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SoftLayer advises: Cloud computing is not technology

In 2011, US-based managed hosting service provider SoftLayer expanded its operations to the Asia Pacific region. It built a new data center in Singapore, and new network points of presence (PoPs) in Tokyo and Hong Kong to enable faster provision of its cloud computing services and network services in the region. [SoftLayer’s cloud computing services, dubbed CloudLayer, comprises computing, content delivery network and storage.]

In an interview with Asia Cloud Forum, SoftLayer Technologies APAC General Manager Michael Ong (pictured) describes the company’s cloud service deployment for a Singapore-based online game platform Garena; explains the benefits of cloud computing’s pay-as-you-go IT delivery model; and the three key lessons learnt about cloud computing. Read excerpts below.

Asia Cloud Forum: Describe one of your company’s most successful customer deployments of cloud service in 2011.

Michael Ong: Some of our most successful customers -- the ones that make up the core of our customer base -- are Internet-savvy small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs). These are the ones that are growing and searching for the most innovative and scalable solutions on the market.

Garena (an online game platform provider) is an example of one of our very successful customers based in Singapore. The company leverages SoftLayer’s on-demand deployment and month-to-month commitments to quickly scale up and out -- and then back -- to handle regular growth, meet sudden spikes in traffic, and to create environments for testing applications, all while avoiding investing in unnecessary equipment.

How will you help IT/CIOs establish their business case for cloud computing/services deployment to their senior management?

Ong: We are witnessing a fundamental shift in the IT industry. It is forever changing the way technology is delivered and consumed. The pay-as-you-go model for everything you need in IT is shattering the old computing paradigms, from software licensing models and hardware refresh cycles to budgeting operating costs. This change is bringing about more control and transparency to users while accelerating the commoditization of IT by making it easily available through a new model. The key tenants of this emerging model for SoftLayer are innovation, empowerment, automation and integration. Here’s how we deliver against these four key tenants.

What were your three most important lessons learnt about cloud computing in 2011?

Ong: Many companies, including telcos, NI (network integrator), SI (system integrator), ISP (Internet service provider) and hosting companies, have jumped on the bandwagon to offer their flavor of cloud computing services. These companies are opportunistic and see cloud as a good-to-have service but are often clueless about the offer, the support and the market needs.

Most of cloud services are standalone with limited or no integration to other existing hosting or managed services that the company may be offering. As such, customer experience is stifled. I was personally involved with a hosting company that spent one year and lots of developer’s time and money trying to integrate cloud services with their existing dedicated servers on a common customer portal. So clouds don’t just appear overnight.

The people selling and supporting cloud must know what they are talking about. Cloud is not a technology but an IT delivery platform built on consumptive billing. It does not matter what the industry’s definition of cloud is as long as the customers are able to take full advantage of what cloud can offer to make his job a lot easier, more productive and the ability to access compute power on-demand.

Where will cloud computing head towards in 2012?

Ong: Computing trends are moving more toward hybrid environments, which will harness the power of dedicated servers and pairing it with the flexibility and scalability of the cloud.

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