Cloud Integrators: Hype or Here to Stay?
Cloud integrators. Those two words describe an emerging group of VARs, solutions providers and MSPs that piece together and manage multiple cloud solutions for customers. But is the cloud integrator term pure hype — or here to stay? Hmmm… Before you answer that question, consider an important lesson involving so-called Web integrators from the dot-com error, um, era.
During the dot-com boom, the media (including The VAR Guy) was guilty of hyping so-called Web integrators, which built intranets, extranets and e-commerce systems for their customers. Popular web integrators during the dot-com bubble included:
- iXL Enterprises
- MarchFirst
- Proxicom
- Razorfish
- Sapient
- Scient
- USWEB CKS
- Viant
- And plenty more
But as the dot-com boom turned into a bust, some Web integrators were exposed as mere Web site design companies that were charging an awful lot of money for animated web sites. Today, Sapient is the rare survivor from the brief Web integrator age.
Same Story, Different Decade?
Now, let’s shift to the current cloud boom. There’s a small but growing group of pundits promoting themselves as Cloud Integrators. Will the term stick? Or will the Cloud Integrator term lose its luster as fast as the Pet Rock?
No doubt, customers need advice on cloud and SaaS engagements. Plus, businesses will ultimately need someone to manage and monitor a range of cloud services. But here’s the twist: Many of those same businesses will continue to demand on-premises project work, systems management and remote monitoring. Surely, Cloud Integrators (or whatever they’re ultimately called…) can’t afford to walk away from the massive on-premises IT industry…
Can they?
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I believe that cloud Integrators will have more success and last longer than the web integrators simply because the solutions that they are helping customers with are more real. Helping a customer get up and running and integrated with multiple cloud offerings is simply the evolution of the Solution Provider and Systems Integrator market to the cloud.
As many customers will be hybrid customers, so too many partners will be hybrid partners. Some of the largest integration challenges initially will be between the one SaaS app the customer adopts and the other apps that run their business that are still internal or, at best, traditional apps but running on IaaS.
As customers expand use of IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, the sprawl is messy. At Novell we’re building security and management solutions to handle this spectrum with one toolset. Partners will help customers apply uniform policy, governance, administration and systems management across the range of places and ways that they run IT for their business.
This is more like SOA and Web Services than “web integration” from the bubble. Partners have been providing design, implementation and support services for integration using SOA and Web Services for many years now. Moving to the cloud doesn’t make this need go away anytime soon. Over time, some of it moves upstream as better standardized integration becomes available in an as a Service world.
Scott
Scott: You raise a good point…
1. Cloud integrators are connecting the dots between real systems (Amazon Web Services, RackSpace, Microsoft BPOS, Salesforce.com, etc.).
2. Web integrators were often building custom e-commerce systems or fancy web sites on their own.
In example 1, cloud integrators are the middle men bringing order to a confusing market. In example 2, web integrators were adding to the confusion…
-TVG
In the end isn’t it really about managing IT for your client??? Incorporating the cloud into your IT services strategy is just continuing the thought that IT service providers need to think holistically about their clients IT.
Rob: Yes indeed, well-managed IT. But there seem to be some pretenders in the “cloud” market… much in the way that there were pretenders in the MSP space. Lots of aspiring folks…
The VAR Guy looks forward to catching up with you. Perhaps at SMB Nation?
-TVG
Another buzzword, I’d say we’re a Cloud Integration firm. And I like it.
For what it’s worth – we design, build, deploy, monitor and support Open IT Infrastructure – on premises, hosted or hybrid.
We do a lot of extreme virtualisation, populate amp; manage data centres and run a sizeable server farm.
Business applications span across on servers – some are on premise physical and virtual servers. Others are hosted dedicated and virtual servers. They are all glued into our client’s VPN mesh. Generically, we think in terms of logical servers – in cloud or onsite, virtual or physical.
Our engineers are DevOps – a label that I *really* buy into. We insist that we deploy using scripted recipes. Both our clients and us like to sleep at night then relax at the weekend – so we monitor all of our logical servers too.
OpenIQ: Thanks for sharing some details about your business. Sounds like you’re located outside the U.S. (virtualisation, data centres, etc.). Where are you based? The VAR Guy would welcome the opportunity to track your company in the months ahead.
-TVG
VAR Guy – well observed. We are based in beautiful Australia – offices in Sydney and Brisbane. Amazing resource, you’ve got here – Kudos to all!!
The role of a Cloud Integrator is a slippery one. Are we talking IaaS, PaaS or SaaS? Of course, integration each layer requires different skill sets and architectural disciplines.
We’re focused on ITaaS. Given a 36 month strategy, IT should account for 6 months. The plumbing needs to be agile, reliable, resilient and robust. Then IS/MIS for the remainder (this is where SaaS starts to play).
Our job, at OpenIQ, is to help during that 6 month window (we build IaaS amp; manage PaaS). Now, the business can confidently focus on SaaS (and all of their business facing IT duties).
It’s a great time – and one that I have been waiting for 10 years to see come to fruition. The next few years are going to be exciting – whatever buzzwords dominate.
OpenIQ: The VAR Guy visited Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane (in that order) in October 2008 for business. He was very impressed. Wonderful country. Wonderful people. And lots of opportunity ahead for VARs and MSPs.
It’s so interesting to hear OpenIQ talk up cloud opportunities… during The VAR Guy’s 2008 visit, some local VARs said Australia customers weren’t ready for SaaS and cloud because broadband was hit and miss in some regions. But it sounds like things are progressing pretty quickly in Australia.
Please keep The VAR Guy posted, mate.
-TVG
Hi TVG,
I was at a meeting of 60 IT manager on Tuesday. The topic “Cloud Computing – a client’s perspective” stimulated a vigorous debate. A straw poll found about 90% in support of “the cloud”. Including architects from our leading national banks.
This is a marked contrast to 8 months ago, when the trend was 30% in favour.
We’re announcing the fruits of our Cloud Architect team’s research on Monday.
OpenIQ: Feel free to send the data points to TheVARguy [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com.
-TVG
What a prophetic article. It appears that OpenIQ has already gone the way of the dodo. Talk is cheap.