Cloud Literature Review

Cloud computing was a completely new term a short 9 years ago, in 2007. The basis of this technology is to move the workload of IT activities away from an organization, and to one or more third parties that have resources dedicated to processing such things. These can be, but are not limited to, networking, storage, software systems, and applications. Rather than having to create and maintain their own expensive datacenters, companies can pay a fee to use someone else’s. This makes growing businesses extremely flexible, as they can easily gain or remove storage space per their needs. Being able to purchase the use of online storage space is known as “hardware as a service,” or, more simply, “virtualization.” Being able to purchase the use of online software is known as “software as a service.” Both are very powerful tools that allow the minimization of a company’s IT budget.

After reading many articles about Cloud Computing I saw the bright future for these types of cloud services. Aside from educating myself on this topic I feel that this could be beneficial to my fellow Computer Technology peers to address their client or employers cloud needs as well as people who are going to start a business and are looking at the options available to address their companies demands.

This case gives us a fundamental understanding of the concept of cloud computing and presents the advantages and issues of this IT infrastructure. This case gives a clear vision of the company’s current situation. Three main questions to consider

In this article, “Cloud Computing for Increased Business Value” by Abdulaziz Alijabre uses facts and provides statistical data to prove his knowledge in Cloud Computing. Through it, he can provide logical information on how using cloud computing can help small business grow and outweigh their competitors.

The focus of cloud computing is providing with scalable and a cheap on-demand computing infrastructure with a good quality of service levels. The process of the cloud computing involves a set of network enabled services that can be accessed in a simple and general way. Cloud computing provides with a unique value proposition for any organization to outsource their information and communication technology infrastructure. Moreover, the concept itself provides with a value proposition for an organization as using the cloud saves on cost, resources, and staff, and business opportunities for the organization (Katzan). An extensive connectivity of

Cloud computing offers services to users based on on-demand self-service, broad network access, measured service, resource pooling and rapid elasticity; These characteristics promise a faster time for implementation, lower cost, superior scalability and a better end user satisfaction. These services are delivered in models known as Software As A service (SaaS), Platform As A Service (PAAS), and Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS). The first layer which is the Software As A service (SaaS) is the layer in which software applications are delivered to end users. Below is the Platform As A Service (PAAS) layer which offers a platform on which applications can be developed. The lowest layer is the Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS) layer, in this layer the physical servers and network infrastructure is offered as a service. These services can be deployed throughout the internet (Public Cloud Computing), on the intranet infrastructure, (Private Cloud Computing), in a shared community of private networks (Community Cloud Computing), or a hybrid of both (Hybrid Cloud Computing). The service deployment models are [8]:

Technological giants like Microsoft, Amazon and SAP are frontrunners in terms of pushing for the implementation of the incorporation of cloud services primarily because they have stakes in the technological innovation. However, that fact aside the possibilities that cloud computing could add to a business are significant and very rational. The

Cloud computing is a shift in a new way of thinking that believes in data sharing & computations over a cloud or network of potential nodes This network consists of data centers, computers, and web services in order to make the cloud work. An application based on such clouds is taken as a cloud application. Cost Efficient: , in conjunction with the Manchester Business School and Vanson Bourne recently conducted a survey of 1,300 companies in the U.K. and U.S., supplemented by qualitative telephone interviews by the Manchester Business School with companies that used the cloud during December 2012 and January 2013.study found that 88 percent of cloud users pointed to cost savings and 56 percent of respondents agreed that cloud services have helped them boost profits.

“Cloud Computing” is a buzzword that the IT industry has been talking about since the past few years. The future of computing is distributed and off-premise where remote servers handle terabytes of data every day. From both technical and social viewpoint, the concept of distributed data centers maintained by “server” companies somewhat dates back to 1990s where grid computing was actively thought upon as an IT requirement. Cloud Computing’s primary aim is provision of IT as-a-service to the cloud users on a utility-based delivery model envisioning greater storage availability, flexibility and scalability of IT systems.

Cloud computing is a new way of delivering computing resources, not a new technology. Computing services ranging from data storage and processing to software, such as email handling, are now available instantly, commitment-free and on-demand. Since we are in a time of belt-tightening, this new economic model for computing has found fertile ground and is seeing massive global investment. According to IDC’s analysis, the worldwide forecast for cloud services in 2009 will be in the order of $17.4bn1. The estimation for 2013 amounts to $44.2bn, with the European market ranging from €971m in 2008 to €6,005m in 2013 2. The key conclusion of ENISA’s 2009 paper on Cloud

Undeniably, the internet technology grows exponentially since its inception. Currently, a new "trend" is emerging in the world of IT (Information Technology and Communication), this is cloud computing. This technology, based on the WEB 2.0, provides opportunities for companies to reduce operating costs by their software applications online. Various vendors like Google, Amazon, and IBM offer a wide range of cloud computing services (Schroth, 2007). This technology has just hatched, it is at the beginning of its operations but already several major players mentioned above adopt their own pioneering strategies that determine the use of cloud computing companies wishing to invest.

Cloud computing facilities not only massive cost savings but also helps to increase the business continuity and agility. It is essential for SMEs to adopt this innovative technology due to the current economic constraints (Mell and Grance, 2009; Aljabre, 2012; Sultan, 2011). To adopt cloud they have the latest technology at hand which provide necessary tools to compete over the rivals and gain the competitive edge. SMEs staff can perform more innovative business operations rather not thinking much about the technical complexity.

Cloud services can make huge competitive advantages to the enterprise companies, if the applications are correctly architected to satisfy the business requirements. Some enterprises don’t fully understand while embracing new technologies, as they rush into development mode and forgo the necessary architecture and design changes needed in their IT landscape. Sometimes they also have unrealistic expectations like

The advances in information and communication technologies have paved way to cloud computing, which is becoming one of the essential social infrastructures. It is a new paradigm for storing data and accessing information and applications which are offered as on-demand services over the Internet infrastructure. It provides new possibilities for business firms as well as governments. In particular, organizations that adopt cloud computing services are expected to gain cost benefits from reduced up-front IT investment, maintenance and lower energy cost (Bose and Luo, 2011); while for the industry as whole, it will benefit from increasing economies of scale and reduction of unutilized capacity (Haag and Eckhardt, 2014). Further cloud computing offers opportunities for innovation realized through lowering entry and expansion cost for firms, especially small and medium enterprises; access high quality services, and fast deployment of product and services. Additional benefits include productivity gains particularly resources efficiency, flexibility and on-demand scalability (Armbrust et al. 2010) as firms concentrate on their core business while accessing high IT quality services from the cloud vendors.

Cloud Computing focuses on utilising shared resources, promoting cost effectiveness and scalable services on demand. This report will seek to highlight the author’s understanding of Cloud Computing, along with discussing the various uses of cloud based services.