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TopBackground
The emergence of cloud computing represents a fundamental change in the way information technology (IT) services are developed, maintained, used and paid for. Information technology services within an organisation have become even more complex in recent years, causing the management and the distribution of computing resources to be at such an intricate level, that the software involved had made computing more expensive than ever. However, the promise of cloud computing has allowed organisations to present these computing resources to clients in a way that substantially helps organisations reduce the upfront costs of computing; thus, better align their needs and budgets (Mikkilineni & Sarathy, 2009).
Cloud Computing improves the competitive edge of businesses by providing IT resources immediately which enables them to efficiently meet the needs of customers more than ever. This all-new business agility enables the delivering and processing of new products to reach competent levels even during peak times throughout the year. The implementation of cloud computing services by an organisation will only encourage more innovation amongst staff, as the level of risk is substantially reduced with no huge upfront costs for development and testing. The cloud becomes an adaptive and intriguing method when successfully implemented by organisations, inevitably pulling in the end users for their respective needs.
Regarding the end-user, Cloud Computing has several different models. First of all, there is Software as a Service (SaaS) and this model provides access to software applications over a network. Available to multiple users over the Internet, this model supports applications with their own data centre which allows them to essentially run on the cloud, eliminating the need to install and run the application on a computer. There are many consumer based SaaS services such as hosting and storage services; Dropbox being the most obvious storage service. It is also worth noting that the SaaS services require their own licenses and is responsible for application implementation in the cloud (McFedries, 2008).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Switch: A network device that selects a path or circuit for sending a unit of data to its next destination. A switch may also include the function of a router (see above). In general, a switch is a simpler and faster mechanism than a router, which requires knowledge about the network and how to determine the route.
Hybrid Clouds: Incorporate both public and private clouds (see figure 2 AU9: No figure matches the in-text citation "figure 2". Please supply a legend and figure or delete the citation. ) within the same network. It allows the organisations to benefit from both deployment models. For example, an organisation could hold sensitive information on their private cloud and use the public cloud for handling large traffic and demanding situations.
Private Clouds: Allow users to have the benefits of cloud computing without some of the pitfalls. Private clouds grant complete control over how data is managed and what security measures are in place. This can lead to users having more confidence and control. The major issue with this deployment model is that the users have large expenditures as they have to buy the infrastructure to run the cloud and also have to manage the cloud themselves.
Public Clouds: Typically pay a yearly subscription to an external company toward storing data and the providing and facilitating the running of application programs.
Router: A device or setup that finds the best route between any two networks, even if there are several networks to traverse. Like bridges, remote sites can be connected using routers over dedicated or switched lines to create WANs.
Multitenant Architectures: Many companies share the same infrastructure within the Public Cloud, and the term given to this is Multitenant Architectures.
Quality of Service: A measure of network performance that reflects the network's transmission quality and service availability. QoS can come in the form of traffic policy in which the transmission rates are limited which guarantees a certain amount of bandwidth will be available to applications.
Cloud Service Providers: Offer an opportunity for organisations to make resources available online. These resources can range from extensive customer relationship management (CRM) software to the relatively widespread online email access.
Cloud Computing: A new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on Internet protocols, and it typically involves provisioning of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources.