Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2018. Read them in this 10th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Ryan Pelerin, CEO, WSM International
Let’s Get Cloud Right This Time
Our company is a specialized services and solutions integrator with a core focus on cloud and server migration, transformation, and DevOps services. WSM created the specialized migration services category in 2003, and today is the one of the largest specialized migration services providers in the world. With that in mind as the lens that I look through every day, here are some of my observations and predictions for the year ahead.
1. There will be a huge rethinking and retooling of clouds
In most everyone’s haste to get to the cloud, there was an infatuation with automated migration tools. Now we’re seeing the reality and many are looking at a “do-over” when it comes to moving to cloud computing.
With the initial transfers to cloud computing, there was a lot of “lift-and-shift” where workloads were migrated more or less as is from on-premises data centers to the cloud. What most everyone is recognizing now is that cost is also more or less what it was before.
The problem is that time wasn’t taken to transform, adapt to the cloud and re-factor workloads. This is turning into booming business for us with companies that want to get cloud right this time with workloads that are optimized for the cloud so that they are secure, perform and realize cost benefits.
2. This next generation of cloud migrations will involve DevOps
Following my first point on the importance of getting the cloud right, the next wave of cloud migrations won’t be “lift-and-shift” like the first generation. The methods to migrate have matured. We’ll see the adoption of DevOps increase in the process of migrating workloads from on-prem. This will result in true transformation of workloads that take full advantage of cloud computing.
As an example, today a migration might involve developing a script in Chef that takes code from Github and deploys that with a specified database on the chosen cloud platform. In this example, the workload is re-factored so that now the advantages of scalability of the cloud can truly be realized along with agility to adapt the workload to changing conditions.
3. Adoption of cloud brings a new level of attention to security
We find that 50 percent of the time our clients haven’t performed a vulnerability scan in two years – or maybe ever. With adoption of cloud computing, greater attention is placed on security with vulnerability scans and penetration tests performed on a regular basis. Plus, we find now that it’s common for enterprises to build security testing into their budgets. All of this is good, but it doesn’t eliminate the root cause of a big security problem, which is human error. So, in addition to increased technical solutions, there will be significant focus on employee training programs.
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About the Author
Ryan Pelerin is founder and CEO of WSM International, a specialized services and solutions integrator with a core focus on cloud and server migration, transformation, and DevOps services. Ryan started out as a website developer, then built and sold a hosting company before getting into the server migration business in 2003.
