Compute Services: Expanding the Cloud Orchestra’s Repertoire

While there are many benefits to using Cloud Platform, the addition of Compute Services can open up a new world of capabilities.
Pascal Giraud, Senior Director for Technology & Cloud Platform, Oracle

It’s tough at the top. Leading businesses are in a fight to keep their position at the head of the pack, and to do this they need to be totally on top of every aspect of what they do.

This is just as important at the back end of the business as it is out at the public-facing front end. And this is why the cloud is so important to the modern business.

Cloud supports speed and agility, and it’s evolving to help provide business with the foundations it needs as the pace of doing business gets ever faster.

Compute Services (also known as Infrastructure as a Service) are a crucial part of modern day cloud services. Imagine a world where the cloud provides all IT needs of an organization. There will be business applications running in the cloud as part of a Software as a Service (SaaS) layer. There will be application development, process management, website development and management, and data analytics also sitting in the cloud as part of a Cloud Platform deployment.

And providing the base on which this is all built will be the networking, storage, computing and server capabilities that an organization needs. This is the organization’s infrastructure, its firm foundation.

Compute Services can provide this base, meaning companies no longer have to manage vast data centers, worry about keeping systems and services running 24/7, or constantly be looking ahead for future computing needs or back to fix issues caused by legacy equipment or software incompatibilities. Instead they can be utilizing a cloud-based infrastructure which is scalable, priced according to usage; and available at all times.

However, the real power of Compute Services is the ability to broaden the cloud capabilities that organizations can take advantage of, by enabling greater integration of other services and expanding the capabilities of Cloud Platforms.

If a Cloud Platform is the conductor of the cloud orchestra, allowing all different aspects of a cloud solution to work together as a united whole, then the musical director is Compute Services, ensuring the orchestra’s repertoire reflects audience tastes (or business needs).

Consider that the modern business might run hundreds – or even thousands – of applications, all of which need to be accommodated. Robust Compute Services will support a huge range of applications.

To start with, Compute Services support systems customers are currently running on-premise. These could be business applications such as CRM, HCM, finance and procurement, as well as industry-specific applications that could be transferred to the cloud. In addition, older applications not supported by a Cloud Platform, can be run in the cloud using Compute Services.

The beauty of Compute Services is the ability to support third party products, meaning customers not running a full stack from one vendor can still benefit. There’s no tie-in, meaning the business is free to select applications which are a best fit for its operations. For example, a business might use a certain application or web server rather than the one provided by the cloud provider. These applications can run on Compute Services with the potential to access complementary database capabilities via a Cloud Platform.

As the conductor of the cloud orchestra, Cloud Platform can only conduct a limited range of music when used alone. And while a certain genre of music undoubtedly has its place, being able to bring rock, electronica and reggae to your repertoire opens up whole new audiences. In the world of business technology, Compute Services do exactly the same.