A Clear View of Cloud Computing

A Clear View of

Cloud Computing

Author: Ziptech

Cloud computing is the latest buzzword in IT support and there has been a lot said about how to harness the power of the cloud, but it is such a new concept that no one has yet come up with a definition that is universally accepted. Nevertheless, even though the idea of cloud computing is still evolving it is making a big difference to the quality, reliability and timeliness of IT support services.

For now, cloud computing is best understood as internet-based computing, in which shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand. It could be likened to the electricity grid, where the power you need to drive your applications and access information is available online at the flick of a switch. Your computing needs are catered for by accessing a distributed network in which the software and information you need can be accessed at any time.

It may still seem a little opaque to the neutral observer, but fortunately a cloud computing consultant can help businesses to harness the power of this new model. IT support company Ziptech Services, for instance, is helping its customers to harness the power of the cloud, helping businesses to improve their IT support and save money.

So, how can a cloud computing consultant bring value to a business? Well, there are a number of ways in which the cloud can add value, not least the fact that it can eliminate the need to install expensive servers in the office. Instead of investing in the hardware, a business can access servers that are stored out there in the cloud using a broadband connection. The cloud computing consultant can manage the servers, so a company can hand over this expense and hassle to the experts.

With this model, up-front capital expenditure on server hardware is reduced - possibly to zero - and instead a business will pay a monthly fee for the use of servers and the support services that go with them. Depending on the software author a business uses, it may be possible to switch to a model in which a company's main business application is accessed on this basis, through a monthly fee that reflects the number of users of the software.

Furthermore, if the number of users of a business application increases, the cloud model provides a quick and simple way to scale up without the capital expenditure that would normally apply. Simply add more users, pay a higher monthly fee, and the applications are immediately available.

Given the obvious advantages that can be derived from engaging with a cloud computing consultant, the question is not whether to move into the cloud, but when and what to put into the cloud first. The best advice is to start now, before everyone starts to rely on the cloud for everything, and just take one step at a time.

Any cloud computing consultant that truly understands what the cloud can do will advise clients to test the water first and then gradually move IT infrastructure into the cloud. IT support is a good first step, as it enables an engineer to log onto a PC remotely - with permission - to fix problems, rather than having to visit a desk in person. Problems are fixed faster and at lower cost. From there, hosted applications, email and online data backup can follow into the cloud.

Still unsure? Then call a cloud computing consultant for advice. Often you can get a free consultation that will help you to decide how the cloud can benefit your business.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/programming-articles/a-clear-view-of-cloud-computing-4691825.html

About the Author
Ziptech Services is an IT support company that focusses on providing IT services for small and medium-sized businesses across the UK. Its dedicated team of experts has a long history in online companies and the computer retail businesses, and has built a track record of success in helping clients to make the most of the latest innovations in the internet space.

Cloud Computing : It's Raining Savings From the Clouds

Cloud Computing : It's Raining

Savings From the Clouds

By Temeko Richardson

In the midst of economic uncertainty or modest revenue gains, strategic methods of savings are important to leaders. The CIO is put in a position to review IT costs and cut expenses while keeping the business operational and transparent with improved tracking. Cloud computing is the phenomenon that is shifting organizations from developing, servicing and supporting business functional systems to analyzing, developing, and allowing externally hosted solutions. Why is the shift to cloud computing moving swiftly? It is a viable option that can "rain" savings and provide the most value to any organization.

Cloud computing is the latest trend in total cost-of-ownership (TCO) evaluation because it streamlines software, hardware, and/or development to an off-site location hosted by reputable vendors. The services offered by reputable vendors like Oracle, Google, Salesforce.com, Amazon, Microsoft, and SUN (soon to be Oracle with the proposed acquisition) fall into one of three categories: software-as-a-service provider; infrastructure-as-a-service provider (offering Web-based access to storage and computing power); and platform-as-a-service providers (giving developers tools to build and host Web applications). Although security remains the dominant concern of leaders not moving in the cloud trends, there are three reasons why major financial, healthcare, pharmaceutical, consumer goods, security, and not-for-profit, and government institutions are investing in cloud computing to thwart declines in their bottom line.

1. Infrastructure costs decrease substantially.
Cloud computing reduces the need for server set-up and administration, virtualization, load-balancing, clustering, database administration and maintenance of all infrastructure. When software and infrastructure are hosted elsewhere, there is no need for an in-house data center and the costs associated to it. The costs are included in the per month/per pricing model along with any annual maintenance costs. Additionally there is no need to set up multiple environments to migrate an application from development to production. The need for set up of development, system test, training, pre-production, and production environments goes away. While memory can be purchased very cheaply, the extensive horsepower servers are costly along with the related labor to build and maintain them.

2. Modern standard development on open platforms allow for quicker exits from legacy systems.
Software-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service providers have opened the door to creating "applications" with complete functionality that can be expanded with the use of commonly used standard development languages and practices. For instance, Salesforce.com has a powerful, robust, user-friendly CRM hosted solution that includes tremendous functionality but it offers developers to use its Force.com platform to create applications to extend its functionality. The Force.com platform allows developers with .NET and JAVA, SOAP, and SQL (referred to as SOQL) skills to keep their programming skills and develop new functions quickly. This makes it possible to quickly put a new solution in the hands of the business users and mix and match development practices on the platform to introduce more functionality gradually to eventually remove costly legacy systems.

3. Data Center overhead can be reduced drastically.
Cloud computing offers the best, high-performance, reliable SLAs in the land from these top vendors. Their guaranteed availability is the highest among any standards and probably better than any data center in an organization can handle. These vendors have mastered building state-of-the-art data centers that can handle downtimes for almost any type of catastrophe. If you evaluate the costs of all the server administrators, server architects, server support, and database maintenance salaries with related healthcare, vacation, sick-time, and paid-leaves of absences, there is bound to be a realized savings. The total cost of ownership of the cloud computing investment most likely is less than keeping the internal data center and processes required to sustain it.

Cloud computing has made an impact because of its lower total cost of ownership and its proven sustainability in major organizations that require crucial business operations to be available around the clock. Yes there will always be the hesitance for being on the cutting edge of technology but the time is nigh. Don't miss the opportunity to benefit from the "cloudy" times that rain savings. It could be the sunshine for your future.

Temeko Richardson, a principal consultant at TSG One Stop, has a combined sixteen years of experience leading the architecture and implementation of technology solutions for organizations with strategic practices across different industries. SAP FI/CO, Siebel, CRM OnDemand, Salesforce.com coupled with .NET development and data integration/migration experience are some of Temeko's key areas of expertise. For more information, email rfa@tsgonestop.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Temeko_Richardson


http://EzineArticles.com/?Its-Raining-Savings-From-the-Clouds&id=2993021

Cloud Computing - Economics, Service Model & Challenges

Cloud Computing - Economics,

Service Model & Challenges

By Kitz S

Client computing is the latest way of delivering computing resources. It runs on the established convention of the internet where clients and servers interact remotely and on demand. In fact, the working as well as the revenue model is so similar that it can be referred to as 'Internet as a Product.'

Cloud computing delivers services ranging from data storage to end-to-end computing. One can run the entire SAP or kindred application suit, share files, store videos, run email clients or use the platform to collaborate in real time from anywhere in the world through even the most basic computing devices.
Cloud computing takes away the task of infrastructural deployment and makes technology, platform or just software readily available commodities just like electricity. One pays as per the usage besides other set up costs, which when combined, are far less than the conventional ways of acquiring technology.

Economics of Cloud Computing

From being free to an on-demand solution, it (cloudcomputing) has the innate quality of adapting itself to the requirements of the user. Following the 2007-2009 recession, when cost cutting became a prominent part of business best practices, cloud computing offered a new economic model for enterprises to exploit.
According to IDC's analysis, the forecast for 2013 amounts to $44.2 billion. The reason for such a new economic order is the flexibility and cost efficiency offered by cloud computing. Massive investments are being made to concentrate the hardware and the architecture is being revamped to offer global capabilities.

Cloud Computing Service Model

The real highlight of cloud computing is its versatility and adaptability. One can categorize the service provided by cloud computing in three classes:
Software as a service (SaaS): It is software, available on demand and offered by a third party provider, configurable remotely via the internet. Best examples are online spreadsheet tools, word processing and web content delivery services (SalesforceCRM, Google Docs, etc) and CRM services.
Platform as a service (PaaS): It allows customers to use the platform to develop new applications using APIs, which can be deployed and configured remotely. The platform offers development tools and configuration management. PaaS examples are Microsoft Azure, Force and Google App engine.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): This provides abstracted hardware, virtual machines and operating systems, which are controllable through a service API. IaaS examples are AmazonEC2 and S3, Terremark Enterprise Cloud, Windows Live Skydrive and Rackspace Cloud.

Challenges
As cloud-computing is a centralized way of operation, clouds can be easily tracked and attacked. Also, as access remains global, monitoring intrusion becomes a challenge as well. Though deploying safe practices at the client's ends can check trespassing, the multitude makes the task bigger.
Another big challenge is the easy access of cloud computing platforms to the user's data. Moreover, many public cloud-computing platforms are not open to auditing of their security measures.

Cloud Computing Security Measures
With the peril of attack on the centralized setups of clouds, cloud computing providers have responded by a security practice that includes:

• Risk assessment
• Defense in depth
• Cyclic risk reevaluation
• Innovating countermeasures

Companies such as Microsoft have got their cloud systems reviewed and audited for security. Other practices, such as business continuity and data recovery, have been put into place for worst cases where outage or glitches may hamper the work process or destroy the data. Companies currently working on cloud computing security are Novell, Ping Identity, TriCipher and Symplified.

Seminars and conferences are great ways to keep in touch with the latest in the clouding scenario. Cloud Slam can help you stay abreast of all the latest conferences. It organizes conferences hosted by some of the experts in the industry.

Kitz is an internet marketing professional & is working with Veda Informatics, a website content development company. Kitz also is a social media geek, having vast social network presence over several social media sites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kitz_S


http://EzineArticles.com/?Cloud-Computing---Economics,-Service-Model-and-Challenges&id=3777812

The Value Of Cloud Computing

Author: bertro

Why is cloud computing the newest buzz term? What value does it bring to organizations? 'It's become the phrase du jour. The problem is that (as with Web 2.0) everyone seems to have a different definition. The 'cloud' is obviously a metaphor for the internet but when you add in the term 'computing' the whole phrase gets muddy.  However, when you think of the needs of an organizations IT structure it starts to become clearer. The concept of cloud computing is 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 location-independent computing, whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources. It is a by product and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet. This frequently takes the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser as if it were a program installed locally on their own computer. Most cloud computing infrastructures consist of services delivered through common centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for consumers' computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers, and typically include service level agreements (SLAs). There's a good chance you've already used some form of cloud computing. If you have an e-mail account with a Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, then you've had some experience with cloud computing. Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn't exist on your computer -- it\'s on the service's computer cloud. The applications of cloud computing are practically limitless. With the right middle-ware, a cloud computing system could execute all the programs a normal computer could run. Potentially, everything from generic word processing software to customized computer programs designed for a specific company could work on a cloud computing system. Why would anyone want to rely on another computer system to run programs and store data? Here are just a few reasons:

• Clients would be able to access their applications and data from anywhere at any time. They could access the cloud computing system using any computer linked to the Internet. Data wouldn't be confined to a hard drive on one user's computer or even a corporation's internal network.
• It could bring hardware costs down. Cloud computing systems would reduce the need for advanced hardware on the client side. You wouldn't need to buy the fastest computer with the most memory, because the cloud system would take care of those needs for you. Instead, you could buy an inexpensive computer terminal. The terminal could include a monitor, input devices like a keyboard and mouse and just enough processing power to run the middleware necessary to connect to the cloud system. You wouldn't need a large hard drive because you\'d store all your information on a remote computer.
• Corporations that rely on computers have to make sure they have the right software in place to achieve goals. Cloud computing systems give these organizations company-wide access to computer applications. The companies don't have to buy a set of software or software licenses for every employee. Instead, the company could pay a metered fee to a cloud computing company.
• Servers and digital storage devices take up space. Some companies rent physical space to store servers and databases because they don't have it available on site. Cloud computing gives these companies the option of storing data on someone else's hardware, removing the need for physical space on the front end.
• Corporations might save money on IT support. Streamlined hardware would, in theory, have fewer problems than a network of heterogeneous machines and operating systems.
• If the cloud computing system's back end is a grid computing system, then the client could take advantage of the entire network's processing power. Often, scientists and researchers work with calculations so complex that it would take years for individual computers to complete them. On a grid computing system, the client could send the calculation to the cloud for processing. The cloud system would tap into the processing power of all available computers on the back end, significantly speeding up the calculation.

As you can see cloud computing is here to stay even with the current debate on security and intellectual property. There are so many tangible benefits to it . In a future post, I will discuss how we as software engineers can benefit from this.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/the-value-of-cloud-computing-4169450.html

About the Author
Jim Roberts
Currently, I am a lead classic ASP/ASP.NET/C# software developer with years of industry experience. I have worked in the higher education, insurance and the utilities industry. Software development can be such a cool industry to work in. I want to make it better. Find me at http://happydeveloper.blogspot.com/

CDW: 28% U.S. orgs using cloud computing

CDW: 28% U.S. orgs using cloud computing

One-third of healthcare organizations responding to a CDW survey, titled “From Tactic to Strategy: The 2011 Cloud Computing Tracking Poll,” said they are implementing or maintaining cloud-based systems, just ahead of respondents in government but behind higher education and large businesses.

 

 In the survey, titled “From Tactic to Strategy: The 2011 Cloud Computing Tracking Poll,” CDW polled 1,200 IT professionals on their current and future use of cloud computing. Across all industries, the applications most commonly operated in the cloud included email (50 percent of cloud users), file storage (39 percent), web and videoconferencing (36 and 32 percent, respectively) and online learning
(34 percent), according to CDW, of Vernon Hills, Ill.

....to see this News about Cloud Computing

The Impact of Cloud Computing on Outsourcing Services

The Impact of Cloud Computing

On Outsourcing Services

Author: Annie Radoc

Cloud computing is a web – based application that allows a user to access certain information from a remote system that is installed in the cloud while outsourcing service providers are usually located overseas. This is what makes them similar and different at the same.

Changes come unexpectedly and happen every day. What is in vogue now is gone tomorrow. Most changes are triggered by new innovations introduced in the market. Most businesses take advantage of technological changes as long as they will profit from it and cloud computing which focuses on IT supported business process services will have a big impact on business outsourcing services. Most companies who are shifting to cloud computing are affecting the companies\' abilities to use IT that will be proliferating in different directions in the market.

Most of the SaaS software available in the market are either offered for free or at a very low costs and enable companies to compete with big and small businesses allowing more room for profitability without additional costs on their working capital, relieves them from employing IT maintenance staff, scalability, pay only what is consumed and companies can immediately switch to other available applications as they want to. Softwares like SaaS can cause outsourcing to move to the cloud in the future.

Cloud computing provides tremendous benefits to companies but in spite of these advantages impediments like security matters, customization and integration are hindering the rise of cloud – based outsourcing services. Although most businesses will be turning to new technologies and will finally get rid of the old models, what companies do not know is that technology itself is not ready for major changes when it comes to paid applications to the cloud.

The impact of cloud computing on outsourcing will create hostilities and the impact will be great as well because the use of IT maintenance staff will be removed resulting to massive opportunities for customers to optimize their current financial capital. Removal of the indirect processes, providers are able to facilitate the direct use of real time data processing that will substantially increase the scope, speed and efficiency of work in spite the presence of several applications, platforms and technologies.

Applications needed by the companies are readily available for their consumption in the cloud relieving them from developing their present applications. On – premise, private cloud, and public cloud services will influence buyers to get away from their present long – term contracts to short – term contracts allowing them to be more flexible in shifting from one new service to another.  The changes of outsourcing contract methodologies by the buyers are caused by these cloud – based application services.

Furthermore, more intricacies offered by the service providers will extremely change the outsourcing businesses by moving the buyer's IT software and hardware into the cloud encompassing most of the outsourcing businesses IT drivers.

Another impact of cloud computing is when the outsourcing businesses employs cloud computing in doing their services causing the improvement and immense changes on the way outsourcing service providers price their services. Most outsourcing businesses will be anticipating their bills to come the way they used to and changes caused by cloud computing are presumed to initiate a lot of opposition from the outsourcing providers in the next five years.

When selecting an IT outsourcing provider buyers should consider the services rendered from the cloud before allowing outsourcing providers to take over their IT software and hardware and reduce the risks caused by cloud – based services.

Buyers should understand that the creation of private clouds is a complicated process and it is essential that outsourcing providers are able to look into their systems before allowing IT providers to take over their IT drivers. It is also the responsibility of the buyers to see to it that the IT providers they are selecting has the ability and are highly trained in research and development, management of infrastructures, application migration, systems integration and testing.

Buyers should also take into consideration when selecting from the diverse offers of cloud service providers if they have the capabilities in managing long – term IT advanced innovations towards the different cloud environment. The ability of the provider in assimilating and compiling numerous cloud services including its management, safety, compliance as well as the abilities of cloud – burst in the data centers of the provider are some of the essential factors the buyers should be looking into. Other elements the buyers should consider about the service providers are their skills in working with other systems, as well as their strategic collaboration with cloud technology drivers and operating systems partners.

In order to avoid the hazards in selecting IT outsourcing service providers, buyers should first become at ease with the basics of cloud computing before taking advantage of its benefits without knowing its effects on their outsourcing businesses.

The aftermath of SaaS and cloud computing will have a great impact in outsourcing businesses that will take a few years in settling down the conflicts between the IT and the business outsourcing providers. Since this is a new technology for both IT and business outsourcing service providers where IT providers have the leverage in taking over the business IT software and hardware is something the business outsourcing service providers need to think about and how these changes in technology can improve their business market value.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/the-impact-of-cloud-computing-on-outsourcing-services-3243337.html

About the Author
Anne Radoc is a freelance writer. Avail of her services NOW!

Cloud Computing: What is Google App Engine ?

Cloud Computing: What is

Google App Engine ?

Author: Kaushik

Google App Engine is an online platform to host your web application. It is what is popularly called a Cloud Computing platform to host and enable your web applications on the cloud. Essentially having a cloud platform for hosting your applications abstracts you from worrying about the various platform setup and environment related issues like server configuration, network configuration, bandwidth requirements among others.

What languages are supported ?

If there is one limitation from the platform it is the language support. Recently by adding Java support has been a huge plus and should significantly improve adoption of the platform.

Currently the App Engine supports Python and Java (JVM).

What this means is that App Engine applications can also be written in Java or any JVM-compatible language (e.g. JRuby, Groovy, Scala, etc.). It supports Java runtime 6

App Engine's Python runtime supports Python 2.5


What Frameworks are supported ?

Using frameworks to be able speed up the development cycle has become such a key necessity that it is critical to check support for frameworks in any cloud environment that you want to work with. Google App Engine supports Struts 2 and Spring MVC for Java and most Python web frameworks including Django versions 1.0.2.

How much does it cost ?
This is the greatest thing about the App Engine. Its free if you use less than 500 MB space and have less than 5 million page views a month. This is the reason we rank this as the #1 platform for building cloud applications especially for student projects or small POC applications.

You can build around 10 applications for each google account that you have, and nobody stops you from creating any number of google logins, so you can always get as many free apps as you want.

For Apps where you expect more usage and need more space you have to pay per unit of the resource that you are consuming. So really it is a pay based on usage model which is still highly cost effective. I do not see a need for this unless you are writing commercial apps and for most cases the free limits are good enough.


How to get started ?
All you need is a gmail or a google account. That\'s it. If you have one you are ready to get started with building your first cloud app. If not you can always get an account, it just takes a couple of minutes.
More Details at our blog TheTechTrendz.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-education-articles/cloud-computing-what-is-google-app-engine-2762392.html

About the Author
Kaushik Raghupathi is a senior IT Professional and Project Manager working out of India. Over the years he has worked on numerous IT projects with large sized teams. He is personally very fascinated around Learning methodologies in general and specifically around Community Based Learning. He is currently experimenting the concepts by working with students in this area.
http://www.peepaal.org/

Understanding Amazon E2 Cloud Computing To Further Improve Your Enterprise

Understanding Amazon E2 Cloud Computing

To Further Improve Your Enterprise

Author: Rudy Camp

LocalNet360-According to a recent article by Business Week, the growing popularity of cloud computing applications on the internet make it a growing medium that can be used to store your business data, increase mobility, and therefore increase your profit margin. While it\'s still early for most small businesses to buy into the concept of cloud computing, the truth is that now is the time to get started. This article will discuss the benefits of using cloud computing as a means of data storage for your business.

Cloud Computing - Good Or Bad?
The growing use of cloud computing software to enable employees to effectively collaborate with each other has been pushing for an IT revolution. As more and more companies, both larger corporations and small businesses alike, begin using platforms from names like Microsoft, IBM, Google, and others, questions about what type of cloud to use, and how cloud computing can help your business are asked.

One key issue with cloud computing is privacy. A company hosting your data could be approached by the government to search the data and as policies stand right now, you would have to comply. Other issues include mobility, service levels, and data ownership. Depending on what cloud service you use, your data could be shared with companies like Facebook for their research purposes, which bring up the question of ownership. Mobility and sharing would make working with employees over larger distances easier, as the data would exist on the internet and could be accessed by employees 24/7.

How the services your business uses are shared between internal servers and cloud services is entirely up to your business and what systems are core to your business or necessary to store your crucial data and intellectual property. This is high-risk and should not be immediately jumped into. However, oftentimes, working with cloud services and formatting solid sourcing strategies is ultimately the best way to go.

Some Key Benefits of  Cloud Computing Include (Taken From Amazon EC2):

•    Only Pay for Capacity That You Use
•    Obtain and Configure Capacity with Minimal Friction
•    Complete Control of Your Computing Resources
•    Proven Computing Environment
•    Reduces Time Required to Obtain and Boot New Server Instances to Minutes
•    Allows You to Quickly Scale Capacity (Up or Down) as Your Needs Change
•    Gives Developers Tools to Build Failure Resistant Applications and Isolate Themselves from Common Failure Scenarios
•    Designed to Make Web-scale Computing Easier for Developers


Of course, this is just a brief overview of how technology improvements and the internet can help improve your small business. And that should the market for cloud computing continue to grow in popularity as suggested by Business Week, many small businesses can begin to use this inexpensive resource to help grow their businesses and expand their resources to the fullest.

As you begin to develop and/or expand your presence on the Internet for your business consider this: Cloud computing is a good way to dip your feet into thinking like a larger business to protect your data and maintain backups inexpensively. However, you will need to develop more comprehensive strategies, since no one way will work for all businesses as you begin to build a customer base that you can then market to online on a regular basis. As stated earlier in this series, in order to rise above the crowd you will need more than just a website. Therefore, implementing several Internet based solutions over the next 12-24 months will be critical to the long term success for virtually every small and local business in America.

Internet Marketing by LocalNet360
© Copyright LocalNet360 All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/understanding-amazon-e2-cloud-computing-to-further-improve-your-enterprise-4629513.html

About the Author
Rudy Camp holds a BSBA in Business Administration with a Minor in Marketing. He spent 25 years in the Telecom and multimedia Yellow Pages Publishing Industry in sales, training, management and Senior Officer Capacities including having served as CEO of a multi-state Directory Publisher with over 30,000 customers. He is the founder/CEO of LocalNet360 and the company currently serves local and national clients with Internet Marketing solutions. Additionally, Mr. Camp participates as part of an independent consulting team that assists investors and business groups with business plan development including historical and projected financial data, research and analysis and other services used in venture capital and private equity funding transactions. For more information on visit: http://www.localnet360.com/ or email at news@localnet360.com.

Cloud Computing - Google App Engine: How big is the market Really ?

Cloud Computing - Google App Engine:

How big is the market Really ?

Author: Kaushik

This year has been the year of Cloud Computing. You need to be literally hiding under a rock if you have not yet heard about it. Its everywhere, it seems enterprises are moving to the Cloud, small startup companies are moving their services to the cloud and it seems like the whole world will pretty much be on the cloud soon. Really is it this big ? It might be a good time to evaluate how big the adoption really is. Who are the big players and what does the competition look like.

Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure, Force.com, and in some ways Amazon EC2 all fall into a specific sub category within cloud computing known as Platform as a Service(PaaS). Platform as a Service typically applies to platforms which support the deployment of applications without the underlying cost of server and other hosting infrastructure underlying. To differentiate PaaS against a regular hosting it would involve using specific proprietary platform APIs and development tools which typically provide a level of abstraction which reduces the development and maintainability requirement significantly.

Platform as a Service Adoption
Based on a survey from Forrester Platform as a Service is a measly 2of the overall application/platform landscape. Check this graphic for more details

While the survey is a little dated i do think it accurately reflects the current adoption levels in the market and most of the entire discussion of rapid adoption of the cloud is more around hosting and may not be around PaaS. The rest of it is all the typical Hype Cycle in play.

App Engine/Azure/EC2 Adoption
Now within the entire Cloud Platform enabling space it will be interesting to evaluate how the various players stack up against each other. A similar survey by Forrestor of developers using the various stacks break up as Amazon EC2 - 41 Microsoft Azure - 10.2and App Engine - 8.2

What does this all mean ?Well it means that adoption is still in its infancy. While there is a lot of excitement around Cloud Platforms and the platforms show a lot of promise there is still some way to go before these platforms become a mainstream choice. It also means that this is right time to get started and playing around with the tools and understanding the platforms while the standards are still evolving. While the enterprises may still take a while to catch up these are great platforms for small companies, individual developers, students and education to adopt and learn while the platforms evolve.

Check more on the Technology Trends Blog

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-education-articles/cloud-computing-google-app-engine-how-big-is-the-market-really-2831406.html

About the Author
Kaushik Raghupathi is a senior IT Professional and Project Manager working out of India. Over the years he has worked on numerous IT projects with large sized teams. He is personally very fascinated around Learning methodologies in general and specifically around Community Based Learning. He is currently experimenting the concepts by working with students in this area.
Technology Trends

Cloud Computing : Comparing SaaS, PaaS and IaaS

Cloud Computing : Comparing

SaaS, PaaS and IaaS

Author: Kaushik

Cloud Computing has evolved into a large spectrum of services under a broader umbrella and typically all services which include shared resources, software and platforms provided as an 'On-Demand' service fall into this category. Cloud Computing however has various flavors of implementation and in this article we will talk about the three major flavors Software as a Service which are (SaaS), Platform as a Service(PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

Software as a Service(SaaS)

Software as a Service is a term used to describe software that is deployed over the internet and the provider licensing applications to subscribers as a 'service-on-demand'. Typically the services are provided in a 'pay-as-you-go' model with typically payments charged on a monthly basis based on the number of users or services consumed. The key segments within the SaaS segments include content, collaboration and Customer Relationship Management(CRM). Salesforce.com is a great example of a dominant SaaS company which leads the CRM space.

Platform as a Service(PaaS)


Platform as a Service is a term used to describe platforms which provide not only a deployment platform but provide a value added solution stack and an application development platform as well. While SaaS providers typically provide ready to use business applications for users and organizations, PaaS provides provide the ability for building and deploying custom applications on their platforms. By supporting many of the standard application development languages and environments like Java or .NET they allow custom application development reducing the dependency on proprietary SaaS platforms which typically locks in users and organizations to the platform. The key players in the PaaS market are Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service is the third flavor of Cloud Computing which is used to describe platforms which provide computer and server infrastructure typically provided as a virtualization environment. The platform would provide the ability for consumers to scale their infrastructure up or down by demand and pay for the resources consumed. As against the SaaS and PaaS model this provides the greatest flexibility with the least lock-in into the platform allowing users to be able easily migrate their applications from one provider to another. On the other hand a IaaS setup would require the largest setup and maintainence overhead. Amazon Web Services and Rackspace are the two key players providing IaaS services.

The above summary should serve as a good starting point to understand how the Cloud Computing platforms are segregated and distinguished and a highlight of the key players in each of the segments. Understanding the differences between each flavor is also critical to understand which of the Cloud Platforms are applicable based on the application behavior and deployment needs.
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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/cloud-computing-comparing-saas-paas-and-iaas-2912417.html

About the Author
Kaushik Raghupathi is a senior IT Professional and Project Manager working out of India. Over the years he has worked on numerous IT projects with large sized teams. He is personally very fascinated around Learning methodologies in general and specifically around Community Based Learning. He is currently experimenting the concepts by working with students in this area.
Check our Blog Technology Trendz for more details.

Top five Cloud Computing Providers

Top 5 Cloud Computing Providers

Author:Kaushik

Here is a list of the Top 5 Cloud Computing providers. The key parameters used for comparing these cloud platforms include when the platforms were introduced, support for various operating systems/languages, current adoption levels of the platforms and the overall potential of the platform. A good understanding of the key cloud computing platforms is critical to understand the current state of cloud computing and the overall direction of the industry. This in turn is very useful while making a choice for an appropriate cloud computing platform. Please read the following article Comparing SaaS, PaaS and IaaS to understand some of the terminology used in this article.

Amazon
Clearly the market leader in Cloud Computing and primarily a IaaS vendor.EC2 and S3 are the two most popular services available as part of Amazon Web Services. They also have the most wide variety of services available as part of their cloud platform.

• There are indications that Amazon may have a total of 1.8 million deployed instances and showing 10overall growth in deployments
• Indications are they had a total revenue of 220 million USD revenue from their Cloud business
• There are around 100,000 customers using Amazon Web Services

Rackspace
Rackspace which has long been one of the largest players in the managed hosting market quickly transformed itself into a highly successful Cloud Computing provider primarily as an IaaS provider. They have two key services Cloud Servers and Cloud Files which are the equivalent of EC2 and S3 from Amazon.

• Indicating 100growth in Cloud Revenues from 2008 to 2009
• Added around 40,000 new customers in the last 4 quarters
• Cloud Revenue has been 56 million USD in 2009

Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com was one of the earliest Cloud Computing companies to get setup with a specific focus on CRM and functioned as a SaaS company.Salesforce.com first started in 1999 and has grown significantly from its initial launch with a continuous focus on CRM. Force.com was launched in 2007 as a custom application development platform as an entry into the PaaS market but has not been able to garner a significant market due its proprietary platform. Given the specific nature of the platform Amazon and Rackspace have been ranked higher in this list even though Salesforce has a higher revenue.

• Total of 55,000 corporate customers and 1.5 million individual subscribers.
• Total revenue of $1.3 billion for 2009

Google
Google made a late entry into the Cloud Computing business with two services, Google Apps which primarily targets the SaaS space and the Google App Engine which provides a PaaS model for businesses and individuals to deploy their Web Apps. They have quickly made a mark with both the platforms and have made significant growth in the overall cloud computing market.

• Google Apps has 1 million customers and an approximate revenue of $50 million
• Google App Engine does not have any numbers publicly available, since the paid version launched a year back they may need some more time before we get a sense of the adoption.

Microsoft
Microsoft was the last major player to enter into the market and as expected launched a platform Azure based on their Windows/Azure stack. While they have continued to claim that Azure is not tied to .NET, the expectation is the platform will see most adoption from Microsoft shops with a focus on .NET and Windows based technologies and platforms.

• Indications are that around 10,000 customers have moved to Azure
• Since the launch has been less than 6 months back its a little early to track adoption.
• We rank it high due to the high potential of the platform and tight integration with Microsoft based development platforms.

Conclusion
Amazon and Rackspace continue to be the key players in Cloud Computing with a key focus on IaaS as the core service they offer. Given the core expertise of these companies it is unlikely that they will venture into other aspects of the Cloud and they are unlikely to offer SaaS or PaaS services anytime soon. It is highly likely that all growth in the IaaS segment of Cloud Computing will be distributed between these two companies. Microsoft and Google are likely to be key players in the PaaS space clearly segmented between .NET and Java applications. Salesforce on the other hand is likely to remain a player focused purely on the CRM market and primarily as a SaaS provider.

Check our Blog Technology Trendz for more details.


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/top-5-cloud-computing-providers-2912339.html

About the Author
Kaushik Raghupathi is a senior IT Professional and Project Manager working out of India. Over the years he has worked on numerous IT projects with large sized teams. He is personally very fascinated around Learning methodologies in general and specifically around Community Based Learning. He is currently experimenting the concepts by working with students in this area.
Technology Trendz Blog

Five Key Events in the history of Cloud Computing

5 Key Events in the history of Cloud Computing

Author:Kaushik

While we have been evaluating in our blog posts the various features available on popular Cloud Computing platforms today, i thought it might be a good idea to understand when and how all this started and look back at where this began and trace some of the key events in the progress of cloud computing. Amazon like all other Internet companies in the period of the dot com bubble were left with large amounts of underutilized computing infrastructure, reports suggest less than 10of the server infrastructure of many companies were being used. Amazon may have use cloud computing as a way to provide this unused resources as utility computing service when they launched S3 as the first true cloud computing service in March 2006.

1. Launch of Amazon Web Services in July 2002
The initial version of AWS in 2002 was focused more on making information available from Amazon to partners through a web services model with programmatic and developer support and was very focused on Amazon as a retailer. While this set the stage for the next steps the launch of S3 was the true step towards building a cloud platform.

2. S3 Launches in March 2006
Here are some interesting articles on the launch of S3 in 2006. The real breakthrough however was the pricing model for S3 which defined the model of \'pay-per-use\' which has now become the defacto standard for cloud pricing. Also the launch of S3 really defined the shift of Amazon from being just a retailer to a strong player in the technology space.

3. EC2 Launches in August 2006
EC2 had a much quieter launch in August 2006 but i would think had the bigger impact by making core computing infrastructure available. This completed the loop on enabling a more complete cloud infrastructure being available. In fact at that time analysts had some difficulty in understanding what the big deal is, and thought it looks similar to other hosting services available online only with a different pricing model.

4. Launch of Google App Engine in April 2008
The launch of Google App Engine in 2008 was the entry of the first pure play technology company into the Cloud Computing market. Google a dominant Internet company entering into this market was clearly a major step towards wide spread adoption of cloud computing. As with all their other products they introduced radical pricing models with a free entry level plan and extremely low cost computing and storage services which are currently among the lowest in the market.

5. Windows Azure launches Beta in Nov 2009
The entry of Microsoft into Cloud Computing is a clear indication of the growth of the space. Microsoft for long has not accepted the Internet and the web as a significant market and has continued to focus on the desktop market for all these years. I think this is a realization that a clear shift is taking place. The launch of Azure is a key event in the history of cloud computing with the largest software company making a small but significant shift to the web.

Check our Blog Technology Trendz for more details.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/5-key-events-in-the-history-of-cloud-computing-2912369.html

About the Author
Kaushik Raghupathi is a senior IT Professional and Project Manager working out of India. Over the years he has worked on numerous IT projects with large sized teams. He is personally very fascinated around Learning methodologies in general and specifically around Community Based Learning. He is currently experimenting the concepts by working with students in this area.

Technology Trendz Blog

Cloud Computing: Trendy or Transformational

Author:Eric Carlson

In the world of information technology, it seems that every few years a new concept comes along that emerges as being the next great leap in technology.  One of the current concepts that fits that description in the IT world is called cloud computing.  However, before a company decides that it will embrace cloud computing, it needs to make sure that it understands all the implications of this new offering.  As with most technologies, there are many benefits that can be gained, but along with understanding the benefits, the business risks must also be evaluated.  When making this evaluation, it is important to keep in mind not only the short term needs, but the long term objectives and goals of the organization.  In recent years, the Obama administration has pushed for all federal agencies to investigate cloud computing to see if it will benefit each agency.  'The Federal CIO Council under the guidance of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO), Vivek Kundra, established the Cloud Computing Initiative to fulfill the President\'s objectives for cloud computing.'5 With the recent push from the current administration, cloud computing is expected to grow by leaps and bounds over the next few years.  In some studies, there are predictions that 'cloud services will reach $44.2 billion in 2013, up from $17.4 billion of today, according to research firm IDC.'4  This paper will lay out the considerations that an organization should consider at before making a decision to use or dismiss cloud computing at the present time.

 

Overview of Cloud Computing:


'Cloud Computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network-based access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interactions.'2  This definition is one of many that have been introduced within the IT industry, but what does this actually mean?  The concept of a cloud can be looked at as a 'leasing-versus-owning concept - an operational expense versus a capital one.' 4
To understand the cloud computing concept more clearly, let us compare it to a more common concept: paying for electric utility.  Each month, a household or business utilizes a certain amount of electricity which is monitored by a company and the consumer is billed based on their usage.  If each household had their own power source, that would be congruent with non-cloud computing; there is no central power source that households take advantage of.  If, as is the standard case, households buy their power from a consolidated power source (e.g. a power plant), that would be like taking advantage of a cloud; many users sharing a resource to fulfill their independent needs. Using this simple example, the cloud would be similar to the power plant, providing either infrastructure or software to customers on pay-per-use basis.

Some experts may disagree, but in many regards, cloud computing is similar to the way that computers were used when they first entered the market.  At the advent of computers, computers (and associated facilities) were extraordinarily expensive and only owned by a few select organizations such as universities or the government.  Few had the expertise to support a separate computing facility in house.   Therefore, companies would lease time on computing resources provided by a small number of providers, only purchasing what they needed for what they were working on.  In a similar model, cloud computing introduces the concept of buying resources as needed, and similar to the past, the resources can be accessed from a remote location.    Key differences include quality of service, and variety of services offered by cloud computing vendors.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) serves as a guide towards helping government agencies achieve cloud.  NIST\'s cloud model 'promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.'2  As this paper continues, each of these components will be addressed.

Development Models:

Prior to being able to evaluate if cloud computing is a good fit for a given organization, the general concepts of cloud computing must be understood.  There are a number of different deployment models as well as applications of clouds that make up a cloud environment.  The cloud deployment models include: public cloud, community cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud.  There are strengths and weaknesses to each deployment model as it relates to the specific case that a cloud is being considered for use with.  The following provides a summary understanding of each deployment model so that one can be chosen to move forward with consideration of cloud implementation.

 

Public Cloud

'Made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization selling cloud services'2
A public cloud is owned by a third party vendor that sells, or offers free of service, a cloud that can be used by the general public.  A public cloud is the quickest to setup within an organization, but it also has a limited amount of transparency and limits the amount of customization.

 

Community Cloud

'Shared by several organization and supports specific community that has shared concerns' 2
A community cloud is an architecture that is established when a group of organizations come together to share resources.  A community cloud is a mini public cloud, but only a select group of organizations will be authorized to use the cloud.  In contrast to the public cloud, it will generally be more expensive since it will only be used within a smaller group of organizations and all of the infrastructure must be established.  A community cloud is a great choice for a group of organizations, such as a group of federal agencies that desire to share resources but want to have more control over security and insight into the cloud itself.

 

Private Cloud

'Operated solely for an organization' 2
A private cloud is one that is established to support a small singular organization.  There is much debate if a private cloud should be considered a cloud at all, as the infrastructure and management of the cloud remains within the organization.

 

Hybrid Cloud

'Composition of two or more clouds (private, community or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enable technology that enables data and application portability.' 2
A hybrid cloud allows for some of the resources to be managed by a public cloud environment, while others are managed internally by a private cloud.  This will normally be used by an organization that wants to allow itself to have the scalability features that a public cloud offers, but will want to keep mission critical or private data internal to the organization.

Service Models:

In addition to the platform on which a cloud will be deployed, there are a variety of different applications of cloud.  There are three major types of cloud services, Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).  Described below are the concepts between the varying types of cloud models.

 

Software as a Service (SaaS):

'Delivers software over internet without need to install and run applications on the customers own computers' 2
SaaS allows applications to be used by customers over the internet to complete business processes.  SaaS is not a new concept; for example, 'Salesforce.com has been providing on-demand software for customers since 1999.'6  The advantage of SaaS is the software is run from one centralized location, which means that that the software can be accessed from any location over the internet.  The other benefit of having the software managed in one location is that the patches and updates only need to be done once, eliminating the time consuming need to conduct software updates on every machine.  Lastly, SaaS is generally 'on-demand' which means that an organization does not have to commit to enterprise licenses.

 

Platform as a Service (PaaS):

'Delivers a computing platform and/or solution stack as a service, often consuming cloud infrastructure and sustaining cloud applications' 2
The PaaS is a platform that helps to deliver an environment where a user can use the clouds to develop new applications without the need to have the software or infrastructure purchased in-house. The consumer will have control of the applications that are running on the cloud, but will not have control of the infrastructure that it is running on.  In essence, PaaS provides 'anything needed to support how a company builds and delivers Web applications and services in the cloud.'3

 

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS):

'Delivers computer infrastructure, typically platform virtualization environment as a service.  It\'s an evolution of virtual private server offerings.' 2
IaaS is using the cloud to supply the infrastructure that would normally have to be procured by a singular organization to run an organizations IT infrastructure.  Included in the infrastructure are such things as servers, memory and storage that allow a customer to scale up or down as necessary.  The infrastructure can than be used by customers to run their own software with only the amount of resources that are needed at a given moment in time.  In the past, companies would often have to purchase a huge infrastructure to support a periodic spike in the need for resources, leaving the servers and networks idle for much of the remaining time.  With IaaS, resources will not be wasted, because only what is needed at a given moment is utilized.  The customers to the cloud service have control over the operating systems and applications, but don\'t manage the cloud infrastructure.

Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing:

Now that the basic concepts of cloud computing are understood, an organization needs to consider all of the impacts that cloud will influence.  As one might expect, there are a number of considerations that need to be weighed to decide if an implementation of cloud computing is the best approach for a given organization.

 

Advantages:

There are many advantages that can be gained from the use of cloud computing.  Cloud computing is built upon the idea of economies of scale.  The great thing about the concept of cloud is the potential cost-savings benefits that can be gained for a small startup, large company, or even an entire federal agency.  Cloud computing eliminates the usual high up-front cost that companies often cannot  afford, allows for 'infinite' resources on-demand, and provides the ability to pay for resources as they are needed.  It also removes the need for special facilities and highly trained personnel dedicated to IT and the need to continually upgrade hardware and software as technology moves on and company requirements change.

In general, the use of cloud computing should reduce costs by companies paying for only the resources that are needed. Many companies do not know what the demand will be for their IT infrastructure, which previously meant that companies either over-bought servers or were overwhelmed by demand that could not be handled; leading to a loss of customers or degradation of service to their customers.  In either scenario, there is a detrimental impact because money was inefficiently expensed on unnecessary hardware and/or potential sales were lost.

Maintenance of software can be just as big an expense for organizations as the initial purchase.  With the use of cloud computing, software updates and backups are made without the organization having to spend time and money on these activities.  This helps to alleviate many of the technical burdens that are often put on companies and allows them to concentrate on their core competencies while still gaining the advantage of having the most up-to-date version software.

Cloud computing allows a company to operate in an elastic fashion.  Resources can be scaled up or down as needed by a project, consumer demand or operating need.  The elasticity that is gained by cloud computing allows projects to proceed in a manner that is appropriate, without the time consuming and costly delays that the purchase of hardware and software has through the procurement process.  Resources can be quickly provisioned/de-provisioned, which should result in a lower investment cost.

The use of cloud is looked at as an environmentally friendly approach.  Currently, there are a huge number of server farms that operate to serve individual organizational needs.  With cloud computing, a single server farm can support a large number of different entities, potentially reducing power requirements, emissions, and disposal of old electronics.

 

Disadvantages:

A company may think that cloud computing is unquestionably the way to go, but there are a number of concerns that need to be taken into consideration before a company elects to implement cloud computing.  The main concerns inherent in cloud computing include security, privacy, reliability and cost.

Security is by far the most common reason that an organization states for not moving forward with cloud.  Many organizations ask: 'who would trust their essential data out there somewhere?'1 The amount of security control that an organization will have depends on the type of cloud structure that is adopted; private, public or community.  The amount of security control is highest in a private cloud and lowest in a public one.  While a cloud environment might be just as secure as a non-cloud, there is limited transparency into the cloud which escalates the worry of security.  Along the same lines, there is also a concern by many organizations about the amount of privacy that a cloud environment could potentially lack.  The third party vendor that is supplying the cloud could potentially access a company\'s sensitive information, which increases the risk of a privacy breach.

Reliability is a huge concern for many organizations; having a service down for even a few minutes a year could be very costly or even cause a safety concern.  Cloud takes the control of reliability out of the hands of the organization and puts it into the hands of the cloud vendor.  It is important that service level agreements are established with the cloud vendor to make sure the reliability requirements are agreed upon by both parties upfront.

In some organizations, especially within the government, there are reporting laws that make it so a cloud option might 'not be an acceptable solution due to government regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Health and Human Services Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)'.1  In addition, there are many regulations that prevent sensitive data from being transmitted beyond the borders of a nation.  Cloud computing farms are general built in locations that offer the lowest possible cost, many times outside the borders of the customer\'s nation.  Currently, clouds are being established that alleviate this concern, but as a result, the cost of using the cloud vendor increases.

While the 'advantage' section mentioned how cloud computing was a way to lower costs, this is not always the case.  The initial cost of utilizing a cloud will be lower, but the lifetime costs could be much higher due to the continual expense of paying for service.  Lastly, there is always the concern the business that is selling the cloud services goes out of business.  Cloud applications from one provider will generally not be compatible with other providers\' clouds; thus limiting an organization\'s options if they needed to change providers for some reason.

Cloud Implementation:

The first step that needs to be taken before deciding to implement a cloud within an organization is deciding if cloud is the right fit.  The proper analysis needs to be conducted to include: cost, time, risk, benefits and interoperability.  The cloud environment could be a great revolution for a given organization, but it is not a one-size-fits-all solution.  If flexibility and scalability are an organization\'s paramount needs, cloud is likely an optimal solution.  In organizations that have high concerns for security and privacy, cloud might be a viable IT solution, but an in-depth analysis of the tradeoffs needs to be conducted.  The length of time that an application or infrastructure will be commissioned should be a factor in deciding if cloud is an appropriate model.  For a short duration project, cloud is likely an excellent candidate due to the fact that the infrastructure does not need to be procured.  In the case of a long term implementation, cloud might still be a very viable option due to the fact that demand often fluctuates.  This being the case, if demand is steady, a procurement of the hardware might a better option, considering cloud normally has a higher cost per transaction.

After it has been decided that a cloud environment is the correct fit, the layer of cloud that will be implemented needs to be selected: SaaS, PaaS or IaaS.  Each of the differing layers brings with it entirely different questions.  Following the selection of the layer, the type of platform that the cloud will be deployed on needs to be chosen: public, community, private or hybrid.


It is important to take into consideration the entire life cycle cost of implementing cloud.  Without much question, the initial cost of implementing a cloud will be lower, but since costs are paid for on a per-use basis, the cost over the entire lifetime of could potentially be higher with cloud.  When developing the cost estimate to establish an IT infrastructure without cloud, it is essential that cost beyond the initial purchase of the hardware and software are taken into account.  With cloud, especially in the public cloud, there is a large reduction in the costs for updates/patches, maintenance and reductions in staff, all factors that need to be taken into consideration when doing a fair comparison.  Simply put, opportunity cost must be determined for moving to a cloud and a decision should be made based on the needs of the organization.

Summary:

In summary, cloud computing has the potential to change the way organizations view and deal with IT needs.  As the private and government sectors continually look for ways to reduce costs, cloud is an approach that needs to be evaluated.  In general, the cost of this type of infrastructure will be lower, but to some degree at the expense of customization and control over security in the organization\'s IT structure.  By fully investigating all of the considerations and options presented in this paper, an organization will be well positioned to make a smart decision on cloud computing for their current and future needs.

Works Cited:
1 Armbrust, Michael, et al. 'A View of Cloud Computing.' Communications of the ACM 53.4   (2010): 50-58. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
2 Grance, Mell, and Peter Mell. 'The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing Version 15.'  7 Oct. 2009.
3 Lahey, David, and Taylor MacDonald. 'Three flavors of cloud.' Accounting Today 24.10 (2010): 22. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
4 McCafferty, Dennis. 'Cloudy Skies: Public Versus Private Option Still Up in the.' Baseline 103 (2010): 28-33. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
5 US General Services Administration. 'Cloud FAQs.' Apps.gov. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
6 Yan, Han. 'On the Clouds: A New Way of Computing.' Information Technology & Libraries 29.2 (2010): 87-92. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/cloud-computing-trendy-or-transformational-4520721.html
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What is Right and Wrong with Cloud Computing

What is Right and Wrong

With Cloud Computing

Author: Dave Warner

Although cloud computing is the ‘in' thing, it is better to know its merits and demerits before you take a flight into the cloud. Cloud computing is a big buzz word. In cloud computing, storage space, processing power, services, and software are abstracted from the users' own devices to third-party servers accessed through internet. It represents a paradigm shift in how we use information technology. Users can access their data from any location and on any device by paying cloud services provider. Built on SaaS (Software-as-Service) model, cloud computing has tremendous appeal, especially for small businesses and entrepreneurs. In the study, Future Security Challenges in Cloud Computing, published in International Journal of Multimedia Intelligence and Security, researchers enumerate merits and demerits of cloud computing. The merits include geographic independence, and redundancy in both software and hardware; cloud services can meet bursts of demand without any upgrades to the systems in your office. The demerits include security, system outages, and the technical aspects of dealing with cloud computing.

What is Right with Cloud Computing

Low Cost of Entry: With its reach and access, cloud computing is the best option for any startup. You can test your idea very quickly or scale a division of your company to the world at low cost.

Scalability: In case of businesses which show highs and lows, the firms are forced to meet every contingency. That leads to underutilization of infrastructure during lows. It makes sense then to outsource highs to a cloud computing service provider. The scalability doesn\'t require any hardware purchases.

Faster Decision Making: The success of every idea depends on available infrastructure. Cloud computing offers flexibility because you pay as you go. You need not make long-term commitments on infrastructure, and need not wait long periods to get the services. These advantages lead to faster and better decision making and intensify the focus on the core business.

No Capital Expenditures: The costs of cloud computing are operational rather than capital. Since the IT infrastructure needs are handled by a third-party, the costs shift from capital to operational.
What is Wrong with Cloud Computing

Security: With cloud computing, you have your data in a remote data facility without any control. Security is huge concern for firms which want to be in the cloud.

'Think of the cloud as concentrated data, assets, information, and the target profile increases dramatically in its attractiveness,' says John P. Pironti, president of IP Architects. Moreover, users and service providers are not sure who is responsible for the security, each passing the buck to the other. According to end-user agreements, cloud service providers are not responsible for security as long as they make some efforts at it. It is always a huge risk to put an application that has competitive edge and advantage, and customer-sensitive information on a public cloud.

Shared and Dedicated Servers: With cloud computing, you have two options: dedicated and shared. In a private cloud, only your data is on a server, which might be very costly. In a public cloud, the storage space is shared by others, which may bring fresh headaches such as server crashes and security breaches. If you are using a public cloud, it will surely affect your applications\' performance.

Bandwidth: If you require huge storage space, then it is better to buy that yourself rather than pay someone else for it.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/networks-articles/what-is-right-and-wrong-with-cloud-computing-4743941.html

About the Author
Visit www.SciVista.com to find more information about Microsoft Cloud Computing and Cloud Computing Business
.

Cloud Computing Video: What is Cloud Comptuing?

What is Cloud Comptuing?

This video explained about Cloud Computing. When You this video, You can get the basic idea about Cloud Computing . It also explaind some important benifits of Cloud Computing. For the beginning this is a good video about Cloud Computing .

What Cloud Computing Means For the Real World

What Cloud Computing Means

For the Real World

                                                                         By Keir Thomas

There are more than a few critics of cloud computing, even at PCWorld; I'm probably one of them. But I've been turning over in my mind different perspectives on the cloud. I've tried to set aside the views of the IT executive, who seems to dominate the debate.

Instead, I've been thinking about what it offers lowly end-users, or for programmers who create the software. What does cloud computing mean for the rest of us?
As far as computer-illiterate end-users are concerned, cloud computing offers many benefits. For example, have you ever lost a file or an update to a document, because you didn't save it before a crash happened?

.......to see this article about Cloud Computing