I have been working with Cloud Computing for some time now in various roles: consultant, instructor, end user. A common comment I hear from clients is that they see Cloud Computing as nothing new, just as repackaged hosting services that have been around for many years. Lets consider Infrastructure as a Service as an example. Before Cloud Computing, if I wanted a server to host a Web application, I would go to Rackspace or a similar organisation and rent a server from them. With the cloud, I can do the same but can go to Rackspace and start the server myself and when I no longer need it stop and and am billed automatically for the hours I have used. Essentially, I have the same IT service that has always been available, just it is commissioned in a different way. However, there are subtleties that make Cloud Computing different. What if the load on my server increases to the extent the server cannot handle the workload ? With the cloud, I could enable auto scaling to automatically provision more servers to handle the workload. Whilst self provisioning, autoscaling, pay per use are some of the main benefits that are used to sell Cloud Computing, I believe the marketing hype is hiding many other benefits.
What is really new and exciting about Cloud Computing are the facilities and services it provides that were never available before. As a starting point, the way applications are architected can be/should be very different using cloud services. The availability, reliability, performance and scalability can be much better provisioned for by utilising the loosely coupled message driven architectures. Amazon, google and Microsoft as examples all provide a set of services that facilitate the building of applications with the above mentioned characteristics. The way that data is stored and managed in the cloud also offers new exciting ways of working. No longer is a relational database the obvious choice for cloud hosted applications, it may well be the correct choice but there are many other options available under the label ‘Big Data’ that may provide better solution for any given requirement.
So in summary, it is very easy to see the cloud as nothing new technically, just a different way of buying IT services. This is partially true if the things being compared are your typical current IT systems. However, delving deeper into the cloud services available quickly reveals an incredibly rich set of Cloud Only services that provide resources for building applications in ways that are far better than could ever be achieved on non-cloud infrastructures and for storing data in more efficient and logical structures for processing than relational databases. Exploited to the full, these enable businesses to gain significant competitive advantage. If you are interested in gaining an in depth understanding of the different services available from Cloud Computing, why not consider attending Learning Tree’s introductory Cloud Computing course. It will highlight what is different about Cloud Computing and why it can provide significant technical and business benefits for your organisation.
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Quote: “With the cloud, I could enable auto scaling to automatically provision more servers to handle the workload. Whilst self provisioning, autoscaling, pay per use are some of the main benefits that are used to sell Cloud Computing, I believe the marketing hype is hiding many other benefits.”
Auto scaling has been around for years as well; this is nothing new, also you have to consider security when you hand over your data to third party providers.
The cloud was the vision years ago with the inception of the WWW and BBS’ it’s just that during that time there was no
infrastructure in place that would support it on a grand scale, today this is becoming a reality. personally I would not trust
a third party provider with my data, with open source options you can host your own cloud for free or at a very minimal cost
and you can do this in the privacy of your own home if you so chose to do so
Thanks for your comment. Wether you like it or not you trust third parties with your data – who has your medical records, your banking details, your credit card details etc.
Hosting your own cloud, even with open source is not free. Who pays for the machines, how far will they scale, who handles the security etc.
The cloud is not a solution for everybody, but it certainly is an attractive, cost effective and secure solution for many organisations and individuals.
Chris
Actually I don’t trust the government/Financial institutions with my personal data that is forced up on us, and yes I pay for my personal machine that’s my cloud and the data is encrypted when it leaves my cloud,no matter where it is sent, but having said that I realize there is no secure cloud or system in the world, I just believe it is cheaper security wise to host your own. But bottom line the cloud is rehashed old material with a different feel and access. You can go buy a NAS and host your own cloud, check out 2(4)terrabyte Iomega NAS’ it is soo cheap with RSA Security built into the device compared to paying a third party cloud provider to do your hosting, a cost that won’t go away. And when my data is on site I can access it, fix the machines right away, when that happens to third party providers the turn arounds can be disastrous, I am speaking from experience
Interesting view – i think i will have to agree to disagree. The cloud is not for all but for many organisations its a fantastic – secure- reliable – scalable solution with lots of innovative services that were not available before. Take for example Amazons DynamoDB – this offers a scale, performance and cost that was not available for the majority of organisations previously. The likes of Amazon, Google, Microsoft are making services that are cutting edge, have taken years of research and experience to fine tune and making them available to all. I do not think these are rehashes of previous technology.
Thanks again for your thoughtful views.
Chris