Page 31 - GCN, June/July 2018

Industry Insight
BY DAVID MIHELCIC
3 tips for simplifying migrations to multicloud environments
While many government agencies are moving toward multicloud environments, some are still struggling with the development of even basic cloud strategies. Sim- ply knowing where to start has led to the same sense
of paralysis that is typically felt whenever a disruption
to the IT status quo occurs. Factor in security concerns and the perceived headaches associated with using mul- tiple cloud providers and it becomes easy to understand the hesitation of even the most forward-thinking CIOs.
Agencies that use mul- tiple clouds do so for many reasons, and they are seeing numerous benefits. They have achieved cost savings and better reliability through redundancy. They have successfully leveraged the strengths of different cloud providers to get the most out of specific applications. They are connecting cloud assets and creating unified tool chains to eliminate dispa- rate policies and wasteful development of tools that
do not work across different environments.
However, lack of visibil- ity as information passes between cloud environ- ments remains an ongoing problem, particularly in the government sector, which is used to keeping data under tight supervision. Insider threats are also increasing,
and employees who are not well trained in working with multiple cloud providers can, intentionally or not, cause data to be compromised.
Building a solid multi- cloud strategy upfront can alleviate those concerns and simplify agencies’ cloud management procedures and policies. Here are three approaches that can help.
1. Selective migration.
Moving to a multicloud environment does not have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. There might be
solutions, such as Microsoft Office 365, can effectively replace redundancies caused by a collection of software licenses, which can save sig- nificant money and time.
2. Hardware replace- ment. Legacy hardware
can be difficult and costly
to maintain. Replacing outdated hardware with cloud-based infrastructure- as-a-service solutions can eliminate a number of head- aches, including inefficien- cies and potential security loopholes. Replacing legacy
All applications should have a consistent level of security, whether they are hosted on premises or in the cloud. Ad- ministrators should consider using tools that unify legacy environments and multicloud platforms so they all adhere to the same security policies.
Automation is also critical because it simplifies security management and reduces the chances of human error. Agencies cannot have consis- tent, high-level security poli- cies and rely on armies of IT specialists to translate those
Agencies can simplify their cloud management and use automation, virtualization and orchestration to improve efficiencies, security and agility.
cases where it makes sense to move some applications to the cloud while keeping others on premises.
Applications should only be migrated if the move will result in operational savings. Agency teams must carefully assess their current appli- cation environments and develop appropriate cloud strategies. Some agencies might find it isn’t worth shifting certain applications to the cloud, but for many agencies, moving to a multi- cloud environment will help, especially if they are using multiple software licenses. Software-as-a-service
hardware should be handled in the same methodical manner as the move to SaaS solutions. Agencies will see the greatest return on invest- ment in new applications and areas where they have already adopted DevOps techniques. IaaS solutions complement those efforts
by allowing teams to rapidly implement development/ test resources and turn those assets off when they are not being used.
3. Security implications.
Simplifying the information flow and allowing security policies to move between multiple clouds are essential.
policies into specific controls for each cloud environ- ment. That process would be inefficient and increase the likelihood of mistakes.
Although there is much
to consider when moving to multiple clouds, the benefits are numerous and far-reach- ing. Agencies can simplify their cloud management and use automation, virtualiza- tion and orchestration to improve efficiencies, security and agility. It just takes some planning and precaution. • — David Mihelcic is
federal chief technology
and strategy officer at Juniper Networks.
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