an insight for mobile cloud computing (mcc)

Mobile Cloud Computing

- by Yuvaraj Ilangovan


MCC refers infrastructure where both the data storage and data processing happen outside of the mobile device.

• What is Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC)


MCC Offers the following advantagesStreamlining of business process – For example seminars &

important meetings hosted which avoid the travel time and operation cost.

Mobile users face many challenges in terms of hardware & software resources it allows the mobile users to use infrastructure, platforms and software by Cloud providers.

Provides data storage and processing services in cloud as all resource intensive computing are performed in Cloud.

Provides access to store, edit and share from anywhere.Ease of research – researcher and field officers works from

anywhere can feed the facts from the place wherever they areEnhanced productivity – work from anywhere

• Why Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC)?


Scalability & Elasticity – On demand resources scaling up / out based on real time requirements

Application Programming Interfaces – Mostly using REST APIs

Virtualization - sharing of servers and storage devices and increased utilization

Reduced cost: Conversion from CAPEX model to OPEX model

Multitenancy – sharing of resources

and costs

Device and Location Independence – Use any device from anywhere model

• Characteristics of Mobile Cloud

MCC


• Mobile Cloud Framework


HYBRID

• Types of Cloud Model

COMMUNITY

PUBLIC - A hosting service model to the general public and the storage and applications are accessible by anyone who is intended to

PRIVATE – Infrastructure and access dedicated to a specific organization for security and confidentiality requirements

HYBRID - Composition of two or more clouds (private, community or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together offering the advantages of multiple deployment models

COMMUNITY – These clouds are a hybrid form of private clouds built and operated specifically for a targeted group. These communities have similar cloud requirements and their ultimate goal is to work together

PUBLIC PRIVATE


Public Cloud Available for general public that is being operated by service providers

like Google, Amazon, Microsoft who own the infrastructure / operations and provide access over internet

No visibility for customers about the cloud infrastructure location, etc.,

Notably says that all users are sharing infrastructure in this model

Advantages Operate on a low cost

Pay as you use model

Elasticity due to large scale infrastructure

Suitable scenarios when: Your application is used by lot of people (like email)

You require on-demand infrastructure capacity (such as peak load scenarios)

• Types of Cloud Model [Contd…]


Private Cloud This model is dedicated to a specific organization

It can be hosted either internally (on-premises) or externally (managed by third party)

Advantages Scoped to meet only organization needs

Very secured and controllable

Can be operated internally or externally

Suitable scenarios when: You need more secured cloud efficiency for your business

You have enough budget for maintaining own infrastructure

You have right skilled infrastructure team to handle cloud level challenges



Community Cloud Community clouds are a crossbreed form of private clouds built and

operated specifically for a targeted group who have similar cloud requirements. This model can be either on-premise or off-premise

Advantages Multi-tenant service model which supports govern, manage and secure

by the contributed organizations

Realizing the benefits of a public cloud with the added level of privacy, security, and policy compliance usually associated with a private cloud

Suitable scenarios when: Organizations which are under same governance model that need to

use cloud infrastructure



Hybrid Cloud An integrated cloud service model which has both public and private

cloud traits

Advantages Scalability

Security

Cost effective

Suitable scenarios when: Organization wants to keep common client services for majority of

usage and would like to keep confidential services on-premise with full security implementation



SaaS – Software is licensed on Subscription basis and is centrally hosted on the cloud by Independent Software Providers (ISVs) and Application Service Providers (ASPs).

• SaaS (Software as a Service)


Where it will fit: Companies who require solutions in the areas of productivity, project

management, security, application / network monitoring, customer service / help desk, etc.,

SaaS solutions can be built specifically for business functions like CRM, BI and Analytics, etc.,

Where it will NOT fit: Applications where extremely fast processing of real time data is

required.

Applications where legislation or other regulation does not permit data being hosted externally .

Applications where an existing on-premise solution fulfills all of the organization’s needs.

Few SaaS providers:

• SaaS where it will fit and won’t


The below pictures represents the difference between the traditional Software delivery and SaaS based delivery.

• SaaS Vendor Delivery Model


Computing platform that allows the creation of web applications quickly, easily, without the complexity of buying & maintaining the software and infrastructure underneath it.

• PaaS (Platform as a Service)


Where it will fit:

Fit in the scenarios where multiple developers are working on the same application development and where 3rd party (Build, Testing team) need to interact with the development process.

Where it will NOT fit: High portable application in terms of Hosted

Where application performance requires customization based on specific Hardware

Few PaaS providers:

• PaaS where it will fit and won’t


IaaS = HaaS (Hardware as Service) + OS as a Service

Delivering Cloud Computing infrastructure such as Storage, Servers, network & Operating Systems on-demand basis.

Public cloud – Infrastructure that consists of shared resources deployed on self service basis over the internet

Private Cloud – Infrastructure that emulates on cloud computing features such as Virtualization over private network.

• IaaS (Infrastructure as Service)


Where it will fit: For New Organization where no capital to invest in Hardware

For organization where Hardware demand is volatile

For organization growing rapidly and demand for scalability.

For LOB where trial or temporary Infrastructure needs.

Where it will NOT fit: Where highest levels of performance required.

Dedicated hosted infrastructure has the capacity to meet the organizations need.

Few IaaS providers:

• IaaS where it will fit and won’t


• Comparison between SaaS, PaaS, IaaS (in terms of managing)


It’s relatively a latest development model in cloud computing. These are cloud based server side mobile services to ease app development and deployment quickly

What are the general services provided by MBaaS?

Push Notification

File storage and sharing

Integration with social networks

Location services

Messaging and Chat functions

User management

Usage analysis tools

• Mobile Backend as a Service (MBaaS)


• Close Source

• Open Source

Appcelerator Cloud

Parse

Kinvey

StackMob

Applicasa

Cloudmine

OpenMobster

OpenKit

BaasBox

Helios

• Mobile Backend as a Service (MBaaS)• List of MBaaS providers


Native Mobile App Cloud Mobile App

Apps are installed directly and developers can manage separate version for each device.

Similar to Web App which run on servers external to the device remotely

App can be stored on the device or Private / Public store.

App stored remotely in the Cloud.

App is built for particular device and its OS.

Cloud / Web App work for any hardware / devices.

Associated Data is stored in Device or remotely

Associated data stored remotely in the cloud.

Ability to use device specific hardware.

Cannot access the device specific hardware

Native app are generally faster Load the UI using the Browser

Uses own native languages (for example Java for Android, Objective-C for iOS.

Not tied to any development languages. Written in HTML5, CSS 3 and JS

• Difference between Mobile Native Apps & Cloud based Mobile App


Cloud hosting services provide hosting for websites on virtual servers which pull their computing resource from extensive underlying networks of physical web servers.

Features & Benefits of Cloud Hosting: Reliability : Rather than hosting the application in the single server

instance hosted in many clusters. If one node goes on offline the other nodes will be available.

Physical Security : Underlying physical servers are still housed within data centers and so benefit from the security measures that those facilities implement to prevent people accessing or disrupting them on-site.

Scalability and Flexibility: Resource is available in real time on demand and not limited to the physical constraints/capacity of one server.

Utility style costing: The client only pays for what they actually use.

Responsive load balancing: Load balancing is software based and therefore can be instantly scalable to respond to changing demands.

• Cloud Hosting