Should you go with a telco for Cloud?

With vendors, data centre providers and services outfits making a mint in the swirling Cloud market it was always a question of time until telecommunications companies would jump on the bandwagon.

Traditional IT services companies will tell you that as Cloud innovation is nevertheless relatively immature and that it's their years of experience in complex IT management that's the key to Cloud success.

Telcos, to make up for it, will tell you they have the advantage of an already existing network as so then as experience in metering, billing and managing a hefty customer base and along these lines have the potential to act as a 'one-stop-shop' for those looking to invest in the Cloud.

According to Gartner analyst, Rolf Jester, the investment by telecommunications companies in Cloud is based purely on a strategy to grow the business into new areas as the traditional fixed line business continues to decline. Nevertheless, it's as well an attempt to capitalise on in-house expertise.

"They've recognised that what they are good at in a technical sense is managing large infrastructure; it's an asset intensive business model that a telco has as so then as an automated service delivery model," Jester said.

Logical fit

"Plus they already have large data centres so from that point of view it's a logical fit. What they bring to the business of the delivery of data centre and infrastructure services is that asset intensity, the ability to make the cultural habit of making investments and at that time earning their income over a long period of time."

One of the previously adopters, Telstra began offering Cloud services in 2008. The company now has an IaaS offering, Silver Lining, should the contingency arise to a SaaS platform called T-Suite via which it resells Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite.

Telstra general manager, Cloud computing, Mark Pratley, says the telco offers a hybrid model that addresses small to medium business as then as enterprise and government needs.