Cloud Computing: An Innovation To Business Solution

Today, the most popular applications are Internet services with millions of users. Websites like Google, Yahoo! and Facebook receive millions of clicks daily. This generates terabytes of invaluable data which can be used to improve online advertising strategies and user satisfaction. Real time capturing, storage, and analysis of this data are common needs of all high-end online applications. To address these problems, cloud computing technology provides various standard models and methods. Cloud computing is a style of computing where dynamically scalable and virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. The cloud refers to the datacenter hardware and software that supports a clients needs, often in the form of data stores and remotely hosted applications. Cloud computing is a buzzword and umbrella term applied to several nascent trends in the turbulent landscape of information technology. Computing in the “cloud” alludes to ubiquitous and inexhaustible on-demand IT resources accessible through the Internet. Practically every new Internet-based service from Gmail to Amazon Web Services to Microsoft Online Services to even Facebook have been labeled “cloud” offerings, either officially or externally Cloud--computing is quickly becoming a useful collaboration tool in businesses and universities. We also focus on the service providers for cloud computing systems. Each of the Cloud providers have their own set of pricing, billing, flexibility, support and other important parameters in their model of computing the service. We will consider all these aspects for our study.

1. Introduction:

Cloud computing is a technology that uses the internet and central remote servers to maintain data and applications. Cloud computing allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. This technology allows for much more efficient computing by centralizing storage, memory, processing and bandwidth. A simple example of cloud computing is Yahoo email or Gmail etc. You don’t need software or a server to use them. All a consumer would need is just an internet connection and you can start sending emails. The server and email management software is all on the cloud (internet) and is totally managed by the cloud service provider Yahoo, Google etc. The consumer gets to use the software alone and enjoy the benefits. The analogy is, 'If you only need milk, would you buy a cow?' All the users or consumers need is to get the benefits of using the software or hardware of the computer like sending emails etc. Just to get this benefit (milk) why should a consumer buy a (cow) software /hardware?

Cloud computing is broken down into three segments: "applications," "platforms," and "infrastructure." Each segment serves a different purpose and offers different products for businesses and individuals around the world.So far the applications segment of cloud computing

is the only segment that has proven useful as a 'business model. By running business applications over the internet from centralized servers rather than from on-site servers, companies can cut some serious costs. Furthermore, while avoiding maintenance costs, licensing costs and the costs of the hardware required running servers on-site, companies are able to run applications much more efficiently from a computing standpoint.

On Demand software services come in a few different varieties which vary in their pricing scheme and how the software is delivered to the end users. In the past, the end-user would generally purchase a servers and is accessed by the end user over the internet. While this is the most common platform for On Demand software services, there are also some slightly different offerings which can be described as a hybrid of these two platforms. For instance, a program through which the end user pays a license fee, but then accesses the software over the internet from centralized servers is considered a hybrid service.


2. The Business Value of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the new computing platform shift.  The cloud is really just a metaphor for the Internet and is an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it runs on.  It is a style of computing in which users (and developers) access technology-enabled services from the Internet without the knowledge of, or control over the technology infrastructure that supports these services.  Its built on technology, but it really comes down to a new operational model.

Enterprises are interested in Cloud computing because it comes with several potential benefits.  The Pay-As-You-Use consumption model can now be applied to IT – to both the hardware (IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service) and, perhaps even more interestingly, to the business applications themselves(SaaS – Software as a Service & PaaS – Platform as a Service).  Cloud computing transfers the traditional capital expenditure (CapEx) model common in data centers today to an operational expenditure (OpEx) model.  Cloud Services like Azure Services Platform and Microsoft Online Services allow CIOs and CFOs to control costs more effectively through these cloud computing service offerings.

Additionally, for business software ISVs (Independent Software Vendor), Cloud computing is a potential new distribution channel for their applications.  Building business software for the cloud allows them to hook into new business models, like subscription, transaction or even ad-based revenue models.  It is clear that the concept of cloud computing is gaining traction and provides unique benefits. The flexibility of an access-anywhere, highly scalable, pay-as-you-go computing model has benefits for both vendors and clients.

With the Azure Services Platform, businesses are enabled to develop and deploy critical and non-critical applications with a higher performance/price ratio by running them on Microsoft’s platform data centers on a pay–as-you-go basis.  Whether you are building new applications, augmenting / cloud enabling existing systems, or connecting with trading partners, you can take advantage of the Azure Services Platform to do it quickly, inexpensively, and across the Web and a range of connected devices.  For ISVs, they can take advantage of the Azure Services Platform to deliver software as a service without having to maintain data centers or build new capabilities on existing investments in on-premises applications, while leveraging the same Microsoft development tools and technologies they are familiar with.

 
3. Azure Services Platform

Microsoft’s Azure Services Platform is an internet-scale cloud services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services that can be used individually or together.  Azure’s flexible and interoperable platform can be used to build new applications to run from the cloud or enhance existing applications with cloud-based capabilities.  Azure offers a range of flexibility, control, and is an affordable solution for running Web-scale applications.  The services reduce tedious and expensive infrastructure management and planning and are built with security and reliability in mind, along with the option of a pay-as-you-go model.

4. Cloud Computing is an Operational Model

What makes cloud computing cloud computing is the fact that the physical resources used are operated to deliver abstracted IT resources “on-demand,” at scale, and usually in a multi-tenant environment.  It is how you use the technologies involved that matters most.  For the most part, cloud computing uses the same operating systems, management software, middleware, databases, server platforms, network cabling, storage arrays, and so on, that we have become familiar with in enterprise IT.  Sure, Azure Services Platform, Google App Engine, Amazon EC2, and others, have different technologies and IP implemented, but in the end, its not significantly different than what enterprise IT is familiar with.  Its the scale and elasticity, and the pay–as-you-go model that makes the difference.  The combination of on-demand, at scale, in a multi-tenant infrastructure is the reason why cloud computing is disruptive today, rather than just another technology fad!

Delivering applications over the internet on a subscription basis, commonly known as cloud computing or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is now a widely adopted model for many business applications. In a February 2009 survey conducted by Goldman Sachs on Software Technology in the Americas, 58% of respondents stated they always consider Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) when making an application purchase and 39% stated they prefer a SaaS solution. The weaker economy appears to be benefiting SaaS and Cloud adoption with 40% of respondents indicating that they are more likely to use SaaS, given a lower total cost of ownership. Sales force automation has traditionally been a strong application for SaaS technology but we are now seeing a move toward more mission critical applications. Accounting and billing have moved to third on the list of most-used SaaS applications (49% of respondents are users). SaaS acceptance has reached an inflection point and is primed for rapid adoption in the contact center.
SaaS increasingly preferred in mission critical applications like Accounting and Billing, as well as functional applications like CRM.

5. Business requirements for Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing can confer operational advantages stemming from its ability to remove complexity from the business user, thereby freeing businesses from the constraints of hardware technicalities in order to focus on delivering services to their customers. When managed properly, some of the advantages of Cloud Computing for businesses are:

Increased Agility
The essence of cloud services is its apparent ability to flex by upscaling or downsizing on demand. Through Cloud Computing, a business can manage the swings in demand with out investing for peak demand. This is especially useful to cater for demand spikes or itinerant requirements and also to offload batch processing jobs.
Reduced time-to-market
The abstraction of the underlying layers of computing hardware and the utility delivery model allows businesses to compress development and design cycles enabling faster time-to-market, instead of being dictated by hardware or procurement lead time and integration issues.
Cost efficiency
The utility model of cloud computing converts the cost equation from one-off large and lumpy hardware capital purchases to operational expenses which are spread to match the consumption of the service. Utility based charging may be attractive depending on the specific usage pattern or demand requirements.

6. Aspects Of Cloud Computing To Be Mindful Of

The nature of Cloud Computing makes it unwieldy to define & characterize. Hence the suitability of one form of Cloud Computing to another rests on the business objectives sought & acceptable risk profile & should at least be considered along these dimensions.
Different Types of Clouds
There are several options when it comes to deploying Private Clouds provide the flexibility and control of your own cloud platform without compromising security and data integrity. This version of the cloud is a federation of internal clouds and external clouds segments managed by a Hosting provider. Public Clouds on the other hand, operated by integrated third-party providers and enables many businesses to share a pool of computing resources. Ultimately business objectives will dictate whether a certain cloud configuration or a combination (i.e. hybrid) configuration is actually deployed.
Flexibility to match your applications
Most large public cloud offerings are based on a particular platform which means that applications needing to utilize the cloud computing offering need to conform to the strict boundaries imposed by the underlying platform architecture. This “take it as it is” mentality is evident in first-generation cloud services and before your business considers utilizing a public cloud computing platform, careful consideration needs to be given to the application re-engineering costs and the ensuing complexities.
Visibility and Management of the cloud
Another advantage promised by Cloud Computing is the ability to view and manage your instance of the cloud. The ability to “look” into the cloud and to control how its resources are used is a vital component of the equation. Typically the management tool is used to track utilization levels, analyze trends and may even extend to some form of Virtual Machine self-service instantiation.
Quantifying the real costs
While cloud computing promises to reduce the costs of IT operations, its unclear whether this will apply across the entire range of cloud services offerings and for what circumstances this will apply to such as Salesforce.com, GoogleApps, etc.
Service Reliability and Performance
The impact of delivering business critical applications over cloud computing on the application performance metrics need to be considered. Specifically, will the physical
location of the cloud platform change the latency characteristics of the application there by adversely affecting usability and more importantly, what is the availability of the cloud platform .
Data Transfer
The data transfer costs and the time taken to transfer large datasets (in the order of Terabytes) into the cloud for processing is considerable and significant enough to be considered as its own cost item which needs to be factored in when considering utilizing cloud computing services.
Risk to Business Reputation
one customer’s bad practices could reflect negatively on the cloud platform as a whole. In extreme cases, entire ranges of IP addresses from the offending cloud provider could be blacklisted, rendering your business a victim of inadvertent collateral damage of other businesses unsavory practices.

7. Conclusion

The main motive of this paper is just to introduce with the cloud computing and its impact on the business, The introduction of a general purpose technology which is not directly augmenting total factor productivity, but that is reducing the fixed costs of entry and production in the economy. Cloud computing refers to dynamic and scalable computing resources provided over the internet. Users with limited budgets and limited knowledge about technology infrastructure can get support for all their business needs. These virtual computing resources are delivered through data centers and online servers that provide constant service to anyone with access to the network. Some of the major cloud computing providers include Amazon, Yahoo, and Google. Given the usefulness of this sort of infrastructure, it is not hard to understand the importance of cloud computing.

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