What is HPE GreenLake?

 

According to IDC, by 2020, consumption-based procurement in data centers will account for as much as 40% of enterprises’ IT infrastructure spending. Businesses today expect rapid access to resources that allow them to pay for only what they use. This allows businesses to not only be competitive in today’s market but economical as well.

 

Introducing HPE GreenLake which provides enterprise customers with a compelling value proposition of a consumption-based IT model and the comfort of managed services. It gives a company exactly what it needs and when it needs it. It is a suite of curated solutions that deliver IT outcomes with hardware, software, and expertise on premises. Payment is simple and based on a single pay-per-usage metric that is relevant to the particular solution and your business.

 

 

Five Reasons to Love HPE GreenLake

 

 

CRN recently shared five reasons to look into HPE GreenLake:

 

1. Eliminating Over Provisioning: The average customer utilization rate for IT is 45% which means 55% of assets are not being used. Customers are buying excess compute, storage or networking capacity for on premises solutions. Customers who have adopted the GreenLake model on average are seeing a 22 – 30 percent cash flow savings.
2. Provides Detailed Consumption Data: Critical data is being collected via HPE’s “consumption manager”. This gives detailed analysis on what is being consumed, who is consuming it and what trends may be for the future.
3. Speeds Up IT Provisioning: There is no more waiting period to buy and provision new IT on premises solutions. The solution works to figure out what the work requirements really are, deploys that and buffers it for the client.
4. Metering Advantage: Using the Cloud Cruiser tool, GreenLake can meter down to the core, Gbyte, or VM or in any way the customer wants. A portal is provided that shows detailed consumption metering. This data can be tracked by project, business unit or external customer. This allows for a more detailed financial background check on each and every IT service.
5. Capex or Opex: Customer has the choice of  how financially they would like to focus their work service contract.  A company may be focused on EBITDA where they prefer to depreciate IT asses in a capital expenditure deal. Or a company may want to focus on freeing up cash to use elsewhere. The client has the option to decide what matters to them: Capex or Opex.

 

There are quite a few HPE GreenLake packages available including Hybrid Cloud, Backup, SAP HANA, Database EDB Postgres and Big Data. Zunesis and HPE would work with your business to find out what package is the most beneficial for your organization.

 

 

Why Consumption Based IT?

 

Many companies and organizations are looking to take the advantage of more of a hybrid environment where they can use the advantages of the public cloud while having the option to run workloads on premises. Businesses are moving away from capital-intensive models to more of a consumption-based approach where they can be more agile and save money and IT resources.

 

 

Here are three reasons why a Consumption Based Approach may make your IT more efficient.

 

 

1. Improve IT Operations: IT admin and operations staff are bogged down with the tasks of software updates and/or troubleshooting technology problems. By having a vendor that takes over these tedious tasks on a monthly basis via a consumption model, this frees up time for the IT to focus on projects that actually help a business generate revenue.
2. Understanding Where to Place Workloads:  40 percent of organizations with public cloud experience have moved workloads off of the cloud and back to their on-premises setups.  Moving these workloads can cause additional costs, dealing with a reduced size of their IT footprint and other unexpected problems. A consumption-based IT model can help set up an IT solution within a quicker time frame. The business is only paying for they used so you don’t overspend. The vendor also helps determine the best place to locate each of the workloads.
3. Capacity Planning: 451 Research found that 59 percent of enterprises wait three months or longer for new capacity to come online. 50 percent of enterprises typically suffered downtime as well due to poor capacity planning. With a pay-as-you-go approach, an IT provider works to determine a business’ current capacity needs and continually plans for future capacity requirements.

 

Is HPE GreenLake and a Consumption Based IT Approach a fit for your business or organization? Contact Zunesis to do an assessment of your current infrastructure to determine what may work best for your needs.

Hybrid IT or Public Cloud?

 

Recently, I had the privilege of attending a round table to talk about cloud computing and Hybrid IT. The discussion was to share information on where IT professionals were on their cloud journey within their organization and why companies make the jump to hybrid or public cloud.

 

The attendees were mostly Director and “C” level executives with representation from almost every spectrum of business. Every stage of the cloud journey was represented. There were companies that have everything on premise and companies with 100% of their IT in the cloud. There were very small companies to some of the largest companies in Colorado, as well as local companies and international companies. It was a great cross representation and lead to some interesting conversations.

 

What I found interesting was why some of these organizations had moved to the cloud and why some had not moved to the cloud. The discussion also arose on when the idea of Hybrid IT made the most sense for a company. There were a few that had a “Cloud First” approach to IT, but most people in the room agreed that Hybrid IT made the most sense. It really depended on the market and the size of the company.

 

For example, if most of the IT requirements were remote (stores, etc.), the Cloud approach seemed to be prevalent. Larger companies and companies with high security requirements tended to lean more to the on premise or Hybrid approach.

 

Almost everyone agreed that moving an application (Software as a Service) or setting up a DR site in the cloud is a good way to gain exposure into cloud computing. This is nothing new and has been going on for some time.

 

 

Hybrid IT Option

 

Hybrid IT is an approach to enterprise computing in which an organization provides and manages some information technology (IT) resources in-house but uses cloud-based services for others.

 

Many customers have applications that will not or should not move to the cloud. The easy example is mainframe and high-end Unix systems that are unlikely going to move to the cloud. At least until the applications are replaced.

 

Some of the attendees at this event were hesitant to move to the public cloud because of security and privacy concerns. While others had compliance regulations they must meet. These are valid concerns, and one the hybrid IT can help solve.

 

While privacy and security should be of utmost concern, businesses still need to innovate. The Hybrid IT model can address both concerns. Enterprises that deal with confidential data need the flexibility the Public cloud provides. They have the ability to create a multi-tenant cloud within the hybrid model. This will segregate applications and resources from each other and can be further isolated with VLANs and additional encryption methods.

 

 By 2020, 90 percent of organizations are expected to adopt
some level of hybrid infrastructure management

 ~ Gartner.com

 

 

Many businesses have found success using Hybrid IT models that allow them to keep full control over sensitive data, such as customer data or internal communications. They can keep data stored on-premise and readily accessible, while relegating less-sensitive data and workloads in the cloud. The added benefit of maintaining a hybrid solution with an on-premise data center is for disaster recovery and keeping private data out of the public pool. Hybrid IT is the ideal use of public and private resources that maximize cost-savings and productivity, and to minimize latency, privacy and security concerns.

Over the past decade, we have seen Microsoft evolve from the company that makes Windows to one of the top three tech giants, and the second largest cloud services provider behind only Amazon. While Microsoft has been a giant in the industry since the 80’s and 90’s, market share for their Windows operating system has been steadily declining during the rise of mobile devices.

 

 

Android and Apple have been slowly taking over the market and edging Microsoft out after a long string of flops. From Groove music, to the Windows phone, Microsoft has been releasing a series of not so great products that get overshadowed by others, and eventually phased out. There is one space they have been excelling in, cloud.

 

 

Focusing on the Cloud

 

 

With the success of Office 365 and Azure, it’s no surprise that Microsoft is shifting their focus to the cloud. It’s also no surprise that they are shifting the focus of their flagship product to be more in line with their current successes. There have been some major shakeups within the company over the last few years, one of which is to move the Windows operating system operations to the cloud division. Another act that solidifies Microsoft’s  intent to bring Windows to the cloud.

 

 

Windows Virtual Desktop

 

 

Enter Windows Virtual Desktop. The newest iteration of Windows 10 is offered as a remote virtual desktop run in Azure and is accessible from anywhere. Just like every other cloud product MS offers, this means it will always be up to date. No more Windows updates restarting your computer at the most inconvenient times.

 

 

 

 

The biggest upside of Windows Virtual Desktop will definitely be its impact on IT departments. The fully virtualized OS will bring a lot of benefits with it that were previously only realized through server-based virtualization, which is costly and complicated.

 

Benefits of Windows Virtual Desktop

 

• Virtual Desktops will be able to share resources with other Virtual desktops
• Centrally managed through Azure
• Accessible from anywhere, eliminating a lot of networking headaches
• IT departments will be able to deploy new desktops easily and quickly while hardly needing to touch any actual hardware, making it scalable to meet the needs of any company.
• Built in Security and Compliance. Taking a load off any monitoring and protection software

 

 

The new virtual desktop will be bundled with Office 365, which will cut costs and ensure companies have everything they need to run in the cloud. The operating system runs on a pay-as-you-go model that Microsoft uses with most of its products.

 

 

There are several tiers of this model.  Starting with the standard pay-as-you-go, where you can increase compute capacity and storage to fit your needs. You only pay for the virtual machines while they are on. There is also the option to reserve VM instances, which is a fixed price for the VM’s whether they are running or not. While still flexible, this requires a commitment for a length of time.

 

 

Redefining the Operating System

 

 

In an age of mobile devices, Microsoft is trying to redefine the operating system. They are taking it from a single-device system, to a multi device one. This will allow you to access the same desktop from any device, making it truly mobile.

 

 

Though it’s clear that Microsoft has been focusing on other projects, they aren’t leaving Windows by the wayside. The Windows Virtual Desktop may be more suited for business use, but it is a pretty clear indicator of where they want to OS to be in the future. There have been rumors that the next version of Windows will be the last. A single version of Windows that will continue to evolve, but you won’t need to upgrade to the next iteration.

 

 

Microsoft isn’t afraid to admit it’s made a few missteps in the last decade, like Windows 8 or the Windows phone. They know where they excel, and the focus has been shifted to cloud. Windows will be another addition to Microsoft’s suite of cloud services, bringing it into the future with the rest of the products that brought about Microsoft’s rise to the top. For almost its entire existence Microsoft has been known for Windows, but times are changing. Windows virtual desktop is a big step towards keeping Windows relevant in the future.

Microsoft, a year ago, announced that they are bringing the capabilities of Skype for Business in the cloud into Microsoft Teams to deliver a single hub for teamwork, with built-in, fully integrated voice and video.

 

According to Microsoft, “As users are working on more teams, we see the opportunity to more seamlessly integrate our communication capabilities into Teams so users can have a single place for their conversations, contacts, and content. We believe Teams also provides a modern cloud infrastructure that enables us to take advantage of our assets for artificial intelligence such as AI, Microsoft Graph, and LinkedIn to deliver intelligent communications. With Teams, we’re creating new experiences for meetings and calling, including the prep, delivery, and post–follow-ups.”

 

What will this mean for current users of Skype for Business?

 

While the recommendation for Office 365 users is to move to Teams, the Skype for Business on premises infrastructure is not going away anytime soon, in fact, a new version (Skype for Business Server 2019) is in preview and should be released later this year. Even though there is a new version of the on premises solution, it is clear that Teams is where the innovation dollars are going.

 

What Can Teams Bring to Your Organization?

 

Teams started as Microsoft’s implementation of Slack with deep integrations into Office 365 applications. As of September 2017, Microsoft reported 125,000 organizations were using it in one form or another.

 

PLATFORM FOR TODAY’S WORK TEAMS

 

Teams is built for today’s diverse workforce. There have been many changes across the methods that organizational teams use to communicate and collaborate. Teams provides an open, digital environment that makes work integrated, visible, and accessible across the board, keeping everyone involved in the know.

 

Microsoft Teams provides a versatile conversation experience using persistent threaded conversations. Every conversation within Teams automatically becomes information assets and are saved, searchable via Microsoft Graph, and visible to everyone on the team. It also provides the ability of launching private discussions.

 

Teams’ deep Skype integration brings video and voice capabilities and a wide variety of visual communication tools that help increase engagements among team members.

 

COMPLETE ONLINE MEETING SOLUTION

 

• Online Meetings – Host audio, video and web conferencing with anyone inside or outside the organization. Features include scheduling assistant, note taking, desktop sharing, file sharing, and chat messaging.
• Live Broadcasts – For big meetings, go live with Teams Meeting Broadcast. Host webinars, all-hands meetings, and other one-to-many presentations with up to 10,000 attendees internal or external to the organization.
• Meeting Spaces – Extend Teams with one-touch join to every meeting space with Microsoft Surface Hub.
• Cloud Video Meetings – Microsoft Partners are delivering video solutions which seamlessly connect H.323 compatible videoconferencing solutions to Teams meetings.
• Audio Conferencing – Join meetings from a phone or use Teams to dial anybody directly. Meetings include a local dial-in number spanning 400+ cities across the globe.

 

PRODUCTIVITY

 

The ability to meet virtually anywhere is an important and cost-effective feature for businesses. Teams increases productivity by bringing together conversations, meetings, files, Office applications, and third-party integrations, enabling the organization to participate in more productive meetings with less context switching. It provides a view of scheduled meetings, the timing, the subject, and a list of other persons who’ll be attending.

 

Teams also provides simple and easy to use mobile apps that allow chat with teams via text, have a voice conversation, or a video meeting.

 

COLLABORATION

 

Teams makes teamwork easy. Teams was built around the idea of leveraging the maximum capability of Microsoft Graph, so workgroups and teams have the ability to share insights, intelligence, and data anywhere within the Microsoft Office 365 suite; PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Planner, OneNote, SharePoint, Delve, and Power BI.

 

CUSTOMIZATION

 

Teams can be tailored to meet unique business and cultural needs of the organization. Teams provides a platform with options for extensibility and open APIs. Through the leveraging of Microsoft Exchange Connector’s model, Teams can provide updates and notifications from third-party services such as GitHub and Twitter. Along with Microsoft’s BOT Framework, organizations are able to create and customize applications and intelligent services to integrate with Teams.

 

SECURITY

 

Teams stands apart from its competitors and ensures peace of mind. All of Office 365’s platform services are built with cutting-edge security and compliance capabilities. The data is encrypted in flight and at rest. Teams and all Office 365 services meet compliance standards including ISO 27001, HIPPA, SOC 2, and the EU Model Clauses. The Teams account is provisioned within Office 365 and managed via the Admin console.

 

In conclusion, Microsoft has taken many of the features provided in Skype for Business and built them into the Teams platform. This platform is built with today’s organizational work teams in mind, providing a complete online meeting solution, increased productivity and collaboration, all built on Office 365’s already secure services infrastructure. Even though Microsoft has announced that Skype for Business will be going away in the future, the on-premises version has one release version left (later this year). Office 365 users are being pushed to Teams instead of Skype for Business in the cloud.

 

 

 

 

Though not a new phenomenon, ransomware has made some serious headlines this week.

 

With the recent wave of Ransomware attacks, it is becoming increasingly important for organizations to protect themselves and their sensitive data.

 

There are different types of ransomware. They can target any PC users – whether it’s a home computer, endpoints in an enterprise network, or servers used by a government agency or healthcare provider.

 

Ransomware can:

 

• Prevent you from accessing Windows,
• Encrypt files so you can’t use them,
• Stop certain apps from running (like your web browser).

 

Ransomware will demand that you pay money (a “ransom”) to get access to your PC or files. However, there is no guarantee that paying the fine or doing what the ransomware tells you will give access to your PC or files again.

 

Microsoft provides a complete portfolio of Cloud services to protect your data from these types of attacks. One of our specialties is helping customers transition from on premise to either hybrid or full cloud environments. Often, customers just do not know where to start. We have a complimentary assessment that can establish the basics called a “Cloud Migration Health Check,” by which we can provide you with a report outlining current on premises investments compared to what those same investments would cost in the cloud, highlighting cost savings in the process.

 

In light of this week’s events, (WannaCry), would it be worth a few minutes of your time to review your current environment and projects to see if Microsoft Cloud and Microsoft Office 365 & Azure would be a good fit for your organization?

 

Please contact us to learn more on how Microsoft dedicated Office 365 and Azure: Storage, Backup, and Disaster Recovery solutions can help optimize and protect your IT investments.

 

 

 

Beyond The Role of Reseller and Implementer

In the past 10 years, the evolution of technology has continued to accelerate every year at a dizzying pace. It is now more challenging than ever before for IT leaders to develop and implement technology strategies for their organizations without the help of outside resources.

There are simply too many variables and solution options; and the speed with which technologies change can create confusion, delayed decision making, and, consequently, cause delays for important projects. Utilization of outside resources to assist with implementation has been at the core of services offered by Zunesis for over 12 years. But, during this time, we have also provided many of our customers formal, vendor-neutral Assessment and Strategy Development consulting services.

 
If you are responsible for managing IT architecture direction for your company, you have far more variables to consider than at any time before. Here are a few of the variables you need to factor into your planning:

Virtualization

• What Hypervisor will you use?
• Will you begin utilizing Converged solutions?
• Will you virtualize all workloads? How will you decide?

 

Storage

• What type of storage will you deploy? Locally attached, centralized/shared storage using Fibre Channel and iSCSI?
• Will you use All Flash or Hybrid?
• Will you separate storage by workload?
• Will you utilize cloud storage?
• Will you provide storage through Converged or Hyper Converged solutions?
• How will you protect your storage infrastructure?
• How do you ensure a storage infrastructure that will meet performance demands? How will that scale?

 

Networking

• Will you maintain a physical network infrastructure or begin utilizing some form of software defined networking solution?
• How will you provide security across your network?

 

Availability

• How will you provide availability for your virtualized infrastructure?
• How will you protect your data?
• Are there SLA’s that need to be met? Are these well-defined? Do you know the RPO/RTO requirements for your organization?
• Do you provide a separate protection strategy for your data and virtual machines?

 

Cloud

• How does Cloud fit into your strategy?
• What workloads will be appropriate in the cloud?
• How will you migrate workloads to the Cloud?
• Will cloud be part of your disaster recovery strategy?

 

The questions listed above are very familiar to today’s IT leader. And, in fact, they represent only part of all that needs to be considered when developing your IT infrastructure strategies. These questions, and the path to getting them answered, is also familiar to your technical team at Zunesis. As a Solution Provider and Value Added Reseller for over 12 years, we’ve seen the industry through many transformations. And with Account Managers and Technical personnel having decades of experience, Zunesis has been involved with every aspect of IT Infrastructure design, implementation, and support.

But beyond the technical expertise, Zunesis makes it our mission to be an advocate for our customer, apart from representing the manufacturer and software vendor solutions we sell. It is our level of experience and our Customer First belief that qualifies us to help our clients define their IT strategies, not just act as a reseller and implementer.

While many of the challenges faced by you as an IT leader are common, we know that you have unique requirements when it comes to how we can best help you meet those challenges. Over the years our independent consulting services have taken many forms. Here are just a few of the types of consulting services we have delivered:

• Detailed documentation of existing IT Infrastructure. This documentation is often used to begin the process of evaluating future strategy.
• Performance assessments for storage, networking, and compute. In addition to documentation of the performance data, these assessments include infrastructure documentation and recommendations for improvement if performance problems are identified.
• IT Infrastructure Assessments. These are our most comprehensive offering and help define where you are, where you want to go, and recommendations for getting there. Our assessments include:
  • Infrastructure documentation
  • Documentation of goals/objectives
  • Stakeholder discovery sessions
  • Recommendations
  • Implementation Roadmaps
• Backup and Disaster Recovery planning
• Request for Proposal and Request for Quote development
• Data Classification Assessments

The services listed above don’t replace the role of an IT leader in an organization, rather, they are designed to help organize the information required for you to make better informed decisions. Bringing in an outside resource, with experience across many technologies, is your way to enhance your own process and help you successfully define and implement your IT strategies.