Executive Brief

Find the Right

Cloud Computing Solution
a QuinStreet Executive Brief. 2013
In This Paper
There are three main cloud computing
deployment models: private, public, and hybrid
The true value of the cloud is achieved when
the services it delivers combine with the
deployment models
Before choosing a model and service
combination, assess business drivers and
technical feasibility
Datamation
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Make no mistake about it, cloud
computing is here to stay. When
cloud frst emerged, many scoffed
at the concept, believing it to be an
overhyped fad. Now, in just a few short
years, cloud adoption is accelerating,
and cloud is a critical part of most
enterprises IT plans.
While the applications of cloud are
fairly new, the basic concept behind
it isnt. Cloud computing follows
many of the principles of old-school
mainframe computing, where users
shared compute power with each
other. The key differentiator, however,
is that cloud computing usually relies
on the Internet and open standards
rather than proprietary systems.
Cloud computing is the evolution and
convergence of technology trends
that have been driving enterprise
data centers and service providers for
more than a decade. These include
grid computing, utility computing,
clustering, virtualization, shared
services and large-scale management
automation.
Cloud Computing Options
As cloud adoption has grown, so too
has the variety of cloud types and
functionality available through the
cloud. There are currently three main
cloud deployment models.
Public Cloud: Mention cloud
computing, and typically public
cloud is what comes to mind. In
a public cloud model, a service
provider supplies services such
as applications, platform and
infrastructure to consuming
organizations over the Internet.
Consumers use the service
without having to set up, host,
manage, back up or update the
software, hardware and data
center. Consumers typically give
up a degree of control, fexibility
and visibility over security,
customization, service updates and
planned outages.
Private Cloud: While public cloud
gets most of the notoriety, it is
the private cloud that has gained
greater enterprise acceptance.
Private clouds are for the exclusive
use of the organization, they
operate within the corporate
frewall, and they are managed
by the IT department or a service
provider. A private cloud offers
many of the same features and
benefts of public clouds, while
allowing IT to keep control over
data, avoid sharing, and comply
with regulations and internal
policies. More often than not,
enterprises start out with a private
cloud.
Hybrid Cloud: Most organizations
will end up using hybrid clouds a
combination of public and private
clouds. A hybrid cloud enables
applications to run across both
public and private clouds, which
implies the clouds must support
standards for application portability
and interoperability.
The advantages of cloud computing
are many and signifcant.
Often the initial driver for cloud
adoption is lowered cost. Through
consolidation and sharing computing
resources, excess capacity is reduced,
and with that hardware, power, cooling
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and management costs. Even greater
cost saving can be realized through
standardizing on a shared database
and application platform wherever
possible.
An even more compelling beneft
of cloud is speed and agility. Rapid
provisioning and advanced self-service
capabilities allow new services to
be deployed much faster, enabling
the business to respond to dynamic
market conditions and be more
competitive. With its elastic scalability,
the cloud can provide just enough
computing resources on demand.
In addition, because cloud
providers take care of all the
underlying technology in terms of
provisioning, runtime operations,
updating, patching and so on, cloud
consumers can focus on innovation,
differentiation, competitive advantage
and core competencies on top of the
cloud.
The Services Within the Cloud
The true value of the cloud lies in the
services delivered. The three main
service types are SaaS (Software as a
Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service)
and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).
SaaS: With Software-as- a-Service,
business users are able to access
new functionality much faster and
at lower upfront costs than with
traditional on-premise systems.
SaaS-based applications are
accessed via the Internet and may
require integration with on-premise
systems or other clouds.
PaaS: Platform-as- a-Service
provides an application
development and deployment
platform delivered as a cloud
service. Developers use the
platform to build, deploy and
manage applications. PaaS typically
includes database, middleware,
development tools, languages
and APIs. PaaS value is found in
its ability to accelerate application
development through leveraging
standardized, shared and re-usable
platform services.
IaaS: Infrastructure-as-a-Service
is the lowest level of the cloud
Cloud is a very broad spectrum,
spanning public, private and hybrid
deployment models, and SaaS,
PaaS and IaaS service types.
services spectrum. IaaS consists of
computing servers, storage and
networking, along with associated
software (such as operating
systems, virtualization and storage
software) delivered as a service.
IaaS is generally the most fexible
of all the cloud layers because
nearly any platform and application
software can run on IaaS. However,
this can be a double-edged
sword, as it means the user is
responsible for everything about
the infrastructure layer more
work that can result in additional
complexity.
Getting Started With Cloud 5
Key Spots on the Continuum
Cloud is a very broad spectrum,
spanning public, private and hybrid
deployment models, and SaaS, PaaS
and IaaS service types. There is no
one-size-fts-all model, and different
organizations have different starting
points and approaches. Looking
across Oracles customers, fve
common cloud adoption patterns
emerge.
1. Private Cloud
A private cloud is for the exclusive use
of one organization. It is most often
on-premise in the data center and
controlled and managed by IT.
Private clouds often start as
consolidation initiatives to move
siloed heterogeneous applications
onto shared infrastructure and shared
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platforms. Driven by the goal of
reducing costs, consolidation is often
a multi-year, phased project. The
best approach is to consolidate and
standardize on an application platform
and database platform wherever
possible, and then consolidate on
virtualized computing infrastructure
and storage if applications cannot
run on the standard platform. This
approach maximizes cost effciency as
well as speed and agility.
Oracle offers the most complete
private cloud platform and private
cloud infrastructure to enable
customers to build, deploy and
manage private clouds. Oracles
cloud platform includes not only
the worlds most popular Java
application server and database, but
also complete cloud management,
process and data integration, identity
and access management, and user
experience management. Oracles
cloud infrastructure features SPARC
and x86 servers; storage, including
fash, disk and tape; networking fabric
and software defned networking;
virtualization; Oracle Solaris and
Oracle Linux operating systems; and
infrastructure cloud management
software. Oracle Engineered Systems
, such as Oracle Exadata Database
Machine, Oracle Exalogic Elastic
Cloud and SPARC SuperCluster, offer
unmatched performance at the lowest
cost for mixed workload consolidation
and cloud. To enable private cloud
deployments, Engineered Systems
hardware is also available on-premise,
with capacity on demand, for a
monthly fee, via an offering called
Oracle Infrastructure as a Service.
Oracle also offers Managed
Cloud Services to provide initial
setup and ongoing management,
monitoring, upgrading and security
of a private cloud, either on-premise
in the customers data center or in
Oracles data centers. Customers
can simply consume private cloud
services without having to manage it
themselves, thereby gaining additional
value, fexibility and confdence in the
solution.
2. Public Cloud with SaaS
Organizations seeking to add new
application functionality or replace
aging legacy applications are adopting
these applications in a SaaS model.
Oracle provides a comprehensive
portfolio of standards-based cloud
applications that can be deployed in
private or public clouds. Oracles cloud
applications are modern and have
embedded social, mobile and business
insight capabilities.
The Oracle Cloud includes SaaS
offerings for Sales and Marketing,
Customer Service and Support,
Human Capital Management, Talent
Management, Enterprise Resource
Planning, Planning and Budgeting,
and Financial Reporting. Because
these enterprise applications have a
modular architecture, customers can
adopt as many modules as they need
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and integrate them with their current
applications.
Oracle ERP Cloud Service, for
example, is an integrated suite
that can transform a back-offce
environment into a collaborative,
effcient and intuitive hub. ERP
Services include: fnancials, planning
and budgeting, procurement
and sourcing, inventory and cost
management, product master data
management, and project portfolio
management.
Another example is Oracle Sales and
Marketing Cloud Service, which is
an advanced and integrated CRM
offering with a quick learning curve to
enable employees to quickly generate
more quality leads and achieve higher
win rates with built-in data quality
and customer data management.
Oracle Sales and Marketing Cloud
Service offers instant visibility through
dashboards, analytics and real-time
forecasting. Its integration with
Outlook, mobile device support, and
industry specifc solutions are the icing
on the cake in terms of the value it
delivers.
3. Public Cloud with PaaS
Enterprises looking to accelerate
application development may look to
a PaaS solution. PaaS clouds provide
rapid access to standard, shared
services, thus minimizing re-inventing
the wheel and allowing developers to
use languages and tools with which
they are already familiar. Oracle Cloud
offers a number of popular platform
services, including a database service
based on Oracle Database, a Java
service based on Oracle WebLogic
Server, and a developer service to
help manage the complete software
development life cycle.
The Oracle Database Cloud
Service provides rapid application
development through Application
Express, RESTful Web Services, SQL
and PL/SQL support, and a collection
of pre-packaged business productivity
applications.
The Oracle Java Cloud Service
enables developers to use their
favorite integrated development
environment (IDE), like JDeveloper,
NetBeans and Eclipse, to build Java
applications that are integrated with
Oracle Database Cloud Service.
Oracle Developer Cloud Service
allows developers to manage the
development life cycle (e.g., bug
tracking, continuous integration
and source control, all of which are
integrated with popular tools) in
the cloud. It features source control
management, issue tracking, Wiki
Collaboration and continuous
integration with Hudson, a Java-
based tool that automates and
integrates scalable build and testing
environments.
4. Public Cloud with IaaS
For some customers, IaaS is a good
starting point because it provides the
most basic and most fexible services
for computing, storage and networking.
Oracle Clouds SaaS and PaaS services
are built on common infrastructure
services that provide a rock solid
foundation. Oracle Cloud is built on
Oracles Engineered Systems, Exadata
and Exalogic, which are the fastest, most
reliable and most secure machines for
mission-critical enterprise use.
For many enterprises, a singular
approach will not work. For them,
a hybrid cloud is needed because
some applications require the
security and control of a private
cloud, while other applications are
fine to run in a public cloud.
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5. Hybrid Cloud with Combinations
of Cloud Services
For many enterprises, a singular
approach will not work. For them,
a hybrid cloud is needed because
some applications require the security
and control of a private cloud, while
other applications are fne to run in
a public cloud. These organizations
believe that the fexibility to easily
migrate data and applications from
one cloud to another is critical. For
them, adherence to industry standards
is an absolute requirement, and it is
benefcial to fnd vendors that provide
the choice of public and private cloud
solutions. Oracle is one such vendor.
Putting It All Together
Before deciding which services and
cloud is right for your enterprise,
you must frst assess the business
drivers and technical feasibility of
moving all or part of your applications
to the cloud. This is important for
avoiding the siloing that all too
often happens when focus is paid
to a single area or two. Hence, it is
critical to look for cloud solutions that
are comprehensive and integrated
to minimize data and process
fragmentation from using multiple
clouds. Learn more about how
Oracles portfolio of cloud solutions
can beneft your enterprise at oracle.
com/cloud.