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Today, virtualization has resulted in an initial wave of server consolidation, which has triggered additional physical changes, such as the need for spot cooling and new thinking regarding power usage in the data center.
If there was no network, there would be no Cloud, according to Rajesh Kumar, Senior Technical Consultant, Juniper Networks. Talking about the need to have a robust network that can support the Cloud infrastructure, Kumar said that the evolution of the data center has been beset with changes. These changes have come in waves, big or small. One of the larger waves that we have seen in recent years is that of virtualization, both for servers and for storage and now, with the Cloud. Initially, storage or servers had different switches and, as the devices scaled up, the complexities increased. Today, virtualization has resulted in an initial wave of server consolidation, which has triggered additional physical changes, such as the need for spot cooling and new thinking regarding power usage in the data center.
Then there is the issue of underutilized infrastructure whether it is storage or servers, he said. Pointing out that a flat network can reduce complexity, Kumar said that, since the government is not sitting on a lot of legacy systems, building a Cloud infrastructure would be better suited to its needs.
When building a Cloud infrastructure, the question of security pops up without fail. Also, bearing in mind that the Government is prone to cyber attacks (as witnessed by attacks on the Indian government's Web sites during 2008), security is of paramount importance. "The data (land records, medical diagnosis etc.) is out there and when it is citizen-related, terrorists or anti social elements can wreak havoc if it is not secured," said Kumar. He suggested that non critical apps be put on the Cloud initially and, as the comfort factor grew, other applications could be put on the Cloud as well.
With increasing mobile connectivity another element is coming into the networks, which was not that prevalent a few years back. Cloud services broaden the computing capability of mobile devices as many computational intensive operations can be processed in the Cloud itself. Mobile users can rely on Cloud services to process complex operations such as searching, data mining, and multimedia processing. It has to provide computational intensive services to mobile users, but also monitor and collect mobility-related networking status by considering mobile devices as service nodes. To enable this, a framework should be drawn up addressing trust management, secure routing and risk management issues.
The audience quizzed Kumar on the security aspects and one of them said that they were already using a public Cloud model, since they have their e-mail managed by Google.
In the final analysis, the opportunity in the Cloud is compelling. From Merrill Lynch to Ovum, every analyst is projecting a $50-100 billion market by the end of 2011 and it has all the ingredients to meet those expectations. This is an opportunity for the government to roll out services without having to worry about IT investments, Kumar concluded.
Copyright 2011 The Indian Express Online Media, distributed by Contify.com
Copyright 2011 The Indian Express Online Media, distributed by Contify.com