Seven years of research with 15,000 data points, as shown below, provides overwhelming evidence that there is a noticeable increase in efficiency with a significant reduction of TCO by moving IT from Basic intothe  Rationalized stage in the IO (Infrastructure Optimization) model. And cloud, or more specifically private cloud computing, offers a roadmap to facilitate enterprise IT transforming from Basic or Standardized into Rationalized. A transition from a traditional infrastructure-focused deployment model into a cloud-ready, cloud-enabled, and service-centric delivery vehicle in enterprise IT is imminent, if not already happening.

Building a private cloud is the next step for enterprise IT. Microsoft private cloud solutions are based on  Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (or Hyper-V Server 2008 R2) and System Center 2012 to fundamentally prepare enterprise IT with a technically sound and financially sustainable architecture. For IT professionals, there are quality and free training resources for developing technical depth on current platform and Windows Server 8. For IT decision making, there is a private cloud assessment tool to facilitate what-if analysis. Above all, IT professionals must recognize the sense of urgency and get in, or be left out. Because in enterprise IT, old-school infrastructure was then and gone, while building a private cloud is now and beyond. Enterprise IT is no longer just about managing servers, networks, and storage; instead enterprise IT is about shortening go-to-market by delivering services, i.e. ITaaS. This is not only transforming IT, but the survival of a business with IT support.

Download the above references: Cost Study and Forrester's paper.

• A Private Cloud Delivers IT as a Service
• Cloud Computing Goes Far Beyond Virtualization
• Why defining ‘cloud computing’ is important.
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 as Private Cloud Enabler
• From Bare Metal to Private Cloud, System Center VMM 2012 Delivers
• Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Explained