Program: MBA - ACM

Course: DAC 542 : Digital Applications in Project Management

OVERVIEW ON CLOUD COMPUTING

By far the most significant development that has enabled most of the other development in the recent
times is the advent of cloud computing as a technology model to build, host and run computer
applications. The need of cloud computing came primarily from the philosophy to share unused
resources over the internet. The underlying technology is the virtualisation software that manages the
compute resources and allocates on demand to the users who are made oblivious of the underlying
complexity. Cloud computing makes the entire process to access computing power, storage space,
applications over the internet simple, sometimes free or sometimes for a usage fee. So there is no
need to upfront invest capital cost in buying a server, setting up a LAN network and software licences,
and these services will be available as long as the user has access to internet connections.

Cloud computing defined:

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on demand network access to a
shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and
services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service
provider interaction. Cloud computing philosophy gave rise to rapid development of new applications
by start-up companies for the common masses. Social media applications were the first ones to go off
the block which enrolled millions of customers and in the process these companies’ valuation
increased manifold. Having access to such a vast number of customers enabled these cloud service
providers to direct advertisement in a planned and customised manner. We are all aware of social
media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and others. Most of these
applications are very popular as these are meeting insatiable needs of people to share their life events
with their friends and families. We also use several messaging applications which are easy to use,
24×7 available and at no cost. All these are supported by cloud computing as the underlying
technology. Some major cloud services and technologies are provided by leading companies like
IBM, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, VMware, etc.
Cloud computing service models: At the most basic level one must understand how various types of
ser-vices or cloud computing is categorised. Cloud services are offered in three types as given below:

1
Source – 1) Management Information System EB. Available from: McGraw Hill Bookshelf, (6th
Edition). McGraw-Hill India, 2020. 2) 2) Construction 4.0 An innovation platform for Built
environment
 Program: MBA - ACM
Course: DAC 542 : Digital Applications in Project Management

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Here the cloud service provider will provide only the hardware
resources such as storage space or CPU resources alongside maintenance and support. Examples of
this category are Google Drive, Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2

PaaS (Platform as a Service): Here the cloud service provider gives a development platform for new
business applications. Using the platform capability one can develop application with or without too
much of coding. PaaS services of cloud computing can be used for developing, testing and organising
the different applications of an enterprise, thus expediting the development time and reducing risk of
investment. PaaS widely used model and its examples of this type includes Google App Engine and
AWS Elastic Beanstalk. There are many other platforms that let users develop specific applications
for a function.

SaaS (Software as a Service): Here the user can use an application functionality using a web browser
without worrying about the underlying technology, its maintenance or cost involved in upgrade etc.
One can use limited functionality free to get a feel of its working and then can pay a subscription fee
for use. Examples of SaaS model is Salesforce.com, Google G Suite, Microsoft Office 365, etc. It
may be noted that all these three deployment models are interdependent. For example, creating SaaS-
based cloud application will need underlying PaaS and /or IaaS The features offered by the lower
layers of cloud deployment are necessary for the higher layers of cloud deployments. Making a right
choice between various cloud computing models requires a proper understanding of the MIS needs.
Smaller businesses and individual users get huge benefits by using SaaS-based cloud services for
software like email, productivity software, CRM or applications such as Gmail, Microsoft Office 365,
Salesforce.com etc. Start-up firms and developers who need to try out new applications use PaaS
platforms such as AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Oracle Cloud Platform (OCP), Google App Engine,
Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud Platform, to name a few. IaaS-based cloud services are useful for all
types of organisations who need flexible virtual computing resources. Examples of popular IaaS cloud
services are Amazon EC2, AWS, Google Compute Engine, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Apache
CloudStack, AT&T Business, Citrix Hypervisor, among others. The Fig. shows the three types of
cloud deployment.

2
Source – 1) Management Information System EB. Available from: McGraw Hill Bookshelf, (6th
Edition). McGraw-Hill India, 2020. 2) 2) Construction 4.0 An innovation platform for Built
environment
 Program: MBA - ACM
Course: DAC 542 : Digital Applications in Project Management

Cloud Deployment Model: Based on the ownership of the cloud infrastructure there are four types of
cloud deployment models: public, private, community and hybrid.

Private Cloud: Is owned by an enterprise who is its exclusive user. This is also known as internal
cloud infra-structure. This infrastructure could be on premise within the firewall of the enterprise
network and used via the intranet. It may be off-premise, under secured perimeter of a third-party
provider. This is a much-secured option of cloud infrastructure which is most expensive and can be
opted by large enterprises. Popular private cloud infrastructure provided by a third party is from
Microsoft, VMware, Oracle, HPE, Dell, IBM and Cisco.

Public cloud: Is the most used cloud deployment managed and owned by an external vendor which
rents the infrastructure to different companies. This is the simplest and cheapest model where various
SaaS applications like social media applications, customer relationship management (CRM) software
and social networks. Public clouds are ideal for lean organisations which focus on dynamic scaling
but are dependent on tight budgets. Public clouds include social media networks. Examples of public
cloud are Google, Yahoo, Salesforce, Microsoft, Amazon, Rackspace etc.

Hybrid cloud: Is a combination of both public and private cloud to meet a specific organisation need.
In case of existing enterprises this is a more likely option where the enterprise would like to create a
3
Source – 1) Management Information System EB. Available from: McGraw Hill Bookshelf, (6th
Edition). McGraw-Hill India, 2020. 2) 2) Construction 4.0 An innovation platform for Built
environment
 Program: MBA - ACM
Course: DAC 542 : Digital Applications in Project Management

private cloud for a flexible, easy-to-deploy IT infrastructure for critical data within a secured
perimeter and also use public cloud to facilitate innovation as well as use of other available cloud-
based applications. According to several research institutions, hybrid cloud will be an increasingly
utilised technology by most businesses. Examples of hybrid cloud vendors are Amazon, IBM,
Microsoft, Rackspace, VMware, Google, Dell EMC and HPE

Community clouds: Is another variation of cloud model where the cloud users are a select group of
organisations such as universities, research or standardisation bodies or similar niche organisations
with common interest with common compliance standards, security measures and policies.
Community cloud can exist on-premise or off-premise as the case may be and can be managed either
by the third party or internally.

4
Source – 1) Management Information System EB. Available from: McGraw Hill Bookshelf, (6th
Edition). McGraw-Hill India, 2020. 2) 2) Construction 4.0 An innovation platform for Built
environment