Data Management
The Cloud Option
ADD Systems’ execs explain advantages of hosting apps and data off site
By John MacKenna
THE CATCHPHRASE “CLOUD COMPUTING”
generates plenty of buzz wherever it is heard
and covers a wide range of computing solu-
tions from online backup of your personal
computer to running an entire enterprise
on remote servers. Regardless of the scale
or purpose, all cloud computing involves
solutions in which the application and data
are accessed via the Internet instead of a
locally housed server.
Oil & Energy
recently reached out to
two executives at Advanced Digital Data
Inc. (ADD Systems), Vice President of
Sales Larry McEntee and IT Network/
Systems Engineer Administrator Andrew
Katsigiannis, to learn how their customers
compute in the “cloud.”
McEntee offered some context: “The
cloud is just the return of time-share in a
different wrapper. When we got started 40
years ago, we had mainframes that required
special computer rooms, and customers
could buy time on the system. That was like
cloud computing, but you were connected
by dedicated lines.”
IT RESPONSIBILITIES
Once vendors such as HP introduced
PCs (personal computers), the mainframe
model was largely replaced by a local
distributed computing architecture, with
companies using applications stored locally
on each PC. Computing on-site gives com-
panies lots of control but adds lots of
responsibilities for the IT infrastruc-
ture. They have to run a complete
computing operation, which
means maintaining a network,
ensuring security, tracking
software versions and
much more, according
to McEntee.
With cloud computing, ADD Systems
functions as an Application Service Provider
(ASP), hosting both the applications and
the customer’s data. Their customers con-
nect to the ADD Systems’ applications and
data via a secure tunnel known as a Virtual
Private Network (VPN) that encrypts their
data, protecting it from public view. They
use Remote Desktop Services to use their
software. “It’s system agnostic. Customers
can run the Remote Desktop application to
connect to ADD Energy on a PC or Mac,”
Katsigiannis said.
The ASP model can be liberating:
companies don’t have to maintain their
own servers, provide IT services or back
up their data, according to Katsigiannis.
“We’ve seen more and more coming to the
cloud,” he said, noting that it appeals to
companies of all sizes. “They’re focusing
more on their business and trusting us
with their data in our Network Operation
Center (NOC).”
IS IT FOR YOU?
McEntee says companies can decide
whether cloud computing is for them by
reflecting on what sort of operations they
want to manage. “Do you want to run a
computing operation? How much respon-
sibility do you want to have? Some people
are looking to get out of the computing
business. Smaller companies might want to
focus precious resources on their core busi-
ness of delivering fuel or managing their
C-Stores,” he said.
The choice of where to host applications
and data varies from company to company,
McEntee said. “When people ask, I like
to see what resources they have in place.
If they have a good IT staff, then hosting
themselves probably makes sense. If they
have no formal IT staff, then the ASP model
probably makes sense. We also look at
growth factors and upfront costs.”
If potential growth is a consideration,
cloud computing, makes it easy to expand
because a company can add more users
without having to add new servers to
accommodate them. This is because ADD
Systems will add servers as needed. “It also
relieves them of the need to add more IT
staff,” McEntee said. “If you can take one
application and put it in the cloud, that’s
one less thing to worry about.”
To evaluate the cost for ASP/cloud
computing, a company needs to consider
many factors, according to McEntee. There
are typically savings on hardware, software
licenses and IT staff. Companies can also
save money on insurance because they do
not need to insure servers and data, and
they can cut electricity costs because
they are not air conditioning a
server room.
DISASTER RECOVERY
Cloud computing can also
reduce a company’s vulner-
ability in a catastrophe.
“In Hurricane Sandy
we were up and
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16 • OIL
&
ENERGY
