Do you have a chief cloud technologist? What about a cloud architecture engineer?
If you missed it on Federal News Radio the first time, take a minute to listen to Federal Tech Talk with host John Gilroy as he interviews DLT Solutions chief cloud technologist, David Blankenhorn. David fields questions on cloud architecture and discusses topics including:

Cloud computing and virtualization.

If you work within the federal, state and local, and higher education IT industries, you most likely have been exposed to these terms. However, for some, understanding the distinction between the two can be a little confusing. This year at FOSE 2011, DLT Solutions and Quest Software helped visitors cut through the fog of uncertainty surrounding this issue.

During the event, DLT asked public-sector IT professionals to participate in a series of “Minute to Win It” style games to illustrate the complexities of cloud computing and virtualization. These games were designed to show participants that not everything is as simple as it looks which according to a Norwich University study*, proves that they are not alone.

The race to virtualize everything has created a host of unintended consequences, not the least of which is how to meet the SLAs (service level agreements) for application backup. As we move into cloud alternatives this problem will only grow since your cloud provider will have to provide this to you on an application by application basis.

Every virtual machine is essentially a set of large files such as VMDKs in a VMware context. These large files are typically stored in storage arrays which can be connected via iSCSI or Fiber Channel or on NFS volumes. Traditional data protection techniques such as VMware’s VADP, or VMware VCB rely on an agent to protect VMDK files associated with virtual servers.

Are technology trends such as Virtualization, Cloud Computing and Open Source Software the Shake Weights of the IT Industry? Are IT professionals relying on them to be the magic bullet/quick fix for solving software efficiency?

That’s the question that Jason Corey, U.S. Navy Client Executive at Red Hat proposes in the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for the Navy Webcast.

In a traditional Information Technology (IT) model, new IT assets are acquired in support of specific applications. This model has had the unfortunate side effect of casting IT into the role of a cost center. As such, there has been little flexibility within IT to make broad platform changes such as the adoption and deployment of private cloud technologies.

With the deployment of private cloud platforms, IT can begin the transformation from being a cost center to becoming a truly strategic mission resource center. Private clouds can enable greater fiscal responsibility and mission agility through resource pooling and more rapid deployment of new applications and services.

Alas, the adoption of a platform change can be a real challenge, given shrinking IT budgets. This is compounded by the bulk of those budgets being spent on sustaining activities, leaving little for innovation. Furthermore, resource pooling and elasticity in cloud platforms can only be achieved if the coupling between IT asset acquisition and new IT applications is removed.

Much ado is being made these days about consolidation and reducing the cost of IT, with virtualization being the drivers for storage management improvements. The truth is that storage management, as well as application management and OS management, has always been a critical component of data centers. The fact that virtualization puts more pressure on these tasks is no excuse for overlooking them to date. Virtualization and “cloud” initiatives are increasing the demand on data centers to the point that they have no choice but to seek efficiencies. Or perhaps it is budget pressure that offers no choice and the storage demands of virtualization and cloud initiatives are making it harder to realize the savings.

Data protection is an essential part of every IT strategy. A good data protection plan minimizes the risk of downtime and data loss as well as the risk of a compliance incident. Most enterprise level data protection implementations are complex, costly and require thoughtful planning to ensure that the risk of data loss is reduced to an acceptable level.

As with any technology there is no shortage of catch phrases to distract the overburdened administrator as well as the budget conscious executive. Phrases like “Integrated Data Protection”, “Industry Leading”, “End to End” and yes, even “cloud”. Let’s face it. The only reason you spend a dime on this stuff is to reduce risk because risk adds cost to your operation. The cost of data re-entry, the cost of down time or the cost of compliance fines. How simple or complex the system that you create to deal with risk is not the issue. The issue is whether the cost of the system is less than the risk of doing nothing.

“Private cloud adoption is a journey both from a technical and business perspective.”

At the recent AFCEA Cloud Lifecycle Management Symposium in DC, the discussion on government cloud computing ranged from acquisition policies to building the roadmaps in which NIST and government guidelines are being centered around. The vision of these roadmaps is to “easily locate desired IT services, rapidly procure access to the services, and use the services to deliver innovative mission solutions.”

But with all of the service providers and offerings available, how can government standardize and corral all of these into one simple menu of options that meets individual agency requirements? How will agencies define a successful cloud program? What are the strategies to assure success?

I’ve been asked several times to help agencies evaluate their readiness to build a private cloud. Time and time again, I use the same concepts to find their current levels and what they should be looking at next. Data center automation, service oriented infrastructure, IT service management, resource orchestration, standard operating environments. Why am I bringing up ancient buzzwords in a private cloud conversation? Because without these fundamentals, your private cloud won’t get very far off the ground.
An Amazon AWS VP has been quoted saying “If you are buying hardware, it isn’t cloud”. You may think, “Well of course, that’s their business model. They don’t want me to buy a private cloud.” The argument made isn’t a business model, it is architecture and use case. The economies of scale that need to be achieved in order to validate a cloud model only make sense in large deployments. The benefits of the IT department are best realized when the shift from capital to operational expenditures is complete. A set of local resources that takes advantage of the new cloud focused toolsets to move in a service oriented direction may not be a private cloud, but it is still a valuable direction for those IT shops that need to retain in house capabilities.

Cindy Cassill is the director of systems integration in the office of the CIO for the US Department of State. Prior to her current position at the Department of State, Cindy has over 30 years of federal IT experience. She was the CIO at the FAA Regions & Centers. She also was the CIO at the US Army Test and Evaluation Command and was the director of IT at the deputy assistant secretary of the army for civilian personnel.

This article highlights portions of Cindy Cassill’s presentation and the steps the agency took for their consolidation. Click Here to download the entire presentation and transcript at length.