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In 2011, Verizon Business, one of the three operating units of US-based telco Verizon, acquired Terremark and CloudSwitch as part of its investments in its cloud computing portfolio.

Terremark was acquired for its expertise in infrastructure-as-a-service, co-location and managed hosting. CloudSwitch was acquired for its technologies for moving virtual machines around and between cloud computing environments, and enables hybrid and cloud-to-cloud capabilities.

In an interview with Asia Cloud Forum, Verizon Business IT Services' Global Product Development, Mark Beaumont (pictured) speaks about how the company helps Italy-based Mossi & Ghisolfi host business-critical applications on the cloud; his three key lessons learnt about cloud computing including why customization is needed to give users hands-on control; and four predictions about upcoming cloud development in 2012. Read excerpts below. 

Mark Beaumont: One interesting customer example is Mossi & Ghisolfi, a global chemical engineering company headquartered in Italy. The company needed an IT infrastructure that would drive agility and innovation across its expanding global communications network, which links manufacturing and research and development facilities in Europe, North and South America.

Mossi & Ghisolfi chose an enterprise cloud solution, delivered by Deloitte and Verizon, as the foundation for its new business IT environment. Verizon's enterprise-class cloud platform now supports the delivery of key business applications, including SAP business intelligence, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and enterprise application integration, to 550 key users around the globe. 

The robust and secure platform can be scaled on demand according to M&G's immediate business needs and enables easy access to business-critical applications all around the globe as well as the addition of new websites. The solution, delivered through Verizon's Terremark subsidiary, also helps drive cost and management efficiencies, including power consumption, linking to M&G's green goals.

A strategic group of partners, led by Verizon and Deloitte, manages the network, enabling M&G's own IT organization to focus its attention on strategic business programs. 

Beaumont: Cloud computing is often defined as a 'style' of computing to deliver scalable, IT-enabled capabilities -- in essence, service providers can leverage economies of scale to provide a highly reliable platform with greater cost and management efficiency. Companies gain flexible access to large amounts of scalable computing power, giving them the freedom to adjust capacity up and down to support the natural cycles of their business. Resources can be added, turned off, or reassigned whenever necessary. Cloud computing is therefore a business enabler rather than a technical construct -- a function that IT leaders are finding increasingly necessary as the IT role evolves.

The advantages of cloud computing are perhaps especially clear when looked at from the perspective of business solutions. For example, by reducing the time and effort required to launch new applications, cloud computing helps IT become more responsive to the pace and dynamic nature of business. Applications supported by the cloud don't need large infrastructure to be deployed at the customer's location, which dramatically reduces the upfront commitment of resources. New applications can be approved and deployed more quickly, making it easier to satisfy the needs of business managers throughout the organization. And the financial case is radically altered -- there is no need for large capital outlays to launch new applications, moving the decision out of the investment realm and into the operational.

Transitioning from a capital expense model to an operational expense model reduces financial risk to monthly increments and provides a higher degree of flexibility to manage expenses over time. If the market slows, organizations aren't locked into expenses their budgets can no longer support. If applications produce disappointing results, an enterprise can pursue a different direction without having to abandon expensive on-premise infrastructure.

Cloud computing also creates an opportunity for IT departments to change their focus from deploying and supporting applications to managing the services that those applications provide. This allows the department to focus on high-value activities that align with and support the enterprise business goals. The CIO can then function as a technology strategist, working with business units to understand their business needs and advise how best to use technology to accomplish their objectives.