Sangprom1

Rich Sangprom

Dr. Box

CSC 345

23 April 2014

General Overview of Cloud Computing

Many well known companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM utilize or provide cloud based systems. Cloud computing is used in several different ways, including online file storage with services such as Dropbox and Google Drive, or the backend of a service.The originalconcept of cloud computing was created by Professor John McCarthy. His main focus was on a time-sharing system that could be utilized by the public.Cloud computing is an innovative platform for handling information because of its capability and consumer convenience.

The official definition of cloud computing provided by the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) is "a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction" (Mell 2).Cloud computing has five characteristics, three main service models, and four deployment models. Characteristics include on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.The three service models are Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Finally, the four deployment models are private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud.The end result is a dynamic, virtualized computer resource that can automatically attend to a consumer's needs with little management.

The basic structure of a cloud system involves collection of network-accessible computing resources consumers can access through a network. The number of users utilizing the cloud is constantly changing, and the cloud is maintaining a pool of hardware resources for cost efficiency. When the cloud is managing hardware resources, it is managing hardware by switching out old or failing components with new components. To increase power efficiency, the cloud will power off unused components when consumer demand is low.

The software asa service paradigm is used to deliver an application to many users regardless of location. When a user uses a cloud application using SaaS, most of the processing is taking place on company owned servers.Applications are typically accessed through a web browser. This allows many users to interact with the same information at once. Platform as a service is used to support the capability the consumer has to deploy onto the cloud. The applications in SaaS become available through PaaS. Infrastructure as a service refers to the computing resources where the user can deploy and run arbitrary software. Consumers are able to control and manage the system, but cannot control the infrastructure itself.

The four deployment models private, community, public, and hybrid have specific characteristics. The private cloud model is maintained and operated by a single organization.

The community cloud is shared between an exclusive group of organizations with similar interests. Since the cloud is shared, the cost can be greatly reduced depending on the number of consumers using a single community cloud. The public cloud is available to all users by a cloud service provider. A hybrid cloud is made up of two or more unique cloud structures using one of the previously mentioned deployment models. The hybrid cloud has an interface to provide interaction between the grouped clouds. A hybrid cloud is not limited to combining two clouds of the same type. A private cloud can combine with a public cloud to form a hybrid cloud.

The benefits of cloud computing come from the efficient use of hardware and software. Since the system is automated, management becomes much simpler. The platform is able to support various languages, databases, stack-based applications, and architectures as well as provide the means to scale applications across servers instantly.The cloud is accessible through most devices, including mobile phones. Generally, the overall costs for maintaining a cloud system is much lower than maintaining a large data center. Cloud systems use a "pay as you go" philosophy so spending is based on demand, lowering the overall spending compared to previous systems(Boss).

Cloud computing contains several obstaclesfor businesses. Service Availability becomes a risk for businesses because of outages. A short outage is enough to cause major problems for large customers willing to switch to a cloud system. Sometimes data can be difficult to extract from the cloud, and customers can lost valuable information. In 2008, Linkup shut down after losing access to nearly forty-five percent of customer's data (Armbrust 55).Data confidentiality is one of the bigger issues with the cloud. Responsibility for data protections is spread throughout multiple parties. Most of the protection comes from virtualization, but the software is known to contains bugs and is unable to use certain resources.Users may also be wary of the providers themselves because the use of the cloud is monitored. At the moment, cloud systems lack standards, so the system has yet to mature.

Cloud computing is quickly becoming staple system for future businesses.It is a rapidly expanding technology that should not be overlooked. Recent surveys have shown improvement with previous issues, such as security. In 2013, there was a decline in respondents from fifty-five percent to forty-six percent (Jones).

There has also been significant growth in adoption rates for cloud computing, with an increase of nearly twenty nine percent for just IaaS systems. The evolution of cloud computing is still in its early stages, but is rapidly growing and improving.

Works Cited

Anderson, Erik. "What is Cloud Computing?" Thoughts on Cloud. IBM, 6 Mar. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

Armbrust, Michael, et al. "A view of cloud computing."Communications of the ACM53.4 (2010): 50-58.

Badger, Lee, et al. "Cloud computing synopsis and recommendations."NIST special publication800 (2012): 146.

Boss, Greg, et al. "Cloud computing."IBM white paper, Version1 (2007).

Buyya, Rajkumar, et al. "Cloud computing and emerging IT platforms: Vision, hype, and reality for delivering computing as the 5th utility."Future Generation computer systems25.6 (2009): 599-616.

Ferkoun, Maamar. "Top 7 Most Common Uses of Cloud Computing." Thoughts on Cloud. IBM, 6 Feb. 2014. Web. 24. Apr 2014.

Hossain, Shamim. "Darwin's THeory of Evolution or the Big Bang: Which Applies to Cloud Computing?" Thoughts on Cloud. IBM, 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

Jones, Eric. "Future of Cloud Computing Survey." North Bridge. Drupal, 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

Mell, Peter, and Tim Grance. "The NIST definition of cloud computing."National Institute of Standards and Technology53.6 (2009): 50.