Cloud Your Way: Deliver Information, Apps and Infrastructure Anywhere

Cloud computing holds a lot of promise for delivering services at the right place, right time and right cost. But cloud is not a panacea—there are many models and approaches, and the sheer number of technology choices can be confusing and complex.

When scoping cloud solutions, most organizations face a common set of challenges related to virtual infrastructure limitations, the lack of scale and elasticity in "cloud-in-a-box" solutions, ad hoc cloud implementations with siloed management tools and processes, and lack of security controls. Addressing these challenges requires a hybrid delivery strategy that leverages cloud services as an integral part of your service delivery strategy. This integrated infrastructure approach is the essence of a converged cloud.   

The first step is understanding the differences between the various approaches to cloud: public, private and hybrid. Many companies adopt a strategy that combines these environments with traditional IT infrastructure to deliver a consistent, standards-based framework that supports heterogeneous infrastructures and delivers a single consumption experience.

McKesson Corp., the nation's largest healthcare provider, has experienced firsthand the benefits of a cloud-based delivery system, including 84-fold faster server provisioning of development environments and projected TCO savings in the millions.

"We can provision a typical development environment in 15 to 30 minutes now using templates for servers, storage and networking," says Merritte Stidson, director of McKesson's Development Center Strategy and Operations.

At the foundation of converged cloud is a services-oriented infrastructure platform designed to help you manage on-premises and cloud resources through the same shared services catalog. Read on to learn more about how HP Converged Infrastructure solutions powered by Intel® can help you integrate servers, storage, networking, security and power and cooling into shared pools of interoperable resources.