Here's one proposed course of action. Requires a good bit of time, or a consulting partner that you can trust.
- Generate cost comparisons - Research Security/Risk - Understand technology complexity First, determine what your actual needs are. Next, spec out those systems in a local configuration (physical or virtual). Next, spec out those same systems in the cloud. One of the first things you notice is that costs in the cloud for something like this will be static -- at best. They may go up. When you're buying the server, you can opt not to refresh it for a year or two (as seems to have occurred here), and you're ahead. Can't really do that in an outsourced configuration. Next, read up on the risks that you will have to mitigate in the cloud. Understand what happens if you lose connectivity to your servers, and compensate by proposing redundant connectivity, etc. Next, understand what data you will be storing there, and make sure that there are no security requirements that would be a factor. Also make sure that you're using better encryption from school to cloud to avoid people snooping. Get a feel for any latency issues that you might have during logon and data sharing. Also, what apps might you have to host, and will you be able to do so in the cloud. Make sure your organization's legal team is involved in the whole process, as there are things they will know to ask or require. Understand how backups will be handled and what your access to them will be. Here are some resources to look at: - http://www.focus.com/questions/information-technology/what-is-a-good-reason-for-not-switching-to-a-cloud-computing/ - http://www.focus.com/product/hosting-bandwidth/ For the record, I'm a cloud advocate -- when it makes sense and things are well thought out. *ASB *(My Bio via About.Me <http://about.me/Andrew.S.Baker/bio>) *Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage...* * * On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 12:09 PM, techconnect <[email protected]>wrote: > Someone needs to take away his magazine reading�privileges. > > > Just a couple of questions, assuming no one is concerned about (or has > given any consideration to) latency. > > > Does your organization have any redundant internet connectivity? > > > What servers do you have today, and where are they? �(How many offices, > buildings, etc) > > > > > ASB (My Bio via About.Me) > Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage... > > 1 dell 2950 2003 AD and exchange 2003 1tb Raid 5 > 2 buildings connected w/ 100mb fiber and 1 other building down the road > with ipsec vpn tunnel( at this location we have a limping Dell sc-1500 2003 > server replicating just AD and doing backups across the tunnel) they give > us no budget and expect us to work with what we have and then we ask for > replacement servers and they say lets move to the cloud. > > No redundancy on the internet, just cox business fiber. > > I appreciate everyone suggestions even the cartoon:). But sometimes I have > a problem convincing the administration of needed changes and upgrades and > looking for pointers. > > Thanks, > Jason > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
