Cloud Computing - Literature review Example

Cloud Computing Name Institution Cloud Computing Introduction Cloud computing is a relatively new technology; the term "cloud" is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network (Sobh & Elleithy, 2010). Cloud Computing, the long-held dream of computing as a utility, has the potential to transform a large part of the IT industry, making software even more attractive as a service and shaping the way IT hardware is designed and purchased. Developers with innovative ideas for new Internet services no longer require the large capital outlays in hardware to deploy their service or the human expense to operate it (Armbrust et al., 2009). Cloud Computing is a new term for a long-held dream of computing as a utility (Sobh & Elleithy, 2010), which has recently emerged as a commercial reality. Since 2010 the industry has progressed and cloud computing has become very popular with many companies such as Apple launching Cloud based computing technology such as iCloud. The main goal of this paper is to discuss services and costs associated with cloud computing. To achieve this, the paper will focus on the products offered by cloud service providers as well as cost associated with these features. Section 1: Services There are a number of services that can be offered through cloud computing. In fact, so many companies such as Rackspace, Amazon, Google, among other service providers are offering a wide range of services. However, this section will focus on the major services such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Backup as a Service (BaaS), Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), Mobile Device Management (MDM), and Desktop as a Service (DaaS)[Kum12]. Small businesses will benefit most than any other sector with services offered by cloud computing. For instance, small businesses do not have to deploy physical infrastructure like shrink-wrapped software, storages system or email and file servers as cloud services allow them to function without these. Cloud services also allows entrepreneurs to have access to sophisticated technology without the need of a tech worker or IT consultant on the payroll. Cloud computers can have applications running on them, these run on the cloud instead of on your own computer (Velte, Velte, & Elsenpeter, 2009). That is, cloud computing may involve Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), in which a particular service or application is provided to a client as a subscription. Therefore, SaaS can be described as a software distribution model where applications are hosted by a service provider or vendor and made accessible to clients over the internet. Benefits of SaaS services include global accessibility, easier collaboration, compatibility, patch management and automatic updates, and easier administration (Hidayanto, Karnida, & Moerita, 2012). SaaS is the commonly used delivery model for most of the business applications including service desk management, content management (CM), human resource management (HRM), invoicing, enterprise resource planning (ERP), management information system (MIS), customer relation management (CRM), Virtualization, among others (Hidayanto, Karnida, & Moerita, 2012). Examples of SaaS include QuickBooks, Salesforce.com, Dropbox, among others. Several small businesses in most cases use SaaS services only. SaaS offers a way of delivering technical services and a host of software for these businesses that would otherwise be not economical and hard to manage as on premise, local solutions. IaaS allows businesses to purchase infrastructure from service providers as virtual resources. It can be described as a provision model where a firm outsources the resources used to support operations. The service provider is the owner of the resources and is responsible for hosting, running, and maintaining these resources. These resources may include firewalls, memory, servers, storage, networking components, among others[Kum12]. The customer usually pays on basis of usage or the billing is done on a utility computing basis. Components and characteristics of IaaS include billing model and utility computing service, automation of administrative tasks, dynamic scaling, internet connectivity, policy-based services, and desktop virtualization. IaaS is also referred to as HaaS (Hardware as a Service). IaaS providers include Google Compute Engine, Rackspace, ReadySpace Cloud Services, Oracle Infrastructure as a Service, Amazon EC2, among others[Kum12]. PaaS grants businesses a platform where they can develop and deploy databases, custom apps, and field of operation services incorporated into a single platform. That is, it offers a solution stack and a computing platform as a service. In PaaS, the client or consumer develops the software using libraries and tools from the service provider. The client is also allowed to control software configuration and deployment settings. In this case, the service provider provides storage, servers, networks, among other services. Provision of PaaS service enables the deployment of applications without the complexity and cost of purchasing and managing the underlying software and hardware and purveying hosting capabilities[Kum12]. PaaS services can also include facilities for deployment and testing, application development, application design as well as services such as developer community facilitation, application instrumentation, application versioning, state management, persistence, storage, scalability, security, database integration, web service marshalling and integration, and team collaboration. Key characteristics of PaaS include simplicity, ease of use, integration with web services and databases, multi-tenant architecture, and automation[Kum12]. Google App Engine, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Cloud Foundry and Windows Azure are good examples of PaaS among others. BaaS is a service for providing mobile app and web developers with a way of linking their applications to back-end cloud storage as well as providing features such as integration with social networking services, push notifications, and user management. Application programming interfaces (APIs) and custom software development kits (SDKs) also provides these services. BaaS service providers acts as mediators (bridge) between the frontend of an application and wide range of cloud-based back-ends through a unified SDK and API[Kum12]. BaaS service providers also have a wide focus, providing APIs and SDKs that function for applications development on different platforms such as HTML5, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Android, iOS, among others. BaaS is also referred to as MBaaS (mobile back-end as a service). DaaS service can be described as the act of outsourcing virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to a third party provider.it is also referred to desktop virtualization, hosted desktop services or virtual desktop[Kum12]. Generally, DaaS has a multi-tenancy architecture and the consumers purchase the service on a subscription basis. In the offering of this service, the service provider handles the back-end responsibilities of data upgrades, security, backup and storage, as well as application software and applications licenses required to provide the desktop service in return for a given fee. The client’s personal data is copied to the virtual desktop as well as from it during logoff/logon and access to the desktop is network, location and device independent. DaaS can be integrated with user virtualization and application virtualization to offer an inclusive desktop environment management system. In this context, all the desktop components are virtualized, which enables much more secure and highly flexible desktop delivery model. Additionally, this strategy supports a more comprehensive desktop disaster recovery approach because all components are basically saved in the data center. DaaS may be implemented using both remote desktop services-based systems and virtual desktop infrastructure. Daas can be offered through hybrid cloud platforms, private cloud and public cloud infrastructure. DRaaS service can be described as a predetermined set of processes provided by a third party service provider to assist a firm create and implement a disaster recovery plan (DRP)[Kum12].As a result of frequent adverse events, the need for disaster recovery has been underscored leading to an increasing number of DRaaS providers. Under normal functioning conditions, a cloud-based disaster recovery service might only require a minimal share of resources to synchronize state from the working site to the cloud. The use of automated virtualization infrastructure for disaster recovery indicates that extra resources may be quickly brought online when the disaster is detected. Section 2: Costs Cloud computing has promised a more cost effective and efficient way of making use of the available technological resources (software applications and IT infrastructure). It is possible to instantly access large amount of data stored securely on remote servers at a sound cost. It allows consumers to use applications when they require them, rather than purchasing expensive software. SaaS service providers usually price applications on basis of a subscription fee, commonly an annual fee or monthly fee. Therefore, the initial setup cost for this service is generally lower than the similar enterprise software. SaaS service providers normally price their applications on the basis of usage parameters such as the number of users utilizing the application[Kum12]. However, since the client’s data resides with the service provider in a SaaS environment, it is also possible to charge per event, transaction or other unit of value. The comparatively low cost for setting up a new client in a multi-tenant environment allows some service providers to provide applications through freemium model. In this model, there is an availability of a free service with limited scope or functionality, and charges are incurred for larger scope or enhanced functionality (Sobh, & Elleithy, 2010). Some SaaS applications are fully free to users with income being generated from other sources such as advertising. IaaS service providers usually bill IaaS services on per utility computing basis. The cost charged on this service shows the amount of resources consumed and allocated. Most of the services use pay-as-you-go pricing model making them cheaper than implementing the same services physically in your enterprise. In fact, all major cloud services are priced using pay-as-you-go model[Kum12]. Conclusion Although cloud computing is faced by some challenges like security threats, the technology has presented a number of good services that are vital to enterprises. This paper has focused on the major cloud services offered by the cloud computing service providers or vendors. Some of the services highlighted in this report include Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Backup as a Service (BaaS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), and Desktop as a Service (DaaS). There are numerous service providers offering this service and consumers choose their providers depending on reliability, quality of service as well as competitive prices. Cost of different services vary from vendor to vendor, although the amount charged to a consumer usually depend on how much the client has used the service since most of the services are charged using pay-as-you-go pricing model. The comparatively low cost for setting up a new client in a multi-tenant environment allows some service providers to provide applications through freemium model. In this model, there is an availability of a free service with limited scope or functionality, and charges are incurred for larger scope or enhanced functionality. Some applications are fully free to users with income being generated from other sources such as advertising. References Kum12: , (Kumar, 2012), Read More