Cloud computing

Cloud computing is fast becoming the way for IT savvy companies to access IT software,
infrastructure and hardware resources. This technology helps companies to use applications and
other resources managed by third party companies that are stored in high-end server computers
and networks. Based on cloud location, we can classify cloud as public, private, hybrid and
community cloud.

Cloud computing helps businesses to be more efficient and save on software and hardware that
are important for different operations. The definition of cloud computing varies depending on
client source but what is generally agreed is that it involves access of software or hardware
remotely that are in the “cloud”. Companies can use cloud computing to increase their IT
functionality or capacity without having to add software, personnel, invest in additional training
or set up new infrastructure. The main things that are effected by each of these types of cloud
computing is:

 Flexibility
 Control
 Management simplicity
 Vendor lock in

Below are the major types of cloud computing and the level of management by client and
vendor.
 1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS is the lowest level of cloud solution and refers to cloud-based computing infrastructure as a
fully-outsourced service. An IaaS provider will deliver pre-installed and configured hardware or
software through a virtualized interface. What the customers accessing the cloud services do with
the service is up to them. Examples of IaaS offerings are managed hosting and development
environments.

Some of the major players offering infrastructure as a service solution include

Google, IBM, Rackspace Cloud Servers, Amazon and Verizon.

Flexibility: Medium
Control: Medium
Management Simplicity: Medium
Vendor Lock In: Medium

Benefits of IaaS Solutions

 Reduces total cost of ownership and capital expenditures

 Users pay for the service that they want, on the go

 Access to enterprise-grade IT resources and infrastructure

 Users can scale up and down based on their requirements at any time
 Platform as a Service (PaaS)
This type of cloud computing is similar to IaaS but is more advanced. With PaaS, apart from
simply providing infrastructure, providers also offer a computing platform and solution stack as a
service.The IT infrastructure may come with a graphic user interface, run-time system libraries,
programming languages or an operating system.

PaaS services are mostly used by companies that need to develop, test, collaborate and deploy
cloud solutions for particular applications. However, the hosting of the application is done by a
third party i.e. the PaaS provider.

PaaS providers offer a fully configured sandbox and deployment environment for customers to
develop, test and deploy their cloud applications. Examples of PaaS solutions include
Salesforce.com’s Force.com, Rackspace Cloud Sites, Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure.

Flexibility: Low
Control: Low
Management Simplicity: High
Vendor Lock In: High

Benefits of PaaS Solutions

 Community – Most of the time, many people are involved in building cloud applications in
PaaS environments. This creates a strong supportive community that can help your development
team along the way.

 No more upgrades – Companies are not required to update or upgrade the infrastructure
software. Instead, the PaaS provider handles all upgrades, patches and routine software
maintenance.
 Lower cost – Companies face lower risk since they do not have to make upfront investment in
hardware and software.

 Simplified deployment – The development team can concentrate on developing the cloud
application without having to worry about the testing and deployment infrastructure.
3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service is where the entire application is provided to customer in a hosted format,
so that they don’t need to worry about running anything below the application such as the
infrastructure, OS, services, etc. In this service model, the cloud-based applications are offered to
the customer as a service on request. It is a single instance of the service running on remote
computers “in the cloud”, owned and operated by others, and connected to the users' computers
over the Internet and typically a web browser. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter,
Flickr and Google are all examples of SaaS, although users are able to access the services
through any Internet-enabled device.

This is the easiest to manage in terms of management, however the least flexible. SaaS providers
provide fully functionally web-based applications on demand to customers. The applications are
mainly targeted at business users and can include web conferencing, ERP, CRM, email, time
management, project tracking among others. . GMail and Salesforce are among examples of
SaaS run as clouds. More examples of companies that offer SaaS solutions
include Citrix, NetSuite, and others.

Flexibility: Very Low

Control: Very Low
Management Simplicity: Very High
Vendor Lock In: Extremely High
 Benefits of SaaS Solutions cloud computing

 Rapid Scalability

 Accessibility from any location with Internet

 Eliminates infrastructure concerns

 Custom levels of service offerings

 Bundled maintenance and Support

For this motorcycle shop, SaaS is the best option.

 Since the motorcycle shop owner doesn’t want to invest on additional storage media for
the company’s computer, mobile devices and network servers.

 Since it is just a motorcycle repair shop, there don’t many IT employees to take care and
maintain the network. Cloud applications allow the cloud to be leveraged for software
architecture, reducing the burdens of maintenance, support, and operations by having the
application run on computers belonging to the vendor

 The best part of this type is that the management will be very simple. Even though the
flexibility is low, it is not an issue at the moment because the main task is to store the
data.

 Moving forward, when the company have more employees and have lots of data to be
stored, multiple application need to be used and when the company are capable to
develop and install their own operating systems, software and applications, they can opt
for Paas and then to Iaas.