In mid April, the Communications Technology Consultants Association (CTCA) put most of this country’s telecom companies on the hot seat. They invited executives from TELUS, Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, MTS Allstream and Cogeco Data Services to sit on a panel at their annual conference in Kitchener, Ontario. I was honoured to be the TELUS representative.

The subject of our discussion was cloud computing and everything it makes possible – from applications like messaging, collaboration and videoconferencing to true “work anywhere, anytime” capabilities. And the biggest question was the one that came first. Roberta Fox, President and Senior Partner of Fox Group Consulting, told us that her clients still want reassurances that we’re serious about the cloud. Before they put “their hearts and souls into it”, she told us, they want to know that the telecom companies are going to stick with it for the next 8 to 10 years.

Another consultant agreed with her, worrying that as cloud services cut into our legacy products and services, we may start cutting back on the cloud. In other words, are we just dipping our toes in to test the waters, or are we really committed.

I told the panel that as far as TELUS is concerned, we've moved beyond legacy services to offer robust innovative cloud services that leverage our IP networks. My peers agreed. There was a consensus that if we don't offer cloud services, we'll lose clients to others who will – and the cloud is the best way to offer new solutions in place of our legacy services.

One of my peers pointed out that you can't offer the cloud unless you have a network. To me, you need both a reliable network and IT infrastructure for the client to really leverage the cloud. The great news is service providers have extensive knowledge and expertise in offering reliable network based services. In fact, here at TELUS we've been demonstrating an ability to offer cloud-like services for over 100 years. When you think about it, the voice services we all grew up with use a cloud-like structure, with the main applications residing on the network and the clients – the phone sets – accessing them. Then there are services like managed hosting, where we take over the management and monitoring of a client’s servers and they can access their data and applications from anywhere.

As I see it, the real challenge is to make sure that the networks we build for cloud services are as secure, reliable, efficient and scalable as possible. A client has to know that when they connect to the network, it will work, in just the same way you expect dial tone when you pick up the phone. That means end-to-end reliability, from layer 1 right to the application.

Sure, it’s easy to say, but it’s not that easy to do. If your service provider doesn’t get the fundamentals right, nothing will be right. It’s critical to ensure the network continues to offer unmatched reliability and uptime. But you’re probably more interested in the kind of services the cloud makes possible.

At TELUS, we think the big ones are:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), where we provide  computing infrastructure over the network, and manage the computing in our data centres – for example:
  • Managed hosting, where we monitor and manage the client’s servers and/or applications in our data centre
    
• Software as a Service (SaaS), where the application resides on the network, rather than on individual computers or tablets – for example:
  • Collaboration, with services like video conferencing, file sharing and more, making it possible for people to work together no matter where they are
    
• Platform as a Service (PaaS), where we provide the networks, server and storage and our clients use our tools and libraries to create their own applications and deploy them
  

Put all these together, and you’re going to be able to do just about anything on the cloud, even in remote areas.

Interestingly, we’ve found that as we open up our network to the developer community, they’re taking advantage of the opportunity to innovate. We’re seeing all kinds of new applications and we’re noticing how consumer-type services are being adopted and adapted for business use. For example, business social media is breaking down silos between us and our clients and suppliers, and between our clients and their stakeholders.

We also believe that we need to use cloud based collaboration tools like enterprise social media ourselves. Using the cloud in this way demonstrates the value to our clients and allows us to attract the quality workforce we need as they expect to have access to these tools.

So no, this cloud isn’t blowing away, it’s here to stay.  All I can say is the forecast looks terrific.

Lloyd Switzer

SVP-Network Transformation

TELUS

Cloud computing is gaining broad recognition as being the way IT services are delivered going forward.  The key advantages that cloud computing offers compared to current IT approaches are flexibility and speed.

What is Cloud Computing?

“Cloud computing enables individuals and businesses to use computer programs and resources over the Internet."

While individuals and businesses have been using the Internet and visiting websites for well over a decade, cloud computing dramatically expands it to the point that users can run all their programs “in the cloud” and instead of buying and installing big computers in the home or business, they can simply rent computing power from a service provider, just like buying electricity from your local hydro company.

With the ability to deliver IT services in a way that organizations can add resources as needed, cloud computing allows for greater ability to support a growing user base, adapt to increasing or cyclical business activity, and react faster to market opportunities. All this with significantly higher efficient use of capital and a resulting lower cost per unit of IT.

There are three fundamental avenues for cloud computing to deliver these benefits.  These are described in the industry as three layers: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).  Each one addresses a different aspect of IT and is geared towards a distinct set of users and their needs.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

SaaS is predominantly geared towards the end-users - your employees.  It enables users to quickly access standardized business applications, from e-mail, word processing and spreadsheets to customer relationship management tools and enterprise accounting programs, from anywhere via a web browser.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

IaaS and PaaS layers are geared towards your technical staff.  IaaS enables IT departments to rent computing power and sub-system components such as storage capacity on an as-needed basis.  This capability is particularly useful when the demand for computing capacity is seasonal or needed for relatively short durations, such as projects (e.g., oil exploration or customer analysis projects), developing and testing new programs, or to function as backup systems in case of system failures or disasters.  IaaS provides effective alternatives for small and medium businesses to run their systems in a hosting company’s data center  rather than having to invest in their own infrastructure. This includes computers and the supporting capabilities such as redundant power supplies and cooling.

PaaS provides system and application developers an accelerated approach to write programs by enabling access to pre-built program libraries or functions such as databases through special commands called Application Program Interfaces (API), which in turn, automatically deploys the programs.

What it means for business

The common theme behind all three layers of cloud computing is that from the business buyer’s perspective, each layer of service can be accessed independently, so that the business can get just what it needs without having to become entangled in  all the other components.  This greatly simplifies and accelerates IT deployments, leading to lower cost and a concrete way of  aligning IT with business needs.

Underpinning cloud computing are cumulative technological advances over the past 10 years or more, including increased network speeds, robustness, multiple access methods from wireless to wireline, extensive use of virtualization techniques, and advances in computing hardware power.  The confluence of these technologies makes cloud computing possible in a cost-effective and pervasive manner that is transforming the IT industry today as is evident in many publications, from the leading daily press to the Costco member magazine.

Businesses need to plan now to embrace cloud computing to their advantage.  This is a broad topic that will be discussed further in upcoming articles.  As a starting point, the first step is for both business owners and IT leaders within the company to understand the potential of cloud computing to reduce their costs while allowing flexibility and growth. This is the opportune time for businesses of all sizes to review the different layers of service from SaaS to PaaS to IaaS, and examine  how the IT challenges – both current and future - can be addressed through the “cloud”.

Join the conversation!  Tell us what your thoughts are on cloud computing.