Blog on Cloud Computing

Untitled Part 2

Cloud Computing by Angela Katrina M. Dongdong

This blog is about the Cloud Computing. "Cloud Computing has the potential to radically change the nature of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provision in the public service and significantly reduce costs... It is a key element of the strategic future of ICT in this sector" (Irish Times, 2013). There are different types of cloud: Public Cloud, Virtual Private Cloud and Private Cloud. According to the recent Forrester report "Sizzling the Cloud" notes, the cloud computing market will rise from $40.7 billion (2014) to more than $241 billion in 2020, with a year-to-year growth of over 20 percent. Cloud computing is define by Forrester as a form of standardized IT- based capability-such as Internet-based services, software, or IT infrastructure- offered by a service provider that is accessible via Internet protocols from any computer, always available and scales automatically to adjust to demand, is either pay-per-use or advertising-based, has Web-or programmatic-based control interfaces, and enables full customer self-service.

It has many attributes that will help lessen the burden of anyone. Its attributes are it can be accessed around the world (Broad Network Access), cloud is elastic (Rapid Elasticity), it measures your service, it is available whenever you need it (on demand self-service), and resource pooling. There are 4 service models of cloud computing: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and anything as a service (XaaS). Examples of Software as a service (SaaS) are Email, Social Collaboration, Payment and Reconciliation. You can access the Cloud Computing by using your Gmail account. In SaaS, the application is hosted centrally, software testing takes place at a faster rate, reduction in IT operational costs, and it does not need to install new software to release. Examples of Platform as a Service (PaaS) are middleware, Database, Build/Dev/Test. PaaS facilitates hosting capabilities, design and develop the application, integrate web services and databases, and provides security, scalability and storage. And examples of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are compute, storage, network, and desktop. IaaS virtualizes the desktop, it needs internet availability, uses billing model, and computerized administrative tasks. And the Deployment of Models can be Public Cloud (multi-tenant), Private Cloud (single-tenant), Hybrid, and Community (Special purpose/group). Public Cloud means that it can be accessed through the internet. It is mega-scale Infrastructure and Services, sold publically, pay-per-use, multitenant applications and services, access virtually unlimited resources. Private cloud means that it can only be accessed or particular within your organization. It has Finite Infrastructure and services, enterprise owned or leased, charge-back to LOBs or Users, Cloud Computing model in a company's own datacenter or providers, access limited resources that must be managed by LOBs or Central IT. The hybrid deployment model is a combination of public and private and public and community. It is define as the combination of two or more clouds. It is mixed usage of both public and private clouds, enables application components to be spread between multiple public and/or private clouds but it is not so secured. In addition, hybrid cloud consists of multiple internal and/or external providers will be typical for most of the enterprises. Examples of hybrid cloud are GoGrid and Amazon VPC. And the community cloud is more like group of people making their own cloud. Community is like a multiple public cloud that is located or accessed by the group or organization only.

The key characteristics of Cloud Computing are agility, cost (Pay as you Go), device and location independence, multi-tenancy, reliability, and scalability. You can avail it whenever you need it and it is cheaper when you only use it whenever it is much needed. The typical use case for Cloud are Infrastructure Transformation, Email, CRM, Development and Assurance, Hosting Applications, Content Delivery, High Performance Computing, Demo, Proof of Concepts, Backup, DR & HA, and Hybrid/Private Clouds. It will enable you to use your Gmail account in accessing or using the Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing can help you demo your products online or to the market to avoid hassle and to lessen the cost. And the private clouds which can make access to Cloud Computing using a private cloud. Also, you can store image and any files using Cloud Computing.

Like any other thing, Cloud Computing has concerns. The major concerns are loss of control, Integration: enterprise & federated authorization, Interoperability: with key enterprise applications, accessibility and UI limitations of web apps, reliability, performance, security, offline access, and features; changes; vendor lock-in. Sometimes, things happen even if you do not want it to happen because you lost control over that thing. They ask questions and limit those who can access to the web page, but it is for security purposes. And if you want to change something, you can't change it. Also, people are afraid that others might have the chance to access their account. Sometimes, it doesn't perform that way that it should be.

There are also common security issues in Cloud Computing. And these are abuse and nefarious use of Cloud Computing, insecure interfaces and APIs description, malicious insiders, shared technology issues description, data loss or leakage description, account or service hijacking description, and unknown risk profile description. Some use cloud computing for spying. Some people may able to access your account without you knowing and this might be a way for them to change your account and you cannot access it anymore. In Cloud Computing, your data might be loss due to the hacking of your account by anyone.

In summary, the advantages of cloud computing are it is cheap, scalable, needs small startup cost, and it is on-demand due to many things it can perform. All good things have bad sides. And the disadvantages of cloud Computing are you may experience hardware failure, it is not yet mature, lock-in, and security. You can scale whatever you want and it needs small startup cost since it is cheaper. It is not yet mature or it is not yet fully developed that's why it experiences hardware failure and you are not fully secured when you are using Cloud Computing.