tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4606020039348391272024-03-05T12:31:26.221-06:00openTHEORIEOpen Public Education Network of The Operations Research and Industrial Engineering disciplineEmrah Zarifogluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07378098364641271854noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-9767690518502013792013-01-28T16:05:00.001-06:002013-01-28T16:05:53.555-06:00Who Controls the Cloud Market – Providers or Consumers?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">We first went from reserving cloud capacity to securing capacity on-demand, and then we even started to bid for unused capacity in the spot market – all in an effort to decrease cost in the cloud. Can we take this one step further? </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Instead of us bidding for capacity, wouldn’t it be interesting if we can get providers to bid for our demand?</em><br />
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Retail Supply Chain Market Analogy</strong></h3>
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In fact, this is a common phenomena in the retail supply chain industry. For example, Walmart has a large amount of freight that needs to be shipped between different cities over the course of the year. So, every year an auction is conducted in which Walmart lists all their shipments, and carriers such as JB Hunt, Schneider, Yellow etc. bid for the opportunity to carry these shipments using their fleet of trucks. The reason carriers are bidding for retailer demand is because in general, <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">capacity exceeds demand in the retail industry</strong>.</div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cloud Computing Market</strong></h3>
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Keeping this in mind, let us now take a look at the Cloud Computing Market. Does capacity exceed demand or is it the other way around? A quick way to find out is by observing spot prices in the cloud market. In today’s market, <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/spot-instances/" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Amazon’s Spot Instances</a> are 86% cheaper than their on-demand instances, and <a href="http://spotcloud.com/" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Enomaly’s SpotCloud</a> also shows lower spot prices across the board. This leads us to believe that <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">capacity exceeds demand in the cloud market as well</strong>. A related indicator is the predominance of data center consolidation initiatives in both the commercial and government marketplaces.</div>
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Since capacity exceeds demand, consumers have an upper hand and are in control of the cloud market at the moment. Moreover, they should be able to replicate what is being done in the retail supply chain industry. In other words, cloud consumers should be able to auction off their demand to the best fit lowest price cloud provider.</em></div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So, …</strong></h3>
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Consumers should seize the opportunity and control the market while the odds are in their favor i.e. Demand < Capacity. At the same time, Service Integrators and Value Added Resellers can help Enterprise IT consumers in this process by conducting Primary-Market auctions using Cloud Service Brokerage technology.</div>
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Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-45605194816475544022012-07-27T07:23:00.000-05:002012-07-30T11:55:20.439-05:00Cloud Technology Spectrum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Doesn't it make you cringe when people use the term cloud brokerage when they really mean cloud marketplace? Or, when they say they provide virtualization management whereas they really provide cloud management services? A number of such cloud terms are used interchangeably every day, but the challenge is that cloud terminology has yet to reach steady state.<br />
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In this article, we hope to clarify a few cloud technology terms using <em>Level of Integration</em> as the criteria.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CloudTechSpectrum_v2.png"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-711" height="375" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CloudTechSpectrum_v2.png" title="Cloud Technology Spectrum" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Note that each layer builds upon the layer below it, thus leading to a spectrum of cloud technologies - aka - <strong>The Cloud Technology Spectrum</strong>. The table below shows some of the key providers in each layer of the spectrum.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CloudTechSpectrum_Vendors_v21.png"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-712" height="351" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CloudTechSpectrum_Vendors_v21.png" title="Cloud Spectrum Vendors" width="640" /></a></div><br />
There are a number of other providers as well, and some providers in fact go over multiple layers of the spectrum. <strong>But the point here is to note that in order for any technology to claim to be in a specific layer, it should effectively integrate at least one item from each of the layers below.</strong><br />
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When deciding to migrate to the cloud, it is important for consumers to know where in the spectrum they would end up if they purchased some piece of cloud technology, and how much additional effort would be required on their part. The Cloud Technology Spectrum helps in this step of the process.<br />
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Go to <a href="http://www.opentheorie.org/2011/12/cloud-deployment-tree.html" target="_blank">Cloud Deployment Tree</a> for a view of the different cloud deployment options...</div>Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-32976912169095688132012-04-30T14:25:00.000-05:002012-05-01T15:21:12.101-05:00Secure Environment for Federal Government Cloud Pilot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
How is the Federal government hoping to achieve the $12 Billion in projected annual savings? This projection was quoted by the MeriTalk Cloud Computing Exchange and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2012/04/30/cloud-could-cut-12-billion-from-us-government-annual-deficit-study/" target="_blank">published today</a> by Forbes.com, and it doesn't seem too optimistic given that the Federal government is already saving approximately $5.5 Billion per year.<br />
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These savings have been achieved by individual agencies adopting cloud solutions, but such organic growth will only go so far. In order to expand this in a generic and scalable manner, the <em><strong>Federal government would need a secure environment to test the cloud and run pilot programs</strong></em>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.gravitant.com/"><img alt="A Fire-fort?" class="size-full wp-image-647 aligncenter" height="285" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/IsolatedFort.jpg" title="Not just a Firewall... A Fire-fort!" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Key features of such an environment:</span></h3>
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<strong><strong>1. Multi-provider provisioning and compliance</strong></strong></div>
Agencies should be able to provision resources across cloud providers without having to worry about vendor lock-in. This would require the use of a brokerage platform that enables auto provisioning across providers. Monitoring would also be necessary to ensure the providers maintain SLA compliance, failing which they would be quarantined.<br />
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<strong>2. Fed certified cloud providers</strong><br />
The list of cloud providers should include those that are FedRAMP certified, or at least FISMA compliant. Agencies should be able to compare providers side by side and pick the best-fit provider. This requires standardization of cloud offerings and pricing models.<br />
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<strong>3. Integration with existing data centers private / hybrid clouds</strong><br />
Agencies should be able to interoperate between the cloud and their existing data centers and private clouds. This provides a backup plan in case the cloud solution does not succeed. For this feature, the test environment would need to be agnostic across VMware, Xen, Hyper-V, vCloud Director, etc.<br />
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<strong>4. Connectivity to existing security frameworks</strong><br />
The test environment should be integrated with the security frameworks currently used by the Federal government. In this way, valuable resources need not be wasted in re-designing a security framework that is already very efficient. Instead, resources can be assigned to enhance the existing framework with intrusion detection and intrusion prevention features.<br />
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<strong>5. Complete cost transparency</strong><br />
First of all, agencies should not be required to sign multi-year contracts with cloud providers. Secondly, the cost of cloud services should be visible at the highest level so that budgets may be allocated based on resource requirement. This allows complete auditability as well.<br />
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<strong>6. Recalibration based on historical data</strong><br />
Cloud usage data should be constantly correlated with cost to ensure that cost is minimized without impacting mission goals. This requires the test environment to be powered by advanced analytics engines for continuous recalibration through command and control.<br />
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All the above features would need to be tested by the Federal government through a pilot program before executing any major cloud migration initiatives. If successful, the test environment can then be established as the official government cloud portal which is bound to be successful because it has been built on NIST standards and governed through strict monitoring and compliance.</div>Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-64561658023399223342012-01-27T07:18:00.000-06:002012-07-27T12:52:40.805-05:00Can Clouds Plug the Ozone Hole? (pun intended…)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/CloudPlugsOzone.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-527" height="183" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/CloudPlugsOzone.png" title="CloudPlugsOzone" width="268" /></a></h2>
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Environmental protection has been a major concern over the past few years... and if it hasn't been an issue for us, it probably should be. In any case, as an IT analyst it is important to know where we fit in and scrutinize our contribution to the environment from an analytical perspective, leaving all subjectivity aside.<br />
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For those of us who are not EPA experts, let us say we can help conserve the environment by:<br />
<strong>1. Protecting the environment from pollution and habitat degradation</strong>Cloud computing does not do much when it comes to habitat degradation or water pollution, but it does play a part in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">controlling air pollution</span>. This is because physical servers are consolidated into more efficient blades and chassis in the cloud. Consolidation of resources results in less power and cooling requirements, which in turn reduces air pollution. Moreover, cloud data centers can be placed in colder parts of the world to further save on power for cooling.<br />
<strong>2. Sustaining the environment by avoiding depletion of natural resources</strong><br />
In the same way that cloud data centers can be placed in cold parts of the world, they can also be placed in remote areas with high wind (to harness wind power) or areas with more direct sunlight (for solar power). As a result, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">alternative sources of energy</span> can be used to power cloud data centers. This placement of cloud data centers away from consumers is feasible because data and compute processing is not lost over wireless networks (unlike power loss during transfer of electricity from wind farms in the West coast to consumers in the rest of the country).<br />
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<em><strong>However, there are a number of underlying assumptions that need to be satisfied for cloud to successfully deliver Green-IT...</strong></em><br />
<strong>Assumption 1:</strong> Utilization of cloud resources is high and efficient.<br />
Underutilization greatly reduces the consolidation ratio from physical to cloud resources and power savings are minimal. Efficiency in the cloud can be boosted by turning VMs on/off based on demand (i.e. autoscaling) and load balancing between VMs.<br />
<em><a href="http://www.gravitant.com/" target="_blank">Gravitant's CloudMatrix</a> technology specializes in "optimizing" the cloud for consumers through a SaaS console across multiple providers.</em><br />
<strong>Assumption 2:</strong> Data being collected is summarized and compressed before storage.<br />
Otherwise, the constant collection and storage of data will lead to data obesity which brings into question "how much duplication there is and more importantly how much integrity does the data have?" (<a href="http://cloudvisions.net/wordpress/?p=87" target="_blank">CloudVisions</a>).<br />
<em><a href="http://www.hifn.com/" target="_blank">EXAR's hifn</a> technology provides data deduplication and data compression services.</em><br />
<strong>Assumption 3:</strong> Virtualization and storage caching technology is continuously improving.<br />
Otherwise, the ever increasing processing and data needs will catch up and diminish the relative benefit of the cloud.<br />
<em><a href="http://www.cisco.com/" target="_blank">Cisco</a> and <a href="http://www.emc.com/" target="_blank">EMC</a> are constantly improving their virtualization and thin provisioning technology respectively.</em><br />
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Therefore, it is safe to say that Cloud computing can deliver Green-IT provided that the right tools are used and innovation continues unabated.</div>Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-38875292237318665002011-12-20T00:44:00.001-06:002012-02-16T15:09:08.190-06:00What Do We Mean by Cloud?From Gravitant's blog.<br />
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<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/12/19/what-do-we-mean-by-cloud/">http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/12/19/what-do-we-mean-by-cloud/</a>
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<strong><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">“In all the
ambiguity of what adds value to the Cloud or what facilitates the Cloud,
Gravitant sits at the intersection of both, which makes it a pure Cloud company
with all the experience, expertise, and solutions built around the Cloud.”</span></strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">I’ve been writing mostly about what we’ve been developing for
and around the Cloud in</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> </span><a href="http://www.gravitant.com/" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;" target="_blank"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #743399; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Gravitant</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">,
recently. Now is the time to elaborate a little bit about what’s being said and
done about the Cloud outside of Gravitant. I am not intending to analyze
specific articles, rather present an overall picture of the impression I get
about what is out there and where Gravitant stands in this picture.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">As
Cloud is getting hype and determining the next generation of IT and what the
Internet constitutes of, it is getting a whole lot of attention from the actors
of the sector and beyond. While the Cloud has defined itself during its
construction with a bottom-to-top approach, recently the new actors of the
Cloud are trying to define/re-define the Cloud with a top-to-bottom view.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">The
concept of IT resource sharing can be dated back as far as the use of
mainframe, the Internet, VMware, or EC2 depending on your perception. However,
the name “Cloud” -which is cleverly set by the way- comes definitely after
commoditization of IT resources, which is very recent. Before Cloud became the
“Cloud”, standards of traditional IT had given direction to all innovative
efforts towards Cloud. These efforts have been very technical and mostly
motivated by infrastructure oriented improvements. Later on, the
commoditization of IT resources has required the business model to be well
defined. Although there is a lot of technical, infrastructural advancements
noted, probably most of the focus is in the definition of business of the
Cloud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">I have
read many blog articles, white papers and research papers about the Cloud in
addition to web content of cloud companies. If there is one thing common among
all these articles, that is what exactly could be labeled as Cloud is not very
clear. I get same kind of confusion among my colleagues as an Analytics
professional, too. Most of the time, boundaries of the field of Analytics is
not very clear. It makes sense in both cases, because their definitions of businesses
are still in progress. However, I believe certain examples could draw a more
indicative line of what could be called as a pure Cloud effort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Most
of the work branded as Cloud efforts are actually conversion of existing
desktop software to SaaS. Especially, if you search keywords “Cloud” and
“Analytics”, you will see many analytics tools as SaaS. Although I believe
every type of Cloud effort is a brick in the wall while constructing a whole
Cloud environment, I think we should start distinguishing what Cloud effort is
made “for” cloud and what Cloud effort is made by “facilitating” Cloud. So if I
have to give an example, if you convert a management software to a SaaS
application, then you are “facilitating” Cloud. If this management software is
used to manage your Cloud resources, then this is an effort made “for” Cloud.
Although there is a considerable gray area in the intersection of the both, I
hope the example makes itself clear to the reader. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Where does Gravitant stand at this intersection? First of all, Gravitant is an
established Cloud brokerage company which is enlisted by</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> </span><a href="http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=249&mode=2&PageID=864059&resId=1854315&ref=Alerts" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.5pt;" target="_blank"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #743399; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Gartner’s recent report</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">on Cloud brokerage companies. NIST
defines a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.nist.gov/manuscript-publication-search.cfm?pub_id=909505" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.5pt;" target="_blank"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #743399; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">cloud broker</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">as
“…an entity that manages the use, performance and delivery of cloud services
and negotiates relationships between cloud providers and cloud consumers.” In
the light of this definition, Gravitant’s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">CloudMatrix</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">CloudWiz</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>tools manage all traditional IT
resources and Cloud resources end to end from sourcing to provisioning and
monitoring. They include very powerful and intelligent capacity planning,
advanced monitoring and advanced analytics tools which enable enterprises to
strategically and tactically plan capacity of their IT resources on the Cloud
and in-house in addition to efficiently analyzing huge data collected from the
resources and proposing the most effective Cloud Analytics solutions. All these
efforts are made for Cloud to make Cloud a more manageable and less costly
environment for IT needs of enterprises. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">On the other side, Gravitant’s major Cloud brokerage and
management tools</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">CloudMatrix</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">and</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">CloudWiz</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">are ultimate user friendly, fast and
smart SaaS applications. They naturally run on the Cloud very efficiently,
reliably and securely. Gravitant runs all its other applications and internal
IT resources on the Cloud. So Gravitant facilitates the Cloud and has the
first-hand Cloud experience as a Cloud user.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Gravitant both adds value to the Cloud and uses it for its own
benefit. All these Cloud centric activites make Gravitant a pure Cloud company.
Gravitant’s Cloud network grows very fast day by day including<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/" target="_blank"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #743399; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Amazon</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.terremark.com/default.aspx" target="_blank"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #743399; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Terremark</span></a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.savvis.com/en-us/pages/home.aspx" target="_blank"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #743399; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Savvis</span></a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.rackspace.com/" target="_blank"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #743399; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Rackspace</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/us/en/" target="_blank"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; color: #743399; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">IBM</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">, etc.
There is a lot to learn about Gravitant’s cloud experience. If you have any
ideas, thoughts or questions to add to this discussion of what is “for” cloud
and what is “facilitating” cloud, please respond to this post or contact us so
that we can share the intellectual part of the Cloud experience together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Emrah Zarifogluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07378098364641271854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-46521274847210128752011-12-12T11:50:00.000-06:002012-07-27T12:59:21.592-05:00Cloud Deployment Tree<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The spectrum of cloud deployment models are many, and everyone has a unique combination. Follow this cloud deployment tree to identify the combination that best suits your requirements.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.gravitant.com/"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-487" height="424" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/CloudDeploymentTree21.png" title="CloudDeploymentTree2" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
We have intentionally avoided industry terminology in the tree due to lack of standardization. However, the legend can be used to map each combination to commonly used industry terms (as of today). The legend also shows industry leaders for each combination.<br />
<br />
This is the very first step in Cloud Assessment. The next step is to determine if your application would even be feasible in the cloud. Click <a href="http://www.opentheorie.org/2011/11/application-fits-in-the-cloud.html">here</a> to see if your application would be a good fit in the cloud...</div>Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-67468022844232328942011-12-07T06:16:00.000-06:002012-02-28T19:17:53.668-06:00Gravitant published in latest Gartner Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
What makes a Cloud Services Broker (CSB)?<br />
Gartner identifies three primary roles that qualify a company to be a CSB:<br />
<ul><br />
<li>Aggregation (across VARs, IT distributors etc)</li>
<br />
<li>Integration (with SIs etc)</li>
<br />
<li>Customization (for SIs, PS etc)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<a href="http://www.gravitant.com/"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-462 alignleft" height="186" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Chocolate-Pie-Chart.jpg" title="Aggregating and Integrating different pieces of the pie for Custom taste..." width="290" /></a><br />
<br />
"<em>As both an enabler and a cloud brokerage, Gravitant pulls together a number of the capabilities that IT organizations, VARs and SIs, and public cloud providers can use to extend the value of their offerings.</em>" - Daryl Plummer (Gartner Analyst)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=249&mode=2&PageID=864059&resId=1854315&ref=Alerts">Full report here...</a></div>Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-91282306663075881802011-11-17T11:08:00.002-06:002012-01-26T22:54:16.861-06:00Cloud Capacity Allocation: Reserved vs. On-Demand Capacity or How I Managed to Get over with Black Friday Rush<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">From Gravitant's blog.</span><br />
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/11/17/cloud-capacity-allocation-reserved-vs-on-demand-capacity-or-how-i-managed-to-get-over-with-black-friday-rush/">http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/11/17/cloud-capacity-allocation-reserved-vs-on-demand-capacity-or-how-i-managed-to-get-over-with-black-friday-rush/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">The shopping season just
arrived and who knows how much pressure is on the shoulders of IT
administrators of e-commerce companies. Competition is tough so if one has to
wait more than a couple of seconds to view a deal, he or she can easily move on
to some other website to get them all. So the clock is ticking and all the
e-commerce websites are supposed to have the resources to fulfill the oncoming
demand. Thanks to the cloud, these problems are behind. And thanks to Advanced
Analytics team of Gravitant, the related cost-cutting solutions are provided to
enterprises as a part in our cloud domain. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">Commoditization of computing via cloud allows IT demand to be
fulfilled in time. Ideally, it is possible to acquire the required resources
whenever the demand occurs. Obviously, this would be the perfect policy to
replenish IT resources regardless of budget constraints. However, putting
technical difficulties and lead times aside, supplying demand on time is not
very practical and smart when cost and alternative pricing models of the
suppliers are considered. Most cloud providers offer lower rates for bulk cloud
procurements. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">Practical concerns and budget considerations force enterprises
to make a three dimensional IT capacity procurement decision in the cloud.
Following are the right questions to ask while making these decisions:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How
much capacity to reserve at the beginning?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When to
order additional capacity?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How
much additional capacity should be ordered each time?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Among these three questions, the last two are the easiest to
answer as long as we know the answer to the first question. The combined answer
to the last two questions is to order the excess demand whenever it occurs. So
the first question remains, “what should the reserved capacity be?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we assume the preferred cloud provider prices its cloud
uniformly, which means it does not implement any bulk pricing and there are no
fixed costs per order and no lead times, then it only makes sense to order equivalent
to demand quantity whenever there is a demand realization, hence zero reserved
capacity. However, the real world does not work exactly this way so we have to
keep some reserved capacity to minimize cost and deal with uncertain technical
and business problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are a couple of alternative approaches to solving this
problem with operations research and advanced analytics techniques. We can
either solve the problem with a deterministic optimization approach or
implement Markov Decision Process regarding stochasticity. In the next blog
article on this topic, I will discuss these alternative approaches in detail
and give an idea of what solutions Gravitant offers to enterprises on the issue
of reserved vs. on-demand capacity in the cloud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Emrah Zarifogluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07378098364641271854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-4244397619224282842011-11-02T10:13:00.000-05:002012-07-27T13:00:21.898-05:00Part 2 - Your application would be a GREAT FIT in the Cloud if...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h3><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SquareW.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-421" height="268" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SquareW.png" title="SquareW" width="173" /></a><strong>1. Your application is fairly isolated from other applications</strong></h3>Typical examples of isolated applications are CRM, messaging, and other custom built applications. On the other hand, traditional ERP applications are tightly woven with others and hence might require re-architecting the application to fit the cloud.<br />
<br />
<strong>Alternative:</strong> In most cases your application is probably somewhere between <em>isolated</em> and <em>completely integrated</em> with other applications. In this case, here are some options based on the nature of the dependency:<br />
<ol><li>Communication channel dependency - Create a distributable communication channel that is secure</li>
<li>Architecture dependency - Make a copy of the shared layer for the cloud</li>
<li>Single sign-on security - Upgrade single sign-on to support remote sign-on</li>
</ol>If none of these options are feasible, then either both applications would need to be migrated to the cloud or both should remain as is.<br />
<br />
<strong> </strong><br />
<h3><strong>2. Your application architecture is cloud friendly</strong></h3>Any application on an x86 platform would work well in the cloud regardless of the operating system. If the application is on some platform other than x86 and you still want to go cloud, then you would need to re-architect the application to the x86 platform before you begin migration.<br />
<br />
Also, if the online-architecture is web based or client server, then your application is more cloud friendly. Moreover, if the online-architecture is heterogeneous from the batch-architecture, then your application is even more cloud friendly.<br />
<br />
<strong>Alternative: </strong>If your application is on any other platform (such as Sun Sparc, Power PC, or Mainframe), then it might be a better candidate for managed hosting. Another reason to opt for managed hosting is if your servers require software licenses that can only be tied to physical cores.<br />
<br />
<h3><strong>3. Your application security requirements are satisfied by FISMA compliance</strong></h3>Some cloud providers are FISMA (Federal Information Security Management Act) certified which ensures they are satisfying all the Federal security standards as measured by NIST. In addition to FISMA compliance, security can be further enhanced by engaging managed services for security on the cloud (like <a href="http://www.netforensics.com/">netForensics</a>).<br />
<br />
<strong>Alternative: </strong>If it is necessary for all the data and/or hardware to be located on-site, then a private cloud or a public/private hybrid may be an option.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.opentheorie.org/2011/09/application-feasibility-in-public-cloud.html"><- Back to Part 1 - Your application may NOT YET be ready for the Public Commodity Cloud if...</a></div>Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-75309308946146028372011-10-11T11:51:00.000-05:002012-02-28T19:21:18.483-06:00Creating a Virtual Machine on/off schedule<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/on-off.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-391" height="172" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/on-off.png" title="on-off" width="173" /></a><strong>“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a schedule to automatically turn VMs on or off at certain times of the day?”</strong> I’ve heard this from many of our clients, and this is definitely an interesting optimization problem. Since most providers price by VM hours, one always needs to make sure not to end up with VM sprawl. The fact that licensing on these VMs are also priced by the hour doesn’t help either. So, yeah VM scheduling would be great but where do we start?<br />
<br />
Actually, it isn't very complicated because most of us use load balancers anyway. The load balancers are monitoring VM utilization (through connection count) and can thus keep track of times when all the VMs are underutilized. Dr. Zarifoglu, in his <a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/09/26/an-analytic-approach-to-solving-load-balancing-problem-in-the-cloud/">load balancing article</a>, identified thresholds for turning VMs on or off based on the workload. So, turning one or more VMs off is simply an additional step after load balancing!<br />
<br />
This leads to two possible approaches for VM Scheduling:<br />
<strong>Dynamic scheduling</strong> – where VMs are automatically turned on or off based on demand and threshold policies, or<br />
<strong>Static scheduling</strong> – where one would simply monitor VM utilization over time and come up with a user defined schedule that doesn’t change.<br />
<br />
<em>Obviously, the best approach would be to have a hybrid solution where the static schedule is automatically modified at fixed time intervals (say weekly) and is executed only after being approved by an administrator. See Gravitant’s <a href="http://www.gravitant.com/products/service-governor.html">CloudMatrix – Policy Manager</a> for more details on managing VMs in the cloud.</em><br />
<em><br /></em><br />
<h2>
Caveat</h2>
The caveat is that most cloud providers don’t allow simply turning VMs on or off (except for <a href="http://www.opsource.net/">OpSource</a> and <a href="http://www.terremark.com/default.aspx">Terremark</a>). Most providers will charge for stopped VMs as well, unless the VM is ‘deleted’. So, an alternate process for turning a VM off (with the expectation of turning it on again at some point in time in the future) is to first create an image of the VM and save it in the backup storage space, and then ‘delete’ the VM. In order to turn this VM back on, a new VM needs to be created and then the image from backup storage needs to be installed on the new VM before it can become functional.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Alternatives</h2>
As a result, the process of turning VMs on or off may be not be time and cost efficient. However, here are a few alternate ways to do this:<br />
<strong> (1) Go with a cloud provider like <a href="http://www.opsource.net/">OpSource</a></strong> that allows VMs to be turned on or off at the click of a button and doesn’t charge for VMs that are turned off. (Note that there is a small fee for storage space occupied by the VM).<br />
<strong> (2) Go with a cloud provider like <a href="http://www.terremark.com/default.aspx">Terremark</a></strong> that doesn’t even price by VM. However, they would still charge for the OS licensing and storage if the VM was turned on at any point in time during the month.<br />
<strong> (3) Go with any cloud provider but subscribe to an automated backup and restore service.</strong> <a href="http://www.gravitant.com/">Gravitant</a> expects to provide this capability in its CloudMatrix console in early 2012.<br />
<br />
For more information, go to <a href="http://www.gravitant.com/">www.gravitant.com</a>.</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-38572605863249462372011-09-26T13:46:00.001-05:002012-01-26T22:51:34.733-06:00An Analytic Approach to Solving Load Balancing Problem in the Cloud<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">From Gravitant's blog.</span></span><br />
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/09/26/an-analytic-approach-to-solving-load-balancing-problem-in-the-cloud/">http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/09/26/an-analytic-approach-to-solving-load-balancing-problem-in-the-cloud/</a></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IT management moves into a new dimension by the Cloud. In
traditional IT, most of the cost generation occurs in procurement of resources,
provisioning and maintenance. By nature, the cost generation is fairly static
in traditional IT. Fixed cost of hardware and data centers and stable variable
maintenance and provisioning costs contribute to this static cost structure.
Cloud’s dynamic nature affects cost management of enterprises in the Cloud,
too. Pricing strategies of cloud providers go along with principle of cloud as
a utility. Although many pricing options have a fixed portion for a reserved
capacity, the usage based cost is always a significant and varying part of
enterprise cloud costs. This dynamic cost structure increases the importance of
intelligent provisioning and management.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My previous article, “</span><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/07/28/cloud-sourcing-optimization-a-conceptual-model-discussion/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cloud Sourcing
Optimization: A Conceptual Model Discussion</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”, in Gravitant’s blog,
introduces Gravitant’s efforts in optimization in Cloud analytics. The next of
the series is investigating analytic solution approaches to solving load
balancing problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The underlying problem is simply to determine when to turn off a
virtual machine (VM) due to low utilization without allowing utilization of any
VM to exceed a certain threshold level by turning on a new VM. The aim is to
keep VM utilization within a reasonable band to minimize provisioning cost
while satisfying workload demand. The question is what the “optimal” high-mark
and low-mark utilization values to turn on and off VMs are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The obvious decision variables in a corresponding optimization
problem are high-mark utilization value, low-mark utilization value, whether an
existing VM is turned off due to low utilization, and whether a new VM is
created due to high utilization of any VM. Each turned of VM creates an extra load
of work on the rest of the VMs. Each new VM shares the load of a high-utilized
VM. Objective is to minimize total cost of provisioning. Set of
constraints can be summarized in three groups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1- High-mark utilization: New utilization of the remaining VMs
after adding the used capacity of low-utilization VMs should be lower than
high-mark utilization value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2- Low-mark utilization: Any VM should have a utilization more
than low-mark utilization value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3- New VM creation: If a VM has a higher-than-high-mark
utilization, then a new VM is created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because there are both binary and continuous variables, the
optimization model tends to be a mixed integer programming model. However,
since the first set of constrains is quadratic, the exact definition of the
model is quadratically constrained mixed integer programming model. Some
straightforward enumeration over the set of VMs will help linearize the
constraint. Therefore, we will have a mixed integer linear programming model.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although this static model may seem restrictive in a setting
with a varying amount of demand for virtual machines to meet under budget
limitations, it has ability to roll over time and transform into a dynamic
model which would fit very well to the span of provisioning and the nature of
the Cloud. The utilization band in which VMs are allowed to operate changes
dynamically and provides a flexible space for decision makers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This article reveals the tip of the iceberg of the analytic
solutions which Gravitant offers as a cloud brokerage and management company
for the enterprises. Our set of analytic solutions that help enterprises move
into and operate in the Cloud will continue to grow and evolve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Emrah Zarifogluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07378098364641271854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-11573420269888400022011-09-13T12:24:00.000-05:002012-07-27T12:57:52.731-05:00Part 1 - Your application may NOT YET be ready for the Public CommodityCloud if...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><strong>1. Your application demand is very stable and doesn't fluctuate much</strong><br />
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/acvsdc.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-340" height="122" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/acvsdc.png" title="acvsdc" width="150" /></a>If your servers are not under utilized, then you are better off keeping things the way they are, unless you want to plan for disasters or other unplanned events. This is because cloud pricing models are geared for elastic computing. It would be more expensive to provision 4 VMs than to run 4 servers in-house. The benefits of provisioning fewer VMs and using burst capabilities will only be realized if such demand fluctuations are expected.<br />
<br />
<em><strong>Alternative:</strong> Look for cloud providers (like <a href="http://www.terremark.com/default.aspx">Terremark</a>) that price by usage (regardless of the number of VMs provisioned).</em><br />
<br />
<strong>2. Your application's licenses can only be tied to physical cores</strong><br />
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/lockedcomputer.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-345" height="126" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/lockedcomputer.png" title="lockedcomputer" width="146" /></a>Many software licenses have not yet made the shift to the world of virtual machines. For example, Oracle licenses can only operate on a fixed physical core, whereas virtualization technology was developed precisely to separate the physical layer from the software layer. If Oracle is installed on a VM, the VM would be assigned to certain physical core(s) at one point in time and some other core(s) at some other point in time, which would violate Oracle licensing rules.<br />
<br />
<em><strong>Alternative:</strong> Look for cloud providers (like <a href="http://www.savvis.com/en-US/Pages/Home.aspx">Savvis</a>) that have managed hosting servers which share a VLAN with their cloud. In this way, Oracle can be installed on the managed hosting server while the rest of the application can be deployed on the cloud.</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/buyvsrent.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-334" height="150" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/buyvsrent-150x150.png" title="buyvsrent" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"><strong>3. Your application stores a very large amount of data on the cloud</strong></span>With storage disks getting cheaper by the day (1TB for $80), it is becoming increasingly cheaper to store large amounts of data in-house rather than pay for cloud storage every month. This is because cloud storage is typically priced per GB per hour.<br />
<span style="line-height: 19px;"> </span><br />
<br />
<em><span style="line-height: 19px;"><strong>Alternative:</strong> Share data storage with other customers using <a href="http://www.symform.com/">Symform</a> (or any other similar technology) that breaks up the data into a number of encrypted parts and then stores them in the other customer's data centers. This gives the benefits </span><span style="line-height: 19px;">of elasticity without paying too much for it. It also increases security of data in the cloud because no one can use the data without having all the parts and being able to decrypt all of them.</span></em><br />
<br />
<strong>4. Your application transfers a large amount of data in or out of the cloud</strong><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/hourglass.png"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-335" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/hourglass-150x150.png" title="hourglass" /></a>Most cloud providers price their bandwidth by GBs transferred per month. This would be very costly for applications that stream large data files on a regular basis.<br />
<br />
<em><strong>Alternative:</strong> Look for cloud providers that price by Mbps of dedicated network throughput. This is typically found in enterprise cloud providers like <a href="http://www.savvis.com/en-US/Pages/Home.aspx">Savvis</a> and <a href="http://www.terremark.com/default.aspx">Terremark</a>.</em><br />
<br />
<strong>5. You do not have the capability of managing your VMs any better than you do your servers</strong><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/commandandcontrol.png"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-343" height="122" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/commandandcontrol-150x122.png" title="commandandcontrol" width="150" /></a>The ease of provisioning VMs as and when necessary can also lead to VM sprawl if not managed appropriately.<br />
<br />
<em><strong>Alternative:</strong> Subscribe to a cloud management console that can not only auto provision VMs when necessary, but also schedule VMs to be turned off after use. Gravitant's <a href="http://www.gravitant.com/">cloudMatrix</a> uses predictive analytics to create dynamic workload schedules that change over time based on historic demand trends.</em><br />
<h4><a href="http://www.opentheorie.org/2011/11/application-fits-in-the-cloud.html">Go to -> Part 2 - Your application would be a GREAT FIT in the Cloud if...</a><strong> </strong></h4></div>Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-76591248802059238312011-07-28T15:53:00.002-05:002012-01-26T22:48:36.288-06:00Cloud Sourcing Optimization: A Conceptual Model Discussion<span class="Apple-style-span">From Gravitant's blog.</span><br />
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/07/28/cloud-sourcing-optimization-a-conceptual-model-discussion/">http://blog.gravitant.com/2011/07/28/cloud-sourcing-optimization-a-conceptual-model-discussion/</a></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cloud computing brings up
new cost cutting, improved flexibility and increased elasticity opportunities
for enterprises. While these are the main marketing features of the cloud, the
evaluation and comparison of the vendors has not been straight forward so far.
Thanks to</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>CloudWiz</i> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">of
Gravitant, we are able to quantify the features of vendors, evaluate them and
compare them in a practical, analytical and user friendly manner. As the cloud
space gets larger, and decision making steps become more complicated, we will
need to add more intelligence to our decision making in cloud migration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The potential optimization problems may arise in several parts
of the cloud space, such as cloud sourcing problem, enterprise capacity
planning problem, vendor capacity planning and scheduling problem, vendor load
balance problem, etc. In today’s blog, I will elaborate on how to view cloud
sourcing problem as a conceptual optimization model.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After an enterprise
intends to move to the cloud, it first needs to translate its current use and
needs into cloud requirements. Some of these requirements are
quantifiable while some are not. This task is followed by matching the
requirements with multiple cloud vendors for evaluation and comparison.</span><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CloudWiz</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">takes
care of all these tedious steps in a fast, intelligent and user friendly
manner. The optimization of cloud sourcing problem is defined on these steps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In our problem space, there is one customer against multiple
cloud vendors. The decision factor is what portion of a certain computing need
to provide from a certain vendor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are potential constraints of cloud sourcing problem? Let’s
make a list of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1- Supply-demand: All demand should be satisfied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2- Hard capabilities: Selected set of vendors should carry all
the unquantifiable capabilities which are core to functioning of the
enterprise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3- Soft capabilities: Selected set of vendors should carry a
certain fraction of the unquantifiable capabilities which are secondary to
functioning of the enterprise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4- Quality of service: Each selected vendor should satisfy a
certain level of quality of service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First constraint makes sure there is no lack of supply. Second
constraint helps eliminate all infeasible members from the decision set. Third
constraint grants some flexibility to the enterprise in decision
making. Fourth constraint ensures the consistency of quality of service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What is the objective? It should definitely be measured in
dollars since we kept perhaps the most important aspect, cost, out of scope so
far. The proposed objective function is the minimization of total procurement
cost. Cloud vendors have varying pricing schemes. Therefore, building such an
objective function is a tedious task. From determining the constraints to
constructing an objective, CloudWiz provides all the inputs for such an
optimization model in a smart and clean way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let us speculate about how the optimal solution would look like.
Obviously, if there is a unique vendor which serves all the hard capabilities
and enough soft capabilities with the minimum cost, there is the winner.
Otherwise, the customer goes through the feasible vendors and starting with the
lowest priced one, picks the ones with all hard capabilities, certain number of
soft capabilities and minimum satisfying quality of service, allocating based
on cost. Although the model is defined as generic as possible, it can still be
customized for any enterprise in any conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hang on for the future
versions of the</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>CloudWiz</i> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">powered
with enhanced intelligence of optimization provided by Advanced Analytics group
at Gravitant. I will share potential optimization problems in our coming blogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Emrah Zarifogluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07378098364641271854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-41742497080461486112011-07-28T15:26:00.003-05:002012-01-26T22:46:06.094-06:00IT Capacity Planning in the Cloud and on the Ground<span class="Apple-style-span">From Gravitant's blog.</span><br />
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/2010/11/04/it-capacity-planning-in-the-cloud-and-on-the-ground/">http://blog.gravitant.com/2010/11/04/it-capacity-planning-in-the-cloud-and-on-the-ground/</a></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Capacity planning is a hype topic in IT supply chain. It is a
key requirement for companies making strategic IT decisions. The main challenge
appears to be the lack of a uniform, homogeneous measure of comparison between
IT resources. If you take the example of server capacity planning, what makes
one server better than the other? CPU power, number of processors and cores are
definitely key elements for a comparison. However, benchmarking results does
not suggest a straight forward comparison between these elements. SUN has been
using a benchmarking approach – what they call as “m-values”- for their
servers. SPEC values are the most comprehensive references for benchmarking
against competition. However, at the end of the day, all these values are
company declared and endorsed values for their own servers. Also, experimental
conditions and minor configuration changes may cause significant performance
changes as can be seen in the SPECs published.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">Recently, the capacity
planning problem has another dimension for the companies planning to move to
cloud. Either public or private, cloud computing provides a large degree of
flexibility for IT operations of companies. However, it is not as easy for the
companies who are used to keeping IT resources “in-house” to make a decision to
move to the cloud. Ignoring all the overhead, accessibility, privacy,
security and legal issues that come with the cloud, capacity planning becomes a
multi-fold complicated problem by itself. While it was not already straight
forward to compare performances of existing hardware, capacity planning brings
a much bigger challenge due to the nature of the cloud where black boxes of
resources somewhere around the world out of control of the company await to be
evaluated and configured by a company who is new to this space. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">In reality, the best way
to compare performances of the cloud and the in-house hardware would be after the
fact. However, almost no company has the luxury and resources to reserve and
make such a move to the cloud just to see how it would perform. Therefore,
strategic IT capacity planning comes into the picture as the savior of budget,
time, and energy. But our prior question still remains unanswered even in a
larger scale: “What should be the measure of performance for comparison between
the cloud and the hardware?” There are some attempts going on for comparison of
cloud providers.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> </span><a href="http://cloudharmony.com/" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cloudharmony.com</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">provides some good performance indicators for alternative cloud
providers. Their performance unit “CCU” has a good perception in the business
if you read the reviews. So one link of the chain is missing to have a good
starting base for comparison between the hardware and the cloud, which is a
relation between SPEC and CCU. I am expecting that it won’t be long before we
see some attempt through defining and measuring this relation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As strategic IT capacity planning is becoming a major
attraction, the tools to enable it on a larger scale are also making themselves
available. There is a lot to come next on this subject. Optimization and cost
minimization will and should follow every capacity planning attempt to make the
most benefit out of it. Either on the cloud or on the ground, the key to all
these strategic efforts is to have a uniform and homogeneous measure of
performance. Gravitant has developed a unique bottom to top approach in which
the performance is proportional to expected computational power of the hardware
or cloud configuration to resolve this issue. We will talk about this approach
and its outcomes in more detail in our coming blogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Emrah Zarifogluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07378098364641271854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-33684867105263038242011-07-27T14:41:00.000-05:002012-02-28T19:23:55.380-06:00Cloud Computing - 58% Average Savings Per Month<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<strong> </strong><br />
<strong>Application:</strong> CRM<br />
<strong>Environment:</strong> Production<br />
<strong>Capacity:</strong> 40 Web/App Servers, 12 DB Servers, 8 VPN Servers, 5TB Storage, 10 Mbps Bandwidth<br />
<strong>Demand:</strong> 1000 concurrent users, 3.0% growth per year<br />
<br />
<em> </em><br />
<em>Scenario results from <strong>CloudWiz</strong>:</em><br />
<em><a href="http://www.gravitant.com/cloudwiz-home.html"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-305" height="321" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/CloudSavingsTable_Summarized.png" title="CloudSavingsTable_Summarized" width="640" /></a></em><br />
<br />
To run additional scenarios (for free), please go to <a href="http://www.gravitant.com/cloudwiz-home.html">http://www.gravitant.com/cloudwiz-home.html</a><br />
<br />
*Note that these results are simply for comparison and decision support. All cost and savings results are based on publicly available data, and Gravitant is not responsible for any discrepancies in the numbers shown above. To increase the accuracy of the results from CloudWiz, please contact us to schedule a calibration meeting with our Professional Services group.</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-29784936855377156832011-06-29T13:02:00.000-05:002012-02-28T19:24:16.812-06:00Top 4 Cloud Providers on CloudWiz<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Cloud providers seem to be popping up everyday in some part of the world, but some providers are emerging as the key players by dominating all the others in one or more aspects. CloudWiz - the free cloud capacity and provider comparison tool - has enabled an apples to apples comparison of a number of providers, thus revealing the winners.<br />
<br />
<strong>Quality of Service - <em>Savvis</em></strong><br />
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/savvis.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-242" height="48" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/savvis.jpg" title="savvis" width="215" /></a>A number of compute, network, and storage benchmarks are run by CloudHarmony.org to evaluate the true performance of cloud providers. Savvis outperforms all the other providers with a QoS rating of 9.71, with GoGrid following close behind with a QoS rating of 9.64. The QoS ratings are given in terms of GQU (Gravitant Quality Units) which are explained in Gravitant's corporate website.<br />
<br />
<strong>Infrastructure Cost - <em>GoGrid</em></strong><br />
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/gogrid.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-243" height="43" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/gogrid.jpg" title="gogrid" width="144" /></a>While many commodity cloud providers price their cloud services at very low on-demand rates, GoGrid offers the best value for money by providing enterprise class services at close-to-commodity prices. GoGrid started off as a commodity cloud provider but is soon emerging as a strong competitor among enterprise cloud providers. A large application of 400 GCUs (Gravitant Compute Units) costs $ 22,491 per month at GoGrid, while Rackspace charges $24,744 per month. All other providers charge $40,000 per month or greater for the same compute capacity.<br />
<br />
<strong>Total Cost - <em>Rackspace</em></strong><br />
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/rackspace.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-245" height="66" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/rackspace.jpg" title="rackspace" width="162" /></a>The total cost includes infrastructure as well as operations and support cost. While many companies would migrate to the cloud for infrastructure savings, they would end up investing quite a bit on operations and support. This is where Rackspace truly stands out from all the others due to their 'fanatical' customer support. As a result, the total cost for 400 GCUs of cloud capacity with Rackspace is $80,941/month (for infrastructure as well as operations and support), while GoGrid charges $84,448/month. Amazon comes in next at $103,928/month and all the others charge $125,000 or more.<br />
<br />
<strong>Cloud Management - <em>Terremark</em></strong><br />
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/terremark.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-247" height="30" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/terremark.jpg" title="terremark" width="158" /></a>We've all heard of VM sprawl and how monitoring and governance is of utmost importance in the migration to cloud. Terremark has made a name for itself with a very easy to use management console, as well as its standardization with jcloud APIs. Furthermore, Terremark's pricing is package based as opposed to VM based which alleviates the need to scrupulously monitor and govern at the VM level.<br />
<br />
So, it seems like GoGrid and Rackspace dominate from a cost perspective, while Savvis and Terremark dominate with QoS and cloud management. This shouldn't come as a surprise since GoGrid and Rackspace are commodity cloud providers while Savvis and Terremark are enterprise cloud providers.<br />
<br />
Now, what if we could mix and match? What if we could migrate our mission critical LOB applications to Savvis or Terremark for the QoS and monitoring features, and at the same time deploy email exchange and some of our dev and test environments on GoGrid or Rackspace? Well, that's where the CloudWiz tool plugs into Gravitant's CloudMatrix management console that allows a consumer to provision Virtual Data Centers from different providers and then monitor and govern them across the board.<br />
<br />
See press releases at <a href="http://businesscloudnews.com/applications/351-cloudwiz-makes-cloud-evaluation-easy.html">http://businesscloudnews.com/applications/351-cloudwiz-makes-cloud-evaluation-easy.html</a><br />
<br />
For free access to CloudWiz or for more info on CloudMatrix, please email<br />
analytics-support@gravitant.com</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-57252821348042739042011-06-01T10:41:00.000-05:002012-02-28T19:24:37.907-06:00CloudWiz (beta) - A wizard based decision tool for going cloud!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Gravitant announces the release of <em>CloudWiz</em> on June 1st, 2011. Using this tool, potential customers can evaluate the option of going cloud in less than 5 minutes, thanks to the work of the Advanced Analytics group at Gravitant. Cloud hosting providers can also use this tool for onboarding new clients, while showing ROI benefits to the office of the CFO. This tool summarizes the decision of going cloud into a simple three step wizard.<br />
<br />
Step 1. Plan Capacity<br />
Step 2. Compare Vendors<br />
Step 3. Analyze ROI<br />
<br />
<em><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/CompareVendors1.png"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-234" height="614" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/CompareVendors1-1024x983.png" title="CompareVendors" width="640" /></a>"This tool truly eliminates the mist around the cloud!" - Robert Erickson, EVP of Product Management.</em><br />
<br />
Cloud providers interested in adding themselves to the list are requested to send an email to analytics-support@gravitant.com. Gravitant is also giving out limited time free access to CloudWiz...</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-83837668931082765852011-03-18T11:23:00.000-05:002012-02-28T19:25:06.069-06:00Reserved Capacity vs Usage based Capacity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As a cloud broker, Gravitant works with clients to match their needs with what different cloud providers have to offer.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.gravitant.com/products/applications/cloud-value-planner.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-205" height="224" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/reserved_parking_by_maddlouise-d39jv1i-300x224.jpg" title="reserved_parking_by_maddlouise-d39jv1i" width="300" /></a>In this process, we have noticed that most of our clients have high transaction volumes on their Dev and Test environments. However, in the Production environment, transaction volume is low with a lot of variability. This makes sense because transaction volume in the Production environment is customer driven.<br />
<br />
And most of the cloud providers we work with have lower rates per hour for dedicated capacity and higher rates per hour for usage based capacity.<br />
<br />
Therefore, the lowest cost solution for most of our clients is to go with dedicated capacity for their Dev & Test environments, and usage based capacity for their Prod environment.<br />
<br />
However, this may not be the case for all clients. Therefore, it is important to analyze historical <strong>transaction volume</strong> and <strong>utilization</strong> for each environment and application type separately in order to identify the optimal combination. Eventually, the main objective is to derive the optimal target of reserved capacity for each environment/application. More on this topic coming soon...<br />
<br />
<em>Acknowledgements:</em><br />
<em>I would like to thank Robert Jenkins, CTO of CloudSigma, for his input to this discussion.</em></div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-57810118566998358162011-03-02T10:08:00.000-06:002012-02-28T19:25:23.154-06:00Free app for Cloud Consulting!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Gravitant has just launched their Cloud Value Planner free app for Cloud Consulting...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://gravitant.com/products/business-manager/cvp.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-197" height="180" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/magic-8-ball-who-knows-789037-300x272.png" title="magic-8-ball-who-knows-789037" width="200" /></a>Customers can now simulate the capacity and cost impact of replacing their current servers with a private or public cloud. Consultants can also use this tool to show potential customers the value of going cloud.<br />
<br />
Check it out <a href="http://gravitant.com/products/business-manager/cvp.html">here</a>...</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-69401694479817141752011-02-15T09:46:00.000-06:002012-02-28T19:25:40.472-06:00Comparison of Traditional Hosting and Cloud Computing Solutions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ComputeSolutions.png"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-187" height="340" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ComputeSolutions.png" title="ComputeSolutions" width="640" /></a></div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-34837810668807608752011-02-09T11:06:00.000-06:002012-02-28T19:25:56.629-06:00Cloud Consulting in an app?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Researchers at Gravitant have successfully converted their Cloud Consulting practices into an app that will soon be available on the company website. The app, which will be called the <em><strong>Cloud Value Planner</strong></em>, allows users to simulate the capacity and cost impact of replacing their current physical servers with virtual private cloud or public cloud options.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/CVPScreenshot.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-158 alignleft" height="256" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/CVPScreenshot-300x256.png" title="CVPScreenshot" width="300" /></a><em></em><br />
<br />
<em> </em><br />
<br />
<em>“The Cloud Value Planner is like consulting-in-a-box. Questions that typically take 60-90 days and thousands of dollars to answer are solved within a few minutes using this app.” – Mohammed Farooq, CEO Gravitant</em><br />
<br />
This simulator, which is still in its beta phase, will be launched as a free app before the end of February 2011. Please check <a href="http://www.gravitant.com/">www.gravitant.com</a> for updates.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned for details on specifics of the app…</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-14228480088813656392010-10-25T11:43:00.000-05:002012-02-28T19:26:10.564-06:00Jobs phased out by the Cloud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Is your job secure from being phased out by cloud computing? Cloud providers will be responsible for most of the technical requirements, so where does that leave you?<br />
<br />
Most technical issues in computing will soon be handled by the hypervisors, load balancers, etc. on the suppliers end. However, each supplier will have to be monitored and managed through service contracts.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Infoworld has specified some role shifts based on Forrester and Gartner:<br /><a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/WFShift.png"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-96" height="217" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/WFShift.png" title="WFShift" width="598" /></a></div>
<br />
<em>IT jobs of the future will be highly administrative with a focus on capacity planning and contract management – Gravitant, Inc.</em><br />
<br />
Quick tools to help you prepare for this shift are available <a href="http://www.gravitant.com/products/platforms/cio-decision-management.html" target="_self">here</a>…</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-72919612405585244382010-10-15T07:35:00.000-05:002012-02-28T19:26:49.400-06:00Overutilization vs Underutilization of Virtual Machines<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/iStock_000007438500XSmall.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-88" height="150" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/iStock_000007438500XSmall-150x150.jpg" title="iStock_000007438500XSmall" width="150" /></a>Does virtualization truly improve utilization?<br />
<br />
If so, shouldn’t cost be lower as a result? Well, maybe in the short term… but in the long term we are starting to see cases where costs accumulate over time and virtualization ends up being more expensive.<br />
<br />
Gravitant’s response:<br />
“<strong><em>Over-provisioning</em></strong><em> of Virtual Machines has resulted in Virtual Machine<strong> sprawl</strong>, which is difficult to manage. This has resulted in higher cost over time. On the other hand <strong>under-provisioning</strong> results in lower performance and SLA penalties</em>.” – <em>Mohammed Farooq, CEO Gravitant</em><br />
<br />
Gravitant’s capacity planning tool configures the optimal physical and virtual machine landscape of servers, network, and storage to<br />
<ol>
<li>Minimize VM Sprawl</li>
<li>Meet application performance thresholds</li>
<li>Reduce data center costs – systems and operations</li>
</ol>
Operations Research tools are used to balance the tradeoff between cost (due to sprawl) and performance (from SLAs).</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-22429055985887851932010-09-17T07:29:00.000-05:002012-02-28T19:27:14.057-06:003 keys to Capacity Planning for Virtualization<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<em>Fact: Everyone’s going virtual to reduce cost and improve utilization. Why not? Sharing of resources and paying for resources on-demand should be beneficial. But that just makes the job of the capacity planner even more difficult!</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Capacity-planning.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-93" height="150" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Capacity-planning-150x150.jpg" title="Capacity planning" width="150" /></a>3 big challenges in Virtualization that do not exist in traditional capacity planning:<br />
<br />
1. Capacity of each box is <strong>dynamically allocated</strong>, so which virtual machine (VM) actually got how much of resources?<br />
<br />
2. Each box has <strong>overhead utilization</strong> from each VM due to the hypervisor which <strong>reduces performance</strong>, so what is the critical number of VMs to be configured on each box?<br />
<br />
3. <strong>Cost models are complex</strong> with options for on-demand vs dedicated vs burst capacity, so which option should be chosen?<br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-style: normal;">Solutions:</span></em> <span style="font-style: normal;"> 1. We use a couple of key performance metrics (Transaction Rate and Response Time) that are <strong>uniform across all layers and applications</strong>. This tells us how much capacity was effectively used by each application.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"> </span>2. We use a <strong>slowdown factor</strong> that discounts available resources due to hypervisor utilization. As a result, we can derive the optimal number of VMs on each box.<br />
<br />
3. Because of solutions 1 & 2, we are able to <strong>accurately forecast capacity requirements</strong> which can then be compared with the different cost models. If capacity requirements are high but stable, dedicated would be cheaper, but on-demand is better for unstable capacity requirements.</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-460602003934839127.post-341900523432324032010-09-11T07:20:00.000-05:002012-02-28T19:27:32.748-06:00Decision Support for Public Healthcare Administration in Indiana<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DataAnalytics.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-51" height="166" src="http://blog.gravitant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DataAnalytics-300x208.png" title="DataAnalytics" width="240" /></a>Decision support using analytics sounds great! But where do we begin? There's so much data being collected and stored and secured to the nth degree, but now what?<br />
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The main issue with all the data we are collecting is the data is usually inconsistent. This is because there are a number of 'events' both on the demand as well as on the supply end which distort the picture. So, is low throughput due to fewer resources or low demand?<br />
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Therefore, the CIO's decision support group would first need to "cleanse" the data and wrap a structure around it. Then decision support is a matter of applying one of the many analytical tools out there in the right context. This begs the question - how much time and effort would that take?<br />
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Well, it only took 2 months by Gravitant's professional services group to get the FSSA of Indiana up and running. Gravitant's BusinessMatrix platform was used followed by their AdvancedAnalytics modules to provide visibility into throughput and timeliness, followed by decision support for bottleneck identification and optimal resolution options.</div>
Ilyas Iyoobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05367637607348029676noreply@blogger.com0