” Derrington said. At least 50
percent of respondents rely quite a bit or completely on outside service
providers, whether those providers are vendors, resellers or managed service
providers.
Based
on the survey results, Symantec had a few recommendations for businesses.
“One
of the things that we’re recommending is you really have to focus on the line
between the IT organization and the executives,” Derrington said. Appropriate
expectations about the technologies must be set to avoid the gap in
expectations and reality.
Also,
old-school IT thinking has to be abandoned. Operating in a silo won’t allow
enterprises to get the benefits of virtualized and cloud environments. As
companies modernize their infrastructure, they need to modernize their IT
departments.
One
last recommendation from Symantec is to track results.
“This
is one of the things that proves success to upper management and executives in
the company,” Derrington said.
Overall,
things are looking good for the virtualization and private/hybrid cloud arenas.
“This
is one of the areas where a lot of companies are aggressively looking. They
think they can improve the way that they run their businesses, and one of the
things that we saw is we need to raise some caution in making sure they’re
doing it appropriately and not trying to overachieve and failing to meet those expectations,
which then leads to other problems, too. But overall, very positive,”
Derrington said about the survey results.