Cloud reference materials – for free…
HP and Microsoft have jointly defined a Departmental Private Cloud Reference Architecture based on best-in-class HP Converged Infrastructure and Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V and System Center. This site may be useful for those going who are closely aligned with Microsoft’s approach to cloud computing.
There is also other reference architecture and materials sites like:
- HP AppSystem for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Parallel Data Warehouse
- HP AppSystems for SAP HANA
- HP AppSystem for Vertica
There are also a few free books at the HP Book Store, including:
CRM, Cloud computing, 2013 and changes in IT spending
Recently Gartner put out a press release saying Cloud and CRM will drive enterprise software spending in 2013 and 2014. I found this focus on CRM a bit confusing based on all the other demands on spending. One of the interesting areas is the use of private clouds. HP has some new hardware coming out soon that should be of interest to anyone interested in cloud hardware.
See if moonshot will be right for you. Many of the issues defined as tech trends, should be addressed more effectively and economically by the moonshot approach than traditional hardware.
There is more to BPO automation than just replacing people expense
The post made the case for replacing people in processes with automation – automation in services is something I’ve mentioned many times before.
What the HfS post didn’t cover is the role that people can and must play even in a highly automated environment. Automation is good at handling situations that are fairly well understood. What agent techniques are not good at is knowing what to do when there is not sufficient information or the patterns identified are not well understood. This is a role where humans excel.
When performing automation it can be as important identifying what is unusual and how to bring attention to the situation. Human augmentation of automation is as important as the automation itself. Effectively bringing people into the situation to make decisions is an example of scarce resource optimization that is so important in a world of IT abundance. The people involved will have to be knowledge workers who are ready for a dynamic environment that addresses anomalies and be able to describe how their involvement can be replaced by automation in the future.
Agile Manager Beta
HP Agile Manager is a SaaS-based solution for organizing, planning and executing agile projects. It is purpose-built and designed specifically to serve agile teams. It leverages a native cloud architecture for instant-on access and boasts a clean, intuitive design offering technology innovations that minimize latency, aids the adoption of agile practices and fosters continuous improvement. There is even an Agile Manager support community to collaborate with others learning about the service.
Some key features:
- Advanced visualization for easy planning, task allocation, and capacity management
- Comprehensive analytics and real-time visibility into code, quality, and progress
- Seamless IDE integration so developers can work in the environment they prefer
- Insight across projects, teams, and geographies to successfully scale agile efforts
I’ve not had my hands on it yet myself, but it does sound interesting, since I’ve been using agile techniques since long before the term agile was applied to software development.
Misconceptions about private cloud
- Virtualization
- Just about cost reduction
- On-Premise
- Only IaaS
- Always going to be private
This was a good list of things to keep in mind. I have to dispute the last one a bit though, since many times organizations as they get larger will move to a private cloud to keep costs down and have greater control over their SLAs. For the variable part of the workload, public cloud can be more effective though, since you may be able to structure the environment so you only pay for that variable portion.
I would add a few more that we discussed in a #convcloud twitter session the other day.
- Private clouds are not always the security answer – Organizations that use private cloud still have to address security concerns. It may be within the organizations firewall… But remember most security leaks are inside jobs.
- Private clouds are not always the best way to get started with cloud – They are definitely a way to get started, but many organizations do public cloud first and then as they understand their demand develop a private cloud.
- Private clouds don’t need SLAs – Just like any shared resources, there need to be rules and an understanding of how the environment is working and value is being generated. Metrics will serve a key role in the on-going care and feeding of a private cloud.
Are there things about private cloud that you believe the market is confused about?
