Cloud 2.1

The cloud (commodity computing) is inevitable to some extent for all of our organizations.

The economics of server infrastructure (the ROI on unused server capacity housed on aging infrastructure) are ultimately too inefficient to be sustained (even for organizations with a high tolerance for inefficiency)

extremely large-scale, commodity-computer data centers decrease the cost of electricity, network bandwidth, operations, software, and hardware by a factor of 5 to 7.

" . . . even if Amazon’s pay- as-you-go pricing was more expensive than buying and depreciating a comparable server over the same period, we argue that the cost is outweighed by the extremely important cloud computing economic benefits of elasticity and transference of risk, especially the risks of overprovisioning (underutilization) and underprovisioning (saturation)."

"...cloud computing means using Web services for our computing needs which could include using software applications, storing data, accessing computing power, or using a platform to build applications."

• use an application via a hosted service
• no access to the underlying hardware infrastructure
• not responsible for managing the underlying software

• Utilizing a provided server environment but retaining responsibility for configuration and operation

• a development environment to support building, testing, and deploying (Web-based) applications.

• Arrangements with central IT (e.g., municipal network, campus network) providing server hosting & other core services to the library (IAAS-like)

• Arrangements for leased cloud services (e.g. Amazon EC2) (IAAS)

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• Arrangements utilizing free internet services (e.g., Meebo) particularly in the context of eliminating existing in-house IT hardware/services (SAAS-like)

• Arrangements with [outside] vendors related to specific services (e.g., Ebsco), many of which are unique to libraries (SAAS)

Characteristics of a Library Cloud Migration

• move IT infrastructure out of the building/org unit
• transfering [some measure of] responsibility for server configuration, maintenance and operations to vendors or others (eg, central IT)
• SAAS generally receives more emphasis than IAAS
• shaped by the local environment (cost, needs, priorities, organizational culture, goals)
• shaped by availability of IT support

• Familiarity with hosted solutions
• Expertise with contracts > SLAs

• Rich, highly competitive (library-centric) SAAS environment (lots of tools proprietary & OSS )
• Vendors heavily committing to cloud (OCLC)
• Discovery layer
• APIs

• Integrative rather than comprehensive approach to service configuration
• Community of practice

Libraries

• exist in a service-rich environment which is conducive to cloud migration

but

• they are not uniquely positioned to migrate

because

• local needs, priorities, organizational culture, availability of IT support, risk-aversion, and trust are far more significant in determining readiness & capability

Cost Effectiveness

Above the bottom line

• availability
• data integrity
• provisioning
• capacity

Cloud costs tend to be more

• Predictable
• Identifiable
• Incrementally adjustable
• Aligned with actual service usage (IAAS)

Rapid service deployment

• without infrastructure costs
• without new sysadmin duties
• at an appropriate level of provisioning
• focus on service rather than hardware, os, etc.

Service effectiveness

• closing the feature gap
• fewer organizational constraints
• budgeting & planning for innovation
• developing partnerships that may become collaborations

"Cloud computing increases the pressure on IT professionals to become well-rounded employees with highly-developed managerial skills . . . "

[Peters, TechSoup]

• project management
• contracts
• budgeting

Disintermediation

• greater autonomy for service staff
• sharing knowledge
• boundary blurring

After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.

Alfred Edward Perlman,

New York Times

3 July 1958

An Assumption & A Definition

Getting Back into the Library Business: Moving Library IT to the Cloud

Marc Davis

Cowles Library Drake University

Des Moines, Iowa

"A View of Cloud Computing"

Armbrust, M., Fox, A., et. al.

Communications of the ACM

April 1, 2010

"Libraries are in a unique position to experiment with cloud computing given their service-oriented mission and need to find appropriate solutions using limited resources."

SAAS

IAAS

"Library Cloud Atlas: A Guide to Cloud Computing and Storage"

Krosky, Ellyssa

Library Journal

09/10/2009

PAAS

"Using Cloud Services for Library IT Infrastructure"

Erik Mitchell

Code4Lib Journal

2010-03-22

2009

August 2010:

The servers have left the building.

2010

Uniquely Positioned?

Impact (Benefits) of Cloud Migration

http://krash.deviantart.com/art/Unique-23149690

The Hype

The Promise

OTOH

Cost-effectiveness

Flexibility

Data safety

High availability

The ability to handle large amounts of data

Flexibility

"On the Clouds: A New Way of Computing"

Yan, Han

Information Technology & Libraries

June 1, 2010

Innovation

Cost savings

Flexibility & innovation

Provisioning

Required IT skills

*Cloud OPAC and Cloud ILS

*A "library cloud"

IT Skills

"What is Cloud Computing and How will it Affect Libraries?" [Blog post]

Peters, Chris

TechSoup

6 March 2010

Conclusions (of a Sort)

Partly Cloudy: 2007-2011

2011- 2013

Cloud Migration

Impacts

"Free" Services (SAAS-Like)

Transitioning Core Services

Local Data Center (IAAS-Like)

Meebo

Vimeo **

Dropbox **

Social networks

ILS (hardware) **

Web server (virtualized) **

Proxy Server (virtualized)

Archon (virtualized)

Digital Projects File Share (5 TB)

Anti-Virus (completed)

Windows Update / Patch Management

(completed)

Imaging (2011)

Provisioning / Inventory (2011)

* strategic focus for Library IT

* closing the feature gap

* disintermediation

* management skills are more desirable

* integrative technical skills are more desirable

Legacy

* shaped by local conditions

* rich cloud environment for libraries

* clear advantages

• cost effectiveness
• flexibility
• support for innovation

* focus shifts to the service itself rather than support for the service

Hosted Services (SAAS)

Future

File Server (2011 - Live@Edu)

Desktop Backup

Lab Management

Print Server (2011 - campus-wide system)

Web services (2011-12) **

ILS / Discovery (2012-2013) **

. . .

Library Cloud

ILLiad - OCLC

Electronic Reserves - Sirsi/Docutek

DSpace - Longsight, Inc.

ContentDM - OCLC

Wiki - Wikispaces

LibGuides & LibAnswers - Springshare

Discovery - Ebsco EDS

Web Help Desk - MacsDesign Studio, Inc.

drakelibrary.info - GoDaddy

Extinct

Linux Server Backup

Junk Server

Ghost Server

SQL Server