Scenario
The company you work for, Packages Plus Delivery (PPD), currently houses its physical computing environments on site. Packages Plus Delivery is growing, including the number of packages delivered and the number of employees hired each quarter. As a result of this growth and to better meet the needs of the clients, organizational leadership recently made the decision to virtualize all computing environments.
Leadership is deciding between internal virtualization and the use of an external vendor. They are also considering a move to cloud-based architecture but want to know more about the risks and cost benefits of moving to a cloud environment.
As a virtual solutions analyst at Packages Plus Delivery, you serve on a Virtualization Transition Committee. This group has been asked to create a presentation that emphasizes how the decision to move to virtualization will improve business strategy, and what the options are if the company considers moving the infrastructure to a cloud environment. Your presentation will ensure that leadership makes an informed decision.
Directions
You have been asked to create a presentation that supports the company’s decision to move to virtualization. Within the presentation, you will need to address each of the following topics in order to inform leadership:
Describe how the company’s decision to move to a virtual computing environment will impact its business strategy. If you use sources, be sure to provide a citation.
You must include:
The benefits of your company’s decision to move to a virtual computing environment
The constraints of the decision to move to a virtual computing environment
An explanation of how moving to virtualization will impact the scalability of the business
The costs of moving to virtualization
The hardware and software, and other technologies involved
In order to provide the most detailed information, you need to compare the implications of the organization moving to a virtual environment using its hardware servers in-house with the implications of using a third-party vendor to virtualize. You may create a visual (such as a Venn Diagram) or write a passage to explain these concepts. You will need to compare the following factors and describe the advantages, disadvantages, and risks associated with each:
Cost: equipment such as hardware and software, maintenance (i.e., upgrades and backups), licensing, security (i.e., shared responsibility, on premises)
Capacity
Agility
Service availability
As the company moves toward virtualization, you want to inform leadership of cloud-based architecture by describing the cloud service models that are available.
You must describe:
IaaS
PaaS
SaaS
For each cloud service model, you must:
Explain how it supports virtualization
Advantages for organizations
Disadvantages for organizations
Describe different types of cloud deployment models that the company can deploy.
You must include:
The benefits of each cloud deployment model
The constraints of each cloud deployment model
An explanation of how each cloud environment impacts the scalability of the business
The costs of moving to that type of deployment model
The training involved in moving to that type of deployment model
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following:
Presentation
Your presentation should be submitted on a file that your instructor can easily access (.ppt)
Your presentation must include:
The evidence that supports your company’s decision to move to virtualization
A comparison of creating a virtual environment in-house compared to using an external vendor
Information on the various cloud service models
Description of cloud deployment model options
Project One Rubric
Criteria
Exemplary (100%)
Proficient (85%)
Needs Improvement (55%)
Not Evident (0%)
Value
Benefits and Constraints of Virtualization
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner Describes the benefits and constraints of moving to a virtual computing environment Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include describing various benefits and constraints of moving to virtualization Does not attempt criterion
15
Scalability of Virtualization
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner Explains how scalability of moving to a virtual computing environment will impact the business Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include explaining the costs, and hardware and software involved Does not attempt criterion
10
In-House Vs. Third-Party Vendor
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner Compares in-house virtualization to using an external vendor Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include comparing costs, capacity, agility, and availability of internal and hosted virtualization Does not attempt criterion
20
Cloud Service Models
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner Describes the available cloud service models Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include describing multiple cloud environments Does not attempt criterion
20
Cloud Deployment Models
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner Describes the benefits and constraints of different cloud deployment models Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include describing various benefits and constraints of each type of cloud deployment model Does not attempt criterion
15
Scalability of Cloud Environments
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner Explains how a cloud environment impacts the scalability of a business Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include explaining the costs and training of deploying a cloud environment Does not attempt criterion
10
Articulation of Response
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner Clearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, demonstrating an understanding of audience and purpose Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, negatively impacting readability Submission has critical errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, preventing understanding of ideas
5
Citations and Attributions
Attributes sources where applicable using citation methods with very few minor errors Attributes sources where applicable, but with consistent minor errors Attributes sources where applicable, but with major errors Does not attribute sources where applicable
5
Total:
100%
