Q & A: Cloud cover grows

With the growing amount of electronic data necessary to run any sort of company, running services smoothly while keeping that data safe and organized becomes increasingly important. Cloud computing has presented itself as a solution to that problem by allowing companies to virtually file and safeguard all their material in networks customized to match firms of various sizes.

Another upside to cloud computing is that storing information in a cloud reduces operation costs, according to Sanjay Mirchandani, senior vice president and chief information officer of EMC. Mirchandani spoke with The Prague Post about the logistics and benefits of cloud computing.

The Prague Post: How has EMC's cloud services expanded in the past year?

Sanjay Mirchandani: EMC helps their customers in the journey to the private cloud, and over the past year or more, we have focused on really making sure we have the right products and solutions. From a partnership point of view, we launched the VCE coalition including EMC, VMWare and Cisco working together to give our customers an integrated product and a single point experience for supportive services. It's a combination of products, solutions, partnerships and services to make it all happen.

TPP: What is a private cloud?

SM: The private cloud is a new way of thinking about how information technology and infrastructure works. A private cloud is effectively when an organization or an enterprise transforms a physical classic data center into a highly virtualized, very elastic data network. It's specialized and tailored for companies. [The private cloud can be built in-house, so a company owns and manages its own networks].

TPP: How is that different from a hybrid cloud?

SM: The hybrid cloud is the ability to take your private cloud environment and extend it out, if you would, with service providers into more of a public environment. So, [it means] using a third party, using a service provider to extend your private cloud.

TPP: Has cloud computing caught on as fast in the CEE as in Western Europe?

SM: I spend a lot of time with customers around the world, and we talk about cloud computing, and the trends we see are fairly global. So, not necessarily being an expert in this part of the world, the questions we got from customers [here] and that I get from around the world are very similar: What are the inhibitors, what are the best practices, what's a good timeline to think about, what services make sense, what don't make sense, and is the technology ready? It's not "Should we be doing this?" It's very much the opposite: "How fast can we get it done?"

TPP: Cloud computing can help cut down on costs. With the Czech Republic's electricity costs set to rise next year, is energy conservation an effective sales pitch for cloud services?

SM: I think it's well-established that high degrees of virtualization make you more efficient. When you use technologies like thumb-stick drives and other technologies that allow smarter, more efficient energy use, the benefits are dramatic. I think it's well-established. Within EMC IT, we have a white paper published that actually talks about how much we've been able to become more energy-efficient through the use of this technology over the past five years.

TPP: Would you say the use of cloud computing is expanding to smaller, less tech-savvy companies?

SM: I think companies of all sizes are using it in different ways. If you're a large company, you're probably doing a private cloud, and if you're a smaller company, you may avail of a public cloud service that delivers the same thing. You have more regulatory compliance and security requirements, so your perspective may be "let me start with a private cloud and move into a hybrid cloud or even into the public cloud at some point." If you're a smaller business, you may go the other way. It's being used across the spectrum.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com