1. Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is
one of the key forces of Digital Transformation which is being adopted by
enterprises thick and fast due to high computing power, cheap cost of services,
high performance, scalability, accessibility as well as availability.
Cloud computing is an
innovative delivery practice to use and share an array of computing devices at
remote sites which are managed through internet for data processing, computing
and storage.
Cloud computing
provide users access to shared pool of configurable computing resources viz.
Servers, Networks, Applications, Databases, Services etc. which can be rapidly
provisioned and released with minimal management effort.
2. Core Objective
Enterprise must
include business agility and capability as part of their cloud computing core
objectives. Enterprise may definitely experience growth in business by
migrating to cloud; where in they focus of their core business and leave rest
to the Cloud Service Provider which are as follows:
Ø Ensure
resource scalability as fulfillment to business needs. These are managed
remotely by expandable and extendable infrastructure services.
Ø Enhance
security by invoking security modules such as authentication and authorization.
Ø Facilitates
host of User Interfaces and workflows which reduces time-to-market.
Ø Provides
superior user experience through agile and robust cloud services.
Ø Some
cloud platforms empower business users to make effective changes to
functionality through configuration. This reduces the dependency on development
teams and results in increased business agility.
Ø The
seamless integration of applications in the enterprise architecture results in
low maintenance and support, thereby reducing the overhead costs.
Ø Reduces
hardware, software or licensing costs, as cloud services operate in the
pay-as-you-use model. This results in predictable operation expenditures with
minimum deployment cost and almost zero capital expenditure.
Ø Automatic
security and software updates shrink IT infrastructure maintenance costs.
3. Key Characteristics
Agility for organizations may be improved, as
cloud computing may increase users' flexibility with re-provisioning, adding,
or expanding technological infrastructure resources.
Ø Overall Cost Reduction:
Enterprise willingness not to invest upfront on infrastructure is suited best
in a cloud computing model where they only need to pay as they go. Therefore
overall cost reductions are experienced wherein enterprise only need to pay
choosing one of the available usage billing model.
Ø Device & Location
Independence: Infrastructure deployed on the cloud
is accessed remotely over the internet. This not only gives the flexibility to
access the resources by means of any device, anytime, anywhere but also do away
with the hassle of maintain an exclusive space hosting the entire
infrastructure onsite. This also results in ease of maintenance of cloud based
application resources.
Ø Multitenancy:
This allows sharing of resources and costs across a large pool of users thus enabling
centralization of infrastructure in locations with lower costs. Users only pay
for the resources and equipment to meet their highest possible load-levels.
Ø Service Oriented Architecture:
Consistent and loosely coupled architectures are constructed using web services
as the system interface.
Ø Productivity:
Users working with same set of data simultaneously increases productivity.
Ø Reliability:
Usage of multiple redundant sites makes
well-designed cloud computing suitable for business continuity and disaster
recovery. This results in increased reliability.
Ø Scalability:
The flexibility to ramp up and down.
Ø Performance:
Monitoring performances and taking corrective actions are done by a dedicated
team of skilled resources.
4. Service Model
The architecture of Cloud Computing suggests that
it encourages "Everything as a Service". Thus, predominately we have
following three service model under the Cloud Computing umbrella:
Ø Software as a Service (SaaS):
Under this service model, users can access and use the various applications and
tools hosted across the providers' cloud to which they are subscribed. The
access can either be provided over an internet browser or by virtue of any
program interface. The users have access to limited sets of configuration and
settings on the subscribed Applications.
Ø Infrastructure as a Service
(IaaS): Under this service model, users can provision
processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where
the user is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include
operating systems and applications. The user does not manage or control the
underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems,
storage, and deployed applications; and possibly limited control of select networking
components.
Ø Platform as a Service (PaaS):
Under this service model, users can deploy onto the cloud infrastructure their
created using programming languages, libraries, services, and tools supported
by the provider. The user has control over the deployed applications and
possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting environment.
5. Deployment
Models
Private
cloud
These are for single
origination usage which are hosted internally or externally and are managed by
organization owned resources or by third-party associates.
Undertaking a private
cloud project requires a significant level and degree of engagement to
virtualize the business environment, and requires the organization to
re-evaluate decisions about existing resources. Security remains a key area
which should be thoroughly looked at to prevent serious vulnerabilities.
Setting up private cloud is quite an expensive affair owing to the fact that
they have a massive physical footprint, requiring allocations of space,
hardware, and environmental controls. And, these assets have to be refreshed
periodically; inflicting huge monetary stress. This model doesn't quite goes
with the concept with which Cloud Computing has been envisaged as users still
have to buy, build and manage resources resulting in additional capital
expenditures.
Public
cloud
The architecture of
public cloud is same as private cloud expect for security aspects which may be
exceptionally different for services related to applications, storages, and all
other deployed and configured resources; that are made available by a service
provider for a public audience and when communication is effected over a
non-trusted network. Cloud Service providers own and operate infrastructure at
their data center premises and access to the users are made available over the
internet.
Gartner, Inc. defines a hybrid cloud
service as a cloud computing service that is composed of some combination of
private, public and community cloud services, from different service providers.
A hybrid cloud service crosses isolation and provider boundaries so that it
can't be simply put in one category of private, public, or community cloud
service. It allows one to extend either the capacity or the capability of a
cloud service, by aggregation, integration or customization with another cloud
service.
6. Major
Cloud Providers
A.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon Web Services
are undoubtedly leading the cloud computing market. AWS offers a complete range
of IaaS and PaaS services. Among the best known are its Elastic Compute Cloud
(EC2), Elastic Beanstalk, Simple Storage Service (S3), Elastic Block Store
(EBS), Glacier storage, Relational Database Service (RDS), and DynamoDB NoSQL
database. It also offers cloud services related to networking, analytics and
machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile services, development,
cloud management, cloud security and more.
B.
Microsoft Cloud Offerings
C.
IBM
IBM's most visible cloud service is its Bluemix PaaS, which
is aimed primarily at enterprise development teams. The company also has a lot of enterprise software on a SaaS
basis, and it sells cloud infrastructure, cloud management tools and cloud
managed services.
D.
Google Cloud Platform
Google
offers a very full range of IaaS and PaaS services that span compute, storage,
networking, big data, machine learning, developer tools and security. Some of
its best-known cloud offerings include Compute Engine, App Engine, Container
Engine, Cloud Storage and BigQuery.
E.
Oracle Cloud
Oracle
flaunts its public cloud as "the industry's broadest and most
integrated." Its SaaS applications include HR Cloud, CX Cloud, ERP Cloud,
EPM Cloud, SCM Cloud and Analytics Cloud.
7. Adoption
of Cloud – Prediction & Forecast by expert analysts.
According to a report
published by IDC, the public cloud
computing market is on pace to double over the next few years, climbing from
around $70 billion to more than $141 billion by 2019. That huge market offers a
tremendous opportunity for those companies that establish themselves as leaders
in the cloud computing space.
Gartner Says by 2020 "Cloud
Shift" Will Affect More Than $1 Trillion in IT Spending
More than $1 trillion
in IT spending will be directly or indirectly affected by the shift to cloud
during the next five years, said Gartner, Inc. This will make cloud computing
one of the most disruptive forces of IT spending since the early days of the
digital age.
451
Research’s Market Monitor forecasts that the market for cloud computing
‘as a service’ – which includes PaaS, IaaS and infrastructure software as a
service (ITSM, backup, archiving) – will hit $27.1bn this year and nearly
$44.2bn by 2020.
According to IDC,
by 2020, penetration of software as a service (SaaS) versus traditional
software deployment will be over 25%. Packaged software will shrink to 10% of
new enterprise installations.
A press release report by Strategyr states that the global market for Platform as a Service
(PaaS) is projected to reach US $ 7.5 Billion by the year 2020.
Gartner
predicts that by 2020, over 50% of all new applications developed on PaaS will
be IoT-centric, disrupting conventional architecture practices.
TBR
predicts worldwide public cloud revenue will increase to $167 Billion in 2020
8. Emerging Trends
Cloud computing had
displayed its potential and holds lot of promises in time to come. With major cloud
technology companies invest billions of dollars per year in cloud research and development;
we are bound to witness unbelievable changes the way we look at advance
computing today.
One of the areas
which will create huge impact over the next couple of years is Robot as a Service (RaaS).
RaaS can be viewed as
an extension of Internet of Things (IoT) where robots get integrated seamlessly
with the cloud computing environment. In terms of service-oriented architecture
(SOA), a RaaS unit includes services for performing functionality, a service
directory for discovery and publishing, and service clients for user's direct
access. The current RaaS implementation facilitates SOAP and RESTful
communications between RaaS units and the other cloud computing units. Hardware
support and standards are available to support RaaS implementation. Devices
Profile for Web Services (DPWS) defines implementation constraints to enable
secure Web Service messaging, discovery, description, and eventing on
resource-constrained devices between Web services and devices.
IDC
states that by 2019, 30 % of commercial service robotic applications will be in
the form of a "Robot as a Service"
business model.
Forbes
states
that Lufthansa is using an IoT-based strategy to create an entirely new
business mining data from their maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO)
operations and providing it to their customers. They are also using real-time
aircraft, airport, and weather sensor data to improve on-time performance and
optimize operations. Lufthansa aggregates all available data together to
consistently deliver excellent customer experiences as a result. It’s these
sensor-driven strategies that drive the most reliable IoT and IIoT forecasts
and predict the future of this industry.
Forrester
states that fleet management in transportation, security and surveillance
applications in government, inventory and warehouse management applications in
retail and industrial asset management in primary manufacturing will be the
hottest areas. Forrester also found enterprises are more likely than smaller
companies to use IoT. 23% of global enterprise respondents use IoT, but only
about 14% of small and medium-size business (SMB) respondents do. For example,
Lufthansa Airlines is using real-time aircraft, airport, and weather sensor
data to improve on-time performance and optimize operations.
9. The Way Forward
With the evolution,
progression and adoption of cloud computing we can very well witness end of
traditional infrastructure. We have seen enterprises are already looking out
for online application addressing their needs in order to eliminate the scope
of creating and setting up necessary infrastructure.
In next couple of
years we can look at Cloud computing as given under:
More
Apps on the Cloud
By 2020, 25% of
Applications would be accessed and served from the Cloud. As more companies are
spending handsomely on Cloud, another left out sections are quickly joining in
sensing that Cloud is going to be the key differentiator in the new future. As
researchers predicted, there will be about 8.2 billion active mobile devices by
2020 with more and more applications to follow. Applications will be made
available on the cloud to build and deploy applications that would lead to
better technology and faster response time.
Embracing
Hybrid Cloud Computing
Some industry leaders
predict that about 50 percent of companies will have hybrid clouds by 2017.
Hybrid cloud computing would provide a combination of strengths like on-premise
solutions and management convenience.
Increased
Cloud Development
An 85 percent of the
new applications are being built with the cloud in mind, which expects to see
more and more resources going towards cloud development. Companies can expect
an increase in the third party, commercial and enterprise developers and API
exchanges.
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References
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