Most clouds obstruct your vision - this one enhances it

“When moving to a cloud environment, keep four key areas in mind: • Security • Flexibility • Capacity On-Demand • Control”

The critical role that today's IT infrastructure plays in the success, or failure of a business, cannot be understated. The challenges that businesses face can include fluctuations in demand that stretch staff and hardware to their breaking points. The old practice of overbuilding an infrastructure and its support team cannot co-exist with new budgetary constraints. Security threats can jeopardize your most sensitive data. But not being able to satisfy your end-users, be it your employees or customers, can lead to disaster. It is not an over-statement:  If your IT infrastructure cannot support your business processes, the plans and goals you have set forth are in jeopardy. Increasingly, business and IT leaders are looking to cloud computing as a reliable and cost-effective way to make real difference in their business performance.

A Strategic Transition Plan

It is true that even early adopters to new technologies are cautious when it comes to cloud computing. The shift to a cloud environment requires a carefully orchestrated plan - a step by step transition - to achieve efficiencies without disrupting business operations. When considering a move to the cloud environment, today's IT leaders should keep four key areas in mind:

• Security - IT leaders are understandably sensitive about allowing customer information, business data, legal documents, or trade secrets reside outside the company's firewall. Where will the data be stored and how will the computing infrastructure be secured and protected? You'll need to understand the policies, the processes, and the governance model of the cloud computing provider - and they should adhere to the same standards you would impose in-house.
• Flexibility - One key advantage of cloud computing is how you can shape the solution to fit your operations. It doesn't have to be all or nothing when moving applications into the cloud. Some companies choose to maintain one part traditional hosting - keeping a fully dedicated hardware-based solution running core IT systems, and one part virtual - an on-demand solution to create environments for staging, migrations, or augment capacity. You need to assess how much flexibility is necessary to achieve both your business and operational goals - and choose a provider that can affect that balance.
• Capacity On-Demand - A significant advantage of cloud computing is the control it gives you over capacity usage. Seasonal data traffic spikes? High-demand applications? Dial up or dial down your capacity as your business demands. The cloud eliminates the need for over-provisioning and the unnecessary hardware, software, maintenance, and power costs it creates. And simple and transparent usage-based pricing can make it possible to better align IT costs to corporate revenue streams. You'll want to consider what drives your usage fluctuations, so your provider can build those factors into your solution.
• Control - A key area of focus in the cloud is the ability to allocate control of resources directly into your hands. Concerns about control might be better assessed in terms of what is actually necessary to support the business. Will onsite control over physical hardware move the business forward, or is it more important to control how those budget resources might be reallocated to support vital business objectives? You need to evaluate what's truly driving your business, and determine where those controls will have the greatest benefit.

Verizon Business's Approach to Cloud Computing

Our cloud computing solution is architected to provide a trusted platform which can be tailored so you can begin to move key elements of your business confidently into the cloud. We purpose-built Computing as a Service (CaaS) using our global IP backbone, wrapped it in layers of security, and give you the choice of a virtual or physical architecture. CaaS goes beyond many existing cloud computing offerings. It addresses a broad range of enterprise business requirements to provide the flexibility, reliability, and control you demand while securing your most vital business resources. We offer real-time control of your infrastructure, and back this solution with competitive service level agreements.

• CaaS provides on-demand provisioning of physical and virtual resources, allowing you to quickly address unforeseen demand. It features a high level of automation that enables self-provisioning of those resources in hours, not days, so you don't miss an opportunity.
• Instead of rigid cost structures, CaaS allows you to pay for data center resources like application servers, operating systems and storage, based on the amount of resources you consume. This simple and transparent utility-based model makes it possible to better align IT costs to corporate budgets and customer demands.
• CaaS also gives you control over the way IT supports the day-to-day needs of your business. You have visibility into your "cloud" of Verizon Business resources with an intuitive online portal and retain control over when and how those resources are deployed.
• Finally, our comprehensive security measures - from the physical security of our data center, security of customer portal access, and logical security of individual environment - offer you peace of mind knowing your data is well protected.

Move Your Business to Higher Ground

We know your data is your business and you need to trust the provider who takes your infrastructure into the cloud. You can put your trust in us - Verizon Business has been providing hosting solutions for more than 15 years and supports customer applications around the globe. Whether now or in the future, moving only a little of your infrastructure or a lot, we have the knowledge and experience to build the right solution for you.

To Learn More about Verizon's Computing as a Service visit us on the web at http://www.verizonbusiness.com/thinkforward/cloud/.