This document summarizes a Gartner presentation on the future of cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS). The presentation discusses adopting a bimodal IT strategy of both traditional and agile modes of infrastructure to meet different business needs. It argues that cloud IaaS will not be a commodity and that providers will increasingly differentiate themselves. The future of infrastructure involves governing multi-cloud environments instead of trying to unify tooling and control resources. Recommendations include planning a bimodal strategy, choosing cloud providers strategically, taking advantage of cloud-native capabilities, and transforming the organization.

1. This presentation, including any supporting materials, is owned by Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is for the sole use of the intended Gartner audience or other authorized recipients. This presentation may contain information that is confidential,
proprietary or otherwise legally protected, and it may not be further copied, distributed or publicly displayed without the express written permission of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates.
© 2012 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
The Future of Cloud IaaS
AWS private event
November 2015
Lydia Leong
VP & Distinguished Analyst
Cloud Computing

2. 2
• One size does not fit all
• Two speeds of IT —
Two speeds of infrastructure
• The infrastructure of the past
shouldn't dictate the
infrastructure of the future
Bimodal IT — Not Hybrid Infrastructure
Cloud IaaS will NOT be a commodity

3. 3
1.What is bimodal cloud IaaS strategy?
2.What is the future of cloud IaaS?
3.What is the future of my infrastructure?
Key Issues

4. 4
1.What is bimodal cloud IaaS strategy?
2.What is the future of cloud IaaS?
3.What is the future of my infrastructure?
Key Issues

5. 5
Mode 1 Traditional Mode 2 Agile
Leadership IT operations/procurement Enterprise architect
Priority Cost reduction Developer productivity
Viewpoint Efficient infrastructure Infrastructure as code
Expectations Low-­cost commodity (?) Highly differentiated
Use cases "Lift and shift";; dev./test New apps;; digital business
Scale Static or predictable Dynamic;; Web-­scale
Management ITIL DevOps
Tools Extend existing tools Adopt cloud-­native tools
You cannot add a little agility to Mode 1 to get Mode 2!
Bimodal Strategy for Cloud IaaS

6. 6
Mode 1 Traditional Mode 2 Agile
Leadership IT operations/sourcing Enterprise architect
Priority Cost;; comfort and familiarity Features
Procurement Formal RFP and selection Ad hoc, then formalized
Budget Central IT Business
Mode 1 Mode 2
Stuck in the
middle
"Fit for no one"
Bimodal Sourcing for Cloud IaaS

7. 7
Impact on
Mode 1
High
Low
Bimodal Maturity
High
Island
Extend
New Core
Replace-­
ment
Bridge Back From the Island of the Future

8. 8
1. Fast provisioning! = Agility. You can't sprinkle on
agility any more than you can add quality.
2. It's not just about infrastructure. Think about the
entire application stack.
3. It's not just about the operational benefits.
Improve the application life cycle.
4. The infrastructure isn't the hard part.
Transforming the organization — That's hard.
Guidelines for Success

9. 9
1.What is bimodal cloud IaaS strategy?
2.What is the future of cloud IaaS?
3.What is the future of my infrastructure?
Key Issues

10. 10
Compute Storage Network
Management
Solutions Differentiated solutions
Integrated management
Flexible low-­cost resources
IaaS naturally pushes up-­market to PaaS
Cloud IaaS Is Not a Commodity

11. 11
SP SP SP SP
Yours Yours
Automation
Assisted
SP
Data Center
Virtual Machine
IaaS IaaS+ IaaS++
Yours
1-­Click
Install
Automation
Assisted
SPMiddleware
PaaS
More Control Easier Management
IaaS and PaaS: Control vs. Manageability

12. 12 © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
IaaS Absorbs PaaS Framework Functions
PaaS Converged IaaS + PaaS
Containers Containers as a service, running inside VMs
Application runtimes Portable container environments (Docker)
Request router Container-­aware load balancing as a service
Service broker Credentials as a service

13. 13
The Winners: Hyperscale Megavendors
May 2014 May 2015
From: "Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service,"
28 May 2014 (G00261698)
From: "Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, Worldwide,"
18 May 2015 (G00265139)
Brutal Competitive Dynamics

14. 14
Greater efficiency of
infrastructure operations.
Better leverage of
software development.
Greater breadth and depth of
ecosystem.
Software is a scale game. No scale = Forced into niche.
The Advantages of Scale

15. 15
• Market share
concentrated with Top
2 to 4 providers
• Highly differentiated
offerings
• Large number of
niche providers
• Niche providers may
be more commodity
(geographic focus)
• Businesses will use
multiple providers
• Businesses will
choose 1 or 2
strategic providers
• Most applications will
be deployed to a
single provider
• Provider for each app
chosen by use case
Customers Will Pick Strategic Winners

16. 16
1.What is bimodal cloud IaaS strategy?
2.What is the future of cloud IaaS?
3.What is the future of my infrastructure?
Key Issues

17. 17
Governance, Not Control

18. 18
Not everything can or should be cloud
Some workloads must remain on-­premise due to
regulatory compliance or tie to physical location
Private cloud-­building technology will not deliver
breadth, depth, innovation of service providers
IT orgs. likely can't update, innovate, reduce
costs of internal clouds as quickly as providers
Principles to Keep in Mind

19. 19 © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
No One Tool to Rule Them All
Bimodal, hybrid IT portfolio
Not hybrid infrastructure management
Best-­of-­breed native-­oriented tools
Not commoditized resource management
Unified tooling only where it makes sense
Financial management, compliance, etc.

20. 20
Build It Yourself? Make It Competitive!
Has the necessary features — Not just for IT ops. but
devs./engineers/scientists
Cost-­competitive — Now and in 3 years
Serves a distinctive use case
Consider PaaS instead of IaaS

21. 21 © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Establish a Cloud Center of Excellence
Provide cross-­functional leadership
Enterprise architect as leaders
Establish policies
Governance, security,
use cases
Serve as a broker
Guide to best practice,
manage vendors

22. 22
✓Plan a bimodal IT strategy, rather than adopting a
one-­size-­fits-­all approach to infrastructure.
✓Choose cloud IaaS providers strategically.
✓Take advantage of cloud-­native capabilities.
✓Transform the organization, process, and tools.
Recommendations

23. This presentation, including any supporting materials, is owned by Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is for the sole use of the intended Gartner audience or other authorized recipients. This presentation may contain information that is confidential,
proprietary or otherwise legally protected, and it may not be further copied, distributed or publicly displayed without the express written permission of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates.
© 2012 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Gartner Research
Lydia Leong, VP & Distinguished Analyst
Cloud Computing
lydia.leong@gartner.com