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access to those services via self‐service‐portals, so the self‐service‐portal
should also be the point of authentication (single –sign –on).
Building a Private Cloud service
Building a Cloud service, a private Cloud, is currently considered as state of
the art in setting up an IT infrastructure. The main drivers are virtualisation
and standardisation. Most of the projects start within the IT department and
are mainly focused upon on‐premise centralisation, the decommissioning of
IT infrastructure from sites, to gain benefits from reducing deployment and
support costs. IT departments today seldom consider home office users,
mobile users or external contractors as their main clientele, as such usage
patterns are excepted in the world of IT today. Currently an IT infrastructure
looks like a fortress, with border security, accessible via small bridges
(
access points), high walls and hopefully all the data is kept inside. Once
inside, the user is relatively uncontrolled and the system is currently built
around:
Office based users
Company owned assets
Wired desktops and notebooks
On‐premise datacentres
Monolithic structures
Application suites
But to build up a successful Cloud strategy, it is important to consider the
exceptions. For example here are some key areas for consideration:
Mobile users
Personal owned devices, often referred to as Bring Your Own (BYO)
Wireless access
Off‐premise (Cloud)
With this “Cloudy by design” approach the IT infrastructure looks more like a
modern town, with no boarder security (check‐points), but with police on
the road, surveillance cameras, access restriction to certain areas and
specialised security systems to protect dedicated assets. Centralisation and
