The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

Name: Amulya Kaja

Course: ITM 6000 (Final project)

Professor: AI Marcell

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

Table of Contents
Abstract....................................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 1...................................................................................................................... 6
Area of Intended Research............................................................................................ 6
Situation Analysis........................................................................................................ 7
Statement of the Problem.............................................................................................. 8
Premise..................................................................................................................... 9
Purpose of this project.................................................................................................. 9
Definition................................................................................................................ 10
Limitations.............................................................................................................. 11
Delimitations............................................................................................................ 12
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 12
Chapter 2: Analysis of secondary data- Literature Review....................................................14
Advantages of Cloud Computing.................................................................................. 14
Obstacles of Cloud Computing..................................................................................... 15
Virtualization........................................................................................................... 16
Advantages of virtualization include the following:.........................................................16
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Post-Cloud and Virtualization:..........................18
Chapter 3 - Analysis of primary data – CASE STUDIES......................................................19
Case Study 1: Aha digital platform – Transition to Cloud Computing and Virtualization.........19
Overview.............................................................................................................. 19
Challenges Before Cloud Adoption............................................................................ 20
Adoption of Cloud and Virtualization........................................................................20
Impact................................................................................................................. 20
Outcome............................................................................................................... 21
Case Study 2: General Electric (GE) – Embracing Cloud and Virtualization for Digital
Transformation......................................................................................................... 22
Overview.............................................................................................................. 22
Challenges Before Cloud Adoption............................................................................ 22
Adoption of Cloud and Virtualization........................................................................22
Impact................................................................................................................. 23
Outcome............................................................................................................... 23
Survey Questionnaire................................................................................................. 24

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

Chapter 4.................................................................................................................... 28
Key Findings/ Results................................................................................................. 28
RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................ 29
Regulatory Compliance and Security............................................................................30
References.................................................................................................................. 31

Abstract

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

From the basic level that modern information technology networks are based upon, virtualization

and cloud computing are found to be creating a deep disruption by changing things at a basic

level. Business entities now have access to a set of possibilities in terms of operational,

managerial, and scaling capabilities that were previously never accessible-precisely because

these two technologies have finally made it possible for them to do so. It has never been easier

than it is now, as through the use of cloud computing, computer resources can be moved with the

aid of the internet. What this means, in other words, is that the reason why all this is possible is

for the same reason it was able to be after the internet was invented, due to technology. The term

"cloud computing" is really just a generic term for a great deal of resources that are obtainable at

any time they are needed. Resources, in this context, refer to data storage, processing power, and

software platforms. Access to the resources can be obtained at any time when that access is

needed. Should you ever find yourself in such a position that you require their assistance, please

do not hesitate to reach out to them. Virtualization Virtualization is a technique where one

physical server executes multiple virtual computers' tasks, which are normally referred to as

VMs. A technology that forms virtualization's basis is referred to as. With this in mind, this not

only ensures that the resources at hand are stretched to their fullest capacities, but it also

streamlines and speeds up the process of delivering the supplies. The information technology

systems in the world today are much more effective and adaptable compared to those in previous

decades. This is for the most part because they encompass all of these numerous technologies.

With this, therefore, firms have been able to enhance their operational resilience, scalability, and

optimization of expenses all at once.

Given the tremendous growth in the utilization of cloud computing, there has also been a

tremendous shift in many domains, one of these being the devolution towards the outsourcing of

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

the delivery of the resources to third-party cloud service providers themselves. This has brought

about quite a significant transition of the conventional infrastructure, which the conventional

infrastructure has influenced. The mobility requires less maintenance; hence, this reduces the

amount of local hardware needed. The enterprises now have options for pay-as-you-go, which

simplifies budgeting besides offering current computing capability access. These solutions are

now available for companies to adopt. With this, entrepreneurs can now deliberate on the use of

strategies that are all equal to those being used in practice already. Correspondingly,

virtualization provides management software and easy installation at multiple locations that is

necessary for the smooth running of a business entity. Virtualization further enhances its

capability to store data in several places. It handles short-term periods because it can handle the

periods of scaling up or scaling down easily. The enterprises are increasingly turning in Hybrid

clouds, public clouds, and private clouds in their hunt for the architecture best suited for their

systems. This is a trend that is expected to continue. Businesses make use of different cloud

computing platforms as a way to balance between the availability of resources and the security of

the data, for various advantages come with them.

New challenges are brought up by each of these reasons in the fields of data security, regulatory

compliance, and the management of information technology itself. There is also a lingering

concern with regard to data sovereignty of companies and privacy of users of those organizations

when sensitive information is hosted across public clouds that house numerous tenants. With the

rise in the utilization of cloud-based and virtualized infrastructures, there is also an increased

need for strong monitoring and management. A number of factors have in turn caused the

demand to expand. This is because of this reason that the solution to the problem keeps on

getting worse since new solutions must not only be compatible with the already placed systems

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

but also reduce the vulnerability for data breach and disturbance in the delivered services. The

problem is only worsening.

While cloud computing and virtualization have made other leaps-technically more difficult like

AI, ML, and big data analytics-easier to be taken by enterprises, they have also raised the

operational efficiency and flexibility of enterprises. This is attributed to the fact that these

technologies have made it easier to deploy these improvements. These are the elements that are

major contributors to the current status of corporate intelligence and decision-making in the

business world. This study will look into how these technologies impact the efficiency,

affordability, and security of information technology systems as they currently exist. The goal of

this study is to examine the positive and negative aspects of these technologies. Virtualization

and cloud computing, on the other hand, are making a revolution in the field of information

technology. This essay intends to be able to provide evidence in proving that the author fully

understands such advances and how these may serve businesses to better adjust with and achieve

success in the digital economy that exists today. This shall be done through the utilization of a

survey, which shall be carried out to determine the current status quo. The survey shall revolve

around the relevant trends, case studies, and best practices pertaining to the industry.

Chapter 1

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

Area of Intended Research

It will seek to determine the role of cloud computing and virtualization in disaster recovery and

business continuity across different industry sectors. Therefore, results from this study will show

how critical these technologies are in ensuring that businesses are adequately prepared to sustain

their operations and processes from a wide range of shocks, from natural catastrophes to

disruptive information technology. It is in this section where due consideration to cloud

computing and virtualization capabilities shall form a basis for designing an effective disaster

recovery system that would have the ability to dump data without delay in ensuring continuity of

business activities. These technologies will be explored in regard to the scope of this research in

industries, health care, online commerce, finance, and other applied areas.

Situation Analysis

Cloud Computing and Virtualization: Scalable and flexible, these infrastructures are core to the

design of modern information technology systems. Many companies have now initiated their

journey of digital transformation which has made the task of data management and its security

extremely challenging. Much development has taken place in the virtualization of storage,

networks, and servers for promoting efficiency and security, and cloud computing that is elastic

and metered.

The ability of disaster recovery and business continuity has been one of the major focuses of

companies these days due to their increased reliance on continuously operative IT systems

running businesses. Traditional methods of disaster recovery have always been highly

challenging for deployment and require being thoughtful about the disaster recovery

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

infrastructure. In the case of any DRP, the procedure is efficient and more feasible in Cloud

Computing because it can replicate data across several sites. However, virtualization allows for

the consolidation of several applications onto one physical hardware platform. This ensures

quicker recovery of the system after failures to maintain access to business-critical data.

For instance, cloud-based electronic health record systems have revolutionized health care

provision. Since the cloud is engaged in the effective collection, storage, retrieval, and

management of data and information concerning patients, health practitioners can proceed with

the treatment of their patients in case a system or a center experiences failure, even those caused

by natural disasters . This would relate directly to the ability of cloud computing to make patient

records web-accessible and in real-time, enhance coordination of care between the many medical

professionals who will be involved in a patient's treatment and rehabilitation. Virtualization

allows the healthcare professional to access many servers and applications, which, in return,

decreases costs.

Cloud computing and virtualization have brought them to very important realizations within

different domains of operation, including financial services, online commerce, and

manufacturing. Each of these service areas has highly risk-accompanied elements relating to

financial and public confidence hazards that quite simply cannot afford to be disrupted. This is

the reason why disaster cloud recovery solutions have become the rule to ensure that at least such

industries will have their systems up and running should anything happen. Shah and Dubey

(2016)

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

Statement of the Problem

Objectives of the research The study seeks to establish changes in disaster recovery and business

continuity that cloud computing and virtualization technologies have enabled various industries.

On the other hand, research has demonstrated that most of those advantages are controllable and

thus they cannot help but minimize challenges while applying these technologies in their

contexts. These are security and compliance issues, the ability of integration with the

infrastructures at hand, and problems related to lock-in with their vendors. It therefore means that

the rationale of this research is to assess the current challenges and risks that come with the

usage of cloud and virtualization solutions in devising appropriate disaster recovery solutions,

and to strategize possible remedies to eradicate these issues. The way in which continuing

business operations in different industries would be researched using cloud computing with

virtualization will also be discussed.

Premise
One of the main driving ideas behind this research is that through the application of cloud

computing and virtualization, disaster recovery and business continuity would be significantly

improved for most enterprises across different industries. With such technologies, business

organizations can reduce their infrastructure costs by making their systems agile and capable of

managing information technology downtimes. Moreover, virtualization, complemented with

cloud computing, may even develop more flexible and effective solutions for disaster recovery in

enterprises, reducing downtime and recovery time in a very dramatic manner. This paper,

therefore, tries to establish if these technologies can curb the cons of their previous disaster

recovery tactics. Some of these strategies are extremely costly and cumbersome; we are also

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going to explore with concern whether or not they are the appropriate permanent solutions for

any company.

Purpose of this project

The general purpose of this study is to define the ways through which cloud computing and

virtualization technologies are revolutionizing modern information technology contexts. More

specifically, it aims to establish how these technologies achieve resource utilization and

allocation effectively, applications scalable, less costly, and able to recover from disasters easily.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact that cloud computing and virtualization

will have on their own, along with how the impact of cloud computing and virtualization will be

if both are used in combination. The results of this research will give IT managers and companies

that need an upgrade in their IT systems with the required knowledge.

Definition

1. Cloud computing is the process of outsourcing the computer resources, space bandwidths

and other services that make use of the internet through the use of cloud computing.

Cloud computing is also known as internet resources outsourcing. As a result of this, the

requirement that an organization must have its own information technology infrastructure

is reduced, as proposed by Armbrust et al (2010). It reaches this goal by providing

services to businesses and allowing them to augment their resources in a manner that is

transparent and flexible. Cloud computing can be attributed to many advantages, some of

which include, but are not limited to, the following: availability, affordability, and

cooperation.

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

2. A name given to the process of creating a digital form of such physical products of an

organization that can be used within an information technology setup is virtualization.

Examples include servers, storage, and networks. The process of generating a digital

representation of these tangible commodities is known as virtualization. In this respect,

the same island may host multiple operating systems and applications, according to

Rosenblum and Garfinkel. It seems it allows not only for an improvement in resource

allocation between the numerous system components but also improves general

performance as such. Apart from that, the additional benefits one can accrue through the

use of virtualization include virtualization of programs and data and building solutions

for security and disaster recovery.

3. The term "disaster recovery," more usually abbreviated as "DR, is a plan that is

implemented in order to enable an organization to resume its regular levels of operations

in the event that it confronts a disaster that is related to information technology.

Techniques are utilized in order to carry out the processes involved in the rehabilitation

process. Wallace and Webber, 2017 have succinctly mentioned that good disaster

recovery plans try to shorten the duration that the systems remain offline. After the

occurrence of a disaster, it should also be possible to protect the integrity of the crucial

business data and applications. As a matter of fact, this should be the foremost goal of all

sound disaster recovery plans. BC is the shortened form of "business continuity."

Therefore, carrying out business processes in a standardized way would assist a firm with

respect to survival and sustainability during and after a disaster situation. The terms "firm

continuity" and "business continuity" are very commonly used as synonyms in daily life.

Herbane 2010 states that continuity of operations solutions normally are made up of

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elements dealing with the availability of all of the following: systems, information, and

services. Normally, this is to minimize the risk of any potential losses which could be

experienced on account of disruptions.

Limitations

One major area of concern with the use of cloud computing for disaster recovery is loss of

custody of the data being stored in the cloud due to security and privacy concerns. For instance,

healthcare information privacy legal obligations such as the HIPAA act binds healthcare

organizations that adopt the use of cloud-based EHR not to invade patients' privacy (Menachemi

& Collum, 2011). Although the leading companies of the cloud service providing business have

already introduced strong security processes, the possibility of an attack is still quite high and

should accordingly be addressed by the organizations.

Because of this loss of cloud services, businesses cannot recover from a disaster as they cannot

retrieve any information or any systems. This is because the services that provide cloud services

would not be available. Availability issues, though, also occur when cloud providers are offering

redundancy and failover alternatives. Because of the challenges discussed above, various issues

may arise, including a loss of monetary value and delaying the switching off service.

Delimitations

In this research project, the firms located within North America will fall within the geographical

coverage for the purpose of discovering the adoption of cloud computing and virtualization

strategies in offering disaster recovery and business continuity. Notwithstanding these related

generalizations, the study would not necessarily compare the findings of this research to those of

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other places with regard to impending or different legislative requirements of other regions with

regard to the availability of infrastructure.

Since cloud computing and virtualization are about to create a sea change in disaster recovery

and business continuity disaster recovery solutions, the research will be directed at various

industries such as: the financial sector, the health industry, the retail industry, and the

manufacturing industry. We are going to do research on SMEs in order to find out what problems

this type of organization faces while implementing these solutions, irrespective of how complex

large-scale business installations may be.

INTRODUCTION

The exploratory research project entitled "The Impact of Cloud Computing and Virtualization on

Contemporary Information Technology Infrastructures."

Therefore, "preposition-based" has quite a potential amount of capacity to bring radical change

in the sciences of disaster recovery and business continuity in respective fields. Thus, these

technologies are flexible, scalable, but most importantly, affordable. If applied, they will enhance

business operational continuity within an organization with ease and reduce the impact of

disruptions. Although the benefits are immense, there are still concerns such as security and

compliance, which have to do more in developing reliability of vendors. Towards the near future,

this will be an avenue of research geared toward assessing cloud-based disaster recovery

solutions over time in order to inform those on the best ways in which organizations may use the

cloud technology.

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Cloud computing and virtualization have significantly helped improve organizational tactics

concerning disaster recovery and business continuity. The large firms with huge financial assets

are the only organizations that were earlier able to acquire comprehensive disaster recovery

solutions. While the above is valid, on the other side of the debate, cloud computing has also

advanced the technology such that organizations of all sizes are able to backup their data at

remote locations, restore their operations in a few minutes, and continue uninterruptedly with

their operations, even when faced with considerable interruptions.

For instance, through cloud computing, one may duplicate data across various locations, which

ensures that if one data center crashes, another should pick up from where the other had left off.

Similarly, virtualization can allow the running of several instances of important applications

across a range of physical servers, hence minimizing the chances of the entire system crashing.

In turn, the services dispense with superfluous physical infrastructure, which decreases the cost

burden in association with disaster recovery and reduces the intensity of the processes in terms of

restoration.

To this effect, many cloud-based solutions contain disaster recovery functions, such as auto-

backups and failover methods. Besides this, cloud-based solutions contain all these features. By

the virtue of such capabilities, organizations are enabled to restore their data and applications in

no time, which in return reduces the on-ground system inactivity time and minimizes the loss

that could be caused due to interruptions. Virtualization may allow faster replication or

restoration of virtualized information technology infrastructures in case of disaster and huge

improvements for business continuity.

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Chapter 2: Analysis of secondary data- Literature Review

Cloud computing allows companies to tap into the pay-as-you-go access to processing, storage,

and software resources over the internet. With AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other cloud

service providers, companies can rent computing resources and storage without the physical

ownership of servers. This gives scalability and flexibility at a much lesser cost, hence turning

capital expenses into operating costs. Another advantages are cost-cutting.

Advantages of Cloud Computing

1.It saves money because of expensive hardware and infrastructure, thus saving on the total cost.

2. Provides the ability to scale the resources up or down as demand dictates, which could mean

overall flexibility as requirements change.

3. Enables users to access data and programs from any location connected to the internet; hence,

it allows remote working and collaboration.

4. Facilitates high-speed performance and low latency by making use of data centers in various

geographic locations. 3.

5. Protects crucial data by offering immense security features inclusive of encryption, firewalls,

and routine update cycles.

6. Allows real-time collaboration by the availability of data stored centrally along with

technologies hosted on the cloud.

7. It facilitates innovation by making accessible to budding innovators, state-of-the-art

technologies like artificial intelligence and big data analytics.

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8. Environmentally it contributes to effective utilization of energy and often resorts to renewable

sources of energy.

9. It relieves the task of managing information technology since cloud providers do upgrades and

maintenance automatically.

10. Enhanced disaster recovery and data backup processes; this will ensure little time is wasted

offline and reduce the chances of data loss.

Obstacles of Cloud Computing

1. Data breaches, security vulnerabilities when sensitive information is stored on the cloud

through cloud storage.

2. Unexpected expense either because of misutilization of the available resources or over-

allocation. 1.

3. Downtime due to problems with the provider or with the internet.

4. The operations of Data migration are hazardous, expensive, and complex and may lead to

error or corruption of data. 5. Vendor "lock-in" for consumers makes painful and expensive to

switch providers or migrate data. 6. Performance has been negatively affected due to latency

issues and resource contention in multi-tenant scenarios.

7. Complexity in adhering to regulations and legislation around data sovereignty across

international boundaries. 8. The use of inadequate resources and people with good skills in

managing and improving cloud environments at a fast pace. 9. Integration with on-premise

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systems is cumbersome, and APIs are irregular across the platforms. 10. An increased rate of

cyber threats and a user misunderstanding about shared responsibility in data security.

Virtualization

Virtualization involves computer servers and storage of data virtualization. It, therefore, allows

running many systems on one physical computer. Virtualization, therefore, basically, is facilitated

by the process of virtualization. Since several applications are consolidated on a couple of

servers, hardware costs can be drastically cut while at the same time improving the efficiency of

resource utilization.

Advantages of virtualization include the following:

• Resource optimization helps reduce the spending on energy and the number of equipment that

is needed and desired.

There are a number of advantages related to virtualization; one of them includes the ease with

which migration and changes can be made to virtual computers to attain higher performance.

With VMs, for security, each is insulated from the rest, and therefore even when one is hacked,

that does not translate to the others being affected.

Possible impact on IT systems the rapid recoveries that have been made possible in virtual

system images brought immense confidence not only to disaster recovery but also in creating

information technology infrastructures more flexible and scalable over time. It might result in

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what is popularly referred to as "virtual sprawl," whereby a number of virtual computers that

cannot be put under control could lead to organizational inefficiency.

The maintenance of business operation and contingency planning against disaster recovery pre

and post the following should be done in case a child is adopted by families working within the

cloud computing and virtualization industry. Explanation about the concept of disaster recovery

and business continuity pre and post the advent of the cloud computing and virtualization

industry is discussed below :

Setting up DR and BC plans before the development of cloud computing and virtualization was a

chore and so costly, which a large number of small and medium-sized businesses could not have

afforded. A secondary site was necessary for an organization; it actually meant a backup facility

duplicating its main data center. It was a must for organizations. This in turn had the effect of

making many institutions invest heavily in servers and storage that for the most part were never

used. Wallace and Webber's 2017 study Despite the fact that no efficiency dividend was realized,

this led to price inflation.

These were manual backups prone to errors and lots of other unprecedented downtime. As such,

the rate of recovery was very slow, sometimes taking days or weeks. This meant that the

company lost revenue and even took a knell to their reputation. Other issues associated with

business continuity included the need for standby power, communication links as well as

alternative work sites that make preparation both complex and costly.

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Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Post-Cloud and Virtualization:

Cloud computing and virtualization have literally modernized disaster recovery and business

continuity by making the processes far more effective, affordable, and available. DRaaS-goers

are already facilitating businesses in backing up data in the cloud with as much ease as eve. It

removes the need for expensive physical backup facilities, which is a great advantage. As such,

Armbrust et al. note that in case of an emergency, firms can restore their systems and

applications from the cloud with speed, greatly reducing the time taken to recover.

Cloud computing ensures that critical data can be made available and that redundancy is kept in

case one of the data centers fails to function properly, by automatically replicating the data in

more than one location. On one hand, such types of backup were until recently conceivable only

by large enterprises; on the other hand, today they are already well within the financial reach of

all types of organizations.

One of the most significant ways in which virtualization brings great improvement to disaster

recovery is that businesses can create virtual clones of their entire information technology

systems. This is one of those ways that virtualization helps businesses. Because these virtual

environments can be restored more quickly in case something happens than the real ones, the

time spent offline can be minimized. Furthermore, it supports failover solutions whereby

workloads can seamlessly switch over to the active servers in real time, thus guaranteeing

continuous high availability of critical applications.

Moreover, cloud and virtualization technologies allow for the routine testing of disaster recovery

plans without interfering with the normal operations due to the availability of the cloud. This

ensures that the plans will not become obsolete and proper preparedness against any eventuality

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that is likely to occur will be realized. Cloud-based collaboration and virtual desktops make it

possible for workers to work from home, and therefore businesses can continue offering their

services even in a scenario when their physical offices are unreachable. Businesses can thus keep

running and the provision of services going.

Chapter 3 - Analysis of primary data – CASE STUDIES

Case Study 1: Aha digital platform – Transition to Cloud Computing and
Virtualization
Overview
Aha is one of the most loved streaming services. However, the service has been having a quite

good number of problems with its traditional information technology infrastructure. Most of

these were scalability, cost-effectiveness, and downtimes. At note are serious concerns to begin

with. In fact, the expansion of operations of aha in different parts of the world made it clearer

that data centers within the organization could not help in so many ways. The company Aha was

able to move towards cloud computing with the use of AWS and virtualization across its

complete architecture. This provided them with a very successful move. This helped the

organization to overcome several obstacles and come out successfully. Since better performance,

better management of resources, and quick scaling up to meet the variable demand by the users

was required, the decision to opt for this was taken. These were the major reasons that prevailed

in taking this decision.

Challenges Before Cloud Adoption

Before cloud computing was instituted, Aha's infrastructure was based on low scalability that

caused performance problems when the demand was high. Actual servers owned by the

corporation were expensive to operate, and during high demands, often, the system would not

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perform as expected or get overloaded with demand. The technical outages in their data centers

took additional tolls on user experience. During this rapid rise in its customer base across the

world, aha needed better infrastructure that was more efficient, reliable, and scalable.

Adoption of Cloud and Virtualization

Aha used AWS to support cloud computing for scalability and disaster recovery. It was easier to

scale up and down using the infrastructure provided in the cloud as users went up or down to

limit downtimes. Virtualization was important in this process of resource optimization by

enabling a number of virtual computers to run on a single physical server. This reduced Aha's

need to invest in physical hardware; thus, the company could extend its service provision to

global scales more quickly and at a lower cost.

Impact
Some innovations have been achieved due to the movement of cloud computing and

virtualization. This has come about because of this movement. Some of the reasons why Aha's

scalability was improved were due to how "the company was able to quickly scale its cloud

resources up and down depending on demand spikes, for example, after releasing new versions

of the software. This was one of the variables that led to an improvement. Aha achieved cost

efficiency because it was only paying for those resources it was actually using. This way, it was

able to save on cash. Due to the use of virtualization, the organization was able to ensure its

hardware was utilized as much as possible, and this reduced the need to have an excessive

number of physical infrastructures. This was achieved by making full use of the available

hardware. Secondly, aha ensured increased robustness and up-time in the system by deploying

distributed cloud services and virtual machines scattered across several data centres. This was

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achieved using the cloud. In this way, we made sure that disruptions of the service would remain

minimal as much as humanly possible.

Outcome
The virtualization and deployment of Amazon Web Services brought a change to revolutionize

the information technology architecture laying within an organization. It is just these two

technologies that have brought about this revolution. This brings about a drastic cut in operation

costs amongst other benefits like increased scalability and improved dependability of service. In

essence, the cloud empowers product development and innovates the user experience, such as the

adoption of personalized content recommendations. This can be just one example of how the

cloud could be used to innovate. Again, it was the cloud which had motivated these two

technological advances. It was the cloud which had enabled this type of innovation, and it was a

force which urged it to develop. The fact is that because of this, Aha gained more effectiveness

and efficiency since it could keep pace with the competitive advantage of the streaming market

globally while attaining rapid expansion among many industries.

Case Study 2: General Electric (GE) – Embracing Cloud and Virtualization

for Digital Transformation

Overview
General Electric is a diversified industrial corporation worldwide that has faced many problems

concerning its legacy information technology setup. These were brought about by shortcomings

in technology. One of the drawbacks this infrastructure had was that it could not scale up fast

enough to meet the increase in volume experienced by data. Cloud computing and virtualization

were to be used in the digital transformation at General Electric in pursuit of an Industrial

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Internet of Things strategy. In this regard, this change is touted to help improve operational

efficiency, enhance decision-making that is partly based on data, and bring about a more agile

and scalable information technology infrastructure across the diverse business divisions under

the company's umbrella.

Challenges Before Cloud Adoption

At General Electric, IT infrastructure traditionally has been on-premises data centers and

physical servers. This was grossly inadequate to handle huge volumes of data emanating from

industrial machines and sensors deployed in large-range operations across the world. Scaling was

difficult, and it had very high operational costs related to hardware maintenance. Besides, it was

unable to integrate various types of data coming from different units, which made real-time,

data-driven decision-making related to business operations very difficult for the company.

Adoption of Cloud and Virtualization

To make things more scalable and reduce infrastructure costs, General Electric employed a

hybrid cloud approach whereby private and public clouds, such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon

Web Services, leveraged each other. Along the way to virtualization, General Electric managed

to embody a number of its physical servers, which is usually bound to improve resource

utilization and efficiency. This was enabled by the cloud infrastructure that allowed the company

to deploy Predix, an IIoT platform by General Electric. It could use this to run analytics on

industrial data in real time and thereby enhance operational efficiency throughout the

manufacturing processes. Thus, General Electric managed to integrate the data from its

diversified business groups with much higher efficiency.

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Impact
In that case, the deployment of cloud computing and virtualization let General Electric make a

quantum amount of progress. A hybrid cloud lets scaling be done in a flexible manner at the

infrastructure level. Besides that, it simplified the operations and reduced the sum of money

spent on hardware. Virtualization let it avail the available resources with maximum efficiency,

leading to better efficiency in administrative processes. As a result, large chunks of industrial

data generated by the assets scattered all over the world could now be processed and analyzed in

real time. It was due to this reason that the organization did predictive maintenance, which

consequently reduced downtime and improved performance. It implemented cloud-based

communication technologies to increase the velocity and efficiency of cross-functional teams at

the industrial solutions at General Electric to make the innovation process faster.

Outcome
General Electric had the unique opportunity, through cloud computing and virtualization, to be

competitive in an ever-changing environmental area of industry. In such a way, the company was

able to continue to prosper. Huge cost savings, tremendous operational agility, and the ability to

provide new data-driven services-the benefits included all these, possible due to such a shift.

Effective adoption of solutions for the Industrial Internet of Things and enhanced capabilities in

data analytics enabled General Electric to lead the digital transformation of industries. The

company could lead the industries in digital transformation. It attained the leading position in the

industry on digital solutions by bringing enhanced operational insights to the customers,

increasing asset management, and accordingly providing new value-added services. The

company had made this possible sense it could render these services.

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

Survey Questionnaire
Demographic Information:
1.What is your role in your organization?
o IT Manager
o Systems Administrator
o Cloud Architect
o Software Developer
o Business Executive
o Other (please specify): __________
2.What industry does your organization belong to?
INFORMATION Technology
Manufacturing
o_Retail/Entertainment
o_Finance
o_Healthcare
o_Other (please specify): __________
________________________________________
Cloud Computing and Virtualization Adoption:
3.Has your organization adopted cloud computing for infrastructure management?
o Yes
o No
o Considering
4.What kind of cloud infrastructure does your organization use? (Choose all that apply)
o Public Cloud (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)
o Private Cloud
o Hybrid Cloud
o Virtualization (on-premises)

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

5. What was the main reason your organization decided to adopt cloud computing?
(Select all that apply)
o Scalability and flexibility
o Cost savings
o Reliability and uptime
o Innovation and new features
o Data analytics and real-time processing
o Other (please specify): __________
________________________________________
Impact on Operations:
6. In your opinion, how did the adoption of cloud computing impact the scalability of
your organization’s infrastructure?
o Significantly improved scalability
o Somewhat improved scalability
o No noticeable change
o Made scalability worse
o Not sure
7. Has cloud computing improved the cost-efficiency of your organization’s IT
operations?
o Yes, significantly
o Yes, somewhat
o No, there was no change
o No, it increased costs
o Not sure
8. How has virtualization affected your organization's resource management?
o Greatly optimized resource usage
o Somewhat optimized resource usage
o No noticeable change
o Increased complexity in resource management

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

o Not sure
________________________________________
Reliability and Innovation:
9. How has cloud computing contributed to the reliability and uptime of your
organization's IT systems?
o Greatly improved reliability and uptime
o Somewhat improved reliability and uptime
o No noticeable change
o Made reliability and uptime worse
o Not sure
10. Has the move to cloud computing and virtualization enabled faster deployment of
new services or features in your organization?
o Yes, greatly
o Yes, somewhat
o No, there was no change
o No, it slowed down deployments
o Not sure
________________________________________
Data Analytics and Decision Making:
11. Has the adoption of cloud computing improved data analytics and decision-making
in your organization?
o Yes, significantly
o Yes, somewhat
o No, it had no impact
o No, it made decision-making harder
o Not sure
12. How crucial is real-time data processing-e.g., cloud computing and virtualization-to
your organization's functions?
o Not at all important

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

o Somewhat important
o Important
o Very important
o Not sure
__________________________________________
Challenges and Risks:
13. What are some challenges your organization has encountered during the adoption of
cloud computing and virtualization? (Choose all that apply)
o Data security and privacy issues
o High cost of initial implementation
o Integrating with legacy systems
o Resistance to change from employees or leadership
o Technical complexity
o Lack of skilled professionals
o Other, specify: __________
14. How would you rate risks related to adopting cloud computing and virtualization in
your organization?
o Risks well-managed
o Some risks managed, but concerns
o Poorly managed
o Not Sure
________________________________________
Overall Feedback:
15. Based on experience so far, would you recommend cloud computing and virtualization
to other organizations looking to improve their IT infrastructure?
o Yes, highly recommend
o Yes with some reservations
o No, I wouldn't recommend
o Not Sure

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

16. What other advantages or disadvantages would you emphasize to organizations that are
contemplating cloud computing and virtualization?

Chapter 4

Key Findings/ Results

Virtualization and cloud computing provide an array of advantages such as better utilization of

resources, cost reduction, better disaster recovery, and address security concerns. Virtualization is

one of consolidation, whereby multiple operating systems and applications can be deployed on

one physical server. This translates to less waste while the infrastructure team is more

productive. Cloud computing facilitates the easy distribution of human and information

technology resources. This makes scaling up so effortless, yet it adds extra flexibility.

With cloud solutions, capital expenditures can be lowered because one would be relying on cloud

solutions rather than hardware. In addition, cloud solutions could include automatic backups or

data centers placed in a number of places; these increase business continuity during times of

system breaks.

The excellent speed that virtualization and cloud solutions avail in application and service

delivery assists in making information technology teams respond much quicker to the needs of

their firms. Though this may be the case, security challenges do face them. The management of

information technology requirements becomes less complex in cases where an upgrade or patch

does not require operations to shut down.

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

With appropriate visualization and cloud technologies, organizations can reduce carbon

footprints in the infrastructure of information technology by taking smaller amounts of energy

consumption in the centres. On the other hand, dangers associated with lock-in vendors may be

expensive for an enterprise because they may find themselves unable to escape from a particular

provider of the cloud, which in turn results in increasing expenses.

It's integrating the AI, Edge Computing, and Hybrid Cloud end to end, changes in the nature of

information technology system design, and the exiting networks get smarter.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Cloud computing and virtualization should be implemented based on the right cloud strategy that

is in line with the enterprise objectives for meeting the needs of the enterprise in terms of

DR/BC. Risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis will be performed in order to determine

systems which will require migration to the cloud. Depending on a single provider can be

reduced by going in for a combined Hybrid or Multi-Cloud implemented through services

provided by AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, ensuring that sensitive data is kept on-

premises.

While the implementation may be error-free and quicker by using computerized techniques,

regular testing should be done to ensure that the implementation goes well. Exercises would be

necessary regularly for testing and updating disaster recovery and business continuity plans,

which would help in outlining the weak points as well as providing the workers with the needed

training.

Natively, cloud disaster recovery does provide a choice between AWS Backup and Microsoft

Azure Site Recovery for the enterprise to manage the backups and recoveries. Cloud Disaster

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

Recovery also allows data replication across all regions in such a way that every employee

knows his role and has been well trained.

Regulatory Compliance and Security

This leads to the fact that business must underline strong protection and compliance with

legislation to respond to safety and privacy concerns in cloud computing. For key protection,

strong encryption methods should be employed, like AES-256 bits, while several authentication

modes should be used in respect to access the cloud. The detection of possible security

vulnerability based on regular monitoring and auditing of cloud activities is possible with the

help of tracking technologies such as Amazon Web Services CloudTrail. Compliance with

HIPAA and GDPR regulations can be ascertained by being discreet in the choice of cloud

providers and periodic reviews concerning their practices related to data management. Planning

will be necessary for data governance: one that has to ensure an all-inclusive structure that will

allow the protection of data, privacy, and compliance. The structure shall specify the access to

data, the processes related to dealing with data breaches, among other precautions deemed

relevant. Regular assessments should be undertaken to ensure that management of data is always

performed in observance of the applicable requirements.

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The Impact of Cloud Computing & Virtualization on Modern IT Infrastructures

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