Lets talk about cloud!!

I published previously an article regarding cloud computing and its basics. The following article is very descriptive for the new software trend and in my opinion well-written.So thanks to TEC(Technology Evaluation Center) and Jorge Garcia the author, i republish the following article in my blog..

link for article: A Tour of the Clouds



A Tour of the Clouds
Jorge Garcia - June 22, 2010


While the word Internet has been one of the most important computer terms in recent history, there has not been another term as attractive as “cloud computing.” Today, this term could be representing the next biggest trend in the information technology industry. This article will explain some of the basic ideas behind the cloud computing phenomena—a concept that might change the way we understand the computing process.

Defining the Cloud
There are several definitions of cloud computing. The basic notion of cloud computing refers to the technology infrastructure model that enables several types of computing tasks to be performed over a network. The network can be a local area network or a wide area network like the Internet. The network will depend on the type of cloud—a private or public cloud computing service. A cloud computing infrastructure is composed of several types of hardware components (servers, storage systems, network components, etc.), software application components (programs, services, protocols, etc.), and information—the basic component of a cloud (Figure 1.).





Figure 1. A cloud platform is able to provide many computing services

If we consider the technological components previously mentioned, it’s evident that many are used to perform an organization’s daily tasks. Currently networks, servers, applications, and other technology tools are used to develop much of the computing processes in an organization. So, what is the difference between a traditional computing model and a cloud infrastructure?

While a traditional computing model infrastructure is based on resources such as hardware components (servers, storage devices or applications like enterprise resource planning [ERP], customer relationship management [CRM], and others), and business information, a cloud computing model infrastructure is based on services. This approach is different: in a traditional computing model all resources interact and affect the general infrastructure whereas the service oriented architecture (SOA) of a cloud computing model creates a more natural separation between two main layers. One is formed by the technology within the cloud infrastructure (computing hardware and applications) and the other is formed by information resources. Services can be configured, provisioned, or escalated internally without end user intervention or awareness. In a traditional computing system, it is more difficult to achieve the separation between the technical infrastructure and the functional infrastructure of the computing module (Figure 2.)





Figure 2. Cloud architecture enables clear separation between technology infrastructure and information infrastructure, based on services

Cloud Computing General Architecture
To achieve functional and technical separation, a cloud computing system relies on some basic architecture components:

First, most cloud computing infrastructures are divided into three main parts (see Figure 3):
• The Technology Architecture: This is the first layer of the cloud platform (servers, operating systems, network devices, etc.)
• The Application Architecture: This is part of the functional layer and it’s formed by all business applications under the cloud computing platform.
• The Information Architecture: This layer enables information to be available from anywhere in the cloud, and guarantees that the information will be secure, consistent, and reliable.







Figure 3. Basic cloud computing architecture

Based on the previous architecture scheme, a cloud computing platform is able to provide

• a fully independent infrastructure that is hidden from the final user;
• a fully scalable platform that is able to increase resources without any awareness from the end user; and
• a cost saving platform for an organization, which reduces maintenance costs.

Cloud Computing General Features
To achieve the previous goals mentioned, a cloud computing platform needs to have some general features. There are still some divergences regarding all the features a cloud platform needs to have or which are crucial. The following is a shortlist of basic elemental features a cloud computing platform needs to have:

• Network Access: Network access is crucial for a cloud platform to operate. This network access has to be provided with any intervention from the final user.
• Measured Service: This feature makes a cloud computing platform interesting from an economical point of view. A service provided by a cloud platform is used “on-demand”, which makes it possible to use a pay- as-you-go (PAG) or utility service. You can pay your service based on a fix rate or based on other factors like the number of users, usage (time), and so on.
• Elasticity: This means rapid scalability. Resources (hardware and software) are provided without any intervention or awareness from the final user side. This is all based on consumption demand.
• Resource Pooling: In a cloud computing platform, all resources are pooled. This means that all resources serve multiple users by using methods to use resources both virtual and physical—depending on the demand. In this case, the concept of virtualization has great relevance in order to achieve this goal. The resource pooling capability is available because of the multitenant design of a cloud computing platform.

Multi-tenancy
As we mentioned previously, the resource pooling capability of a cloud computing platform often resides in multi-tenant architecture. Multi-tenancy means that a computing resource can be used by more than one consumer. Resources such as storage, processing, memory, applications, and others can be shared between different consumers. These consumers can be located in the same organization, or can be from totally different companies.

To achieve multi-tenant capabilities, some technologies like virtualization, isolation, segmentation, and governance are necessary. Multi-tenancy gives a cloud computing platform cost advantages because all resources can be shared, which enable companies to save time, money, and human resources (HR) (Figure 4.).







Figure 4. Multi-tenancy

Cloud Service Models
Now that we defined the basics of a cloud computing platform and how it works, let’s check how a cloud computing platform can be used to provide end users with computing resources. A cloud platform can deliver many types of services through a network. Based on the services that it provides, it can classify the type of delivery or service model we are using (Figure 5):

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): A consumer is provided with computing resources such as processing, storage, and networking in order to run operating systems and applications as required. Users don’t control the cloud infrastructure but can control operating systems and many types of applications.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS): Users are provided with the ability to deploy commercial applications or in-house created applications supported by a provider. Users have control over deployed applications but not over other infrastructure components such as storage or processing.
• Software as a Service (SaaS): The user is able to use the software application from the provider. This application is running under a cloud computing platform over the network, and generally is available through a network interface such as a Web browser. The user doesn’t have control over any other resource but the application itself. And the control over the application consists basically in a set of configuration options to personalize the application for the client.







Figure 5. IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS service models

Types of Clouds
Now, cloud services can be also categorized based on the way they are deployed. So, a cloud platform infrastructure can be deployed as a public, private, or hybrid cloud.

• Public Cloud: A public cloud enables general access to all organizations. Public clouds enable organizations to transfer capital costs to operational costs. Public clouds are formed by organizations dedicated to selling cloud-based services.
• Private Cloud: The cloud infrastructure is created and deployed only for a single organization. It could be managed by the same organization or by a third party. Private clouds requires from a company not only to assume operational costs but also capital costs.
• Hybrid Clouds: These types of clouds combine the features of public and private clouds and deliver a single cloud solution. Using these types of cloud platforms enable organizations to delegate tasks with specific security or other concerns to a private cloud while letting all public operations to the public cloud segment.

Benefits and concerns of cloud computing platforms:
Benefits Concerns
Cost Reduction Security
High Automation Privacy
Scalability
Purchasing Management

The Cloud Providers
Provided this basic information regarding a cloud computing platform, here are some of the most important cloud providers
Company Product
Amazon Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Google Google App Engine (GAE)
Microsoft Windows Azure Platform
RightScale RightScale Cloud Management Platform

Despite the hype for cloud computing related technologies and services, we have to be aware that as with any other new or old technology, it is always important to address the specific needs of an organization in order to get the best cloud computing services. This is just a jumpstart to a deeper and thoughtful consideration to what could be the real benefits of heading your computing resources to the cloud.

When considering the using the “cloud”, it’s necessary to assess a complete risk and maturity study within the organization in order to decide if a cloud related adventure is needed. It’s important to establish an evaluation strategy to assess the benefits and drawbacks of deploying any type of cloud service for your organization in terms of security, data manipulation, and technical (hardware and software) capabilities of a vendor according to your organization’s needs. If the platform is not exploited at the top of its capabilities, it doesn’t matter which type of computing platform you organization may have, your organization could be losing money by not being able to take advantage of a full computing platform service.

Many Thanks to the authors and TEC


Giannis Giataganas
IS Consultant,
BPM Analyst

What cloud computing really means

The next big trend sounds nebulous, but it's not so fuzzy when you view the value proposition from the perspective of IT professionals
By Eric Knorr, Galen Gruman | InfoWorld

Article republished in my blog through the below link

infoworld.com/cloud-computing

Cloud computing is all the rage. "It's become the phrase du jour," says Gartner senior analyst Ben Pring, echoing many of his peers. The problem is that (as with Web 2.0) everyone seems to have a different definition.

As a metaphor for the Internet, "the cloud" is a familiar cliché, but when combined with "computing," the meaning gets bigger and fuzzier. Some analysts and vendors define cloud computing narrowly as an updated version of utility computing: basically virtual servers available over the Internet. Others go very broad, arguing anything you consume outside the firewall is "in the cloud," including conventional outsourcing.

Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT's existing capabilities.

Cloud computing is at an early stage, with a motley crew of providers large and small delivering a slew of cloud-based services, from full-blown applications to storage services to spam filtering. Yes, utility-style infrastructure providers are part of the mix, but so are SaaS (software as a service) providers such as Salesforce.com. Today, for the most part, IT must plug into cloud-based services individually, but cloud computing aggregators and integrators are already emerging.

InfoWorld talked to dozens of vendors, analysts, and IT customers to tease out the various components of cloud computing. Based on those discussions, here's a rough breakdown of what cloud computing is all about:

1. SaaS
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. And who could have predicted the sudden rise of SaaS "desktop" applications, such as Google Apps and Zoho Office?


2. Utility computing
The idea is not new, but this form of cloud computing is getting new life from Amazon.com, Sun, IBM, and others who now offer storage and virtual servers that IT can access on demand. Early enterprise adopters mainly use utility computing for supplemental, non-mission-critical needs, but one day, they may replace parts of the datacenter. Other providers offer solutions that help IT create virtual datacenters from commodity servers, such as 3Tera's AppLogic and Cohesive Flexible Technologies' Elastic Server on Demand. Liquid Computing's LiquidQ offers similar capabilities, enabling IT to stitch together memory, I/O, storage, and computational capacity as a virtualized resource pool available over the network.

3. Web services in the cloud
Closely related to SaaS, Web service providers offer APIs that enable developers to exploit functionality over the Internet, rather than delivering full-blown applications. They range from providers offering discrete business services -- such as Strike Iron and Xignite -- to the full range of APIs offered by Google Maps, ADP payroll processing, the U.S. Postal Service, Bloomberg, and even conventional credit card processing services.

4. Platform as a service
Another SaaS variation, this form of cloud computing delivers development environments as a service. You build your own applications that run on the provider's infrastructure and are delivered to your users via the Internet from the provider's servers. Like Legos, these services are constrained by the vendor's design and capabilities, so you don't get complete freedom, but you do get predictability and pre-integration. Prime examples include Salesforce.com's Force.com, Coghead and the new Google App Engine. For extremely lightweight development, cloud-based mashup platforms abound, such as Yahoo Pipes or Dapper.net.

[ Get the complete view of the cloud in our special report. ]

5. MSP (managed service providers)
One of the oldest forms of cloud computing, a managed service is basically an application exposed to IT rather than to end-users, such as a virus scanning service for e-mail or an application monitoring service (which Mercury, among others, provides). Managed security services delivered by SecureWorks, IBM, and Verizon fall into this category, as do such cloud-based anti-spam services as Postini, recently acquired by Google. Other offerings include desktop management services, such as those offered by CenterBeam or Everdream.

6. Service commerce platforms
A hybrid of SaaS and MSP, this cloud computing service offers a service hub that users interact with. They're most common in trading environments, such as expense management systems that allow users to order travel or secretarial services from a common platform that then coordinates the service delivery and pricing within the specifications set by the user. Think of it as an automated service bureau. Well-known examples include Rearden Commerce and Ariba.
7. Internet integration
The integration of cloud-based services is in its early days. OpSource, which mainly concerns itself with serving SaaS providers, recently introduced the OpSource Services Bus, which employs in-the-cloud integration technology from a little startup called Boomi. SaaS provider Workday recently acquired another player in this space, CapeClear, an ESB (enterprise service bus) provider that was edging toward b-to-b integration. Way ahead of its time, Grand Central -- which wanted to be a universal "bus in the cloud" to connect SaaS providers and provide integrated solutions to customers -- flamed out in 2005.

Today, with such cloud-based interconnection seldom in evidence, cloud computing might be more accurately described as "sky computing," with many isolated clouds of services which IT customers must plug into individually. On the other hand, as virtualization and SOA permeate the enterprise, the idea of loosely coupled services running on an agile, scalable infrastructure should eventually make every enterprise a node in the cloud. It's a long-running trend with a far-out horizon. But among big metatrends, cloud computing is the hardest one to argue with in the long term.

This article, "What cloud computing really means," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in cloud computing at InfoWorld.com.
Giannis Giataganas
IS Consultant, BPM Analyst