Accelerate Cloud Services WP Nov2010

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ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES

TO THE MID MARKET

WHITEPAPER
ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES | 10/25/2010

www.oneaccess-net.com

October 25, 2010


Authored by: Mike Wilkinson

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ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES
TO THE MID MARKET
Contents

1. Introduction
 Clouds: no rain
 Mid market opportunity
2. Services and service providers
 Infrastructure-as a Service (IaaS)
 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
 Communications-as-a-Service (CaaS)
3. Cloud network requirements
 Quality of Service
 Application Acceleration
 Security
4. Telco business models
 Incremental network services
 Telco cloud services
5. One Access boosts the cloud
 Quality of experience
 CaaS service delivery
 Secure access for public and private clouds
 Rapid and simple deployment
 ONE1000 series platform
ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES | 10/25/2010

6. Summary

About this white pa per

Organisations of all sizes stand to benefit from the lower cost and utility of Cloud services, but it is
dependent upon service providers to develop the infrastructure and go-to-market strategies that deliver it.
This paper discusses the various approaches to deploying Cloud services, the requirements for network
infrastructure and access, and the OneAccess Networks approach to overcoming these challenges.
OneAccess enables service providers to accelerate deployment of Cloud services to midsized companies and
branch offices of larger companies.

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Introduction

Some C louds: No ra in There are three standard


models for Cloud deployment:
At the level of graphic art at least, Cloud Computing is the most Public Cloud, Private Cloud,
intuitively obvious development in the IT world for some time.
and Hybrid Cloud
It’s been the convention, seemingly forever, to draw networks as a
fluffy cloud interconnecting lots of computers. The great leap Public Cloud is a virtualised
forward now is for the cloud to become the computer. environment owned and
managed by a third party, and
dynamically shared between
multiple subscriber
businesses.

Private Cloud is a virtualised


environment owned and
managed by a business for its
own use. Its resources are
dynamically shared by multiple
applications and users within
that business.

Things are less clear cut at a practical level. Lots of familiar Hybrid Cloud combines Public
services, with familiar labels, are being re-labelled as ‘Cloud’ and Private entities flexibly or
services: Software-as-a-Service, application hosting and IP on demand. A business might
Centrex are good examples. Similarly, some would argue that for run some applications in
something to count as ‘Cloud’ it has to be not only highly virtual, Private, and others in Public:
but highly distributed as well: the notion that your data is ‘out Or swap dynamically from
ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES | 10/25/2010
there, somewhere’ has been a familiar theme of early Cloud
Private to Public Clouds under
services.
peak demand or failover
But such fine distinctions are really for technologist to ponder, and situations.
of no real relevance to the biggest consumers of Cloud services,
The three models together
that being SMEs and the branches of larger organisations. For
them, Cloud is much more about a transformation in business allow different use cases and

models than it is about shifts in technology. Cloud means increased risk postures to be
agility: turn on, turn off, scale and shrink. Cloud means added accommodated.
sophistication: more unified services, more mobile services. Most
importantly, cloud means ‘pay as you grow’.
However you build it, and wherever you put it (and always assuming you can make money doing so), as
long as those three conditions are met, then it fulfils every meaningful market definition of Cloud.

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Mid mark et Oppor tun ity
For large corporations, Cloud represents something of a conundrum. Clearly, the ability to extract more
value from IT with lower technology cost and risk is a significant opportunity. However, large organisations
already have a big investment in in-house IT systems and software, often tailored to their quite individual
needs. Replicating this in a Cloud environment is not straightforward. Likewise, they typically have a heavy
compliance burden, so having their data ‘out there, somewhere’ is simply not an option.
It is therefore likely that large organisations will take a hybrid approach to Cloud: highly virtualised in-
house data centres (‘Private’ Clouds) working in tandem with Public Clouds to deliver specific
applications; to relieve peak computing demands; and to provide business continuity strategies at reduced
cost.
Consequently for service providers, the large enterprise market will require a degree of sophistication and
customisation that is likely to elongate development times, sales cycles and time to profit.
No such constraints apply to the mid market. Mostly, SMEs hunger for the kinds of services that large
organisations have built for themselves, and Cloud is about the only way they will ever be likely to afford
them. For SMEs, Cloud services offer a step up in sophistication; an increase in accountability; and an
overall improvement in service levels.
Cloud demands no upfront capital investment from SMEs. It requires little in the way of existing IT
infrastructure. It needs no ongoing, operational IT expertise. It allows SMEs to scale easily. The reduced
price reflects the scale of the Cloud – rather than the scale of their business - and they only pay for what
they use, when they use it.

Services and Servic e Providers


SME cloud services span the gamut from raw compute power and storage, through productivity
applications to unified communications. It is very worthwhile categorising the service types commonly
supported in Cloud deployments of all kinds.
ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES | 10/25/2010

In frastructure-as a Serv ic e (Ia aS )


IaaS provides computing power, storage and associated networking elements on demand. Users access those
resources usually through an online portal of some kind. The ability to turn up and turn down computing
and storage requirements on demand is very valuable for businesses that trade on such capacity: software
companies, media companies, web businesses and so on: whereas the ability to re-create user desktops and

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data servers in the cloud – to mobilise workers; to protect against disasters – has universal appeal. Most
usually, users install the application software themselves, remotely.

Software -as-a-S ervice (SaaS)


SaaS runs value added applications from a Cloud infrastructure. The benefit to the business is on-demand
and pay-as-you-grow use of the software, and a big increase in the application’s overall agility. For instance
an application served SaaS-style will typically by accessible from a variety of fixed and mobile user devices.
Virtual desktops, enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management and customer resource
management (CRM) are good examples of productivity applications that large organisations have used for
years to create business advantage, often to the cost of smaller competitors: SaaS levels that playing field.

Communicat io ns-as-a-Service (C aaS)


Communication and collaboration applications are sometimes bundled in with SaaS, but from a Telco
perspective it makes real sense to keep them separate. This category includes audio, video and web
conferencing, email and unified messaging, and of course voice. Unified communications is best delivered
to SMEs from the Cloud, as a SIP Centrex service.
To successfully address the SME Cloud market, providers need either scale or a particular expertise. Telcos
have a great opportunity here, having both scale and many of the operational elements in place to deliver
the various Cloud propositions. Where they lack expertise, Telcos have demonstrated a willingness to
partner with ISVs and others.
Expertise allows a service provider to add value and differentiation to a specific service, application or
market sector, swapping scale (high volume, lower margins) for sophistication (lower volume, high
margins). This is where Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) vendors of all scales have an opportunity.

Cloud Network Requirements


When a server or application moves from the office LAN to the anonymous WAN, it’s not sufficient for the
network to offer ‘best endeavours’ as its service promise. Whereas corporate head offices and larger
branches usually benefit from sophisticated MPLS services, SMEs and smaller branch offices connect to the
Cloud using more basic broadband services. ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES | 10/25/2010

To deliver Cloud services with an acceptable user experience, those broadband services need to get faster,
more symmetrical and, crucially, much smarter. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for service
providers: Cloud services are something of a ‘killer app’ for next generation broadband access.
Speed will never be undervalued by users of Cloud applications. It’s difficult to set a threshold with any
certainty, but 20Mbps seems a reasonable entry point for serving Cloud-hosted applications. Upload speeds
are as important as download speeds in many scenarios, so a symmetrical service is highly desirable. For
Telcos and other network operators, SHDSLbis (Ethernet First Mile) services will be much in demand for
their own and third party Cloud services. However as Cloud services evolve to be ever more ambitious,
then 100BaseX Ethernet, 1000BaseX and FTTH (GPON) will be justified.

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Quality of Service
However, Parkinson’s Law applied to network bandwidth states that data always expands to swamp the
capacity available. Active Quality of Service (QoS), prioritising Cloud-bound data over web and other non
critical data is an essential component of Cloud CPE and Cloud network services. SMEs (and enterprises)
want guarantees for key applications which assure consistent performance independent of the activities of
other less important applications, or other businesses using a Public Cloud. With QoS controls available,
Cloud providers can offer a range of services and price points, backed by with service level agreements
(SLAs).

Applicat ion Acc elera t ion


As the physical distance between a user and their data increases – as is inevitable with any Cloud services –
so latency and other unavoidable physical characteristics of networks take their toll on application
performance, and hence user experience. The ability to guarantee application performance is therefore a
genuine consideration for Cloud service providers.
High bandwidth connections still benefit from the intelligent data caching and other techniques inherent in
application acceleration. However in failover situations, when the secondary connection might mean ADSL
or 3G bandwidth constraints, it becomes essential.

Sec urity
Whilst information security is a keystone of any IT infrastructure, it is absolutely fundamental in all Cloud
services. VPN – a Telco and ISP ‘as-a-service’ staple - exists as a separate security control plane within the
Cloud. Anti-virus, anti-spam and access control are further examples of Cloud-based security-as-a-service,
with pay-as-you-grow pricing models. Gartner estimates that security-as-a-service overall will play a major
role in securing Cloud implementations, with 30% of businesses taking a wholly as-a-service approach.
Again, this represents an opportunity for incremental Cloud revenues for network operators.
Gartner further estimates that another 20% of users will keep security outside of the cloud, with the
balance taking some hybrid approach. In all models discussed above, there is need for some class of security
gateway at the customer premise, capable of interacting with the Cloud to deliver those Security-as-a
ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES | 10/25/2010

Service applications. The challenge for service providers of all kinds is provisioning that sophisticated
gateway an affordable and manageable way.

Telco Business Models


Throughout this paper, various Cloud based business models have been touched upon, and these are
summarised here. Underpinning all of them is every Telco’s excellent credentials as an existing provider of
value added network services to SMEs and enterprise branch offices, and of course as the owner of the
WAN connection that a majority of Cloud services will be delivered upon. This leads to two categories of
service and revenue opportunities:

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In crem en tal n etwork serv ic es
Without adequate network capacity and performance, there can be no Cloud. The
networking requirements for delivering an assured Cloud experience represent a
market opportunity for Telcos.

Ethernet Serv ic es
Cloud is a significant driver of Ethernet network services to SMEs. These services
deliver the twin benefits of symmetry and increased speed. Ethernet services can
be delivered over the copper local loop, dedicated copper and fibre access using
SHDSLbis (Ethernet First Mile), 10/100Base-T and 100Base-X technologies. This
means that there is almost no corner of the existing access network that new
Ethernet services cannot cost effectively reach.

Secu rity and Service Assurance.


VPNs are a foundation of all Cloud services. Telcos already have significant MPLS
network infrastructure. Extending that infrastructure to bridge the gap between
3rd party Cloud service providers and SMEs is a second market opportunity: An MPLS VPN service – most likely as a
wholesale proposition – provides a way for Cloud service providers to offer assured and secure services, backed by an
SLA. The pricing model will need to be based on pay-as-you-grow, to match the Cloud proposition.

In addition, Application Acceleration assures the end user experience at all stages, and provides WAN optimisation in
fail-over situations. Application acceleration can be delivered as a value-added service by network service providers,
either as a retail proposition to SMEs or more likely as a wholesale service to Cloud service providers. In both cases,
pay-as-you-grow service models for application acceleration have recently emerged in the market, and perfectly
match the expectations of Cloud consumers

Cloud Serv ic es
Telco Ia aS S ervices
The Telco business has always been about shared infrastructure and,
increasingly, virtualisation. In addition Telcos run large data centre
operations to support their own, very significant IT requirements. As a
consequence, Telcos have the instincts and experience to create and ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES | 10/25/2010
deliver IaaS services, and such services have become the mainstay of
many Telco Cloud service portfolios.

Telco SaaS Services


Partnerships with large software companies and ISVs are typically an
essential component of this kind of Telco service.

Telco CaaS Services


The thrust of CaaS services is to move the Telco up the value chain,
from a lines and minutes provider – or a reseller of third party on-
premise solutions – to a provider of value added communications
solutions. Unified communications and collaboration applications take
centre stage. Many collaboration solutions can be bought individually: voice conferencing; video conferencing;

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telepresence. Unified communications is underpinned by a SIP Centrex (also known as IP Centrex or Hosted PBX)
service. The service agility and flexibility implied by cloud – unified communications, fixed/mobile convergence and
the ability to scale capacity easily – is the attraction to the mid market.

One Access Boosts the Cloud


The OneAccess approach to Cloud services enables service providers to take control of cloud serviced delivery over
the wide area network (WAN) in both public and private cloud deployments, ensuring Quality of experience.

Quality of Experienc e for C loud Services


WAN acceleration enables application performance improvements for both Public and Private Cloud deployments. A
state of the art deep packet inspection engine provides high visibility of customers’ network activity. As the SaaS
application traffic is detected the appropriate quality of services and WAN optimisation is automatically applied in
accordance with predefined policies. The transparent integration of WAN acceleration with router-based QoS
techniques and MPLS provides application level assurance for service delivery to both SME and large enterprises. This
enables service providers to broaden their market reach, add value, differentiate their service offering and provide
LAN-like speeds for applications such as SaaS. The management of application traffic flows across the WAN with
integrated QoS for control of TCP and UDP traffic ensures low priority or recreational traffic doesn’t impact end
user productivity in the Cloud. This is especially valuable in failover scenarios where backup links have restricted
bandwidth, for example a 3G broadband connection.

CaaS Servic e Deliv ery


A session border control (SBC) capability ensures interoperability between the enterprise SIP environment and SIP
Centrex applications deployed from the cloud. Dial-Tone Continuity adds a disaster recovery option to their centrex
service or creates differentiation in the offer by delivering higher service level agreements. OneAccess platforms
automatically detect network failure and assume local call control functions.

Sec ure Acc ess to Public and Private C lou ds


OneAccess platforms provide flexible secure access, enabling using SSL and IPSEC encryption over Public Clouds
with integrated NAT translation and Firewall. MPLS VPN support provides added security for Public Clouds off-net.
The SBC capability provides an added level of SIP security to the enterprise for users of SIP Centrex applications,
managing SIP sessions, NAT translation and firewall transversal, and SIP phone registration.
ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES | 10/25/2010

Rapid and S imp le Servic e Dep loyment


Full mass customisation of OneAccess products allows Cloud providers to specify software and hardware
configurations, and have the product factory-built to order. This removes the cost and delay of pre-configuration by
the service provider. This avoids the need to stage the equipment before the actual installation is done at the customer
premises for rapid and simple service deployment

Introducing the One1000 Series


As addressed in the previous section, the entire portfolio of OneAccess Multi-service Access Routers is Cloud-ready,
offering a powerful cross-platform portfolio of value-added Cloud features and functions. The new ONE1000 Series
of Multi-service Access Routers is purpose designed for service providers capitalising on the most challenging of
emerging cloud services. Collapsing three hardware platforms into one - Router, SBC and App Processor – the

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ONE1000 series protects service provider margins and enhances service flexibility, whilst delivering an improved
Cloud experience to end users.

The ONE1000 Series extends the existing range of ONE access routers, adding dual core network processors to
boost performance; and high speed symmetrical broadband uplinks with Gigabit Ethernet and GPON as standard.
The new processing architecture has a dual purpose: it provides accelerated IP routing to match the expanded,
symmetrical uplinks; and it concurrently provisions an App Processor, running Cloud apps such as Application
Acceleration and Security-as-a-Service, plus other value added applications designed to enhance service delivery and
user experience.

Today’s applications include SBC Nano® and Integrated Business Communications® (IBC), adding richness,
assurance and simplicity to new Cloud and value added service introductions. Also with Dial Tone Continuity®,
sophisticated IP Quality of Service and flexible IP VPN as standard, the ONE1500 is a one box solution for unified
voice and data services.

The ONE1000 Series is scaled to provide sophisticated, symmetrical broadband, value added voice and data services
to a range of mid market businesses. Embedded security and high availability is common to all scenarios. It is a perfect
fit for operators targeting medium sized enterprises, or branch offices of large enterprises, with a portfolio of
managed and value-added Cloud based services up to and including SIP Centrex. All this whilst setting a new green
benchmark for low power consumption.

Summar y
To summarise, this whitepaper describes some of the opportunities and challenges that are encountered by operators
when they deploy Cloud based services. Cost effective solutions, which improve the user experience, enhance
security and simplify cloud service provisioning will be very compelling for end customers.

The OneAccess platform provides a unique value proposition which enable the rapid provisioning of cloud services,
whilst protecting service provider margins. It combines a Multi-service Access Router, Session Border Controller and
App Processor in a single CPE device. It is designed to provide service richness and service assurance for both voice
and data based cloud services.

ACCELERATE CLOUD SERVICES | 10/25/2010

LEADING INNOVATION IN TELCO MANAGED SERVICES

OneAccess is a leading manufacturer of multi-service routers and carrier Ethernet access devices enabling major
telecoms service providers to deliver business-grade managed services profitably. OneAccess supplies routers to over
100 service providers including 4 of the top 5 largest telecoms operators in Europe. For more information visit
www.oneaccess-net.com

OneAccess, Immeuble Expansion 10000, 28 rue de la Redoute, 92260 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France


Phone: +33 (0)1.41.87.70.00 | Fax: +33 (0)1.41.87.74.00

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