To optimize your agency’s cloud usage, consider optimizing your staff | Federal Information Network

One of the benefits of cloud computing is that it allows agencies to move from a capital expenditure approach to their information technology to an operational expenditure model.

Why are OpEx favorable to CapEx? Because an agency rarely has a consistent calculation request. For example, deploying a new enterprise or mission-related application may require significant compute capacity. With a Cloud OpEx model, an agency can leverage cloud capacity almost immediately, rather than initiating a two- or three-year hardware purchase and installation. Moreover, after launching the application, she only has to pay for the capacity she uses day after day.

But the large-scale adoption of cloud computing, even when an agency retains data centers for certain functions, is changing network topology, application design, cybersecurity approaches, and IT operational and business practices. According to Sean Phuphanich, senior solutions architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS), this requires skilled personnel to take advantage of the benefits of the cloud – and do it effectively.

Evolution of cloud-based IT management

The emergence of the cloud has changed IT management in many ways, Phuphanich said on the Federal News Network show. Industry Exchange Cloud. For example, it allowed agencies to dispense with remote backup sites, so cybersecurity threats supplanted physical threats to infrastructure in the event of a natural disaster. The cloud brings newer technology to application development and maintenance, which also leads to more frequent and dynamic releases.

“And so governments and agencies had to become more aggressive,” he said, “and be able to update these older systems, be able to change their architecture and their security.”

Fundamentally, added Richard Breakiron, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Americas Federal Sector at Commvault, “the reason you move to the cloud is that you want operational resilience. You wanted to develop the ability to scale without having to say, “Oh my God, I have to go out and sign a contract for this new set of infrastructure for my on-premises solution.” ”

Both Phuphanich and Breakiron said the pandemic has broadened cloud adoption in at least two ways. This has forced many people to work remotely, exposing the advantage of the cloud over the client-server model, where remote access can be complex and expensive. And it reinforced the idea that large-scale applications can launch quickly.

“Agencies were kind of forced to consider the cloud. Thankfully, they did very well in many of those early attempts – within weeks or months – and didn’t need to perform any hardware acquisitions, Phuphanich said.

Achieve Cloud Operational Efficiency

Achieving operational efficiency in cloud environments requires attention to both how an agency chooses to store and manage data and how it optimizes costs.

On the cost side, agency IT managers are always concerned about the data egress charges imposed by cloud service providers. This question is “one we hear all the time at Commvault,” Breakiron said. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have no egress fees, to have unlimited storage, unlimited time, and to have that kind of capability built into the contract? And so we built that.

He urged agencies to do detailed planning for any cloud implementation and to consider working with partners who have specific experience in hybrid environments. And it’s also key to realize that an agency may need multiple partners, Breakiron added.

This will be necessary for agencies to tackle a range of efforts, such as zero trust, availability of data in the right quantities for AI analysis and training, and effective control of costs through constant capacity adjustment, he said.

On that last point, scaling as needed, Breakiron suggests that many IT managers will need to upskill their teams, for example by answering questions like, “As I scale , does it decrease automatically? Or do I tell the cloud that I opened my doors at 6 a.m. and closed them at 6 p.m.? »

Phuphanich said IT staff will also need to learn how to design cloud deployments for scale. He cited an “internet-scale” application, hosted by AWS, to allow every U.S. household to order and have the Postal Service deliver COVID-19 test kits.

“You won’t deduplicate the data in this case,” he said. “You’re using something like object storage that can scale massively in terabits per second.”

In a traditional workload, with network-attached storage, a finite number of users, and predictable usage patterns, “you can maximize efficiency, use things like deduplication and compression to lower those storage and make sure you don’t waste extra storage when people are sharing a lot of similar files or working on a lot of similar documents,” Phuphanich said.

Since data access equates to operational readiness, in both civilian and defense environments, Breakiron said IT practitioners will also need to improve their understanding of the causes of service disruptions. Before the cloud, the IT department was looking for a broken cable, a broken radio system, or a broken modem.

In the age of the internet-connected cloud, he said, “you also have to make sure you know how to troubleshoot when things go a little awry. More different skills.

Ultimately, there is a need to rethink how agencies manage their cloud resources and train staff accordingly to ensure resilience, Breakiron said. “If we can’t maintain our access to data, whether in the cloud or in a deployed tactical unit, then many of the systems that have fully migrated to a digital world are going to be a constraint rather than a benefit.”

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