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Internet speeds over the past decade have increased substantially, This increase in bandwidth has changed many ways that we live and do business. The enhanced throughput has allowed for business markets to expand in ways unimaginable with dial up speeds of yesteryear. Not only has this expansion led to many different types of business opportunities such as home based businesses but has opened markets that did not exist before.
Companies are now offering on the internet what had once been limited to an organizations local LAN. Streaming full length movies, listening to music and even making phone calls. This is all done as part of the cloud based internet community. Cloud based businesses are offering more and more services. Offline backups for example. For those who were responsible enough, or for those who had lost data one too many times, backups were done using floppy disks.
Then backups graduated to zip drives and finally copies of data to a USB drive These devices had to be configured, backups scheduled and then, either stored in a fireproof safe or moved to a different location. Today it is easy to use Amazon or Google to back up just about unlimited data, for free. “Individual’s lives are affected by free email servers, applications, and storage capabilities—all accessible anytime, through any device, and from anywhere” (Bojanova et al., 2013).
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Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is normally classified into three main categories. These categories include software as a service, also known as SaaS. IaaS or infrastructure as a service and then finally PaaS, or platform as a service. Each of these have their own place in an IT organization, big or small. Of course, without the internet, cloud computing would be virtually impossible. Not that all cloud offerings are public, private clouds exist as well.
Infrastructure as a Service
What physical components are required to run an IT infrastructure? Computing power, data storage, routers and switched. Infrastructure as a service is some of all of these. Some organizations want to install their own software, manage their own operating systems and even patch their own servers. In some cases there are legal reasons why an organization must manage their own data. Infrastructure as a service provides the hardware as if it is in an organizations data center without the need of a data center. On-premise administrators still need access to the servers they manage in order to build servers, patch servers and install software.
These administrators need a reliable and always available connection in order to access them. Administrators used to access their servers via remote desktop sessions. These were great for local on premise servers but for the many “extra” services available with cloud based solutions a better remote connection technology was needed. “For infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings, administrators typically implement associated services and APIs, such as the management access for customers, using Web application/service technologies” (Grobauer et al., 2011).
In order for infrastructure as a cloud providers to provide best in class services they must keep up on hardware and the technology running on the hardware. These cloud providers must provide the processing power a server needs when the server needs it. Service Level Agreements can punish cloud providers who do not meet these minimum levels. How do these providers guarantee the hardware will have the resources when the hosted servers need it? By dynamically placing “busy servers” on hosts that are not being utilized. Not all hosted servers are busy all the time.
By placing low utilization servers with high utilization servers, cloud providers can even out their computing platforms. “The VMsafe API provides VM security protection at the host level. Its VMotion capabilities can dynamically move VMs between physical devices as required” (Khan, & Malluhi, 2010, p. 21). This almost guarantees the cloud provider never runs out of computing resources when their clients need it most.
Software as a Service
Most applications that can run in on premise environment or installed locally can also be easily offered as a cloud solution as well. Software as a service is a cloud offering that is usually provided by the software manufacturer or a certified partner of that software. Software as a service can be as simple as an online banking applications, tax software or even front office applications like word and excel. Each of these are readily available as a cloud software as a service. What makes software as a service such an appealing offering is the simplicity behind the product.
Tax software is updated every year to incorporate changes in the tax laws. Every year a new version is released requiring the owner to purchase a new copy and install it locally on their computer. Cloud based software does not require anything to be installed locally except perhaps a secure connector or browser add on. The software as a service user logs onto their own instance of the software using a web browser.
Since the software is updated in the cloud the end-user is assured that they are using the most up to date release. They need not apply patches or hot fixes. They also know their data is safely and securely saved in the cloud, no need to make multiple backup copies. Cloud software is less expensive than its locally installed counterpart. This is because most cloud offered products are shared, physical hardware is used to its full potential, waste is eliminated. Software companies save money on installation media, packaging and shipping.
Platform as a Service
A platform as a service is a cloud offering that gives the organization or end user a middleware type of application already running on an infrastructure that is ready for their customization. There are specific tools that are allowed to configure the application or custom tools can also be created. Some social media platforms are a good example of a platform as a service. People can build their own web pages using the parameters allowed by the platform.
“Universities are also getting into the cloud business. Such on-campus services often appeal to researchers who are not ready for the do-it-yourself nature of commercial providers, which often requires expertise in programming, testing and debugging code” (Drake, 2014). Having a platform already built is also a great way to test software in an environment without having to purchase the hardware and install and configure the application. The platform is built according to the required specifications. The application can then be configured according to the individual requirements of the administrators.
Conclusion
Cloud computing has changed the way people work, shop and experience the internet. It has allowed companies to expand their IT infrastructure without spending exorbitant amounts of money on hardware and staffing. It has allowed small businesses to start and grow. Cloud computing even has changed the way individuals use their home PC’s. For large organizations cloud computing is a fantastic way to get out of the IT business and focus on reason the company originally went into business. A company no longer needs to invest huge amounts of capital to purchase server hardware and staff data centers. By leveraging cloud computing organizations can save time when building new applications to support the business.
