Cloud computing is becoming one of the next industry buzz words.
Cloud computing overlaps some of the concepts of distributed, grid and utility computing, however it does have its own meaning if contextually used correctly. The conceptual overlap is partly due to technology changes, usages and implementations over the years.
The term cloud computing probably comes from (at least partly) the use of a cloud image to represent the Internet or some large networked environment.
Cloud computing is now associated with a higher level abstraction of the cloud. Instead of there being data pipes, routers and servers, there are now services. The underlying hardware and software of networking is of course still there but there are now higher level service capabilities available used to build applications. Behind the services are data and compute resources. A user of the service doesn’t necessarily care about how it is implemented, what technologies are used or how it’s managed. Only that there is access to it and has a level of reliability necessary to meet the application requirements.
In essence this is distributed computing. An application is built using the resource from multiple services potentially from multiple locations. At this point, typically you still need to know the endpoint to access the services rather than having the cloud provide you available resources. This is also know as Software as a Service. Behind the service interface is usually a grid of computers to provide the resources.
Top perceived benefits of cloud computing:
- Easy/fast to deploy
- Pay for only what you use
- Less in-house staff & costs
Top challenges of cloud computing:
- Security
- Performance
- Availability
- Hard to integrate with in-house IT
- Inability to customize
What customers want from cloud computing:
- Competitive pricing
- Performance assurances (SLA)
- Understand my business & industry
- Ability to move cloud offerings back on-premise
CFO magazine has an interesting article about cloud computing, which includes this hype-vs.-reality chart:
Hype: All of corporate computing will move to the cloud.
Reality: Low-priority business tasks will constitute the bulk of migration out of internal data centers.Hype: The economics are vastly superior.
Reality: Cloud computing is not yet more efficient than the best enterprise IT departments.Hype: Mainstream enterprises are using it.
Reality: Most current users are Web 2.0-type companies (early adopters).Hype: It will drive IT capital expenditures to zero.
Reality: It can reduce start-up costs (particularly hardware) for new companies and projects.Hype: It will result in an IT infrastructure that a business unit can provision with a credit card.
Reality: It still requires a savvy IT administrator, developer, or both.
