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Bob Supnik, Vice President and General Manager of Engineering & Supply Chain Operations, and CTO of the Technology, Consulting and Integration Solutions (TCIS) business at Unisys, in conversation with Manu Sharma, discusses how the cloud is transforming the work environment and creating opportunities as well as threats for IT managers
How important is product and technology innovation in todays world? Please elaborate on the kind of innovations Unisys focusses on.
In todays complex IT environment, technology offerings need to be accompanied with services, which are a major value add. Product innovations need to evolve certain standardisation and compatibility with existing platforms, which enable the service providers to work out a good service model. Unisys is going after select markets with our service offerings around cloud computing.
Our focus is on mid-markets and multinationals, where there are problems of security and plenty of regulations. Unisys focusses on financial services, healthcare and transportation sectors which have several new complexities and where other service providers do not want to step in. Within Unisys, product development is taking place in three main areasmission critical services; cloud computing and security solutions.
In the mission critical services, we offer a family of large to small systems called the Clear Path. In the cloud computing space, we offer this technology based on private and hybrid clouds while on the security side, we offer stealth technology for the US armed forces and enterprises.
Unisys Stealth renders users, data, and infrastructure invisible to cyber criminals. Built for the US Department of Defense to secure sensitive information, Unisys Stealth achieved the National Security Agencys National Information Assurance Partnership Common Criteria EAL-4+ certification, protecting data-in-motion across any network, regardless whether it is private or public. Some of the Stealths benefits include: making your data centre invisible to the outside world; securely protecting the user, network, and data centre and unprecedented security without an expensive reconfiguring of the network.
What are the differentiating factors that you have brought into the cloud platform? How do you intend to tackle cloud-related challenges?
Unisys has recently announced the launch of Secure Private Cloud Solution for organisations to realise the operational and economic benefits of cloud computing in their internal data centres. This solution provides a highly flexible computing service to the clients, which enables them to move volumes of their business workload to the cloud. We have found that some organisations prefer a private cloud solution for mission-critical applications which use sensitive data so as to retain greater control over their own and their customers information. We try to meet that requirement with the secure private cloud solution, which is embedded with required features and tools. Unisys research has consistently shown that security concerns are the leading cause of enterprises' and individuals' hesitancy in adopting cloud computing.
Is the cloud changing the way of doing business right now?
Yes, absolutely! Cloud computing is changing the way everyone works and transforming the workplace. In Unisys Corporation, online polls conducted recently indicate that investing in cloud computing, primarily private clouds, is a top priority for IT organisations not just in the USA but also in Asia, particularly in India. Cloud computing is revolutionising the way enterprises are obtaining IT and business services because of a number of converging factors. For instance, the economy has forced enterprises to rethink their traditional cost models and minimise their capital expenditures in favour of pay-as-you-go models, the need for anywhere, anytime IT, since data sets continue to see exponential growth. There is a shift in the way IT works with, for example, virtualisation and automation, which enable cloud computing.
We think of two sets of cloud services. One is for our internal use and one for the external customers. Cloud computing is changing the way we operate quite dramatically. Our engineering resource lab which is our private cloud is based at Bangalore and the USA. These two labs supply all our cloud server resources to the cloud. No physical server has been deployed and no manual approval is being done since cloud was brought in. Recently, our India team pioneered the extension of this service capability to the service group in India. Now cloud will provide service not just to the engineering but also to the TCIS group as well.
How is the cloud landscape changing in the Indian environment?
I have witnessed changes in the cloud landscape in India owing to several factors. We see a huge potential in terms of workforce emerging from engineering colleges in India and we saw it at the Cloud 20/20 event held in Bangalore. The SME sector has started deployment of its applications on the cloud and is realising the full cloud potential. The adoption level is increasing aggressively in India around the private and public clouds. The adoption rate is also set to grow. The ratio for public to private cloud is 1:4 right now in India, which is equivalent to the ratio prevailing in the rest of the world. This is not likely to change, but we see changes in the cloud performance capabilities.
What are the technologies related to disruptive trends in India for 2012? What role does cyber security play?
We see four disruptive trends in India and these include mobility, cloud, social networking and data analytics. I would add one more which is security that is equally important. Therefore, the disruptive IT trends include cloud computing, cyber security, IT appliances, consumerisation of IT/mobility, social and smart computing. Cyber security plays a vital role owing to the sensitivity of the businesses and its information which has a threat perception. By developing a logical framework for understanding cyber security, and the major domains it represents, enterprises can implement their cyber strategies and work out specific plans tailored for each domain. The challenge is far broader than simply addressing one issue such as securing mobile devices or securing cloud-computing environments. Organisations can use cyber security strategy and logical framework to address all of these inter-related trends and business leaders can be confident of a comprehensive approach.
Can you comment on the impact that the cloud would have on IT managers? What are the inherent challenges that they face with regard to the cloud now?
Cloud computing is going to have both positive and negative impact on IT managers. Going with the cloud, I would suggest that they should be spending much less time and effort on the already automated IT operations. It is going to change the IT operations to be deployed in a strategic way. IT managers job is not just keeping the data centre running but also deploying the resources in a meticulous fashion.
Unisys believes that cloud computing should be a strategic area of focus for CIOs and IT managers, for the overwhelming agility and economic advantages that it brings. A common framework, however, is essential for all IT service delivery models, including cloud, which addresses governance, security, integration, processes, policies, applications, and architecture within the context of three core areas: applications, data centres, and management.
The biggest challenges for CIOs today are managing and securing the data and information is growing at a geometrical progression. In such a scenario, a secure cloud, whether private or public, will enable them to both support the business and provide centralised access to multiple data centres across the globe.
We believe that cloud computing will also change the kind of paybacks that they receive from their IT investments. In a severely constrained global economy, the prospect of de-capitalising enterprise IT, deferring and avoiding operational costs, fixing the IT bottleneck and more effectively mapping the availability of IT resources to fluctuating business demands provide powerful incentives with cloud adoption. Cloud computing, which is a multi-tenant model has the capability to process the needs of multiple users with shared resources, both dynamically and transparently. It is scalable as resources can be expanded and contracted when needed and users need to pay only for what they use. Through cloud computing software, platform and hardware can be provided as a service.
Does working on the cloud throw up opportunities for IT managers to scale up?
IT managers are used to working in silos related to their skills spreading across networking, storage, data centre, etc. Now that is breaking down into a set of operations. IT managers also do programming in various languages to automate the processes. Getting the processes in place is a big challenge. Therefore, as IT managers move up higher roles, they need to learn about different technologies and also programs and automate them to function efficiently. Cloud plays a major role in throwing up sufficient application integration opportunities for them. Exposure to different sets of cloud services will help them expand their horizon and scale up.
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