NetAppChat

The main advantage is cost and easy of deployment, but people need to be aware of all the hidden extras, simple things such as RAID protected data aren't always included.

One big advantage to cloud providers is the economies of scale that they can achieve. Think CostCo vs a mom and pop grocer.

A customer told me that hyperscalers are a great place to squat but not a great place to live at.

In a word? Trust. Netflix has been running on Amazon for years, and those guys, in my opinion, are inventing all kinds of new stuff for the cloud that enterprises will eventually adopt. Amazon, Microsoft, VMware have all been around for years.

These platforms are a great place to "kick the tires" of public/hybrid cloud. Pay for only what you use until you are ready to take the plunge.

They are good for some unique corner cases as well (super high scale test workloads)

We introduced the 'World of many clouds' a couple of years ago and we have seen this remain relevant. When it comes to Cloud Services there is no one size fits all. The challenge is to identify the best cloud for your business application.

Additionally, we live in an heterogeneous world. multi-hypervisor, multi-cloud. It is also a basic economic principle ... you ought to diversify your cloud sourcing options.

A big advantage is speed of deployment (think clones) but often requires programming skills of some sort or a team of developers. Since there is no single "universal" API across all vendors, its complicated and often discourages businesses

Many applications today aren't written to take advantage of AWS/Azure/etc. The underlying infrastructure doesn't provide the same level of redundancy that most Enterprises have come to expect

So the questions that need to be asked are .. Can you regain control of your data and applications? Can your trip to the cloud be bidirectional? Can you support a multi-hypervisor strategy? Do you have contingency plans?

Consider using professional services to accelerate the success of POCs, as staff come up the learning curve for cloud storage. Like @netechcorp :)

Always run an extended pilot project, starting with non-mission-critical data workloads first before diving head first.

Train your staff with new skills: Include cloud strategy, cloud SLA management, and vendor identification.

Start with specific use-cases, learn and expand.

A key requirement is proper project management, either in-house or contract. 1. To make sure all the necessary resources are lined up. 2. To make sure the project doesn't go off the rails in regards to time/money/scope.

Managing infrastructure is not a lost art, and I believe a lot of these talented individuals will re-focus to include Public/Hybrid cloud solutions and scenarios as part of their resume.

Learn PowerShell and OnCommand Workflow Automation. Creating repeatable processes are going to be key.

Right now, Professional Services are probably your best bet. Do a Proof-of-Concept with some low-hanging-fruit, and test the waters, see how you manage it, how it performs. This isn't a new conversation. We went through same trials with VMware.

LOBs now have greater ability to access IT solutions (e.g., SaaS) outside the traditional enterprise IT value chain creating “shadow IT”. Therefore, IT organizations are looking for new ways to retain their leadership and control.

Combination of technical and business/cultural skills/changes needed. We are seeing customers now having a Chief Cloud Strategist role

When formulating their sourcing strategies, IT organizations repeatedly face service-by-service, “build-versus-buy” decisions. The assumption that every service has to be built in house is no longer true.

I'm not saying go get a new Master's Degree, but you're going to need to learn some new stuff/skills to maintain relevance and professional capacity.

IT needs a plan and a set of governance criteria that support the consistent evaluation of their IT services sourcing options. This “cloud sourcing flexibility” enables greater levels of business agility, transparency, and speed of deployment

Just saw a job ad in linkedin for a company looking to hire a Chief Cloud Officer!

Given all of these dynamics IT organizations need to rethink how they approach IT and help LoB drive the business, which requires a totally new set of skills. Business and IT are one and the same.

Finding local talent to fill infrastructure IT teams today is difficult. A switch to PMs and IT governance experts might be a welcome change.

Hybrid

Hybrid cloud in my case

Many customers are using both Private and Public clouds in pockets and now want to piece them together with a hybrid strategy

I am starting to see my clients talk about a need to keep their data "forever". Not just for compliance efforts either...

We are seeing that cloud is not a one-size-fits-all

Keeping a "forever archive" is difficult with only on-prem storage. This is where the hybrid-cloud can step in.

I believe that the debate regarding private versus public cloud is over. It is about having both at the same time. This is what we hear from our customers.

Public is very high uptake on very non-risky shadow IT stuff and big infrastructure happening at the hybrid level

And hybrid cloud is emerging as the new ‘normal.’ The ability to combine and dynamically aggregate cloud services from private and public clouds is a key requirement for our customers.

End users are more comfortable with public cloud usage than we give them credit for. Much like Dropbox and Gmail, I see enterprises taking advantage of file services and Backup/DR as a "dip your toes in" sort of approach.

Another data point from @theCUBE is that on premise is actually getting more focus because the architectural design work going on .. on prem is not going away anytime soon

Assuming 30% to 40% primary data growth rates, existing storage would need to double in size during the next three years!

Underlying frameworks containing elegant API-level understanding of multiple providers, apps, hypervisors, etc, is a big deal, and will see huge growth this year and beyond.

If I want to provision storage, I need a tool/workflow that will allow me to do that both locally, or remote, and at the SP I choose.

With so many moving pieces, proper automation/orchestration is a must in order to keep up with the ever changing requirements of the customer.

For IT organizations to be able to become effective brokers of IT services and meet the needs of the business they need to manage cloud services provisioned via multiple sourcing options.

Efficiently managing workloads across clouds requires automation and orchestration. Citrix and NetApp are working closely with plug-ins to Apache CloudStack to enable this.

What Cisco is doing with ACI is also a BIG part of this transition, allowing the apps to be more and more agile, and for the fabric to dynamically adjust based on needs.

As internal IT departments transition to a hybrid model, automation and orchestration software takes central role in maintaining an functioning environment during a skills transition

This is where orchestration and automation of IT services becomes paramount! Products such as Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud help customers manage cloud services in heterogeneous environments.

Automation makes it about the data and business- not about storage and infrastructure. Also, it does it all repeatably and reliably.

Adoption. Workflow and orchestration is the key to customer being comfortable with the cloud. Taking something with so many layers of abstraction and making it something simple and repeatable.

Cisco is committed to a standards based approach when it comes to our cloud strategy. This is where open source capabilities and an open management framework need to be put in place.

Doing an excellent job as moderator, Brian! #NetAppAdvocate