Q&A with Garima Thockchom of Gale Technologies

VSM: There has been a distinct shift from outsourcing clouds to building on-premise clouds. Why do you think that is, and are there certain types of enterprises that prefer an on-premise cloud?

GT: The shift to hosting an on-premise cloud gives enterprises the sense of greater control and security they desire. Organizations are used to having control of all aspects of their datacenters, so outsourcing data to a cloud can be a frightening prospect. On-premise clouds also can enable users to realize instant efficiencies from their existing resources without the overhead of integration, professional services, and complex deployment schedules.

Although many enterprises are making the transition to the cloud, there are still many enterprises that would be more comfortable with an on-premise cloud because they are in charge of their data plus private customer information. For example, many healthcare and financial services organizations often feel more secure with this style of cloud computing.

VSM: What cloud challenges are users still facing?

GT: As well-known as cloud computing has become, users are still facing challenges that make them hesitate to move their existing infrastructure to the cloud. Many shy away from the cloud because they do not know how their infrastructure will perform once it is moved into a cloud. It gets even more complex when you add in concerns around workload performance in a shared environment, uncertainty about the equipment needed or the potential cost, and the fear of getting locked into a specific vendor platform that may not easily integrate with their existing technology infrastructure. That’s enough to make anyone a bit gun-shy and question whether it is worth moving to the cloud. In an era when IT administrators have to do more with fewer resources, these challenges can be daunting.

VSM: How does your latest technology help users overcome these challenges?

GT: The GaleForce Turnkey cloud was designed for the everyday organization that wants to leverage its existing infrastructure investment but gain the benefits of the cloud in a quick and seamless manner. The GaleForce Turnkey Cloud allows customers to convert their existing, static IT environment into a dynamic private or hybrid cloud in only two steps and as little as two weeks, without requiring expensive and complex hardware or tools. Self-service access to cloud resources also provides greater agility and ease-of-use.

Taking into account equipment usage and cost, GaleForce dramatically reduces CAPEX and OPEX. By reducing CAPEX, fewer machines and licenses are needed through optimization of resource utilization (physical and/or virtual) and by reducing OPEX, it allows for an improved ratio of people to equipment through dynamic, automated setup of workloads on the cloud, therefore reducing cost. By focusing on composite automation and orchestration in a solution like GaleForce, users can dramatically increase the utilization of resources they already own, typically from under 10 percent to over 95 percent and do more with fewer physical, virtual and human resources.