Has The Time Come for Cloud Brokers? – Part II

**Editor's Note: Please click here for part one of Rose's blog on cloud brokers.**

The cloud market is in an early stage and is growing at a fast pace. However, there are few IT people with extensive experience with the buying, adoption, migration, security and management issues related to cloud. This has opened the door to a growing number of firms seeking to take advantage of this opportunity as cloud brokers. What makes a good cloud broker? A broker needs to understand various cloud provider offerings, network and computer infrastructures and consulting services. So who are the cloud brokers?

1. Consulting companies: Consulting companies are in a good position here in that they already provide broker type services to IT groups. They can help better define your cloud project, do needs assessment and certification, recommend which cloud vendors to use and help you implement the cloud project.
2. Specialists: Specialists are companies that have a unique value in the cloud-broker space. They may have specialized software to help you move between cloud providers or to secure your use of these providers. This creates a layer of abstraction between the user and the cloud providers so that you can see a cohesive view of cloud services. Or, they may have a good way to do pricing arbitrage. So, if you have a specific need, look at these specialist vendors.
3. Infrastructure and network providers: Part of cloud is getting data from the users to the cloud most effectively. So infrastructure providers sit between you and the cloud. They could provide broker services and help improve performance to the users and optimize moving loads between cloud providers. Some can provide additional services like identity management, encryption and security services. Talk to your infrastructure and network vendors about this.

Some examples of cloud brokers include: consultants like Accenture, CSC and Cap Gemini; Cloudswitch, which has a software appliance that allows applications to run in the cloud; integration vendors like Boomi and Service Mesh; and cloud-native consultancies like Astadia, CloudTP and GlobalOne. Also, a growing number of traditional vendors are rolling out their own cloud-consulting services. One of the most recent is BMC’s cloud planning and design workshop series.

Cloud brokers can assist in getting you off the ground with cloud. So check them out.

Rose Klimovich is a consultant and writer on technology. Formerly she was VP Product Management and Product Marketing for the colocation and interconnection products for Telx, where she led the efforts in creating the Telx strategy and developing and investing in new products and services in areas like colocation, cloud, Ethernet Exchange and Telepresence video.