Infrastructure as a Service

Analyzing the Indian companies from 2005, we can notice a big paradigm shift in relation to the culture of proprietary technology equipment. This means that there was breach of the resistance option of renting rather than buying. With credit difficulties, especially with the 2007 crisis, corporations were forced to see new possibilities. Then we noticed that the model called Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) fit in nicely in this new scenario, because in addition to efficiency, it is quite functional from the financial point of view.

Today, many major companies already work under the IaaS model. In fact, we are living the beginning of time to the glory of IaaS and believe that the peak demand will occur in the coming years, given the economic growth of the country and the sporting events to be hosted here.

Regardless of how they are being organized, these events are already forcing Indian companies to fit in physical infrastructure. We will need new airports, stadiums, bridges etc. These works require a strong back office, for companies providing services need to quickly assemble IT environments with flexible services. Our restructuring economic environment is enabling companies to see themselves with the plans in the long run. This brings some comfort and optimism to our area.

Another favorable factor in relation to the IaaS model is that, with the pressure to decrease in IT budgets, companies are seeking new alternatives to maintain their functional and updated assets in accordance with the need of its core business. In addition, the model developed for dilution and reducing compliance costs should house in its concept, especially the estimate of expenditure made in hardware, software and peopleware in a fully managed environment. It is also worth noting that the unification of various services not only reduces the costs of managing multiple contracts, but also reduces the solution time for users. These are all advantages of IaaS model.

The integration of this service is complete and transparent and will purchase the equipment from the manufacturer to configure for each user. That is, the control, maintenance and management throughout the lifecycle occur in a clear way. The customer has the whole operation running on back office and sees strategically. So for that reason, user does not care, for example, with stock parts, spare machine at its headquarters and other scattered subsidiaries – all this is the responsibility of IaaS Cloud Services Provider engaged.

With this structure offered, it becomes easier to understand why it is advantageous to employ this type of specialized service. From the moment you have this logistics composition, storage, style, purchase volume with manufacturers, you can use it in a shared manner. It is essential to point out that when the customer places an IaaS contract, he is not only buying the ability to use the hardware and the management of it, but also support for this hardware. What does it mean? It means that when you need some technical support service, whatever the problem is, the user will only have to trigger the IaaS provider that, in most cases, you can solve the problem remotely. If not, the machine will be replaced by another in the SLA, which is a commitment to deadlines rigidly established in the contract, to service users and which, if not met, the provider will be subject to heavy fines.

Help desk and IaaS

The IaaS model can house taylormade project – sized – ie hierarchical in order of priority. For example, the client determines that the IT department has an SLA of six hours, the president of the company is met, no more than two hours and the other areas in 12 hours. Following this definition, planning according to customer’s need is mounted, and will be priced based on these specifications.

Another ranking concerns the importance of the devices on the network. For example, a microcomputer of a manager is very important, but not as much as a high-availability server or a network of active tipping the internet, or even a mail server that is stopped, or the CEO can have connection. All this is clearly determined and outlined and the IaaS provider must fulfill to the letter.

One example: Let’s say a hospital rent 200 machines, one of which must be within the cardiac operating room. It commands a certain capital equipment for an operation. If, suddenly, this machine for a minute goes down, can jeopardize someone’s life. So provider’s role is to develop the model to ensure that in that room, there is not just one machine, but two. If, by chance, one stop, other comes into play. The IaaS projects have this characteristic to predict contingency throughout the business process, and not only in the implementation and maintenance.

In the traditional model, if a company has 200 employees and only 200 machines are there and if any of them break, the employee will have no access to network services for equipment repair. In the IaaS model, if eventually happen a problem with the equipment, the SLA will be met. Thinking in this way, the internal user and the company is much more advantageous because everyone wins agility, the company does not lose productivity; and the service is now highly professionalized by a specialized external team.

The bases of the IaaS model predict quick solutions to technical problems, because the thread of the service is availability.

Cost Benefit

Regarding costs, it is necessary to evaluate the focus which will be used as the value. If there is only a comparison of the cost of purchase and the cost model without doubt the IaaS is considered more expensive, because we are not just talking about a machine, but also software, support staff, availability of financing, interest rate and management. However, viewing and adding all the variables involved in a contract and the management of the park, surely the IaaS ends up being cheaper and advantageous.

Today, IaaS is proven functional and companies can become more comfortable as their operating range; this strengthens the model and makes it a trend on the rise. But like any new that comes in IT, the IaaS must first prove its worth, what has been happening more clearly in the last year. We believe it is only a matter of time before the good results that are delivered daily to IT executives and finance bring security for other companies to try this new paradigm.