Ars Indicium

Shame on us technology vendors for making “Cloud Computing” more intimidating of a concept that it need be.

Data Centers, the IT professionals that operate them, and the business executives who fund them are at a crossroads. Like storage and server technology, the physical buildings that house valuable corporate data and computing systems are being replaced by “virtual” data centers, aka “Clouds”.  Like many trends, this one is about money (doing more with less of it), but also about focusing on a company’s core competency (building widgets instead of operating IT equipment), and increasing the agility of those same companies (using information as a competitive advantage).

Few businesses have the assets required to continually build new data centers packed with servers, networking gear, and storage to preserve their ever-growing repositories of raw data or information assets. Even if they did, building, operating, continually servicing IT equipment is not the core competency of most companies (Volkswagon builds cars, NASA is in the business of space exploration, Apple builds, well, the best personal computing experience on the planet, IMHO.)

Whether or not your business is currently using, evaluating, or not yet ready to commit to cloud computing, content or digital data and information drives your business. This concept is at the heart of this blog and my personal perspective on what the “storage industry” is all about.

Cloud Computing, cloud-based services, capacity-on-demand are nothing more than evocative terms to describe a fairly simple concept -  a collection of IT hardware and software which enable services that can be accessed over the internet rather than residing on a desktop, laptop, or server. Cloud-based services like email, backup and recovery, or computing power-as-a-service are examples of cloud-enable services.

Yahoo Mail or Google Mail are examples of cloud-based services which many of have used daily for years. Online banking portals and online photography sites like Flickr are other examples. In the world of corporate IT, Salesforce.com and Google Docs are services that maintain secure access to corporate content even while all the data resides, well, somewhere other than on your laptop or in your data center.

Hitachi and HDS view cloud as a mechanism to deliver IT services, NOT an individual product or particular technology. I hope customers understand this nuance and would be skeptical of any vendor that positions a particular product as a “cloud” product. Making the transition to a cloud infrastructure can be very complex, requiring best practices, reference architectures and professional services. My colleague, Miki Sandorfi, provides additional context around this cloud computing and how we offer products, services, and integrated solutions that enable customers to build and deploy cloud-based data services.

At the heart of HDS’ agile cloud solutions is a product, however - the Hitachi Content Platform (HCP). HCP alone does not constitute a cloud, much like an internal combustion engine isn’t, itself, an automobile. HCP is a component of a larger solution, albeit one that offers an elegantly simple-to-operate solution to challenges facing IT and business professionals - storing and preserving data long-term for governance or future reference, managing retention and disposition periods and operations, and powerful search to help you locate the information you need when you need it. Perhaps most importantly, HCP is an open platform built around industry standards, yet provides enterprise-class security and data protection features.

HCP is a very real proof point for customers who are evaluating cloud-based models and looking to build an internal / private cloud for their own businesses. NASA, for example, preserves valuable atmospheric research data with HCP. ABN AMRO Hypotheken Group, a leading mortgage broker based in the Netherlands uses HCP and additional HDS products to securely maintain records for compliance purposes.

You can learn more about how Hitachi and HDS are enabling corporations with diverse needs to transform their business and IT operations, give their businesses more control over IT costs, even while they enable agility for their employees, partners, and their own customers at HDS.com.

Though it’s certainly not a panacea for every IT problem, “Cloud” in its many variations, does hold real operational savings, efficiencies, and in many cases, lower risk, and is something CIOs should assess realistically.

Where is your business on its journey to Cloud computing or IT-as-a-Service? Early adopter or “absolutely not!”? Already outsourcing certain applications, but leery of security or accessibility concerns by allowing your vital information to reside outside your premises?  How can HDS help?