Sanjay K Mohindroo

Thinking of moving to the cloud, and wondering what options you have? Well, these are the types of cloud computing: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).

With IaaS, companies control their computing, networking, and storing components without physically managing them on-premises. PaaS, provides developers with a framework to build custom applications, while SaaS avails internet-enabled software to organizations via a third party.

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing in which a shared pool of resources is available over broad network access, these resources can be provisioned or released with minimum management efforts and service-provider interaction. 

Cloud Deployment Models

The three main types of cloud deployment models are private, public, or hybrid. Selecting your desired model depends on your specific requirements.

Private Cloud

This model consists of an infrastructure that is owned by a single business. This model can be hosted in-house or can be externally hosted. Although expensive, the private cloud model is well-suited for large organizations with a focus on security, customizability, and computing power.

Private clouds are distributed systems that work on private infrastructure and provide users with dynamic provisioning of computing resources. Instead of a pay-as-you-go model in private clouds, there could be other schemes that manage the usage of the cloud and proportionally bill the different departments or sections of an enterprise. 

Pros of a private cloud:

• Highest level of security
• Better autonomy over the servers
• Highly customizable
• No risk of sudden changes that can disrupt company operations
• Customer information protection: In the private cloud security concerns are less since customer data and other sensitive information do not flow out of private infrastructure.
• Infrastructure ensuring SLAs: Private cloud provides specific operations such as appropriate clustering, data replication, system monitoring, and maintenance, disaster recovery, and other uptime services.
• Compliance with standard procedures and operations: Specific procedures have to be put in place when deploying and executing applications according to third-party compliance standards. This is not possible in the case of the public cloud.

Cons of a private cloud:

• Requires extensive expertise of IT personnel
• Comparatively expensive

Public Cloud

This model consists of services and infrastructure that are shared by all organizations. With huge available space, scalability becomes easier in public cloud solutions. Organizations pay public cloud models on a pay-per-use basis, making it a suitable solution for smaller businesses looking out to save money.

Public clouds are managed by third parties which provide cloud services over the internet to the public, these services are available as pay-as-you-go billing models. 

They offer solutions for minimizing IT infrastructure costs and become a good option for handling peak loads on the local infrastructure. Public clouds are the go-to option for small enterprises, which can start their businesses without large upfront investments by completely relying on public infrastructure for their IT needs. 

The fundamental characteristics of public clouds are multitenancy. A public cloud is meant to serve multiple users, not a single customer. A user requires a virtual computing environment that is separated, and most likely isolated, from other users. 

Pros of public cloud:

• Highly scalable
• Cost-effective
• Management is delegated to the cloud service provider
• Not bound by geographical restrictions

 Cons of public cloud:

• Offers less customization
• Sudden changes by cloud providers can have dire impacts
• Lesser autonomy over servers
• Since the server is shared, it is less secure

 

Hybrid Cloud

A combination of both public and private clouds, a hybrid cloud combines the two models to create a tailored solution that allows both platforms to interact seamlessly. 

A hybrid cloud is a heterogeneous distributed system formed by combining public and private cloud facilities. For this reason, they are also called heterogeneous clouds. 

A major drawback of private deployments is the inability to scale on-demand and efficiently address peak loads. Here public clouds are needed. Hence, a hybrid cloud takes advantage of both public and private clouds. 

Pros of hybrid cloud:

• Highly secure, flexible, and economic
• Better security than pure public cloud solutions

Cons of hybrid cloud: 

• Since communication occurs between public and private clouds, it can become conflicted at times. 
•  A hybrid cloud is a heterogeneous distributed system formed by combining public and private cloud facilities. For this reason, they are also called heterogeneous clouds. 
• A major drawback of private deployments is the inability to scale on-demand and efficiently address peak loads. Here public clouds are needed. Hence, a hybrid cloud takes advantage of both public and private clouds. 

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

IaaS provides an on-demand infrastructure to organizations on a pay-as-you-go basis over the Internet instead of via a traditional data center. IaaS has the following physical and virtual resources that allow organizations to run workloads in the cloud:

Physical datacentres. IaaS providers have tens of powerful servers spread across the world to provide on-demand and scalable computing. IaaS provisions these components as a service rather than users interacting with them directly.

Compute resources. IaaS compute resources are Virtual Machines (VMs) that are managed by hypervisors. IaaS providers provision VMs based on CPU, GPU, and memory consumption for various workloads. Organizations can auto-scale and load-balance different workloads based on the performance characteristics they want to achieve.

Networks. Software-defined networking programmatically manages network hardware such as switches and routers.

Storage. IaaS providers offer highly distributed storage technologies such as file storage, block storage, and object storage that are resilient and easily accessible over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Start-ups can opt for the IaaS model to avoid the costly and tedious process of setting up on-premises IT infrastructure. Similarly, large corporations that want to retain control over their IT infrastructure, but with the flexibility of paying only for resources consumed, can also use this model.

Common examples of IaaS include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Rackspace, and Alibaba Cloud.

Disadvantages of IaaS

• Because IaaS has a multi-tenant architecture, data security issues are associated with it.
• If there are vendor outages in IaaS solutions, users might be unable to access their data for some time.
• Managing a new infrastructure can be challenging, thus giving rise to the need for team training.

PaaS (Platform as a Service)

In a PaaS model, developers lease the infrastructure they need for a complete application lifecycle: development, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Like IaaS, developers rent servers, networking, and storage components. In addition, they also lease items like middleware, development tools, and database management systems (DBMSs) from the PaaS provider.

PaaS allows an organization to avoid the often costly and complex process of purchasing and managing software licenses. Essentially, PaaS providers manage everything else related to the application lifecycle while allowing developers to focus on the applications they are developing. PaaS is particularly useful for organizations that want to streamline workflows in a production environment that has multiple developers.

PaaS can also minimize costs greatly and simplify the application development lifecycle in a Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment. Common examples of PaaS include Google App Engine, Apache Stratos, OpenShift, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, and Heroku.

Disadvantages of PaaS

• PaaS can have data security issues.
• Since not every element of existing infrastructure can be cloud-enabled, there might be compatibility issues with adopting PaaS solutions.
• The speed, support, and reliability of PaaS depend on the vendor.

SaaS (Software as a Service)

In this model, SaaS providers host software on their servers and lease it to organizations on a subscription basis. Rather than IT administrators installing the software on individual workstations, the SaaS model allows users to access the application via a web browser where they log in with their usernames and passwords.

Under the SaaS model, organizations can lease productivity software such as email, collaboration, and calendaring. Also, they can lease other business applications, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), document management, and customer relationship management (CRM).

Start-ups can use the SaaS model to launch enterprise applications quickly if they do not have the time to set up the server or software. Common examples of SaaS include Dropbox, Google GSuite (applications), Cisco Webex, and GoToMeeting.

Disadvantages of SaaS

• There is a limited range of solutions with SaaS.
• Network connectivity is a must when it comes to using SaaS solutions.
• There is a loss of control when using SaaS solutions.

How to optimize your cloud computing with Parallels RAS

Organizations can easily choose from the 3 types of cloud computing—IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS—based on workload requirements. However, no organization can leverage the power of cloud computing fully without an efficient Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution. VDI replaces traditional desktops and applications with virtual ones powered by a data center.

In this regard, an efficient VDI solution that complements the 3 types of cloud computing can greatly promote your bottom line. Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) is an inclusive VDI solution for deploying virtual applications and desktops for on-premises, hybrid, and public cloud scenarios. It does not matter whether you choose an IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS model for your organization.

Parallels RAS complements each cloud option to deliver a fully functioning cloud-based virtualization to any device, at any location, and at any time. Most of all, Parallels RAS has cutting-edge security features, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) and advanced filtering, to deliver a secure and efficient cloud-based VDI solution.

Community cloud 

Community clouds are distributed systems created by integrating the services of different clouds to address the specific needs of an industry, a community, or a business sector. 

In the community cloud, the infrastructure is shared between organizations that have shared concerns or tasks. The cloud may be managed by an organization or a third party. 

Sectors that use community clouds are: 

1. Media industry: Media companies are looking for quick, simple, low-cost ways to increase content generation efficiency. Most media productions involve an extended ecosystem of partners. In particular, the creation of digital content is the outcome of a collaborative process that includes the movement of large data, massive compute-intensive rendering tasks, and complex workflow executions.
2. Healthcare industry: In the healthcare industry community clouds are used to share information and knowledge on the global level with sensitive data in the private infrastructure.
3. Energy and core industry: In these sectors, the community cloud is used to cluster a set of solutions that collectively address the management, deployment, and orchestration of services and operations.
4. Scientific research: This organization with common interests in science shares a large distributed infrastructure for scientific computing.

Approach to moving to the cloud.

1. Support for the end-to-end migration journey

The cloud migration tool has to be able to assist you on your journey across its various stages. From consulting services to application preparation, from cloud integration to uptime maximization – the cloud migration vendor should oversee the entire transformation initiative that you are undertaking. This is crucial as the cloud presents an entirely new way of operating IT infrastructure, and you will not be able to apply the same best practices, key performance indicators (KPIs), or process flows. A suitable vendor will help you navigate any teething troubles. 

2. Compatibility with your cloud destination

This is a must-have feature for the cloud migration tool that you choose. You may be moving from an on-premise environment to a remote private infrastructure. Or, you may move from a public cloud to a private one (or vice versa). You may even have a specific cloud environment as your destination, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure. While the tool does not need to be compatible with all of these destinations, it must support the environment you selected in your digital transformation blueprint. 

3. Pre-migration assessment 

Pre-migration assessment is a crucial feature of a cloud migration tool and is often offered as an ancillary service in addition to the core technology. This feature entails that the vendor actively helps you arrive at the best-fit combination of tools and methodologies to execute the migration journey successfully. The vendor must take stock of your infrastructure maturity, provide recommendations, estimate returns, and finalize the execution roadmap. 

4. Application or data migration enablement

This is the core functionality of cloud migration tools as it allows you to move your applications or data into the cloud with minimal manual effort. The tool modernizes your application architecture and allows you to monitor the migration process closely. You will be able to spot compatibility errors, user experience challenges, or other issues and fix them before they can influence post-migration performance. Depending on your cloud migration objectives, the tool may also drive data or content migration to the cloud instead of applications. 

5. Insights for cloud performance optimization

Once the migration is complete, you need to check the cloud landscape’s performance and benchmark against pre-migration KPIs as well as industry standards. Ideally, the cloud migration tool should include an analytics dashboard to view real-time performance signals, generate reports, and support business processes using the cloud infrastructure. 

Cloud Migration Tools

According to research by Markets and Markets, the global cloud migration market will grow from $3.2 billion in 2017 to $9.5 billion in 2022. How do you choose the best cloud migration tool from this vast marketplace for your enterprise? Here are our top 10 recommendations, arranged in alphabetical order.

Disclaimer: This list is based on publicly available information and includes vendor websites that sell to mid-to-large enterprises. Readers are advised to conduct their final research to ensure the best fit for their unique organizational needs.

1. AppDynamics (Cisco)

Overview: AppDynamics is a digital transformation enablement company that helps you unearth deep insights into application performance. The combination of AppDynamics and select Cisco products makes this a powerful tool for cloud migration. 

Key features: The key features of AppDynamics include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: It baselines your applications, delivers pre- and post-migration metrics, and helps detect UX issues. 
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: It works with most major cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure, Docker, SAP, IBM, and Kubernetes. 
• Pre-migration assessment: It has dashboards that show key metrics and performance insights in real time. 
• Application or data migration enablement: It integrates with Cisco Intersight Workload Optimizer and Cisco Cloud Center for application migration and scaling. 
• Insights for performance optimization: AppDynamics Business iQ aids in quick analysis of post-cloud migration success. 

USP: AppDynamics is entirely data-driven, so you can accurately detect and resolve migration issues. 

Pricing: AppDynamics is available in four versions, starting at $6 per month per CPU core.

Editorial comments: Companies can rely on AppDynamics to validate their migration plans and ensure user workflows aren’t disrupted due to cloud adoption. 

2. AWS Server and Application Migration Services

Overview: AWS offers purpose-built tools to help migrate to an AWS cloud environment. It has two tools for enterprises – the AWS Application Migration Service and the AWS Server Migration Service. 

Key features: The key features of AWS Migration Services include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: AWS offers end-to-end customer enablement, including professional services, managed services, training, and certification. 
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: It is compatible only with AWS environments. 
• Pre-migration assessment: It supports pre-migration assessments through the AWS Management Console. 
• Application or data migration enablement: The application migration service moves applications from physical, virtual, or cloud infrastructure to AWS. The server migration service automatically migrates on-premises workloads in bulk. 
• Insights for performance optimization: You can gain insights from AWS services like Amazon CloudWatch.

USP: AWS has powerful automation capabilities to handle the application and workload migration in bulk. 

Pricing: AWS Server Migration Service is free for AWS customers, and AWS Application Migration Service is free for the first 2,160 hours, with a billing of $0.042 per server after this period. 

Editorial comments: AWS Server and Application Services are ideal for new and existing AWS clients as you gain from the company’s massive partner network. 

3. AvePoint Migration

Overview: AvePoint is a cloud migration company that specializes in Office 365 and SharePoint landscapes. It lets you consolidate older tenants, migrate content from other clouds like Google and Box, and modernize on-premises files. 

Key features: The key features of AvePoint Migration include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: AvePoint offers migration as a service (MaaS), from discovery and assessment to pilot, execution, and onboarding. 
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: AvePoint is compatible only with Microsoft 365. 
• Pre-migration assessment: The company will review your business needs and the current content production environment to identify governance and hardware gaps. 
• Application or data migration enablement: AvePoint incrementally migrates content from cloud and on-premise locations (including Lotus Notes) to Microsoft 365. 
• Insights for performance optimization: You will receive detailed job reports and content validation reports through Power BI, right up to user onboarding. 

USP: AvePoint simplifies the cloud-based modernization process for legacy and fragmented content landscapes with an ‘as a service (PaaS) approach. 

Pricing: AvePoint is custom-priced. 

Editorial comments: Companies struggling with content fragmentation across websites, on-premise apps, and multiple clouds can rely on AvePoint’s cloud migration tools. 

4. Azure Migrate

Overview: Like AWS, Microsoft offers the Azure Migrate service to help you migrate to the Azure Cloud. Importantly, it supports migration from virtual machines, physical servers, and cloud-to-cloud implementations. 

Key features: The key features of Azure Migrate include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: It offers a guided experience powered by a progress dashboard that takes you through the discovery, assessment, and migration phases.
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: It is compatible only with Azure environments, including Azure Virtual Machines, Azure VMware, Azure App Service, and Azure SQL Database destinations.
• Pre-migration assessment: You can leverage Azure’s readiness analysis, app dependency visualization, and cost estimation tools. 
• Application or data migration enablement: It supports migration for both application and data center estates. 
• Insights for performance optimization: The Azure Migrate dashboard, as well as integrated partner tools, provide performance insights. 

USP: Azure Migrate is a fully guided experience, where you can track your progress using the central dashboard for multiple servers, virtual desktops, SQL servers, web apps, etc. 

Pricing: Azure Migrate is free for Azure customers, but you must pay for third-party licenses. 

Editorial comments: Enterprises moving to Azure Cloud should consider Azure Migrate as their cloud migration tool of choice. 

5. Carbonite Migrate

Overview: Carbonite, acquired by OpenText in 2019, offers advanced cloud backup solutions for home, professional use, and enterprises. Carbonite Migrate is the company’s data and application migration tool for cloud environments. 

Key features: The key features of Carbonite Migrate include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: The Carbonite Migrate Console lets you orchestrate and monitor the cloud journey. 
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: It is compatible with all major operating systems, hypervisors, and any cloud platform. 
• Pre-migration assessment: The administrator can choose their migration pathway, with options from automated workflows to do-it-yourself (DIY) blueprints. 
• Application or data migration enablement: It performs an initial mirror of your data and applications on the target system and synchronizes the configurations with zero downtime. 
• Insights for performance optimization: You can conduct unlimited testing of the new environment and obtain insights from the Console. 

USP: Carbonite supports the widest possible range of source and destination environments, even supporting cloud-to-back-onsite migrations. 

Pricing: Carbonite Migrate is custom-priced, but you can buy a license from a reseller for approximately $280. 

Editorial comments: Companies that need zero downtime migration between two environments can leverage Carbonite Migrate. 

6. CloudM

Overview: CloudM provides enterprises with cloud migration tools and data backup solutions. It offers several hosting solutions to either manage the migration yourself or opt for an expert-managed installation by the company. 

Key features: The key features of cloud include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: It helps in pre-migration assessment, self-managed or serviced migration, and user onboarding or offboarding as required. 
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: CloudM supports migration to Google Workspace, Dropbox, and Microsoft 365. 
• Pre-migration assessment: There is a pre-migration assessment feature, which includes an environment scan and readiness test. 
• Application or data migration enablement: CloudM is designed for content migration spanning email, calendars, files, archives, and other data sources. 
• Insights for performance optimization: Post-migration, the CloudM Manage offering provides actionable insights on user adoption. 

USP: With CloudM, you can choose your degree of involvement in the migration process. Self-hosted migration is ideal if you have a complex journey and need full control. Serviced migration assigns CloudM with co-ownership for a guided migration journey. 

Pricing: CloudM is custom-priced. 

Editorial comments: CloudM is suitable for content migration projects of varying complexity, especially if you are a digital-native enterprise with the technical expertise to manage your migration.

7. Cloudsfer 

Overview: Cloudsfer offers cloud data migration solutions with support for 20+ cloud storage providers. It also assists in user, configuration, security, and metadata migration.

Key features: The key features of Cloudsfer include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: You can manage the data transfer process using a centralized user interface and third-party system connectors. 
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: It is compatible with 20+ cloud storage destinations, including Google Drive, OneDrive, Office 365, AWS, and SharePoint. 
• Pre-migration assessment: Cloudsfer provides you with easy-to-use and scalable migration processes that are prebuilt. 
• Application or data migration enablement: Cloudsfer is meant for data migration – specifically, it is a cloud migration tool for content systems. 
• Insights for performance optimization: You can generate detailed cloud migration reports that map all items from the source system to their target location. 

USP: Cloudsfer is compatible with a wide range of cloud-based content systems and can preserve your unique configurations for user management, security, permissions, etc. while migrating. 

Pricing: Cloudsfer is custom-priced, but you can avail of a free trial. 

Editorial comments: For companies that need a cloud migration tool for their on-premise content coupled with regular cloud backup, Cloudsfer provides an ideal solution. 

8. Google Cloud migration tools

Overview: Like AWS and Azure, Google provides enterprises with a comprehensive set of tools for cloud migration. The company has dedicated products for various migration scenarios, from data and application migration to infrastructure modernization. 

Key features: The key features of Google Cloud migration tools include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: You can streamline your end-to-end migration journey through the Google Cloud Rapid Assessment & Migration Program (RAMP).
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: It is compatible only with Google Cloud environments, including Kubernetes. 
• Pre-migration assessment: Google Cloud RAMP features a free migration assessment and partners with system integrators worldwide. 
• Application or data migration enablement: You can migrate databases, Oracle workloads, hardware appliances, applications, and virtual machines to the cloud. 
• Insights for performance optimization: The Google Cloud Console provides you with performance insights after the migration. 

USP: Google Cloud provides purpose-built tools for highly specific use cases. This is helpful when migrating a single process or business unit to the cloud. 

Pricing: Each cloud migration tool by Google is individually priced – you can get started with $300 in free credits. 

Editorial comments: For companies considering Google Cloud adoption, this migration tool is among your top alternatives. 

9. Turbonomic 

Overview: Turbonomic (owned by IBM) is an application performance optimization company. It provides cloud migration tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to leverage cloud services effectively. 

Key features: The key features of Turbonomic include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: Turbonomic offers insights on migration planning, execution, and post-migration performance. 
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: It is compatible with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. 
• Pre-migration assessment: It has a “Migrate to Public Cloud” capability, where you can assess your as-is and to-be-achieved landscape in terms of cost and performance. 
• Application or data migration enablement: Turbonomic aids in application migration, with application-aware processes and decisions. 
• Insights for performance optimization: Its AI algorithm generates prescriptive insights based on your IT policies and real-time metrics. 

USP: Turbonomic’s USP is its AI engine, which garners highly accurate insights to help you make the most of your cloud investment. 

Pricing: Pricing varies from environment to environment – for example, it costs $1.99 per hour on AWS EC2. 

Editorial comments: Companies that require detailed and prescriptive insights to improve application performance through cloud migration should consider Turbonomic. 

10. UnifyCloud CloudAtlas

Overview: CloudAtlas by UnifyCloud is a set of cloud migration tools that assists you at various stages of your cloud journey. It is designed for migration to Microsoft 365. 

Key features: The key features of CloudAtlas include:

• Support for the end-to-end migration journey: CloudAtlas manages the entire journey, from formulating the strategy to execution, monitoring, and cost control. 
• Compatibility with your cloud destination: It is compatible only with Microsoft 365. 
• Pre-migration assessment includes CloudRecon for strategy formulation and cybersecurity assessment to generate recommendations.
• Application or data migration enablement: It helps in migrating content systems and user configurations to the cloud. 
• Insights for performance optimization: It includes CloudSupervisor Azure to gain visibility into performance, cost, risks, and security. 

USP: CloudAtlas uses automation to estimate your migration effort and offer code-level changes that may be required for cloud migration. 

Pricing: CloudAtlas is custom-priced, depending on the number of your servers. 

Comments: Large enterprises moving to a Microsoft 365 environment can leverage CloudAtlas to automate assessment and achieve data-driven outcomes.