Cloud Computing

Information explosion, market pressure and rapid change are increasing demands on IT systems.

Worlds information is doubling every two years Data will grow 800 percent over the next five years There are nearly 33 million servers worldwide, 15% run 24/7 without active daily use

Today's requirement People and system should be interconnected we should be able to measure, sense and see the exact condition of things Processes and assets should respond quickly and accurately Solution - Cloud computing The practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server....

Defining Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. servers, storage, network, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Value that Cloud Computing offers:

Increases the efficiency

Rapidly delivers services Integrates services across cloud environments Initiate new revenue streams Drive faster time to market new services Meet changing customer expectations

Transforms the business

Characteristics of Cloud Computing

Shared resource pool Broad network access Rapid elasticity Self-service availability Service is measured - pay as you go mode Reliable and Safe

Cloud Layers

IaaS
The basic layer of Cloud is the infrastructure IAAS (Infrastructure as a service). This layer is basically hardware and network. What distinguishes this from a regular server or hosting company are mainly two things. First of all it is the scalability. The true IAAS vendors are scaling their IAAS layer into such huge quantities that the marginal cost of adding more GHz, GB, storage etc, is converging towards zero. One of the first services where this was seen was Gmail, the Google email service where each user gets around 8 GB of free storage. In order to do this, Google built gigantic data centers consisting of (probably) millions of servers. The second difference from traditional hosting is virtualization. This is a piece of software that virtualizes all the hardware. Virtualization lets the IAAS vendor utilize their computing resources to as high as 90 %, compared to an individual company having their own servers idle most of the time.

PaaS
The second layer of Cloud is the platform the PAAS (Platform as a service). The platform layer provides resources to actually build applications. In combination with IAAS, PAAS provides the ability to develop, test, run and host applications. An example of a well-known PAAS is Microsoft Azure. This platform provides developers swift access to a full development and deployment environment and even let you host the application you are building.

SaaS
The third Cloud layer is the actual Software the SAAS (Software as a service). SAAS has been used for many years, but in a Cloud setting it is the layer in which the user consumes the offering from the service provider. The SAAS layer must be web based and hence accessible from everywhere and preferably on any device. The key is to understand that it makes no sense to ask whether a service is Cloud or SAAS, as SAAS is a layer in the Cloud stack. But on the other hand, it is important to understand that Cloud is much more than SAAS, due to the other layers that bundled together makes out the whole Cloud stack. This type of cloud computing delivers a single application through the browser to thousands of customers using a multitenant architecture. On the customer side, it means no upfront investment in servers or software licensing; on the provider side, with just one app to maintain, costs are low compared to conventional hosting. Salesforce.com is by far the best-known example among enterprise applications, but SaaS is also common for HR apps and has even worked its way up the food chain to ERP, with players such as Workday. Examples of SaaS "desktop" applications are Google Apps and Zoho Office.

BPaaS
The top layer of the Cloud is BPaaS (Business Process as a Service). As BPaaS certainly is not technology, there are discussions whether BPaaS can be regarded as a Cloud layer. But Cloud is all about business models, not technology. While in SaaS, the consumer may have to rent different applications from different vendors, integrate them, and consume them to get a specific outcome, in BPaaS, the vendor does it all for the client, and can even implement the industry best practises for the delivery of the solution. Examples of BPaaS are Employee Benefits Management, Busimess Travel Management, etc.

Cloud Models

Hybrid Cloud

Public Cloud
The public cloud deployment model represents true cloud hosting. In this deployment model, services and infrastructure are provided to various clients. Google is an example of a public cloud. This service can be provided by a vendor free of charge or on the basis of a pay-per-user license policy. This model is best suited for business requirements wherein it is required to manage load spikes, host SaaS applications, utilize interim infrastructure for developing and testing applications, and manage applications which are consumed by many users that would otherwise require large investment in infrastructure from businesses. This model helps to reduce capital expenditure and bring down operational IT costs.

Private Cloud
This model doesn't bring much in terms of cost efficiency: it is comparable to buying, building and managing your own infrastructure. Still, it brings in tremendous value from a security point of view. During their initial adaptation to the cloud, many organizations face challenges and have concerns related to data security. These concerns are taken care of by this model, in which hosting is built and maintained for a specific client. The infrastructure required for hosting can be on-premises or at a third-party location. Security concerns are addressed through secure-access VPN or by the physical location within the clients firewall system. Furthermore, for mission-critical applications we need to consider downtime in terms of internet availability, quality and performance. Hence, hosting the application with an on-premises private cloud is the suggested approach.

Private Cloud
In addition to security reasons, this model is adopted by organizations in cases where data or applications are required to conform to various regulatory standards such as SOX, HIPAA, or SAS 70, which may require data to be managed for privacy and audits that govern the corporation. For example, for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, moving data to the cloud may violate the norms. Similarly, different countries have different laws and regulations for managing and handling data, which can impede the business if cloud is under different jurisdiction. Several SaaS applications, such as SugarCRM, provide options to their clients to maintain their data on their own premises to ensure data privacyis maintained according to the requirements of the particular business. Amazon also provides the option of a virtual private cloud.

Hybrid Cloud
This deployment model helps businesses to take advantage of secured applications and data hosting on a private cloud, while still enjoying cost benefits by keeping shared data and applications on the public cloud. This model is also used for handling cloud bursting, which refers to a scenario where the existing private cloud infrastructure is not able to handle load spikes and requires a fallback option to support the load. Hence, the cloud migrates workloads between public and private hosting without any inconvenience to the users. Many PaaS deployments expose their APIs, which can be further integrated with internal applications or applications hosted on a private cloud, while still maintaining the security aspects. Microsoft Azure and Force.com are two examples of this model.

Community Cloud
In the community deployment model, the cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations with the same policy and compliance considerations. This helps to further reduce costs as compared to a private cloud, as it is shared by larger group. Various state-level government departments requiring access to the same data relating to the local population or information related to infrastructure, such as hospitals, roads, electrical stations, etc., can utilize a community cloud to manage applications and data.