Archive for December, 2009
Author: PRESS RELEASE: Morgantown, WV, December 22, 2009 — Virtual Global, a leading provider of cloud-enabled enterprise solutions and the www.teamhost.com[TeamHost™] online platform for creating SaaS applications, released its “Top ten cloud computing predictions for 2010″ as part of its “Cloud Computing Made Easy” eBook available for download at www.cloudipedia.com.
“Cloud computing’s time has come,” said Cary Landis, CEO of Virtual Global. “In today’s economy, smaller businesses see it as an economic necessity. The market demands it.”
Landis cites multiple factors driving the adoption of the cloud, including costs, entrepreneurship, telecommuting and the more collaborative workspace. “In 2010, we’ll see infrastructure prices fall, platforms become the norm, and big IT companies struggle for new identities,” noted Landis. “Ultimately, the cloud is more than just a piece of technology. It’s changing the way we do business, the way we work, and even the way we think.”
Virtual Global calls cloud computing “the biggest shift in business since the Industrial Revolution.” The top ten predictions include:
1. Cloud infrastructure commoditizes, and prices fall. Cloud computing already provides a price advantage. The underlying hardware prices are decreasing as data center competition is increasing. Prices will fall, making it easier for thousands of SaaS providers to enter the market.
2. Open standards emerge as dominant in cloud platforms. As the Platform as a Service space gains acceptance, the proprietary shakeout will give way to more open platforms in the cloud. This will simplify development, allow for more customization, and address the question of what happens to a company’s applications if a cloud provider goes out of business.
3. Homesourcing becomes mainstream. The era of the cubicle is over. Because applications and data no longer need to reside on the computers in front of us, the physical office is quickly becoming redundant.
4. Corporate processes become decentralized. Larger companies take advantage of the decentralization made possible by cloud computing. This leads to more of outsourcing, which in turn triggers the need for more small companies to fill the need for those outsourced services.
5. A new wave of entrepreneurship emerges. Cloud computing ushers in the next great dotcom boom, only this time things are different. Cloud computing has lowered the barriers to entry so entrepreneurs won’t need to be programming wizards or venture backed. They only need an idea, ambition and a credit card.
6. Smart phones evolve with cloud apps. Smart phones continue to gain functionality, and their reach extends further with access to wireless broadband. This makes smart phones more attractive as an actual working machine, and a tool for accessing productivity apps over the cloud for corporate use.
7. The days of multi-million dollar enterprise software projects dwindle. Enterprise-level cloud computing apps will gradually replace huge on-premises implementations. The Platform as a Service space will become the norm, rather than exception for new software projects. The days of multi-million IT projects will eventually fall by the wayside along with the fall of ground-up Web 2.0 engineering.
8. Cloud computing penetrates all areas of business management. Cloud applications will evolve to accommodate more mission-critical needs, delivering full-fledged management systems to the largest government agencies and corporations in the world.
9. Big-name companies will struggle for new identities. The emergence of new cloud offerings will drive competition in the cloud infrastructure arena. Several new brands will emerge, both from established players and newcomers to the market.
10. Social networking systems will give way to collaborative management systems. The future of collaboration will be more focused on the emerging needs of mangers who are coping with increased complexity and reporting demands. The future will be less focused on social needs.
For a free complete copy of Virtual Global’s predictions and landmark book, “Cloud Computing Made Easy,” visit www.cloudipedia.com.
About Virtual Global:
www.virtualglobal.com [Virtual Global], a West Virginia corporation, is a provider of cloud-enabled enterprise IT solutions and the TeamHost™ cloud platform for building SaaS applications without programming. Since 1995, Virtual Global’s technologies have served commercial and federal customers worldwide with enterprise-class IT needs. To learn more about Virtual Global products, visit www.virtualglobal.com.
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To the casual end user who is just trying to get some work done there may seem to be little difference between cloud computing, desktop computing, and any other type of computing model that has been floated around over the past few decades. He or she may even use the same types of software applications to do the exact same types of things. That’s the point! Cloud computing offers a better way to do the same types of things.
So then, why is cloud computing any better than ordinary desktop computing?
The answer depends on who you are…
Cloud computing for end-users
As an end user, cloud computing lets you run software applications and access data from any place and time, and from any computer; without the need to ever install, upgrade, troubleshoot software applications physically on a local desktop or server. This is one of the most important elements of cloud computing, and why it has become so popular today. In a sense, cloud computing outsources the technical hassles to someone else.
Cloud computing also makes it easier to do work anytime and from anywhere, often referred to as “ubiquitous.” The old model of working involved going to the office from 8:00 to 5:00, and getting on a plane and taking a business trip or two every year. If we did work from a location outside of the office, then when we returned to the office, time had to be spent synchronizing the ad hoc work done at home with the in-office systems. Today’s model of working is different. We can get just as much done at home or on the road as we can in the office. We can connect instantly to the office from anywhere in the world, gain secure access to our applications and data, and in short, get things done in a way that was never before possible.
Cloud computing for system administrators
Keep in mind that almost all PC owners have become system administrators in a way, unless we’re fortunate enough to have access to a teenager to install and manage things for us. If your PC has ever crashed and wasted your day, then you’ll understand the benefits of somebody else doing the dirty work. The problems can get out of control inside big companies, which manage thousands of software configurations, and pay employees whether their PCs work or not. The superiority of the cloud model comes in when we start to realize that desktop applications are more or less static, and cloud applications can be continuously refined. Desktop applications must be physically installed on a PC, upgraded periodically, have patches applied when they become available, and re-installed when the user moves to a new desktop or when the old one crashes. The cloud model eliminates those inconveniences. Need a new PC? Just buy one. You can still access your cloud applications without having to re-install anything. System administrators, who may need to manage hundreds, or even thousands of desktops, remote devices, servers, storage arrays and other equipment, quickly get bogged down—and the cloud model makes their lives easier.
Cloud computing for software developers
There is an even bigger advantage on the development end. Because the applications are delivered from a common code base from a central location, upgrades to the application, patches and fixes can be pushed out to the user transparently. Desktop applications require the user to actively install a patch, or at least, allow for an auto-connection to take place. Microsoft Windows uses the auto-update feature, which has become very useful and convenient, for example. However, it still requires patience on the part of the end user, who must wait for the upgrade to come in over the Internet, and then must re-boot the system for it to take effect. A cloud application, since it does not exist on the desktop, does not have that requirement. All upgrades take place on the back end, requiring no intervention, action, attention or patience from the end-user. This makes it much easier for developers to continuously upgrade their applications, and to push those upgrades out to users on a real-time basis. Going a level deeper to the platform stage, cloud computing gives developers another critical advantage. Since the platform provides developers with a common set of cloud services that have already proven to be robust, all applications are that much more stable—and quicker to completion, as well.
Cloud computing for IT buyers, corporate and federal
The critical advantages listed above have not been lost to corporate users. The ability to lessen the workload on system administrators and developers alike lets companies save dollars spent on manpower. In short, your company can do more with less, and with greater efficiency. Besides the manpower advantage, companies will also gain an advantage in terms of reduced capital expenditures. Why? The cloud not only reduces time spent on admin duties and development, it also addresses the physical infrastructure itself. Companies taking full advantage of cloud computing will enjoy a reduced need for servers and storage arrays—providing another source of savings (and in turn, reducing the system admin overhead even further).
In the corporate world, one of the most important parts of business is improving the bottom line. That’s done either through increasing revenue, or by decreasing costs. When decreasing costs, the ideal scenario is to do so while still maintaining the same or better level of efficiency the company enjoyed before the decrease in costs; cloud computing provides the answer to that need. Let’s take a look at a few of the dollars-and-cents statistics:
Enterprise software represents an enormous expense, as some $800 billion a year is spent on purchasing and maintaining software. The bulk of that—or about 80 percent of the $800 billion—is spent not on the actual purchase of software, but on installing and maintaining it. The federal government alone spends $70 billion a year on IT systems, much of which goes toward enterprise systems. Most servers operate at only about 15 percent capacity at most times, and over-provisioning is regrettably common. Virtualization, an important element of cloud computing, allows the data center operator to make full use of server capacity. Enterprise cloud platforms can save even more.
The advantage to individuals, small businesses and large enterprises which buy software is obvious. The cost of software represents a major expense for businesses of all sizes. The presence of cloud computing options has allowed many small and midsize businesses to gain access to important features of high-end, enterprise-class software that would not otherwise be available. As a result, a major barrier to success has been dissolved, and the saga of million-dollar price tags for enterprise software is nearing an end. Large corporations will save money; and smaller companies will gain the advantage of being able to access more software resources, which were previously unavailable due to either high cost, or the software simply being unavailable for smaller implementations.
Let’s starts with a simple working definition:
“Cloud computing refers to computing on the Internet, as opposed to computing on a desktop.”
Hmmm, so cloud computing just means Web-based software, right? Well, no. Truth be told, a lot of major software vendors are saying “We do cloud computing too!” simply because their software works over the Internet. Cloud computing is about MUCH more than that. Inasmuch as Web-enabled software is wonderful and very useful - it has also been around for a long time. It’s nothing new in itself.
In reality, cloud computing encompasses other forms of computing beyond software, including the underlying hardware (infrastructure) and platforms. In many ways, cloud computing is strikingly similar to desktop computing in that it encompasses the same three basic elements: hardware (infrastructure), operating systems (platforms), and software. The main difference is that, with cloud computing, all three elements are “rented” over the Internet, rather than being managed locally.
Let’s take a closer look at the definition above:
“…computing on the Internet, as opposed to computing on a desktop.”
What does it mean to say “computing on the Internet”? We simply mean that you can log onto a website to do whatever you might normally do on a PC or local server. For example, you can “rent” and manage all your hardware over the Internet, configure computing environments and/or run software. Cloud computing lets us do all of our computing on the Internet as a viable alternative to buying, installing, upgrading, uploading, downloading, backing up and otherwise managing physical hardware, operating systems and software. It doesn’t require a big upfront investment, because you “rent” only what you need, and as much as you need. With cloud computing, your PC is mainly used as a way to run a Web browser. The actual processing and computing is done by remote servers (or virtual servers) and software that may be scattered across the Internet, thus the word “cloud.”
In cloud terminology, the term “as a service” loosely refers to the ability to use something over the Internet on as-needed basis. The terms software, operating systems and hardware are confusingly described as Cloud Software (or Software-as-a-Service), Cloud Platforms (or Platform-as-a-Service) and Cloud Infrastructure (Infrastructure-as-a-Service). To make matters even more confusing, the acronyms SaaS, PaaS and IaaS are often used. Since our eBook is entitled Cloud Computing Made Easy, we’ve adopted the lesser confusing terms: Cloud Software, Cloud Platforms and Cloud Infrastructure, though we will occasionally reference the other terms. We recommend these terms. In due time, we believe that the “as a service” suffix will be dropped by everyone in favor of “infrastructure”, “platforms” and “software.” Afterall, we don’t say “software on the desktop” now. Rather, the desktop is implied as a suitable delivery mechanism for software.
Next, we will talk more about “as-a-service”, and will drill down into the deeper significance of cloud computing.
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If the term “cloud computing” sounds confusing, then you’re not alone. Cloud computing sounds like a very fuzzy term, and like a literal cloud in the sky, you can’t really put your finger on it. It may help to understand WHY cloud computing is so hard to understand:
· First, cloud computing is an extremely broad term. It’s as broad as saying “desktop computing” (i.e. the PC), which encompasses everything from the microchip to the Windows operating system to the software. As we will learn in this eBook, cloud computing encompasses all the same elements as the desktop.
· Second, you can’t touch the cloud. Desktop computing is easy to understand because you can see, touch and feel your PC. The cloud is real, but it is abstracted to the point where you cannot see it, so it’s harder to imagine.
· And third, the term is tainted by the “me too” marketing buzz. The term “cloud computing”, for a variety of very good reasons, has become very popular, and there are plenty of new and established IT companies that want to jump on the bandwagon, often incorrectly labeling anything to do with remote computing as the “cloud”.
Nevertheless, the term cloud computing may be difficult to grasp at first, but it is very real. Download Cloud Computing Made Easy to learn more.
Welcome cloud developers, IT buyers, investors and entrepreneurs! We will be dedicating this blog to demystifying cloud computing, so that it is easier to understand.
Here we go…
A new era of computing is upon is — cloud computing.
This immediately brings up several important questions, which deserve thoughtful answers: “What is cloud computing?” “Is it real, or just another buzzword?” And most important, “How does it affect me?”
In short, cloud computing is completely real and will affect almost everyone. In this day and age, we have all become stakeholders in the computing movement, and we are all affected when major changes occur. Remember how things changed when the Internet came along? Changes in computer technology seem to move at lightning speeds. It wasn’t that long ago that desktop computers had 20MB hard drives and people relied on floppy disks for storage. For that matter, it wasn’t that long ago that there were no desktop computers, and computing involved cardboard punchcards fed into a hopper.
It should be no surprise that another evolution is upon us once again, as there have been several since the dawn of the information age. In this book, we choose the term “era” because cloud computing is more than an evolution. Rather, we’re entering the type of radical shakeup that only comes around once every 20 to 30 years: a disruptive shift in the underlying computing platform-of-choice. Remember when we moved from host computers to PCs? Now, cloud computing is shifting that computing power back to hosts again. Only this time things are different, because those hosts have become abstract, and are scattered all over the Internet… all over the world. That is to say that computing power is being shifted to the “cloud”. Such a shift to cloud computing would not have been possible until now, because the enabling technology did not yet exist. Broadband connectivity now makes cloud computing a realistic possibility for not just larger companies, but for small businesses, SOHO operations, and individual consumers. These users now have the fat pipes they need to access the cloud, and they also have access now to applications and services that they couldn’t begin to access or afford just a few years ago. The possibilities are growing even faster as the US government undertakes its rural broadband initiatives, which in turn will push the potential of the cloud further to the masses.
Why put applications and data in the cloud? Lots of reasons, depending on who you are: If you’re just writing a document or working from home, then you can probably find online apps to do the trick without buying expensive office software. If you’re an IT guy, even better—the cloud makes computing easier to manage, drives down costs (as compared to PCs and dedicated servers), and allows end-users to gain access to a broader range of applications and services. Sure, PCs and dedicated servers have served us well, but not without problems: They crash; they require us to buy, manually install, upgrade and uninstall expensive software; they become bloated, slow and loaded with viruses. Wouldn’t it be so much better if someone else could take care of all the hassles? With cloud computing, we “rent” only what we need and somebody else manages the dirty work. Ask any IT person about their work schedule, and you’ll find out quickly that expectations and workload often exceed the reasonable amount of time anybody really wants to work. And more importantly, ask the CFO who signs the paychecks. Do they want to cut costs? Absolutely. And cloud computing will do it—cutting costs while giving the IT staff a break at the same time.
An even greater impact in the emergence of cloud computing may be that it inspires a new wave of entrepreneurship. Nowadays, thanks to the cloud, nearly anyone can launch a genuine global business for mere pocket change. Venture funding has given way to back-pocket funding, and startup entrepreneurs no longer need $100,000 to hire a system administrator, or to buy new business software and servers. Today’s emerging entrepreneurs can do everything over the Internet, and without the burden of huge up-front capital expenditures. With cloud computing, they can do more than collaborate. They can participate.
This isn’t to say that cloud computing is perfect. It’s not. In fact, it’s not even close. It’s new, and there are thousands of kinks to still be worked out. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Computer Security Division, the cloud model still suffers from significant security challenges. For example, Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors are implementing disparate security approaches, raising critical questions about where data is hosted, international privacy laws, exposure of data to foreign entities, nonstandard authentication and leaks in multi-tenant architectures. These security concerns are putting mission critical data at risk, while slowing the adoption of cloud computing technologies. That’s why NIST is such an important contributor to the future of cloud computing.
Whatever the case, cloud computing is here to stay. There is a popular quote attributed to Thomas Watson, founder of IBM: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” That quote assumed that computers were only for the very largest customers. We’ve come a long way since that speculation, and the general trend has been to move computing into the hands of everybody from big business users, all the way down to preschool children. Cloud computing continues that trend by bringing greater levels of access to high-end applications and data storage, as well as new techniques for collaboration, to even the smallest mom ‘n pop businesses, telecommuters, and independent work-at-home contractors.
Mr. Watson got many things right and to his credit once again, what if his quote was saner than it once sounded? The term “cloud” refers to the computing power that is available across the Internet. In a sense, the cloud is rapidly transforming a worldwide network of computers into the largest single, “virtual” computer in the world. (more tomorrow)
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