Necessity_over_capacity-1030x343 Necessity Over Capacity: How to Get Cloud-Enabled Applications Right Cloud-enabled applications are on-premise software adapted to work in the cloud. However, despite being cloud-enabled, moving a legacy application to the cloud isn’t enough to truly take advantage of the benefits of a cloud application. To enjoy these benefits, businesses need to avoid treating cloud-enabled applications in the way they did when these were hosted on-premise. 

This article will review how on-premise and cloud systems work and learn the right approach for migrating applications to the cloud. To give us insight into the subject, we interviewed Richard Reukema, a software solutions architect at Optimus Information with decades of experience in the IT field.

 

The Difference Between Cloud and On-premise Applications

To begin with, on-premise applications work very differently once they are moved to the cloud. When running on-premise, the application’s performance is tied to the physical infrastructure of the organization. More importantly, legacy applications are not in the hands of their developers, but in the hands of IT operators.

Operators make sure that the hardware has enough resources to handle the many applications that run simultaneously on it. As such, during the process of implementing a new application, they measure its consumption requirements. After that, the IT department handles a list of the hardware they need to run this application properly. To run these applications, companies can choose between relying on the equipment they already have or buying additional hardware for the payload of the application. To this extent, applications depend on the hardware configuration, which can bottleneck the application when under high demand or delay the deployment of newer versions of the software. This process is known as capacity planning.

It is crucial here to acknowledge that on-premise capacity planning takes into account not hourly or daily usage but yearly. Richard Reukema asserts that companies buying hardware have to take into consideration possible dates that will increase applications’ payload. For example, for some companies, Christmas is when some companies increase their sales in comparison to the rest of the year and need the most of their systems. Hence, IT operators have to make sure their applications will be able to withstand the occasional increase in their payload. If they fail to do so, the system’s capacity will not be able to meet demand. Increasing capacity in minutes like cloud applications is off the table

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Aside from the possibility of increasing capacity infrequently,  the most IT operations can do is schedule to shut down some applications when others require more capacity. They’re limited by the equipment they have. In comparison, cloud applications don’t share resources, or, as Richard puts it, “we build cloud applications or clouded services for the capacity of the application that is required when it’s required.” For this very reason, he maintains that “legacy applications grow on capacity; cloud applications grow on necessity.”

Moving from Servers to Services

As we have seen, traditional IT is locked into capacity. As such, according to Richard, even after moving to the cloud and away from on-premise hardware, operators might still view cloud services as servers. He emphasizes that “they don’t understand software, they understand hardware; they see the cloud as a virtual datacenter”. Virtual datacenters allow companies to swiftly deploy additional infrastructure resources when needed without the time constraints of acquiring and installing new hardware. Scaling on-premise systems like that demand a whole process of picking hardware from vendors, waiting for it, and installing it. In comparison with cloud-enabled scaling, the whole thing takes months.

However, while cloud-enabled scaling eclipses the limitations of on-premise scaling, managing applications like this doesn’t take advantage of the cloud to its fullest. To Richard, virtualizing infrastructure makes no difference, since it keeps IT treating applications as servers instead of services.

Richard understands that to take advantage of cloud capabilities to their fullest, IT operators need to think of necessity instead of capacity. He uses the case of ride-sharing company Uber as an analogy: “Uber goes into a city. How many VMs do you think they have to configure to start up another city or even ten? They don’t. It’s a service. It will dynamically grow not on how much capacity there is but on the system’s load.”

For this reason, Richard points out that “you cannot move a legacy application to the cloud and have the benefits of a cloud-native application or cloud-powered applications.” Moreover, he also thinks that replicating the server mentality in the cloud can even be more expensive than on-premise hardware: “You will get charged more on AWS than you would on your servers in your room. Why? Because the servers in the physical room are all shared; The servers in the cloud are all independent of each other.”

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The Solution: DevOps

For Richard, making this paradigm shift from server to services and necessity over capacity requires a reinterpretation of the IT and software development teams’ role. That’s why Richard is in favour of DevOps: “IT operations have no place in services, it only has a place in servers because DevOps, which stands for developer operations, is managed by developers and they can manage operations because it’s their application that’s running on services, not servers.” DevOps emphasizes developing and maintaining software through a chain of short feedback loops —starting from the customer and through production, testing—, automation, and collaboration. DevOps achieves this by integrating developers and IT operators to shape IT infrastructure and the application simultaneously.

When it comes to the cloud, DevOps can administer deployment automation tools to ensure continuous delivery and reliability to the production environment, in a model known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Likewise, the Platform as a Service (PaaS) model provides serverless services that allow developers to work without the constraints of dealing with a server. IaaS and PaaS minimize the workload of operation teams and fit a business model based on scaling and pricing fixed on computing usage.

 

The Bottom Line

We have learned how cloud-enabled applications differ from on-premise applications, and how to move forward in making the most of our cloud-enabled applications. Still not sure about what you can do with the cloud? Get in touch with us to learn more about the perfect cloud solution for your company.


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Introduction

Microsoft is well known for its constantly evolving products and their 2022 release wave 1 Plan which outlines Power Platform updates is a great way to get a look into what’s coming this year. There have been countless improvements to Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and the newest addition to the Power Platform team, Power Pages, as well as a myriad of benefits that come along with using these products. We’re going to share how they can help your organization with digitization so keep reading to hear the most noteworthy Power Platform updates and what they can do for you.

Power BI

Power BI is a product that allows everyone to access data analysis tools, regardless of experience level, complementing Excel through a Microsoft Office type workspace. The most recent updates include benefits for individuals, teams as well as organizations as a whole. With more accessible work sharing and collaborating using OneDrive, Power BI is even more simple to use when joining forces with other team members. In teams, the new capabilities come with enhancements to integration with PowerPoint, allowing for a seamless transition between data analytics and presentations. Finally, organizations benefit from this round of updates, including increased visibility, greater data protection capabilities, and more. 

Power Apps

Power Apps allows all levels of developers to create both web and mobile applications within the Power Platform. Its updates include new built-in collaboration features and large improvements to governance capabilities, helping with safer rollout and scalability. The most notable addition to their features is that organizations can now deliver flagship apps company wide in a safe and dependable manner. 

Power Automate

Power Automate allows businesses to cut down on time sucking, repetitive tasks, by aiding in automation. With this wave of updates, Power Automate can be used on many more interfaces rather than just integration through interfaces such as Microsoft Teams or Windows 11. This makes it easier for organizations to manage user accounts as well as credentials. While sticking to an application-programming-interface (API) first approach, all the features are becoming more easily automated, which allows organizations more flexibility in how they choose to use this product. 

A New Addition: Power Pages

Microsoft Power Pages is the new, 5th addition to the Microsoft Power arsenal. It allows anyone, regardless of technical background, skill, or experience in the industry, to create secure, data powered websites. With a low code design and aesthetic appeal, it still permits more experienced developers to expand the website further if desired. Power Pages includes a Design Studio, Learn Hub, and Templates Hub. The Design Studio and Templates Hub contain pre-made templates to form site designs with ease and the Learn Hub shows users just how to apply those templates for the maximum benefit. It’s already creating waves in the industry since its official launch in May 2022 (some of the features were already in use through the Power Apps portal).

Conclusion

This article covered most of the new Power Platform updates on all of their products from Power BI to the recently launched Power Pages; however, the products themselves are constantly evolving and growing to fit user and company needs, so there’s always more to learn about the newest features coming out. Microsoft’s blog is a great place to go for all the most recent updates and to learn how to make the most of them. What are your thoughts on the Power Platform products, and how does your organization leverage them? We’d love to hear, so let us know in the comments!