Alison McCallum, cloud computing business development manager, HP EMEA looks at the way forward for cloud computing

In today’s marketplace customers require flexible datacenter infrastructures that can rapidly adjust to meet their changing business needs. Two key technologies are helping to provide that flexibility virtualisation and cloud computing. This article discusses what each of these technologies can bring to customers who are looking to match their IT infrastructure more closely to their business requirements.

Virtualisation – increase usage from 20% to 70% and more
Virtualisation is technology which can be applied to make the best use of data centre assets, in particular servers, storage and networking. The key to reaping the rewards and full potential of a virtualised in-house infrastructure is to virtualise the data centre from end-to-end in an orchestrated fashion, and doing so on a routine basis, flexibly and quickly. And ideally combined with automated provisioning and system management

The results are that rather than having server and storage utilisation rates below 20%, virtualisation helps organisations to increase infrastructure ROI and pushes utilisation rates up above 70%. Many businesses have so far concentrated on server virtualisation, but returns from a converged architecture which virtualises storage, networking and management are often even greater. For example, the positives achieved through server virtualisation could be made redundant by ineffective or inadequate storage management.

To achieve the true benefits of convergence, you need storage solutions that easily accommodate data growth and align tightly to business applications. A virtual storage infrastructure can nearly double capacity utilisation and decrease the costs of management, sometimes by 50%. Every organisation should be actively using virtualisation to make the most of what it has.

Cloud computing – what if I got rid of my data centre?
Cloud computing, on the other hand, is defined as providing users with global access to highly scalable and flexible IT resources that can be turned on and off whenever a business desires while paying only for what they use.  Cloud computing is a shift towards an “Everything as a Service” model where services are provided over the internet or “from the cloud” and consumed as and when required without needing a company-run data centre.

Cloud-based storage offerings are beginning to change how companies commoditize and store exponential amounts of data. For businesses to get the best return from these offerings, the hardware infrastructure requires servers and storage designed from the ground up to work in harmony to deliver the scalability, reliability and flexibility that is demanded.

Cloud Computing and virtualisation can be combined
Utilised together cloud computing and virtualisation can work in harmony and definitely complement each other, although they are not necessarily wedded technologies.  Cloud computing and virtualisation overlap as it is clear that cloud solutions are dependent on and leverage virtualisation to deliver their services. Organisations who are not yet ready to adopt cloud based solutions can still use end to end virtualisation combined with automation and managementsoftware to get much better returns and results from their internal infrastructure.

For example, to be able to provide this style of ‘use what you need, pay only for what you use’, cloud computing providers will have to use virtualisation. It is the only way they will get the flexibility in their infrastructure to be able to deliver the service the end user wants at an affordable price. This applies whether the provider is external (public or shared cloud) or internal (private cloud).

Entering the cloud can be a daunting experience for many and support is often required. HP offers a number of cloud services to customers, such as discovery workshops and a roadmap service, which help businesses develop their own approach to the cloud and identify the best way for them to utilise the technology. This can be anything from providing cloud services, sourcing cloud services or deploying an internal cloud computing infrastructure.

A fully converged infrastructure, one that delivers a technology environment that rapidly adjusts to meet changing needs, is very much the choice for users looking to deploy more effective solutions as well as providers looking to build large scale cloud solutions.