Cloud Computing

This blog was created long back with the purpose of sharing what I felt I knew and may provide useful information to someone else. However, nothing was published here since:
a) I became lazier than I usually am.
b) I couldn't think of anything worthwhile to post.
However, Vipin Sharma, one of my batchmates at MDI Gurgaon, provided me the opportunity by asking me to provide some information on cloud computing. So, as my first post on this blog, here comes what I had written to him:

• Cloud computing is a concept that tries to move IT expenditure from a CapEx model to an OpEx model. Traditionally, IT implementations involve huge fixed (capital) investments in terms of hardware and software licences. It also involves maintaining a dedicated team of IT professionals for maintenance and upkeep of these systems. Cloud computing takes away this burden from organisations by moving to a licence plan involving data usage/per user/time usage/number of transactions or a combination of these metrics instead of an annual/ one time implementation fee.
• The companies are saved the trouble of investing in IT systems as they do not have to physically own the systems. The actual system is owned by the IT service provider and the users avail the facility through a thin client, typically a browser.
• Cloud computing builds a layer of abstraction over the implementation so that the only thing the end user has to worry about is his business needs.
• Cloud computing makes sharing and collaboration easy by allowing multiple users spread across geographies to work on the same document simultaneously.
• Cloud computing is a move towards implementing the SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) concept by exposing traditional software systems as a service. This is also popularly known as SaaS (Software as a Service).
• Cloud computing is a win-win for SMEs wanting to implement popular IT systems and IT companies providing implementation services. Small companies cannot afford the huge initial investments associated with IT systems, so a usage based fee is more apt for them. IT companies get to explore a new market segment as all the major clients (fortune 500 etc) have already implemented almost everything and the only repeat business is upgrade and maintenance. (I know this is definitely correct as this statement got me my current job! :D). Even global software giants like SAP and Oracle are exploring opportunities in this area with lighter web based versions of their traditional packages and new product development eg Oracle's Fusion Middleware expected to be released in late 2010.
• Integration between different systems will become easier as more and more industry standard interfaces are developed, thus making IT implementation much less dirty than it currently is, at a fraction of the cost.

Despite the benefits, some of the drawbacks of cloud computing systems are:

• Many companies want the software to be tweaked a bit to match their business processes. This is not possible as companies offering cloud computing services will make a standard offering with little or no modification options.
• Security, data integrity and privacy would be major concerns for companies going in for cloud implementations as the actual data resides on another company's servers. IT security and international business laws will have to reach a certain maturity level before cloud computing can take off in a big way.

Though not entirely accurate, some examples of traditional systems vs their cloud/cloud like counterparts would be:

• Organisational email on company servers vs web based email solutions. Our own example of MDI Squirrel Mail vs ManDevIan Web Mail would be apt.
• Office productivity suites like MS Office installed on the PC vs Web based collaborative office solutions like Google Docs

This is by no means a comprehensive introduction to the hot topic of computing on the cloud. The reader is encouraged to explore more exhaustive resources on the internet.

Cheers
Aalok
--Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and no one was there.