IT Briefcase Exclusive Interview: Helping Organizations Embrace the Cloud with Art Landro, Cordys

• Q. How has the evolution of Cloud Computing made companies such as Cordys feel the need to get more aggressively involved in the Cloud?

 A. One distinct advantage of the Cordys platform – it’s a URL based system and has been ‘cloud ready’ from the onset. For years, Cordys has been recognized in analyst reports as an exceptional cloud based platform. This year we have made a strategic shift in our market positioning to focus on the cloud capabilities of the platform because adoption to the cloud has greatly increased over the past three years and continues  to grow strongly due to many powerful benefits that come with the cloud. As more customers recognize cloud advantages such as cost efficiencies, ability to quickly move projects into production, and overall agility, adoption will continue to boom.

Cordys plays a pivotal role for both enterprises who want to operate and deliver part or all of their IT and service offerings via the cloud, and for service providers who need a robust Platform as a Service to deliver their services.

We’re seeing most customers and partners embracing the cloud for the reasons described above. Enterprises need to be a faster, more agile business and they are looking to cloud computing. Service provider customers need to find a way to differentiate themselves through the cloud. Our partners face new kinds of competition and need to evolve their IP and expertise to benefit from the cloud. With these challenges, a good collection of cloud “proof points” and healthy pragmatism about the cloud – now is the right time for Cordys to evolve its go-to-market.

• Q. How important is it to have a wide range of capabilities when helping organizations move into the Cloud?

A. Extremely important. First – it gives organizations the choice to use the cloud in a way that makes sense for them. The ability to blend on-premise data and applications, SaaS, IaaS, process, communications services and social technology – allows an organization to “pick and mix” how it wants to get the “best of the cloud” combined with its existing on-premise assets. With a wide range of capabilities an organization has more options and the chance to enable the cloud to work for them.

The second benefit is flexibility. The richer the capabilities – the more potential there is for creating high value, flexible business solutions. Being able to integrate, aggregate and federate cloud and on-premise capabilities requires a flexible approach. To further generate value – the ability to adopt the role of cloud broker to create high value, high margin value-added services from the “building blocks” of cloud means that an organization can differentiate itself through tailor made solutions for its customers. The richer the capabilities of a cloud platform, the more innovative and cost-effective your customer solutions can be.

Finally – the richer the capabilities when moving to the cloud – the greater the speed. This can be speed of delivery, speed to market, speed to value or speed of managing complexity. There is no doubt that trying to combine the move to cloud computing with continuing to run your existing on-premise IT is complex and this impacts speed. It is quick and easy to  purchase a SaaS application in the cloud. Where the complexity starts is trying not to create a “mess of many” across your cloud and on-premise IT estate.

A wide range of capabilities gives organizations the best chance of simplifying this challenge to gain business speed.

• Q. What industries do you see benefiting most from Cordys Cloud services?

A. Any industry can benefit from Cordys Cloud services but in different ways. Typically we see enterprises using the Cordys Enterprise Cloud platform to improve their customer service, increase revenue, improve operational speed and flexibility and do all of this while leveraging their existing IT. We have seen a large uptake in insurance, manufacturing, logistics, and the government/public sectors.

If you look at our service provider customers and their industries – we’re seeing the Cordys platform used in different ways. They are using Cordys to get their customers to the cloud, create new products and services, adopt the role of cloud broker, be part of community clouds and manage the  complexity of cloud computing. In this area, we’re seeing telecommunications organizations, energy companies, systems integrators and ISVs use the Cordys platform to differentiate the services they provide.

• Q.From what you can see, are organizations focused more on private or public Cloud options?

A. We’ve seen a healthy mix. Many large organizations are starting with private cloud as a natural extension to their SOA and shared service initiatives. They are adopting public cloud SaaS for certain areas and need to have that work together with their private cloud and on-premise systems. This is giving them business and technology scalability and an effective way of sharing enterprise resources and assets among a large number of users.

The service providers are tending to adopt the role of cloud broker to enable themselves to offer new products and services in both the public and (virtual) private cloud. Their goal is compose, repurpose and deliver value to customers by offering innovative, differentiated services made up of public cloud services combined with their own expertise.

• Q.Can you give a few examples of how Cordys platforms such as Cloud Provisioning and the new Business Operations Platform have been successfully implemented?

A. To select one example for each of the Cordys platform capabilities:

* Valeo is using the Cordys Process Factory to migrate off Lotus Notes. Cordys Process Factory allows Valeo to create new enterprise mashups that are made up of cloud services such as Google Enterprise Apps and its own on-premise data and applications. Valeo created a series of mobile, process driven “smart applications” and is decommissioning 250 servers and reducing 6,000 applications to a few hundred.

* CloudItalia is using Cordys  to enable dynamic cloud provisioning of on-premise and new cloud applications. In order to support CloudItalia’s move to become a cloud broker and service provider, the Business Support Systems (BSS) for including order management and finance need to be integrated and aligned with the Operational Support Systems (OSS) that are used for provisioning and maintaining network assets. This enables CloudItalia to create and provide its customers with new products and services. The Cordys platform ensures an orchestration centric approach which solves operational issues and optimizes processes without changing existing software systems.

* Fujitsu is using the Cordys Business Operations Platform to offer Platform as a Service capability to augment and extend its existing cloud services. Cordys will be used to offer an integration platform to its customers and independent software vendors (ISVs) on the provider’s innovative global cloud platform. Existing on-premise technology and IaaS is leveraged to create value-added services beyond the level of infrastructure. The full range of on-premise, private, public will be offered to support hybrid scenarios connecting on premise IT assets to the cloud.

About Art Landro, CEO

Art Landro is overseeing all Cordys’ activities and is responsible for the execution of the Cordys strategy in line with Cordys’ mission and vision. Art Landro is a seasoned IT professional with over 25 years of manufacturing, sales, and product management experience in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to joining Cordys, Art served as president of MontaVista and held several senior executive roles at leading high tech companies, including EMC and Documentum, as well as senior sales executive positions at Cadence Design Systems and General DataComm. Art holds a BS from the University of Connecticut and served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.