{"id":52232,"date":"2017-11-02T09:03:56","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T03:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/?p=52232"},"modified":"2017-11-11T12:22:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-11T06:52:03","slug":"cloud-portability-and-interoperability-why-it-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/cloud-portability-and-interoperability-why-it-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud Portability and Interoperability- Why it Matters?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Companies globally are expanding multiple efforts to pursue digital transformation and modernize their existing infrastructure. <a title=\"Cloud for Digital Transformation\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/how-to-leverage-cloud-for-successful-digital-transformation\/\">Cloud is a key enabler for successful digital transformation<\/a>. Cloud reduces the total cost of ownership and offers<\/span>\u00a0high flexibility along with improved collaboration.<\/p>\n<p>Both large-scale enterprises and SMEs are taking a pledge to go \u2018Cloud first\u2019 owing to multiple benefits of the cloud. However, there are a few roadblocks such as portability and interoperability resisting some companies to move to the cloud or making it difficult to choose the best-fit cloud provider.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cloud Portability<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cloud Portability is the ability to transfer data from one cloud service to another, without having to go through the hassle of filling in tonnes of data all over again. In such a scenario, <a title=\"Cloud Migration\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/10-things-to-keep-in-mind-while-migrating-the-applications-between-two-cloud-platforms\/\">the transition between the two platforms<\/a> is smooth and done in its entirety without losing out on any bits of information. Before starting off with Cloud Portability, it is essential to take care of two critical aspects:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8211; <\/span><b>Retrieval of Customer Data<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: There should be a capability to retrieve customer data as well as import the same from the source platform to the final cloud service platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8211; <\/span><b>Sync in the Syntax of two platforms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: It is absolutely essential for the syntax of the two platforms to sync in order to avoid any glitches on the way. In case of a mismatch between the two, the transition can be badly affected or even become impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Interoperability- <i>the other side of the coin<\/i><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cloud portability is a great offering, but there\u2019s another aspect that should not be missed- interoperability. As you would already know, each system has its own set of components, working in tandem with each other, along with the cloud service provider they have been hosted on. Keeping the need for a strong sync among all these components- the concept of interoperability has also surfaced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Interoperability emphases on the capability of the system\u2019s components to work in a new environment, just as well as they had been in the previous one. \u00a0Typically, the components of a Cloud System include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hardware<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Operating systems<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Virtualization<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Networks<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Storage<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Software (Application frameworks, middleware, libraries, applications)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Data Security<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The absence of the interoperability capabilities can sometimes mean being stuck to one Cloud Service provider, especially if your business has been associated with one for the longest time. It\u2019d mean meeting many difficulties in upgrading your system and even making any sort of changes to the application being hosted on this particular cloud service.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The possibility and extent of interoperability can often be judged by assessing the cloud service provider closely, especially their protocols and architectures. If it is rigid at the roots, it\u2019s probably not the best decision to go ahead with.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Importance of Cloud Portability- Why is it a key aspect of a successful business?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The reasons for an enterprise to opt for portability could be many, with the most prominent one to be more flexible and customizable to their customers\u2019 needs. However, there\u2019s an entire list of other crucial reasons that that compel a business move from one cloud provider to another. Some of these include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0A sudden increase in the overall hosting cost<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0A sudden halt on the business operations by the provider company<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0Frequent changes to the services being offered, without prior warning or notice<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Steep fall in the overall quality of the service- not meeting basic requirements or not achieving decided SLAs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Any other dispute that may have risen between the Cloud Service Provider and the business<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Delayed response after escalations leading to longer downtimes<\/li>\n<li>Breach of security or compromised data security<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><i>Now that we have established how important Cloud Portability and Interoperability can be for businesses, let\u2019s dive into the various categories of the same.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Data Portability:<\/b><b> <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Any business, especially in today\u2019s time would usually have a good amount of data stored on their cloud service provider. Take for example a SaaS product whose crucial customer related data is hosted on the Cloud would think ten times before moving on to another provider. They would have to evaluate how simple or complicated would the data migration process be.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the data cannot be moved in a hassle-free way, they are probably not hosted on a very advanced Cloud platform. Being stuck in a traditional environment, which also costs higher in some cases can be a forced decision for which the business would have to pay- both in quality as well as monetarily.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Application Portability: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Each application has a set of components that interact with their Cloud environment. If these components and features are dependent on their Cloud service provider for their functioning, application portability can be a cumbersome task for the enterprise. However, if the components are not platforming specific and can function smoothly on other platforms too, porting to another platform would be almost effortless.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Quite commonly, a problem in porting is often encountered in case if different environments are used for development and operations. <a title=\"Cloud with DevOps\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/5-benefits-of-using-devops-with-cloud\/\">Cloud contributes heavily in cutting the silos between Dev and Ops and ties them together<\/a>. The success of application portability is largely dependent on this. <\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Platform Portability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: This category of portability simply refers to the ability of an application to run on any system without it being written in a supporting language. \u00a0To state it simply, the cloud service provider supports all applications irrespective of the language they are written in.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong> A<\/strong><b>pplication Interoperability: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simply means interoperability between the various components of an application deployed on the system. A lesser-known fact is that applications built on the basis of design principles witness better interoperability that those which are not.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Platform Interoperability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: This refers to interoperability between the different components of the platform deployed on the system. Platform interoperability is an important aspect, as application interoperability also cannot be achieved in the absence of platform interoperability.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Management Interoperability:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Since Cloud services are enabling enterprises to work in-house and eliminate dependency from any other third party, going forward, self-service capabilities would be predominant. Under this category, the interoperability between Cloud services such as SaaS, PaaS or IaaS and concerned applications related to self-service is assessed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Publication and Acquisition Interoperability:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> This is essentially the interoperability between different platforms, including PaaS services and online marketplaces.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Challenges and Factors to Consider along the Way<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a title=\"Common Cloud Migration\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/infographic-common-cloud-migration-mistakes\/\">Moving from one cloud to another can be an expensive exercise<\/a>. After carefully evaluating the need for porting and the new platform your business is being moved to, there can still be a number of challenges surfacing on the way. If considering multiple factors is making your choice difficult, it is always advisable to take support from a <a title=\"cloud managed services\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/managed-infrastructure-services\">cloud managed service provider<\/a> as they can not only consult you on the best-fit provider but also help to manage the infrastructure moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Outlined below are a few factors to be considered:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Cost: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you plan to move your application to another Cloud, you naturally have to move the data as well. And it\u2019s a given that this data is extremely crucial to the business. However, most Cloud service providers have pricing models that charge a small amount to get your data into their Cloud and a significantly higher amount forgetting out likewise. In most cases, this is done to dissuade the customer from leaving their Cloud services.<\/span>This is where the customer needs to carefully evaluate the overall ROI keeping in mind the portability expenditure and the hosting charges of the new provider.<\/li>\n<li><b>Mobility: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another factor to consider, which can also be an obstacle, is the degree of Mobility of your data. Mostly, on moving data from one Cloud service provider to another, the ability to move the workload from one host to another should also be assessed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Interoperability:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> If interoperability is ignored in the initial stages of migration, the overall data migration can be badly affected. There is always an absolute need to ensure the functioning of all applications and their components when moved to a new environment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Privacy and Security: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As any data stored in Cloud is crucial to the business, the concern for privacy and security arises automatically. It is safe to assume that protecting the privacy of customer data is always at the top of the priority list.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Monitoring and Audit: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While a service provider would always assure the customer on the smooth functioning of their services, it is a good practice to regularly monitor the services in-house too, making sure that SLA\u2019s are met at every step. In case if required, hire a good <a title=\"Cloud managed  service provider\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/managed-infrastructure-services\">cloud managed service provider<\/a> that could monitor the infrastructure regularly ensuring zero downtime.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Rewards of Achieving Cloud Portability and Interoperability<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s true that Cloud porting is a very critical decision, hence it must be evaluated at every step. However, once cloud portability is achieved, the benefits that an enterprise can enjoy are multifold.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Firstly, the business is no longer locked-in with one Cloud service provider, they always have an option to move in case of any hiccups. Many a time, service providers end up changing SLA\u2019s midway of the contract or start compromising on the quality of the service being provided. In a scenario like this, being stuck with such a service provider can be hazardous to the business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Secondly, it is always a great idea to have your application deployed on multiple cloud servers. Many companies opt to go with a similar deployment so that in case of problems with one provider, the application can still run in isolation without any downtime. To be able to host an app on different providers, it is absolutely necessary to ensure cloud portability and interoperability right from the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let\u2019s face it, Cloud Portability allows your <a title=\"Agile\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/make-your-digital-business-agile-for-todays-customer\/\">business to be more flexible and agile<\/a>. In today\u2019s time, every enterprise must aim to achieve complete Cloud Portability and Interoperability, keeping in mind the various considerations discussed in this blog.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Companies globally are expanding multiple efforts to pursue digital transformation and modernize their existing infrastructure. Cloud is a key enabler for successful digital transformation. Cloud reduces the total cost of ownership and offers\u00a0high flexibility along with improved collaboration. Both large-scale enterprises and SMEs are taking a pledge to go \u2018Cloud first\u2019 owing to multiple benefits [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":13},"categories":[1993,4682,2348,1994,1],"tags":[324,1916,3232,2918,4744,4123,3472,3468,4319,4427],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52232"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52385,"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52232\/revisions\/52385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}