Higher Education Data Centers Move to a Cloud Operating Model
A Q&A with Chris Wessells
Many higher education institutions are migrating their data centers to a cloud operating model. It's a movement that has its roots over a decade ago. And while that may not be news, it's a growing trend — and an important one. Here, Chris Wessells, Dell's senior higher education strategist, offers CT his perspectives on what this means for our institutions, for the IT professionals that lead them, and for data centers of the future.
"The reality for now and for the foreseeable future is that universities and colleges will operate in a hybrid way, with multiple cloud and 'as-a-service' offerings." —Chris Wessells
Mary Grush: As more institutions move their operations to the cloud, what should we expect for data centers of the future?
Chris Wessells: I think to understand data centers of the future, one needs to look back to how cloud computing emerged and how it is defined. You may recall that 15 or 20 years ago virtualization and SaaS solutions started gaining a foothold in higher education. Many institutions took on a "cloud first" approach. As various cloud and SaaS offerings matured, new considerations emerged for higher education associated with the costs, the risks and security concerns, availability, location, latency, performance, and more. The equation to optimize the location of IT applications and workloads materialized as a far more complex challenge than a simple "cloud-first plunge".
The reality for now and for the foreseeable future is that universities and colleges will operate in a hybrid way, with multiple cloud and "as-a-service" offerings. The cloud is not a destination; it is an operating model. One key element of that operating model is the campus data center, which will continue to be a major component of the overall cloud operating environment for a modern university or college. Some have used the term "private cloud" to describe the current software-defined, hyper-converged campus data center of today.
The cloud is not a destination; it is an operating model.
Grush: What are some of the most important changes we will see in the IT industry supporting this cloud operating model?
Wessells: In information technology, change is constant. Within the technology industry, those companies that continue to innovate and offer new solutions of value to their customers will thrive. One of the fundamental reasons I left my IT career in academia was to work for a company that is committed to creating technologies that drive human progress — and done so in a socially responsible manner. All the big public cloud providers (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure) also take innovation seriously and seek new ways of advancing their offerings.
I believe that the future of campus data centers will be more of an X-as-a-Service cloud model, which flips the legacy capital infrastructure refresh and expansion model to a much more nimble operating model. The reality is that most university IT organizations struggle to balance tight budgets with greater demands for improved services; there are considerable mundane tasks that are essential (think: patches, fixes, upgrades) that might be better left to a service provider.
At Dell Technologies, our new APEX portfolio is a pathway for transformation — Dell's strategy for delivering a radically simplified cloud experience to our partners and customers as-a-Service. We are in the process of moving our portfolio of infrastructure offerings to an OpEx consumption-based or as-a-Service model to support important transformation initiatives with all types of customers, including higher education.
It is a strategic step forward for campus data centers to transition to cloud operating models that facilitate quick provisioning, scale on demand, and offer pay-as-you-go across an entire multi-cloud, multi-edge, and multi-data center environment. This approach allows for greater flexibility and capacity to adapt quickly to users' needs.
It is a strategic step forward for campus data centers to transition to cloud operating models that facilitate quick provisioning, scale on demand, and offer pay-as-you-go across an entire multi-cloud, multi-edge, and multi-data center environment.
Grush: When moving to a cloud operating model, will institutions be entering a bigger-picture environment that has new benefits for peer institutions?
Wessells: My sense is that public systems of higher education need to consider models that offer advantages for enterprise applications and for cloud storage and compute functions to institutions throughout those public systems of higher education.
A paramount example of this is the groundbreaking work in the California State University System, through the chancellor's CIO/IT team. The CSU chose to make their hosted/cloud ERP system, LMS system, and even their Integration Platform in cloud environments to be easily shared and used among the 23 universities that compose that public system. The eventual benefits to CSU students and faculty stem from IT solutions that are more consistent and less costly than delivering SaaS and cloud solutions independently across each university in the system.
Grush: Are there any ways in which higher education data centers are particularly suited to the cloud?
Wessells: I think a better question is "How can campus data centers be transformed to become part of a cloud operating model?" I believe that creating a cloud environment for a data center hinges on finding solutions that unify and integrate with the major public cloud providers. This effort could be focused on various forms of compute and storage infrastructure. One emerging example of how Dell is helping to simplify cloud infrastructure is our Alpine offering, which was announced at Dell Technologies World in May, 2022. It's a groundbreaking way to manage storage, where we have a unified console or framework to manage Dell's flagship block, file, and object storage software in your data center or in the public cloud. The flexibility to manage storage seamlessly across AWS, Azure, GCP, or in a campus data center or co-location facility with Alpine will give universities a leap forward in their transformation to a cloud operating model.
Grush: How will the move to a cloud operating model change the role of higher education IT leadership?
Wessells: My sense is that the IT leaders of the future will need to embrace more of an XaaS cloud OpEx mindset for campus compute and storage. We are clearly no longer burdened by a "cloud first" mentality, and modern IT leaders recognize that organizations operate in a hybrid cloud world. Paying for what the campus uses, with predictable expense and cash flow, and parameters to burst and seamlessly integrate storage and compute across public clouds is a prudent financial model for the future. I think leaders who see the value in that type of diverse cloud operating model are likely to be successful in supporting their academic and business communities on modern university and college campuses.
IT leaders of the future will need to embrace more of an XaaS cloud OpEx mindset for campus compute and storage.
Grush: How will all of this change things for users — such as research users?
Wessells: Well, more and more options for cloud-based high performance computing and storage are emerging all the time. There are new On-Demand research HPC solutions available from the large cloud providers. Dell's HPC/Super Computing group offers On-Demand research computing solutions. I also expect that there will be more consortia that emerge to share, in a federated manner, HPC research solutions to benefit researchers and PIs across multiple institutions.
Grush: Are there any pitfalls or cautionary tales that institutions might think about before making a commitment to transition to a cloud model?
Wessells: I think the IT teams in academia should test the new solutions for XaaS and cloud infrastructure to gain some experience of managing workloads and storage across clouds. We can learn from a pitfall of the past: the "cloud first" directive that clearly is not the reality today. That is, making a directive without sufficient research and analysis can lead to costly decisions. So, my advice is to transition with tests and with proof that integrated cloud compute, storage, or XaaS solutions demonstrate real value.
My advice is to transition with tests and with proof that integrated cloud compute, storage, or XaaS solutions demonstrate real value.
Grush: How have cloud vendors or corporate visionaries helped higher education to take the best advantage of the cloud model?
Wessells: Vendors who listen to higher education leaders, are willing to take constructive feedback, and engage in discussions about the idiosyncrasies of academia will be the companies that can help with right solutions for higher education. There are several large consulting firms that can also help in the path to an entire cloud operating model. Speaking about my own company, the Dell Services group can certainly assist in those efforts, as well.
Grush: Looking down the road, where is cloud technology headed? Are there any directions you see or think possible in future or futuristic cloud models?
Wessells: To roll out a crystal ball, I would say the future will hold more cross-cloud elasticity options and capacity to burst from one cloud to another. We will see more cloud and on-demand federated solutions emerge in the research computing and storage space. I also believe having the will and fortitude in public systems of higher education to offer cloud and XaaS offerings in a unified way across universities and colleges within those systems makes a ton of sense from the perspectives of shared services and prudent financial management. And finally, I'm intrigued to consider the possibilities for new instructional models that might leverage XR/VR development and delivery through hybrid cloud offerings.