Heads in the cloud

Verizon is shutting down two public cloud services and telling users to move their workloads by April 12, 2016 according to @Kennwhite’s Tweet from February 11.

Verizon will discontinue its Public Cloud Reserved Performance and Marketplace services. As an alternative Verizon will offer its Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to customers. Verizon says VPC provides the cost effectiveness of a multi-tenant public cloud, but includes added levels of configuration, control and support. It claims this will improve isolation and control for more advanced businesses. Customers that don’t move face data loss as Verizon warns that no data or content will be retained.
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In early 2015, insights from Beyond Infrastructure: Cloud 2.0 Signifies New Opportunities for Cloud Service Providers were released detailing the future of cloud service providers and Managed Service Providers. Key findings include:

• The highest expectations when moving to hosted services or cloud computing are gaining improved technology quality on platforms and applications, helping to grow the business, improved availability and better business service.
• Within two years, 34% of enterprises will have 60% or more of their applications on a cloud platform. 47% of marketing departments will have 60% or more of their applications on a cloud platform in two years.
• 63% of all enterprises surveyed are running an on-premises private cloud with a hosted private cloud. 45% using an on-premises private cloud with a public cloud. 32% have a hosted private cloud integrated to a public cloud.
• CIO/CTOs are the most influential C-level executives regarding purchasing decisions related to cloud-based Application Development and IT Operations/Administration apps. CEOs are the most influential regarding cloud-based marketing app adoption.

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Managed hosting and cloud computing service provider, Logicworks published a blog recently on why cloud MSPs are software companies. We asked our CTO Alex Bligh and VP of Product Marco Meinardi to comment on it. Here is Alex Bligh’s comments.
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As part of our expert advice series, we asked some cloud industry experts to offer their advice for service providers trying to compete in today’s market. Here is what they had to say:

• John Zanni, Senior Vice President of Cloud and Hosting Sales, Acronis

Focus on:

• A good reputation – Make sure your datacenter has a good reputation. That you have great support with human contact 24/7. Have a phone number to call if you customer needs help or at least live chat It is their business at stake.

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From price to features and functionality, geography to capacity, selecting a cloud service provider can be confusing. We asked some cloud industry experts to offer their advice when evaluating a cloud service provider. Here is what they had to say:

• Paul Burns, Neovise, @Neovise

Start by taking a close look at the entire portfolio of applications you are considering moving to a public cloud. It is likely that these applications will correspond to a wide variety of cloud requirements. For example, some applications may demand high performance or proximity to a particular geographic region. Others may only need minimal service levels and can benefit from low prices. From here you have a couple choices in terms of strategy. You can spread the applications across multiple service providers – and deal with the additional management overhead. Or, you may be able to find a very flexible provider to meet all of your needs. For instance, some providers offer both virtual and bare metal servers, which makes it far easier to host a wider variety of applications.

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