On the Road to the Cloud

By Chuck Lefebvre, Senior Director, ClearPath Forward Product Management, Unisys

Every innovation, every new strategy, every change we’ve made to ClearPath Forward® environment over the last 15-plus years has been building to this point.

When we transitioned from proprietary hardware to an all Intel® chipset, we weren’t just breaking new ground in the area of performance, or sustaining proven, high levels of security. We were emphasizing flexibility and standardization, reimagining the environment in ways that aligned with the day’s most prominent business and IT concerns.

More importantly, we also set the stage for what you see today: A version of the ClearPath Forward environment that utilizes its consistent, ever-evolving firmware layer to run on a variety of compatible hardware and hypervisor platforms. In doing so, we’re adding freedom of choice to the environment’s core principles.

So whether it’s the ClearPath® MCP Bronze, Silver, or Gold products – or the equivalent offerings we’ll soon be releasing for the ClearPath OS 2200 environment – you now have more ways to leverage the proven ClearPath Forward attributes than ever before. And, as we take these offerings to the next level, you’ll have even greater power and capacity at your disposal.

More importantly, taking advantage of our efforts to standardize hardware, provide flexible deployment options, and empower you with choice means you’re ready for the next step in this journey:
A ClearPath Forward environment that is built for private and public cloud deployments.

The Foundation is Set

The foundation we built means the ClearPath Forward environment is positioned for virtualization and the cloud. But what it doesn’t mean is that getting there requires you to embark upon a complicated, lengthy, risk-intensive migration project.

We’re handling much of that work for you, helping to make sure the security, availability, and high-transaction-volume processing attributes you rely on remain in place as your ClearPath Forward software stack executes in a variety of hardware, virtualization, and cloud environments.

As a result, you’ll be able to make a smooth, seamless transition to virtualization and the cloud. Just as you did when moving from proprietary hardware to an all Intel® infrastructure and on to a software-based delivery model, you can transition your core apps into the cloud without change. The system of record that powers so much of your business will remain as it has been for years. It will simply reside in a different location.

But we don’t want to stop there.

Clients tell us one of the aspects of the cloud they find particularly appealing is the ability to connect their systems of record with systems of engagement and other cloud-native apps. So we’ll be focusing significant attention on our middleware – and RESTful APIs and hosting technologies in particular – to facilitate this next level of integration.

We’re also happy to see early adopters have already engaged with this approach, and are pushing us to extend our capabilities further and further. It’s a great sign. It shows the decision to shift in this direction was the correct one. And it confirms we’re heading down the right path.

Making it All Possible

This transition to the cloud is undoubtedly a big step. It’s a monumental change – and certainly one that might leave you wondering how we plan to make all this possible.

This is a natural question to ask, especially given how many pieces there are to coordinate as the ClearPath Forward environment moves into a much more open, much more fluid arena.

The simplest answer is, rather than attempting to facilitate the transition entirely on our own, we plan to work with proven leaders in the space to bring everything together. For instance, VMware® will play a significant role in this transition, as they’ve already built much of the “connective tissue” into the public cloud.

Similar to how we worked closely with Intel® when we standardized our hardware platform, we’ll leverage our partnerships wherever possible, too. In most cases, this will mean working with leading software infrastructure vendors that have a track record of success in the cloud. But we also plan to carefully review and select open source providers, then add enhancements to their offerings in order to deliver the business-critical, enterprise-class characteristics your ClearPath Forward environment demands.

We’ll listen to – and learn from – our clients. Hearing what you’ve experienced as you make this transition, and then validating those experiences against what’s happening in the broader market, will prove essential. It’s how we’ll create a synergy between your goals and the strategies we create to ready the environment to address tomorrow’s needs.

And as you progress along this journey, we’ll be there with consulting services to help you seamlessly bring together your ClearPath Forward environment with the flexibility and standardization offered by virtualization and the cloud.

With this strategy in place, our aim is clear: Build on what made the ClearPath Forward environment a cornerstone of your business and IT operations, and use these qualities to chart a course into exciting new territory.

The future is unfolding before us.

Meeting You All Again for the First Time

To many of you, my name may not be new, but the title will certainly look unfamiliar. After years as part of the ClearPath Forward engineering leadership team, I have moved into a role overseeing all ClearPath Forward product and portfolio management. This is an exciting opportunity and an exciting time to take it – we have big plans for the portfolio, and I look forward to sharing in this journey will you all.