Upfront assessment of applications, cloud architecture key to successful cloud-computing initiatives.

Cloud computing promises to dramatically increase the speed with which applications are designed, built and delivered. To reap all these benefits, however, organizations must do their homework and make good decisions up front. An excellent starting point is a cloud readiness assessment.

A readiness assessment can help organizations determine what applications can most effectively be shifted to a cloud platform. Despite the overwhelming industry hype, the cloud isn’t always the most suitable choice for certain applications, particularly those with heavy computing power, network bandwidth and online transaction processing (OLTP) requirements.

The underlying cloud architecture — including compute, network, power and storage resources — needs to be aligned with the applications hosted within that environment in order for the organization to achieve its cloud-computing goals. Organizations need to understand their application requirements and the target cloud environment in order to make informed decisions about what cloud platform best meets their business needs.

Here are five considerations for companies looking at moving applications onto cloud computing architectures: 

Availability. Not all applications are created equal, nor are all cloud platforms the same. Organizations need to tier their applications, identifying which applications need to be highly available, which can accept downtime and how much downtime is acceptable. They need to understand the business risk associated with a lack of availability of their data. For those applications that need to be highly available, businesses should consider enterprise-class technologies that have been rigorously tested versus looking at building something internally. It's also important to look at multisite solutions and disaster recovery/business continuity planning. For most businesses, this means working with a service provider or consultant because they usually have access to greater levels of expertise and provide these services as their core business.

Security. Security is still a primary concern for businesses regarding the cloud. Concerns include the loss of control of their sensitive data, the risks associated with a multitenant environment, and how to address standards and compliance. Organizations need to know how a shared, multitenant environment is segmented to prevent customer overlap. How is the solution architected? Is the service provider's cloud infrastructure — network, virtualization and storage platforms — secure? 

Manageability. Businesses need to determine what they are accountable for versus what they expect from a service provider. Most public cloud vendors do not provide administrative support. Organizations need to have the technical expertise in-house to design the right solution or seek the services of an outside provider. They should define what level of management their applications require and have an identified change management process. 

Performance. As with a more traditional hosting model, it's important to understand workload demands on the infrastructure and what the potential bottlenecks are. Organizations should perform their own testing to evaluate how a cloud environment affects compute, storage and network resources.

Compliance. Organizations need to determine where their data will reside as well as who will interact with it and how. They need to understand which areas of compliance the service provider controls and how to audit against the standards and regulations to which they need to adhere.

In order to make these decisions, organizations need to look for a cloud provider with transparency, so they can see what’s going on inside the cloud architecture. FusionStorm offers customers comprehensive cloud services that are transparent. FusionStorm can help you assess your requirements and select the appropriate cloud services to meet your application and business needs.