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[Editors note: The Channel Angle is a monthly CRN guest column written by a rotating group of solution provider executives that focuses on the triumphs and challenges that solution providers face. If you are a solution provider executive interested in contributing, please contact managing editor David Harris.]

The tech industry has grown software-centric and this new world requires a new way of thinking as more workloads are moved into the cloud. A cloud footprint can be configured through a providers console but the problem with that is anything manual has the potential for human error.

There are many compelling reasons why organizations should look at cloud automation. In the new world, companies can set up a cloud footprint using automation to reduce human error, make it quick and easy to create new environments, document the setup in the case of employee turnover, and do more with fewer engineers.

The process starts by creating automation to spin up servers and all the different components needed to run an application. Infrastructure automation, or software scripts, uses a configuration to create an environment. Once that automation is perfected it doesnt change from environment to environment. Its one and done.

After the automation is written, setting up new environments enables IT to just push a button. That avoids the potential for human error. It also makes it easy to create additional environments quickly according to business needs.

A performance testing environment is one example of an additional environment that can be set up. Some application projects are large enough that they need multiple user testing environments, and automation makes any additional environments easy to create.

Pain points with automating cloud deployments

Automation is a paradigm shift for management as well as administrators, who are used to doing things manually. It requires skillsets organizations likely dont have and need to acquire. Additionally, the on-premises organization structure doesnt work in the cloud for most organizations, especially when doing automation. Conversely, the people with automation skills often dont have specialized knowledge in networking, security, DNS, and active directory, among other areas.

That said, momentum continues to grow for organizations to have cloud footprints. For example, the CTO of a large financial services firm client has flatly stated she does not want to make any additional investments in data centers or physical hardware. All new application workloads go to the cloud because the CTO wants to get out of the physical data center business and avoid the need to own properties. Cloud automation is the only way for her to achieve her goal; manual administration would not scale appropriately.

However, some organizations perceive that moving to the cloud will give them cost benefits, which is illusory. Rather, the benefit is about speed to market and enabling a business to become more agile and competitive. Automation is a prerequisite for achieving that speed. Otherwise, if youre just porting current applications into the cloud you are moving the problem to someone elses data center.

When corporations get into the cloud, they all make the same mistake of assuming its a tech change and that business will be conducted the same way, but with new cloud technology. The problem with that mindset is the cloud is all software-based and when workloads are automated, the old departmental or team silos dont work. A silo might be a network administrator who is used to dealing with LANs and does not have innate cloud skills.

On-premises technology skills do not automatically translate to the cloud without upskilling. So what happens is, DevOps teams that have cloud and automation skills end up having to annex networking and other additional skills. This can leave on-premises administrators feeling their jobs are threatened and that theyre left out of the movement unless they are willing to gain new skills.

Cloud automation is not about eliminating IT roles but changing them. Some human still has to figure out what rules make sense for their company and then someone has to automate them and push them out so theyre effective. In the cloud, security should be automated as well.

The value of policy-based management

Ultimately, organizations migrate to policy-based management, which establishes automated guardrails that will prevent someone from doing things they shouldnt.

That reduces the need to rely on people having to manually audit systems. The chief enemy of moving to the cloud is rookie mistakes. There have been instances where app developers have unwittingly opened databases so they can be accessed through the internet, simply because they dont know any better. Its a security breach if they do that because it increases the chance your data gets hacked and is seen by people who shouldnt see it.

A policy-based management plan for automating cloud applications and workloads will prevent rookie mistakes. Most cloud vendors use APIs, so automating them is relatively straightforward.

The complexity of automating clouds will depend on the organizations level of cloud maturity. For customers just getting started in their migration, make sure to automate everything at the outset.Organizations should ensure they set up procedures to automate their cloud footprint so they dont need to implement anything manually. That gets a little bit tricky when a customer that started out with manual processes wants to adopt automation. Then its more work involved to make that happen.

There are tools to do that, but the process takes longer. But organizations that have automated from manual processes are very happy in the long run.

A provider can teach organizations with a manual presence how to do automation as code. That saves a lot of time, effort, and headaches.

The benefits

Organizations that adopt cloud and automation will see cost savings in staff and dynamic scaling, and the ability to grow and shrink a cloud footprint based on demand. They will also see significant productivity gains.

The hybrid cloud presence even for large corporations can be managed with a relatively small staff when cloud automation is adopted. Compare that to the old world with an equivalent footprint, where everything needs to be done manually, and youd be talking about many more people.

Mark McCoy is a managing partner and enterprise hybrid cloud architect at Asperitas Consulting, based in Chicago.

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The Channel Angle: Determining The Value And ROI Of Cloud Automation - CRN

We are thrilled at being named one of the most prominent IWMS vendors on Verdantixs Green Quadrant 2022.

CONCORD, Mass. (PRWEB) April 12, 2022

VLogic Systems, Inc., a leading Integrated Workspace Management Software (IWMS) SaaS provider, today announced that VLogic was listed as one of twelve, most prominent vendors in the Verdantix Green Quadrant Integrated Workplace Management Systems 2022. Verdantix is a research and advisory firm with global expertise in digital strategies for Environment, Health & Safety, ESG & Sustainability, Operational Excellence, and Smart Buildings. The firm releases its IWMS smart buildings green quadrant research every two years.

We are thrilled at being named one of the most prominent IWMS vendors on Verdantixs Green Quadrant 2022. We look forward to releasing even more smart building innovations this year, including upgraded versions of our real-time occupancy tracking software tools, and additional releases of our space scheduling software for tackling the demands of todays hybrid workplace, including office hoteling and hot-desking features, said VLogics president, George T. Koshy.

One of the VLogic innovations reviewed by Verdantix for its 2022 research report is VLogicFM Tracking, a real-time occupancy tracking solution that uses IOT-enabled (Internet-of-Things) sensors to securely send encrypted occupancy data to VLogicFMs Microsoft Azure cloud servers, via unique, onsite cellular gateways. VLogics cellular solution is practically plug and play because it is deployed entirely outside the customers local network. In practical terms, this translates into a better security footprint, dramatically faster onboarding time, less cost, and faster time to activation.

Customers deploy VLogicFM Tracking to optimize current space usage, load balance departmental sharing of common rooms (e.g., patient exam rooms and conference rooms), and to make data-driven new construction planning decisions. Customers also report that using this objective, sensor-based solution often defuses ongoing tensions between building occupantswho subjectively clamor for more spaceand budget-constrained building operations managers.

Future updates to VLogicFM Scheduling will include sensor-based occupancy data to improve hot-desking / office hoteling bookings for hybrid workforces. For example, the system could alert scheduling managers that a booked room is still vacant after a number of minutes into the booked time slot.

The possibilities created by smart building technologies are exciting and VLogic is fully committed to enhancing these offerings.

About VLogic Systems, Inc.

VLogic Systems, Inc., an integrated workspace management software (IWMS) pioneer, provides cloud-based SaaS solutions that maximize the value of enterprise physical facilities, assets, and real estate portfoliosby dramatically simplifying workspace management, using an intuitive, spatially-centered model that reduces management time and cost. VLogic Systems Inc. is headquartered in Concord, MA. For more information, go to http://www.vlogicsystems.com/

VLogic Systems, Inc.pr@vlogicsystems.com978-341-9000 x407LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vlogicsystems/

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VLogic Systems, Inc. Named One of the Most Prominent IWMS Providers - PR Web

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The council has shown how it is possible to develop a model that optimises public and private clouds while maintaining high levels of security, writes Andrew Puddephatt, director UK public sector of Nutanix

Cloud first might be a long term ambition for public authorities, but the demands of migrating applications, maintaining security and managing costs mean that for now most have their sights set on optimising the use of a hybrid cloud model in their digital infrastructure.

Falkirk Council is among those that have made significant progress, taking the cloud as appropriate approach, with a combination of private and public clouds and its own data centre to provide the most suitable environment for each of its business applications.

Cloud first is a journey, says its team leader for network, infrastructure and cyber security, Murat Dilek. Well get there one day, but not within the next few years.

He says that, for the foreseeable future, Falkirk is focused on a hybrid cloud approach in which the Nutanix platform is playing an important role.

In 2019 the council began by looking at its applications and saw it could not even think about moving some of the latter to the cloud. But it already had Office 365 running in the Microsoft public cloud, and some virtualisation within its infrastructure with which it could work.

This prompted a focus on a hybrid model in which each application was assessed to see where best it works, taking into account the availability and costs of moving it to software-as-a-service or running it on a public cloud such as Azure or AWS.

It led to some legacy and Oracle based applications remaining within the councils on-premise infrastructure, while some others including its HR, housing, social care and disaster recovery are in public clouds.

As the third element, it has developed its private cloud on the Nutanix platform, utilising a virtual desktop infrastructure with 70 virtual servers and a 100 physical to virtual conversions, along with the appropriate back-up functions.

This has provided the advantages of private cloud: it is scalable on demand; brings down operational expense by reducing the amount of on-premise equipment to support; helps to automate workloads for streamlined processes and increased productivity; reduces the management overhead as the system can be monitored and maintained centrally; provides more options for business continuity through a fast recovery of applications and data; and reduces the floor space and carbon emissions of the on-premise data centre.

The platform has also provided the capability to extend more applications from the private to public cloud, or vice versa, when it is helps to optimise operations.

Along with this has been a focus on high security to underpin hybrid working during the pandemic, and a the outlook for a hybrid workplace over the long term. The council aimed to develop a zero trust access (ZTA) model, in which home workers had to enter the corporate network through a firewall and load balancer, then go into the virtual desktop infrastructure to access applications hosted in the data centre, and to move back out to those in public clouds.

ZTA is reinforced through a mutli-device management system that includes anti-virus endpoints, patch management, device restriction and encryption, and the need for complex passwords or phrases to permit entry. In addition, access to on-premise applications and resources goes through an encrypted tunnel, and the route back out to the internet involves local internet breakouts and web gateways with web filtering SSL inspection.

The results are that the system provides users with internet access with full inline inspection to block the bad and protect the good, and connects them to applications for which they are authorised, located in the data centre, public or private cloud. It does this while providing the same experience as if they were on premise.

This has created a situation in which Dilek says the internet has effectively become the new corporate network for Falkirk, with lower costs, increased reliability of applications, lower risks, scalability and the foundation for a more agile approach in the councils digital operations.

This is relevant to a couple of key trends for the public sector. One is in a gradual move away from using on-premise data centres. Research for the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Index has shown that, while 25% of respondents from the sector are still deploying IT in traditional data centres, less than 5% expect to be doing so in three years time.

The other is that 64% expected to be operating in a multicloud environment within three years, and 83% agreed that a hybrid combining public and private clouds would be the ideal model. In this respect, the UK public sector is ahead of the norm.

But it comes with challenges, notably around managing the costs, security and integrating data across clouds. And the interoperability of multiple cloud environments and the ability to move applications from one to another is crucial.

The latter is often difficult to achieve, but the experience of Falkirk Council with the Nutanix platform shows it is possible. There is scope to build a hybrid cloud that meets all the demands and equips an organisation for a future of hybrid working and adoption of new applications. It is something all public sector bodies should explore.

Excerpt from:
The Falkirk experience of building a hybrid cloud - UKAuthority.com