Happy new year! As everyone recovers from raising a glass and trying to remember the words to “Auld Lang Syne,” we here at Markley Group took a moment to reflect on the past year and quickly realized that it has been an excellent, if not hectic, year for us and out clients.
The biggest news to come out of the Markley Group in 2013 was the launch of our infrastructure-as-a-service offering, Markley Cloud Services (MCS). Utilizing VMware’s cloud and virtualization software solutions, MCS delivers a dynamic, self-service IaaS platform that helps to enhance a company’s hybrid cloud strategy, allowing customers to increase efficiency and security while better managing costs and capacity planning. We built out the offering based on customer request and user need – and reaction throughout the year has been great. For more on MCS, check out our dedicated cloud website: www.markleycloud.com, or give a read to the article that leading technology business publication GigaOM put together on the launch of MCS: http://gigaom.com/2013/03/04/exclusive-markley-group-adds-cloud-services-to-take-on-amazon-for-business-workloads/.
The first half of the year also saw the biggest ever Markley Data Center Summit take place. Held at our headquarters at One Summer Street, this year’s one-day gathering brought together a record number of data center, cloud computing and disaster recovery professionals in the heart of Boston. The event also featured more speakers than ever before, with Michael Hugos and John Patrick joining our CEO, Jeffrey D. Markley, on stage. Michael spoke about “Doing Business in the Cloud,” while John focused in on “The Future of Healthcare and the Internet.” In addition to the keynote speakers, there were also host two panel discussions, “Cloud Strategies to Manage Your Business Efficiently” and “Disaster Recovery: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Sandy.”
As we saw increased acceptance of cloud computing by the business world in 2013, there were several trends that jumped to the forefront throughout the year:
- The debate over BYOD went away, as the discussion last year about whether to allow it transformed into one about how to manage it and the stress it may put on your infrastructure.
- Consumer awareness continued to drive business awareness – we saw this with the aforementioned BYOD, and it has happened with the cloud as well. Storing information that can be accessed anywhere, anytime, has been valuable in both the business and consumer worlds.
- While there’s still a long way to go, we also saw neutral services and platforms – those that can support all existing or future formats and vendors – becoming more popular, as companies inched toward taking a best-of-breed approach to IT from top to bottom.
- The hybrid cloud approach (colocation/private cloud + public cloud) was recognized for the increased flexibility it gave companies, and as such, 2013 saw a greater amount of companies adopting this approach.
- Security, redundancy and disaster recovery remain among the top considerations when any IT project is undertaken.
Throughout the year, we here at Markley also shared our knowledge and advice on several topics. Here are some of the more popular ones from 2013:
- We looked at healthcare and the need for always on connectivity
- Peering was the topic of this piece, helping readers better understand how to take advantage of it
- We developed a checklist for any managers considering colocation
- The long-running debate between renting or building your IT infrastructure was the topic of this article
- We delved into the growing concerns over the transition from IPv4 to IPv6
- and gave instructions on how to successfully conduct a UPS transfer
Also, this fall we were all able to celebrate the Red Sox’s remarkable World Series win – something we were glad to be a small part of, as the team’s IT director discussed the challenges of IT in an old, small ballpark and how he’s successfully worked with Markley Group to succeed. Check the article out here.
What a year it’s been.
So, thanks to all of you for reading and following us throughout 2013. We hope we’ve been able to share some insight and advice on industry trends, while also shedding a little light in on how Markley operates.
We’re looking forward to a great 2014. We wish you and yours a happy and safe new year.
