Cloud Computing - Case Study Example

AWS Case Study: Ericsson AWS Case Study: Ericsson Cloud computing has emerged as the best alternative for both small and medium sized firms as well as big companies in their implementation of Information Technology strategies. This emerging trend in the contemporary world gives companies both attractive technological and financial benefits as well as giving them a competitive edge in the highly competitive environment. Cloud computing involves sharing of computer resources, both software and hardware, among many users along connected computers over a network, mostly the internet (Armbrust et al, 2010).

Various concepts employed in cloud computing include software-as-a-service (SAAS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IAAS), Platform-as-a-service (PAAS) among others (Armbrust et al, 2010). All these technologies have been very instrumental in improving basic operations of major companies across the globe including Microsoft, IBM, Google, Amazon and Ericsson among others. Ericsson is one of the leading technology firms in the world with operations ranging from telecom services, multimedia and broadband services among others.

The company, headquartered in Stockholm Sweden is the market leader in provision of 2G, 3G and 4G mobile services with estimated subscribers of about two billion. In order to solidify its position in the market, Ericsson has employed cloud computing services offered by Amazon in order to sustain its business solutions. Ericsson uses Amazon EC2 (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud), Amazon S3 (Amazon Simple Storage Service), and RightScale for provisioning and its auto-scale functionality. The company has greatly benefited from the cloud computing services offered through Amazon Web Services (AWS) in terms of cost reductions, remote access, on demand availability and automated software updates.

Through the cloud computing services, Ericsson does not incur costs of maintaining the system and does not need to employ many highly skilled professionals to manage the systems. This has led to reduced costs involved in marinating computer systems of the company. Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides the cloud computing services which can be accessed at any time. Subscribers can benefit from the remote access where they can access the services at any time on demand. This has greatly benefited Ericsson Company as its services can be accessed at all times.

Since the cloud service is maintained by Amazon, Ericsson does not have to worry about updating the software as this is the responsibility of the cloud service provider. Ericsson can benefit from this by concentrating on its core services by engaging in other innovative technologies. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the most integrated provider of public cloud services using the Rightscale Cloud Management Platform. The company has been able to build its reputation in cloud computing over a long period of time.

This makes its services more dependable and scalable for use by big companies such as Ericsson. AWS offers its services at affordable costs making its services more scalable. Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3 as well as right scale have been in the market for a long time and have many subscribers. The services are therefore dependable and very beneficial for Ericsson. Despite being very popular and beneficial, cloud computing services come along with various security concerns that if not handled properly, can lead to total failure of the service.

Security is one of the most critical elements of both hardware and software systems and needs a lot of attention. Security concerns in cloud computing emanate from the infrastructure used in the technology and includes issues to do with data security, performance issues, regulations, trust and expectations (Zissis & Lekkas, 2010). Success of a cloud service depends on the trust that exists between service providers and the subscribers. The subscribers give their data in to the system which is maintained by the service provider on the basis of confidentiality.

There are also legal concerns as far as security is concerned revolving around who is the real owner of the data in the cloud service, the provider or the subscriber? There is also need to manage expectations between customers and a service provider as far as security is concerned. Customers expect that their information will be treated with utmost respect and would not be released to third parties. These security issues can have a huge impact on the scalability and dependability of cloud computing if not managed properly.

The service is only reliable and scalable of both the provider and the subscriber have very high confidence levels in the service. If there are many unaddressed security concerns, the service will not be scalable for most subscribers. The service can be improved by building trust between the service providers and subscribers by ensuring there are agreements regarding management of data, expectations, confidentiality as well as legal bearings of each party (Winkler, 2011). This way, the integrity of the service will be strengthened resulting in improved system reliability and scalability.

References Armbrust, M., Fox, A., Griffith, R., Joseph, A., Katz, R., Konwinski, A., Lee, G., Patterson, D., Rabkin, A & Zaharia, (2010). "A view of cloud computing". Communication of the ACM 53 (4): 50–58. Winkler, V. (2011). Securing the Cloud: Cloud Computer Security Techniques and Tactics. Waltham, MA USA: Syngress. Zissis, D & Lekkas, D. (2010). "Addressing cloud computing security issues". Future Generation Computer Systems 28 (3): 583.