The need to comprehend cloudsIT goes CloudAthanasios TsitsipasOMI, University of Ulm, Germany

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The Cloud Hype

• Everybody moves to the cloud• Nothing but benefits, if you believe the advertisements

elastic

always available

secure

access from

anywhere

reliable

virtually endless space

high speedcheap

sounds like…

magic

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• There is NO common answer to that!• The term became popular with Amazon’s

“Elastic Clouds”• No clear concept behind itRelated areas have jumped on the wagonRebranded offerings to “clouds”

Þ Diverging usage Þ Confusion about the term by now

What IS a “Cloud”?

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SO WHAT ARE CLOUDS?source: http://www.sheldoncomics.com

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Cloud Timeline

[1961] John McCarthy: “computing as a utility”[1969] J.C.R. Licklider: “intergalactic computer network”[1993] IETF: Telecom “clouds” = loadbalancing[1999] Salesforce.com: applications over the internet (originally

called “platform computing” or “force.com”)[2001] Microsoft: “clouds” = internet[2006] Amazon EC2: “clouds” = elastic computing infrastructure

(IaaS)[2007] IBM starts “cloud research project”[2007] Dell wants to trademark “cloud computing” (rejected)[2008] Gartner: “clouds shape relationship between consumer and

provider of IT services” [“cloud”=?][2009] Google App Engine: “clouds” = PaaS

Start to use the term “Cloud” widely

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So, what is a “cloud” then?

Different approaches to find a definition in retrospect Þ According to the “Future of Cloud Computing” report:

Terminology

Characteristics

Related Areas

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Types of Clouds

Infrastructure as a Service• exposes resources as data or computing hosts• manage the resources in an elastic fashionExamples: Amazon S3 / EC2, Zimory

Software as a Service• exposes dedicated functionalities as services• services exploit cloud capabilities to ensure availability etc.Examples: Google Docs

Platform as a Service• exposes a platform and typically an API• services can be developed and hosted in this platformExamples: Windows Azure, Google App Engine

Infrastructure as a Service• exposes resources as data or computing hosts• manage the resources in an elastic fashionExamples: Amazon S3 / EC2, Zimory

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Non-Functional Economic Technological

qualities of cloud systems, rather than technological aspects. These include:

• Scalability• Elasticity• Quality of service• Agility and

adaptability• Availability • Reliability• Ease of use• High performance

key driver behind (commercial) cloud systems. Typical interest rests on:

• Cost reduction• Pay per use• Improved time to

market• Return of

investment• CAPEX to OPEX• “Going green”

Arise from realising non-functional / economic concerns. Particular issues:

• Virtualisation• Multi-tenancy• Security, privacy• APIs and / or

programming enhancements

• Metering• Tools in general

General Characteristics of a Cloud

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Essential Cloud Properties

• Offer “services”• Adapt “elastically” to changes in usage, thus

• dynamic number of services• pay as you go (pay per use)• improved resource utilisation

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Prepare datafor email

Send out mass emails

Analyze error logs

IT support

Database Email Server

Dashboard

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Prepare datafor email

Send out mass emails

Analyze error logs

IT support

Database Email Server

Dashboard

Rule-basedanalysis

Rule engine

Drop contact from CRM

Business IT alignment

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Prepare datafor email

Send out mass emails

Analyze error logs

IT support

Database Email Server

Dashboard

Rule-basedanalysis

Rule engine

Drop contact from CRM

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Prepare datafor email X

Send out emails

Send regular mails via post

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Prepare datafor email X

Send out emails

Send regular mails via post

Database as a Service

Customer analysis service

Email service

Cloud provider ACloud provider B

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SLAInvoicing, Payment and Taxed-based Archiving

Business Process Alternatives on CloudMy Selected Business ProcessesBusiness Process Library

Compare Select Cancel

Invoicing and Payment SLA

Direct Invoicing SLA

…

…

…

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Task/Action A Task/Action B Task/Action CLevel-I

Service X JiraLevel-II

Level-III

Jira SaaS @ Atlassian

Jira SaaS @ Provider Y

Jira Self-hosted

Levels of Business Processes (semantics omitted)

Cloud Provider Y Cloud Provider Z

VM

VMVM

Self-hosted

VM

VM

VM

Level-IV

Cloud orchestration and deployment tool

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Business Process as a Service

Infrastracture Services

PaaSSaaS

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Business Process as a Service (BPaaS)

• Companies automating business processes for decades• Forced to Business IT Alignment with manual labor

What they want to address:• Unexpected behaviors? • Increased usage?• Management of middleware, networking or database?• Packaged offerings?

What they get:• Smart Cloud Deployment

• Orchestrate different services, systems or components• Exploit all the capabilities of the Cloud to the business level

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Thank you for your attention.