Trends in Cloud Computing

TRENDS IN CLOUD COMPUTING 1

Michael R. Vollor

MMIS 627 Enterprise Information Systems

Trends in Cloud Computing

21 April 2013


Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...……...3, 4

What is cloud computing?.........................................................................................................3

Background………………………………………………………………………………………..4

How cloud computing was first introduced or used…………………………………………..4

The layers of cloud computing………………………………………………………………..5

Government Cloud Computing…………………………………………………………..6, 7, 8

Big Data in the cloud………………………………………………………………………….9

Disaster Recovery as a Service……………………………………………………………9, 10

Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………10, 11

Summary and Conclusion……………………………………………………………………12, 13

References……………………………………………………………………………………14, 15


Introduction

During the past few decades, computing has relied on local resources, meaning the

systems were located next to us, or in proximity to our physical location. For the home user, this

typically included a desktop computing system, often referred to as a tower, or perhaps a smaller,

more portable system such as a laptop. With each of these systems, the hard drive was included

as part of the computing system, and all data would reside locally. The physical characteristics

remained similar in corporate computing environments, with the exception of networked

resources. Large high powered computing systems, known as servers, were used to share data

and provide access to resources outside the local computing environment. Complex enterprise

applications and databases were often configured on servers due to their robust processing

power. Users could access these applications and data sources using a front-end application

installed locally on their desktop workstation. This architecture would allow multiple users to

access the data stored in one central location. During this time, the Internet presented new

opportunities for information sharing and access to data resources. It evolved into a complex

network of interconnected systems which would soon change how information was accessed and

stored.

Anyone who has seen a network diagram, or an illustration representing a computing

environment, has seen the picture of a cloud used to represent the Internet. Flowcharts would

often depict arrows going in to and coming out of the cloud. It is this picture where the term

cloud computing originated. In simplistic terms, cloud computing is the use of the Internet to

access applications and store data, rather than using local resources as described above. It does

not rely on the hard drives of desktops or portable systems. It no longer contains a locally

configured server to run applications and store data (Griffith, 2013). Resources are no longer


stored on intercompany network resources; they are “stored in the cloud.” The term cloud

computing is just a metaphor referring to the Internet. It no longer refers to locally managed

computing resources; for cloud computing, it involves using the Internet to access data and run

applications. One obvious advantage of cloud computing is in the ability to access company

resources from any location as long as Internet connectivity is available. This paper attempts to

explain the uses of cloud computing as well as developing trends. It is not a comprehensive

document, but rather an overview as to how businesses plan to use cloud computing to improve

IT operations. There is an obvious value in reducing IT costs through the use of cloud

technologies and its flexibility may just be too difficult to ignore.

Background

Salesforce.com was one of the early pioneers of cloud computing, introducing the

concept of delivering enterprise applications via the Internet in 1999 (Biswas, 2011). In 2002,

Amazon introduced Amazon Web Service, followed by the release of both Google Docs and

Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in 2006. In the years following, companies such as

IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle would enter the cloud dimension, and quickly began to reshape the

current computing model. Now that the big players were involved, companies began looking at

how cloud computing could be integrated into their environment. Today, cloud computing has

been introduced to a multitude of industry categories, including small business, large enterprises,

education, construction, healthcare and government (Biswas, 2011). Those organizations who

have adopted a cloud presence are likely to be in a strategic position for future integrations with

other companies and industries. Cloud computing will continue to develop and introduce new

trends to further strengthen its acceptance.


There are three services associated with cloud computing, these include Software as a

Service (SaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) (Rosoff,

2011). SaaS are end-user applications such as Microsoft Office 365, where users access the

application from the Internet, rather than a locally installed instance of Microsoft Office. SaaS is

likely to reduce cost of software licensing and offers flexibility for small businesses. According

to Wikipedia, Platform as a service provides a computing platform and includes a set of

application building blocks which can be used for application development. PaaS allows a

company to rent the necessary hardware, operating systems, and storage space. It is ideal for

globally dispersed development teams who are working together on a project by allowing them

access to the same resources (Rouse, 2010). IaaS provides a valuable testing environment

through the availability of server resources without the equipment overhead. At first glance,

IaaS appears relatively similar to PaaS, however one significant difference is in who maintains

the operational task of configuring, updating, and optimizing the environment. In PaaS, this is

handled by the cloud vendor, whereas in IaaS, it is handled by the developers (EngineYard,

2013).

Cloud computing has moved beyond the introductory period and businesses are looking

for new capabilities to simplify processes and expand services to their customers. Currently,

businesses are using the cloud to connect to applications that run on a multitude of servers, rather

than just a single dedicated system. They are gradually transitioning away from the client-server

computing model. After all, there are numerous benefits, such as efficiency, agility, and

flexibility, which are making cloud computing so attractive. There can be a significant savings

with not having to purchase and manage dedicated server resources. Many are using the services

of Microsoft and Amazon to lease server space, and hiring their IT staff to maintain the systems.


This often translates to a reduction in the cost of staffing and less resources to maintain to run

company applications. It provides agility allowing resources to expand and contract based on

needs of the applications and users. For example, an accounting firm may require additional

storage space during tax time. Cloud computing allows businesses to allocate space on demand,

opposed to purchasing additional server hardware, as is typical in a locally managed client-server

environment (Rosoff, 2011).

Cloud computing continues to raise the eyebrows of CIO’s and offer new possibilities to

enterprise computing practices. Numerous trends have appeared since cloud computing first

made its debut. In the years to come, it will become more refined to further strengthen its

acceptance. Currently cloud computing provides alternatives to commercial and private

industries in terms of application accessibility, robust development environments, and flexible

infrastructure management. The U.S. Government has recognized the benefits of utilizing a

cloud infrastructure, but their requirements present a new set of challenges.

Although every company is concerned with data integrity and preventing unwanted

access, the government is even more so. Once challenge involves the securing of sensitive and

classified data. The obvious question becomes, how can cloud computing be used and still

satisfy the strict security policies? The Federal Cloud Computing Initiative (FCCI), for instance,

is helping the government to implement cloud technologies for the Federal government. Their

mission is to not only to provide operation efficiency and develop best practice models, but to

close the performance gap between public and government IT. The government has always been

hesitant to implement new commercial technologies due to the sensitivity of their information. It

is the mission of the FCCI to further the ability for the government to effectively and quickly

acquire cloud computing services. This will address one of the federal government’s key


initiatives, cost effective data center consolidation. Government agencies will adopt cloud

computing at various speeds, some will jump right in, while others will barely budge (Linthicum,

2012). Federal IT workers are just not willing to give up control in exchange for efficiency,

although they may sound eager, their progress speaks a different tune. However, General

Alexander, who runs the Pentagon’s National Security Agency, has repeatedly told lawmakers

that the 15,000 military networks will eventually move to the cloud. This move will save an

estimated 680 million dollars in annual operation costs. Getting multiple clouds from different

agencies communicating will be yet another challenge, but will be essential for information

sharing and collaboration, one area that is sensitive among agencies; simply put they do not like

to share information. This way of thinking will have to change in order to provide better

intelligence gathering and to provide a better defense against terrorist threats and malicious

infrastructure attacks.

The U.S. government is regarded as one of the highest targeted agencies by hackers.

Currently the government employs dedicated security teams to protect each agency and

command network. This includes firewalls, routers, switches, servers, desktop computers, and

mobile devices. Transferring sensitive applications to the cloud would allow a more manageable

defense against malicious attacks. With anticipated budget cuts, the government will need to

learn to use cloud computing to strengthen the security posture of critical intelligence and

defense information systems.

Architects in the Intelligence community are working together to bring the seventeen

intelligence entities together in to a single cloud. This would greatly improve information

sharing, however, security concerns continue to grow. Each of the intelligence agencies houses

their own security team to safeguard their classified data. Security teams are comfortable with


this because it allows them to feel they have a tighter hold on the security of the systems.

However, the problem with this way of thinking is that there are seventeen individual vulnerable

agencies. If a security threat is identified, each of the seventeen agencies needs to apply the

hotfix independently. This broadens the likelihood of an incident. By transitioning all of these

systems to a single cloud infrastructure, applying security patches is simplified and more

responsive.

The Intelligence community, just as other government agencies, is facing budget cuts.

The focus could very well shift from physical terrorist attacks to cyber-attacks. As a result, the

intelligence community has begun developing a cloud environment which they hope will

improve not only security, but the efficiency of sharing data. Engineers are currently developing

a front-end desktop application for use by intelligence analysts to access data stored in the cloud.

Once finalized, security measures will be developed and enforced to restrict access to

information. It is similar to the concept of standard systems administration where administrators

make a user part of a group and allow them permissions to perform certain tasks.

Transitioning classified information to the cloud does come with its own set of risks.

Since the information is stored in a single location, the government must be careful in their

background investigations, and to whom they allow access to the system. There is also the

concern of the rogue employee who accesses and uses information against the country; this is

thought to be one of the worst case scenarios in this type of design. As a result, the architects

plan on tagging data as well as carefully monitoring who accesses what. Despite the security

challenges that lie ahead for government architects, they also face the delivery of the design they

worked so hard to sell (Kelly 2012).


Another trend projected to pick up momentum in cloud computing is big-data. This does

not necessarily refer to a specific amount of data; however, it generally refers to petabytes and

exabytes of both structured and unstructured data (Rouse, 2012). The amount of data goes far

beyond the capabilities of database storage. The storage of big data not only includes data that

has been collected over the previous years, but that which is being collected by social media

sites, mobile devices, sensors, and other technologies (Chong, 2013).According to Raul Chong,

Big Data and Cloud Program Manager at the IBM Information Management Cloud Computing

Center of Competence, “big data is a collection of data sets that are so big that it is hard to

collect, analyze, visualize, and process using regular software such are relational database

management systems.” According to a recent study, 80% of the world’s data is considered

unstructured. Meaning it is just there, it is not categorized, or indexed. This translates to the

thought that mission critical decisions are being made from only 20% of the data that is

structured. According to Chong, the days of the digital scientist are not far from reality. Big

data could very well lead to the discovery of new drugs, cure for disease, and weather prediction.

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is another trend in cloud computing expected to

grow during the next year. Currently, implementing a disaster recovery plan is not always cost

effective depending on the size of the organization. At times, servers need to be replicated in

order to perform a system restore in times of failure. This often requires a mirroring of the

hardware internals. It also involves duplication efforts in order for the two systems to be in sync.

DRaaS eliminates this requirement (Violino, 2013). It was developed to make disaster recovery

more affordable as well as offer offsite failover should a natural disaster occur. Building a

disaster recovery plan through the use of DraaS eliminates the upfront costs associated with

purchasing the backup hardware and medium. It is estimated that a disaster recovery test costs a


company on average of $100,000 per exercise. DRaaS significantly reduces the time needed to

perform such tests, as well as allow for more frequent testing, therefore, providing more

confidence and predictability in a company’s recovery efforts. During a recovery effort,

traditional tape restoration methods can take days to recover, DRaaS allows systems to be

restored in a matter of hours, if not minutes. Having the ability to restore a system quickly is

essential. For example, if an online shopping site is down for days while being recovered, this

translates to not only a loss of revenue, but a loss of customers as well. By the year 2014, 30%

of businesses are expected to look to DRaaS for failover protection (Manca, 2012).

Analysis

There is no doubt that cloud computing will continue to develop in the years to come.

Many organizations are expected to be able to do more with less. This simply means to be more

efficient in their abilities as professionals, while operating under fewer resources. Companies

are continually restructuring and looking for ways to save money, and reducing personnel has

been a trend in the IT community. Cloud computing offers an alternative through efficient,

scalable computing models. With this thought of having to do more with less, cloud computing

should force companies to think, rather than react. In other words, to retain their qualified

engineers and better utilize their skills for more complex resolution.

Cloud computing offers a plethora of services to simplify processes and reduce cost

through pay as you go services. It no longer requires overspending for computing resources.

The benefits of the cloud could very well free up the repetitive mundane tasks of day-to-day

activities. Therefore, allowing the engineers to focus on how best to align IT with the goals of

the organization, as well as on more strategic methods of improving operations. This may


require the hiring of a new management team that better understands the advances of cloud

computing and how it can be leveraged to gain competitive advantage.

There are numerous benefits of the government transitioning their systems to the cloud.

It only makes sense for all agencies to begin sharing data, especially in the area of intelligence. I

was once part of a support team responsible for managing the data feeds from multiple

intelligence sources. The ingestion process was not only complex, it required constant

monitoring. The data often had to be restructured in order to meet the database requirements.

This sharing proved valuable to the work we were doing, and to those who relied upon it. The

benefits are obvious from my experience. If all agencies were willing to combine their data into

a central location the predictive analysis could prove invaluable to the security of our country.

From a management perspective, cloud computing would provide for a more secure

environment. I have been responsible for securing systems and networks, the work can be

exhausting. Today, vulnerabilities are identified on a daily basis, and remediating the threat on

multiple systems takes time. Consolidating system resources in a cloud environment would not

only make the remediation process more efficient, but more responsive as well.

When it comes to storing data, cloud computing is the answer. It allows system resources

to be combined to better process and analyze big data. It was alarming to read that critical

decisions were being made from only 20% of the world’s data. Cloud computing brings the

power that is needed to identify patterns, and possible medical breakthroughs that humans are

just incapable of doing on their own. The analysis of big data should be used by scientists as a

precursor to their research. People can have access to an abundance of information through

cloud resources. Specific industry applications can be used to reduce research time through the

use of predictive analysis algorithms. It could very well be the answer to being able to better


predict weather patterns, especially those that provide little time to prepare. If information is

key, it would be irresponsible of us not to put it to good use.

Summary and Conclusion

Cloud computing is obviously the next leap ahead for technology. The benefits are

obvious in terms of affordability and scalability. It allows smaller business the opportunity to

utilize the same system resources of larger organizations. They do not have to purchase

enterprise equipment in order to run in house applications; they can simply be hosted in a cloud

environment. They no longer have to employ a dedicated IT staff to manage their system

resources. Cloud computing allows businesses of all sizes the ability to grow affordably using

pay as you go resources. Many cloud providers allow companies to purchase additional system

resources as needed, as well as downsize resources. This eliminates the need for companies to

purchase expensive server hardware and network equipment. The need to upgrade system

hardware is also eliminated. As a business expands it requirements, it involves purchasing

additional servers, routers, firewalls, bandwidth, etc., cloud computing once again eliminates this

need. It allows smaller businesses to focus their spending on hiring qualified personnel, rather

than on equipment and IT staff. Through the use of cloud computing, it will allow many new

startup companies to develop and present new ideas, and introduce endless possibilities that

would normally be prevented using current computing models.

Cloud computing will also introduce new certification programs for IT professionals.

There will still be a need for administrators of in-house systems, but as cloud computing

continues to gain momentum, it will gradually diminish. Just as the mainframe computer is still

used today, there will always be that need for support. Cloud computing could very well prove


to be a similar transition from mainframe computing to client server architecture. As the future

of cloud computing continues to develop, news ideas will be presented that will simply be too

resistible to ignore.


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https://www.engineyard.com/paas-vs-iaas

https://www.engineyard.com/paas-vs-iaas

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Trends in Cloud Computing