Binary Tree's Good Migrations Blog Tags

Water Cooler "Cloud Chat" with Walter Monasterio

Posted by Walter Monasterio, Microsoft Corporate & Regional SI Alliance Manager

In my day to day, I have a lot of conversations/debates around cloud application platforms and the services they offer for different workloads. The conversation topics are usually around application features, security, development, interoperability, and management. In terms of business productivity, Google is mentioned, Salesforce.com for CRM, and perhaps Google or Amazon for cloud application development. It seems to me that the mix and match of on-premises and cloud solutions, compounded with multiple cloud services, somewhat dilutes the value proposition that these solutions offer. Among the value propositions, presented are simplicity, ease of use, cost savings, and end user satisfaction. As far as I can see, Microsoft is the only provider that can deliver on these value propositions in a mixed application and location environment.

If I were an enterprise looking to move to the cloud to try and “do more with less” (yes …I said it), I would start my ROI/TCO homework by taking a look at what we have, examining my on-premises and cloud options, the cost to get there, and evaluate my in-house and partner IT skills. Then, I would like to see an example of my end state infrastructure (POC?) working together so I understand what my end users and subsequently, help desk, could expect. In a non-Microsoft scenario that would seem to involve negotiating with multiple vendors to get the individual products up and running, identifying and deploying viable and supported interoperability solutions, or find a partner to do this on your behalf. I suspect partners would find this equally as challenging and costly. Cloud Migration

Microsoft tries to simplify this challenge by offering Exchange on-premises and Exchange online for email; SharePoint on-premises and online for Collaboration, Portals, Development, ECM, Search, Wiki’s, and Blogs; Dynamics for CRM online; and Azure for hosted infrastructure, application development, and management. In addition to the applications themselves, they offer an array of resources, events, and partners that will let you come in and experience your future state.

READ MORE >>

Posted on 4/28/2011 10:00:00 AM | with 0 comments