Messaging: Harnessing The Cloud

Messaging: Harnessing the Cloud

Andrew Quinn & Nigel Robson

15/11/2013

What is the Cloud?

Public Cloud

Private Cloud Partner Cloud

Software as a Service (SaaS)?Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?

Platform as a Service (PaaS)?Hosting?

AbstractionFlexibility Scalability

(I care about the outcome, but not the details)

Private Cloud

What is a Private Cloud?

Private Cloud?

CupboardServer RoomData Centre

Typical Example

Private Cloud

Public Cloud

Public Cloud (Email)

• You pay for the number of mailboxes you need

• Can scale up…• … or down• Implementation

detail is abstracted away

Emergence of “The Cloud”

• It’s not new!• The buzzword is new...• People have been using the “cloud” for

years– Personal email– Websites– Blogs, etc.

Emergence of “The Cloud”

• Several technological advances have made remote hosting applicable to a wider set of services:– Virtualisation– Automation– Self-Service– Internet Speeds

• Along with this growth of service offerings comes an exciting new buzzword to help sell them: “The Cloud”

What can the Cloud do for Email?

• Hosted Mailboxes• Hosted Hygiene (anti-virus, anti-spam)• Hosted Archiving• Service Continuity

Pros, Cons & Considerations

Uptime

Resiliency often comes as standard with large-scale hosting

Uptime is not necessarily guaranteed

Do SLAs consider disruption, or just full-scale outages?

99.9% uptime SLAApprox. 45mins outage per month

Support

Don’t need your own in-house specialist

Support is often 24/7

Support may be difficult to get hold of if there is a problem

Recovery

No backup hardware to worry about

No daily checks to worry about

Granular recovery is usually not an option

Options are limited in non-disaster scenarios such as accidental deletions

Flexibility

Can easily scale up without lead time

Can scale down to save cost

Costs can scale up quite quickly too!

Consider an internal approval process for cloud resources

Security

Outsource a lot of the complexity

Less need to keep on top of upcoming threats

Where is your data?

Who can access your data?

Is your data mined?

Is your provider on top of upcoming threats?

May violate regulatory requirements

Infrastructure

No hardware required

No maintenance to worry about

Requirement for physical space, power, cooling, electricity reduced

Completely reliant on internet connectivity

Bandwidth may be an issue depending on location

Performance

Cloud infrastructure is built to scale

You don’t know what you’re getting

Some vendors cut corners to reduce costs

Consider asking for a free trial

Updates

No costly periodic system upgradesTime and license costs

Always licensed for the latest and greatest

Updates likely to be forced on you

May have to update on premise systems / clients more frequently

User training is still necessary!

Integration

May have integration with other cloud features (e.g. Office 365, Google Apps)

Limited customisation

Limited scope for 3rd party extensions

May not integrate with business systems

Costs

Little up-front investment required to get up and running

No unexpected hardware costs

Recurring cost

Can be more expensive in the long run

Hybrid Deployment

Hybrid Deployment

• Mix and match for the best of both worlds• Cloud flexibility and scalability• On premise control and integration• Appears as a single Exchange

organisation• Federated identity / single sign on

Hybrid Deployment

• Mailboxes can be hosted locally…

• …or in the cloud• Mailboxes can be

moved to and from the cloud

• Or archived to the cloud

Hybrid Scenarios

• Permanent / Temporary– Permanent staff on premises– Temporary staff in the cloud

• Regulatory– Regulated mailboxes on premises– Unregulated mailboxes in the cloud

• Burstable Capacity– Quickly expand using the cloud– Move on premises after extending physical capacity

Partner Cloud

Partner Cloud

• Similar to a public cloud, but implemented by a 3rd party

• May offer a more customised service• May provide professional services to help

with migration

The Waterstons Approach

The Waterstons Approach

• We don’t do high volume, commodity “cloud” hosting– Microsoft and Google have that pretty well covered– We help customers to plan for and migrate to these

platforms, where appropriate

• We provide a bespoke solution unique to the specific needs of an organisation

• We can mix and match vendors and applications to provide the best solution

The Waterstons Approach

• A fully transparent service– You can see the physical infrastructure– You have full access to your servers

• Provides the scalability of a cloud solution• Allows the customer to retain control

The Waterstons Approach:Real World Example

The Waterstons Approach:Real World Example

On Premise Benefits

• Retain Exchange 2010 to support existing legacy applications

• Implementation of Enterprise Vault archiving solution

• Full access to servers• Integration with business

systems

Cloud Benefits

• Flexibility to scale up as acquisitions are made and demand increases

• Monthly costing model• Not reliant on a physical

office location

Summary

• Flexibility and scalability• Rapid service provisioning• Can be restrictive• Consider security and regulatory

requirements• Not all clouds are equal• The cloud isn’t for everyone

Q & AComing up…

Mobile Solutions to Manufacturing Problems

8:00am, Wednesday 27th November 2013

Mobile for Business

11:45am, Friday 29th November 2013

Architecting Cross-Platform Applications

11:45am, Friday 6th December 2013