The New Norm
At CTP we have worked with plenty of companies to build out central frameworks to
operate in one or more of the major clouds. But customers use these frameworks differ-
ently than they would On-Demand Data Centers. They tend to create four walls in the
public cloud and then give departments and teams access to the overall resource. This
is like renting different floors out in a ten-story building. The teams use the floors, and
when they are done, the “building” is still standing.
With On-Demand Data Centers, new buildings go up every week – perhaps even every
day. Teams build their buildings as big as they need, expand them, contract them and
then abandon them if they choose to. A building may be ten stories today, 100 stories
tomorrow and then gone by the end of the week — all managed and controlled through
software-defined infrastructure.
Delivering Agility
Having this ability to dial resources up and down delivers the agility companies demand
from the cloud. If, say, an insurance company wants to experiment with a new service, a
team can stand up a dedicated On-Demand Data Center to house that project. If the ser-
vice does not pay off quickly enough, the team can scrap that data center, and a new
team can start a new project in a whole new resource.
Companies can also use On-Demand Data Centers to do a better job managing projects
with contractors. Outsourcers working on software projects for banks often rent physi-
cal data centers for the duration of their engagements. This can get expensive. Being
able to create an On-Demand Data Center in the cloud and close it at any time gives the
bank more control over the cost and direction of the software project. Plus, the bank can
watch the behavior of the contractor and determine whether they are using the proper
controls and adhering to proper design practices while developing the software.
With On-Demand Data Centers, companies can also experiment more, because the cost
of failure is lower. They can commission two to three consultants to do prototypes in
separate virtual data centers and then keep the one that does the best job. Rather than
pay $50,000 to $100,000 to buy data center hardware for a project, they can spend
$1,000 to see if a project gets any traction by the end of the week, and, if not, bring in a
new team on a new project on Monday.
Delivery of Core Services
To create an On-Demand Data Center, a company needs to enable the following set of
core services:
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