The “cloud” is no longer just hype. It’s reality. And it’s here to stay. IDC projects cloud spending to top $36 billion in 2012, four-times the overall IT industry growth rate! Cloud computing is the next stage in the Internet’s evolution, providing the means through which everything – computing power, computing infrastructure, applications, storage, business processes – can be delivered to an individual or organization as a service, wherever or whenever it is needed.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines three basic service models and four separate deployment models for cloud computing. The three service models are defined as:

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) - The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) - The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does not manage the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting environment configurations.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) - The capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components.

The four deployment models include:

Private cloud - The cloud infrastructure is operated solely for an organization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party and may exist on premise or off premise.
Community cloud - The cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third party and may exist on premise or off premise.
Public cloud - The cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization selling cloud services.
Hybrid cloud - The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load-balancing between clouds).

Each of these service models and cloud deployment models, as well as integrating existing physical and virtual infrastructure assets, present today’s enterprise or government agency with a distinct set of challenges. As a result, a well-defined and managed Infrastructure Provisioning and Management business process is essential, ensuring sufficient infrastructure availability and capacity to meet demand, while integrating with other elements and processes of the IT enterprise.

Leveraging our copyrighted Framework for IT Success^SM, ISM’s cloud computing consulting services and solutions begin with the planning components needed to develop the required strategies and plans to provision an infrastructure of integrated physical and virtual devices (servers, networks, storage, clients, and software) and on-boarding to contracted cloud computing services. With the required strategies and plans in place, our Infrastructure Provisioning and Management process manages the provisioning and de-provisioning of cloud services and deployment and re-deployment of virtual machines to meet demand requirements. The infrastructure and cloud elements of the Framework for IT Success also facilitate audits and measures delivered business value for the entire enterprise or agency infrastructure.

The primary goals of our Infrastructure Provisioning and Management process, as part of ISM’s cloud solutions consulting services, include:

Provide governance for the infrastructure provisioning activities, ensuring that infrastructure virtualization and cloud computing activities support strategic and tactical plans
Provide appropriate production environment capacity on-demand when needed, with proven technologies and ease of implementation
Increase the availability and capacity of IT services and their supporting infrastructure with minimal cost, while maintaining information security, confidentiality, accuracy and integrity
Improve the service continuity capabilities and performance of the IT organization
Reduce capital outlay and on-going expenses through platform and resource virtualization and strategic utilization of cloud computing services

Our Cloud Computing services and solutions include:

The Framework for IT Success^SM


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