The term ‘Cloud’ is used extensively in technology circles, meaning different things to different people. But what does the ‘Cloud’ mean for email? Andrew and Nigel, discuss the opportunities and dangers presented by ‘Cloud’ computing. Where can the ‘Cloud’ add value to our business, and reduce spiralling costs? Are there cases when handing over your data / messaging services isn’t such a good idea? How can we pick and choose the best bits of the ‘Cloud’ whilst retaining control? And what is the ‘Cloud’, really…?

1. Messaging: Harnessing the
Cloud
Andrew Quinn & Nigel Robson
15/11/2013

2. What is the Cloud?
Flexibility
Public Cloud
Scalability
Abstraction
Software as a Service (SaaS)?
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?
Platform as a Service (PaaS)?
Hosting?
(I care about the outcome, but not the details)
Private Cloud
Partner Cloud

3. Private Cloud

4. What is a Private Cloud?
Private Cloud?
Cupboard
Server Room
Data Centre

5. Typical Example

6. Private Cloud

7. Public Cloud

8. Public Cloud (Email)
• You pay for the
number of
mailboxes you
need
• Can scale up…
• … or down
• Implementation
detail is
abstracted away

9. Emergence of “The Cloud”
• It’s not new!
• The buzzword is new...
• People have been using the “cloud” for
years
– Personal email
– Websites
– Blogs, etc.

10. Emergence of “The Cloud”
• Several technological advances have made
remote hosting applicable to a wider set of
services:
–
–
–
–
Virtualisation
Automation
Self-Service
Internet Speeds
• Along with this growth of service offerings
comes an exciting new buzzword to help sell
them: “The Cloud”

11. What can the Cloud do for Email?
•
•
•
•
Hosted Mailboxes
Hosted Hygiene (anti-virus, anti-spam)
Hosted Archiving
Service Continuity

12. Pros, Cons & Considerations

13. Uptime
Resiliency often comes as standard with
large-scale hosting
Uptime is not necessarily guaranteed
Do SLAs consider disruption, or just fullscale outages?
99.9% uptime SLA
Approx. 45mins outage per month

14. Support
Don’t need your own in-house specialist
Support is often 24/7
Support may be difficult to get hold of if
there is a problem

15. Recovery
No backup hardware to worry about
No daily checks to worry about
Granular recovery is usually not an option
Options are limited in non-disaster
scenarios such as accidental deletions

16. Flexibility
Can easily scale up without lead time
Can scale down to save cost
Costs can scale up quite quickly too!
Consider an internal approval process for
cloud resources

17. Security
Outsource a lot of the complexity
Less need to keep on top of upcoming
threats
Where is your data?
Who can access your data?
Is your data mined?
Is your provider on top of upcoming threats?
May violate regulatory requirements

18. Infrastructure
No hardware required
No maintenance to worry about
Requirement for physical
space, power, cooling, electricity reduced
Completely reliant on internet connectivity
Bandwidth may be an issue depending on
location

19. Performance
Cloud infrastructure is built to scale
You don’t know what you’re getting
Some vendors cut corners to reduce costs
Consider asking for a free trial

20. Updates
No costly periodic system upgrades
Time and license costs
Always licensed for the latest and greatest
Updates likely to be forced on you
May have to update on premise systems /
clients more frequently
User training is still necessary!

21. Integration
May have integration with other cloud
features (e.g. Office 365, Google Apps)
Limited customisation
Limited scope for 3rd party extensions
May not integrate with business systems

22. Costs
Little up-front investment required to get
up and running
No unexpected hardware costs
Recurring cost
Can be more expensive in the long run

23. Hybrid Deployment

24. Hybrid Deployment
•
•
•
•
Mix and match for the best of both worlds
Cloud flexibility and scalability
On premise control and integration
Appears as a single Exchange
organisation
• Federated identity / single sign on

25. Hybrid Deployment
• Mailboxes can be
hosted locally…
• …or in the cloud
• Mailboxes can be
moved to and
from the cloud
• Or archived to the
cloud

26. Hybrid Scenarios
• Permanent / Temporary
– Permanent staff on premises
– Temporary staff in the cloud
• Regulatory
– Regulated mailboxes on premises
– Unregulated mailboxes in the cloud
• Burstable Capacity
– Quickly expand using the cloud
– Move on premises after extending physical
capacity

27. Partner Cloud

28. Partner Cloud
• Similar to a public cloud, but implemented
by a 3rd party
• May offer a more customised service
• May provide professional services to help
with migration

29. The Waterstons Approach

30. The Waterstons Approach
• We don’t do high volume, commodity “cloud”
hosting
– Microsoft and Google have that pretty well
covered
– We help customers to plan for and migrate to
these platforms, where appropriate
• We provide a bespoke solution unique to the
specific needs of an organisation
• We can mix and match vendors and
applications to provide the best solution

31. The Waterstons Approach
• A fully transparent service
– You can see the physical infrastructure
– You have full access to your servers
• Provides the scalability of a cloud solution
• Allows the customer to retain control

32. The Waterstons Approach:
Real World Example

33. The Waterstons Approach:
Real World Example
On Premise Benefits
• Retain Exchange 2010 to
support existing legacy
applications
• Implementation of
Enterprise Vault archiving
solution
• Full access to servers
• Integration with business
systems
Cloud Benefits
• Flexibility to scale up as
acquisitions are made
and demand increases
• Monthly costing model
• Not reliant on a physical
office location

34. Summary
•
•
•
•
Flexibility and scalability
Rapid service provisioning
Can be restrictive
Consider security and regulatory
requirements
• Not all clouds are equal
• The cloud isn’t for everyone

35. Q&A
Coming up…
Mobile Solutions to Manufacturing Problems
8:00am, Wednesday 27th November 2013
Mobile for Business
11:45am, Friday 29th November 2013
Architecting Cross-Platform Applications
11:45am, Friday 6th December 2013