cloud computing - challenges and future

8/10/2019 Cloud Computing - Challenges and Future

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Contents

1. Introduction

2. Meaning of Cloud Computing

3. Types of Cloud Computing

4. Cloud architectures

5.

Benefits of Cloud Computing6. Challenges of Cloud Computing

7. Future Impacts in Cloud Computing


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Introduction

Modern computing in the age of the Internet is quite a strange, remarkable thing. As you sit

connected to your laptop at home watching a YouTube video or using a search engine, youre

actually plugging into the collective power of thousands of computers that serve all this

information to you from far-away rooms distributed around the world. Its almost like having a

massive supercomputer at your service, thanks to the Internet.

This phenomenon is what we typically refer to as cloud computing. We now read the news, listen

to music, shop, watch TV shows and store our files on the web. Some of us live in cities in which

nearly every museum, bank, and government office has a website. The end result is, we spend

less time in lines or on the phone, as these websites allow us to do things like pay bills and make

reservations. The movement of many of our daily tasks online enables us to live more fully in the

real world.

Meaning of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than

having local servers or personal devices to handle applications. It is a type of Internet-based

computing, where different services -- such as servers, storage and applications -- are delivered

to an organization's computers and devices through the Internet.

The cloud in cloud computing can be defined as the set of hardware, networks, storage,

services, and interfaces that combine to deliver aspects of computing as a service. Cloud services

include the delivery of software, infrastructure, and storage over the Internet (either as separate

components or a complete platform) based on user demand.


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Cloud computing is the next stage in the Internet's evolution, providing the means through which

everything from computing power to computing infrastructure, applications, business

processes to personal collaboration can be delivered to you as a service wherever and

whenever you need.

The goal of cloud computing is to apply traditional supercomputing, or high-performance

computing power, normally used by military and research facilities, to perform tens of trillions of

computations per second, in consumer-oriented applications such as financial portfolios, to

deliver personalized information, to provide data storage or to power large, immersive computer

games.

A cloud allows users to access application, information, and data of all sorts on an online level

rather than by use of actual hardware or devices. A company offering reliable cloud technology

allows for computing to be done in a much more shared way, as a cloud provides a service rather

than a product. Users get and share their information in a way that can allow them to access and

give access to the whole world or any groups of people within their cloud.

The standards for connecting the computer systems and the software needed to make cloud

computing work are not fully defined at present time, leaving many companies to define their

own cloud computing technologies. Cloud computing systems offered by companies, like IBM's

"Blue Cloud" technologies for example, are based on open standards and open source software,

which links together computers that are used to deliver Web 2.0 capabilities.

For a small and medium size business (SMB), the benefits of cloud computing is currently

driving adoption. In the SMB sector there is often a lack of time and financial resources to

purchase, deploy and maintain an infrastructure (e.g. the software, server and storage).


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In cloud computing, small businesses can access these resources and expand or shrink services as

business needs change. The common pay-as-you-go subscription model is designed to let SMBs

easily add or remove services and you typically will only pay for what you do use.

The cloud also focuses on maximizing the effectiveness of the shared resources. Cloud resources

are usually not only shared by multiple users but as dynamically re-allocated per demand. This

can work for allocating resources to users in different time zones. For example, a cloud computer

facility, which serves European users during European business hours with a specific application

(e.g. email) while the same resources are getting reallocated and serve North American users

during North America's business hours with another application (e.g. web server). This approach

should maximize the use of computing powers thus reducing environmental damage as well.

Since less power, air conditioning, rackspace, and so on, is required for the same functions.

The term "moving to cloud" also refers to an organization moving away from a traditional

CAPEX model (buy the dedicated hardware and depreciate it over a period of time) to the OPEX

model (use a shared cloud infrastructure and pay as you use it).

Cloud computing allows companies to avoid upfront infrastructure costs, and focus on projects

that differentiate their businesses instead of infrastructure. Proponents also claim that cloud

computing allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with improved

manageability and less maintenance, and enables IT to more rapidly, adjust resources to meet

fluctuating and unpredictable business demand.

Actually Cloud Computing is a concept of eliminating traditional business applications which

have always been very complicated and expensive. It allows you to remotely manage work with

a single code-base customized to the companys needs. Cloud applications also differ in that the


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cloud provider, not the customer, is responsible for the maintenance, operations, and bandwidth

of the software.

In a cloud computing system, there's a significant workload shift. Local computers no longer

have to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to running applications. The network of computers

that make up the cloud handles them instead. Hardware and software demands on the user's side

decrease. The only thing the user's computer needs to be able to run is the cloud computing

system's interface software, which can be as simple as a Web browser, and the cloud's network

takes care of the rest.

Cloud computing has four essential characteristics: elasticity and the ability to scale up and

down, self-service provisioning and automatic deprovisioning, (the release of cloud services that

are no longer needed) application programming interfaces (APIs), billing and metering of service

usage in a pay-as-you-go model.

In other words, cloud computing leverages the Internet to enable the sharing and delivery of data,

media, content, and applications. Example: Music services that store users music collections,

enabling users to stream music on a variety device in any location with Internet connectivity.

Online backup services, that archives the contents of users computers via the Internet to provide

secure restoration of content if a device is damaged or stolen.

Types of Cloud Computing :

Cloud computing is offered in different forms:

Public clouds

Private clouds


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Hybrid clouds, which combine both public and private

Public clouds are virtualized data centers outside of your companys firewall. Generally, a

service provider makes resources available to companies, on demand, over the public Internet.

Private cloudsare virtualized cloud data centers inside your companys firewall. It may also be

a private space dedicated to your company within a cloud providers data center.

Hybrid cloudscombine aspects of both public and private clouds.

Cloud computing is a model of outsourced Information Technology resources where, rather than

building out a unique IT infrastructure, an organization instead accesses a shared infrastructure

that is housed in a separate geographical location.

Cloud architectures

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)is the foundation of cloud services. It provides clients with

access to server, hardware, storage, bandwidth and other fundamental computing resources. For

example, Amazon EC2 allows individuals and businesses to rent machines preconfigured with

selected operating systems on which to run their own applications.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) built upon IaaS and provides clients with access to the basic

operating software and optional services to develop and use software applications (eg database

access and payment service) without the need to buy and manage the underlying computing

infrastructure. For example, Google App Engine allows clients to run their web applications (ie

software that can be accessed using a web browser such as Internet Explorer over the internet) on

Googles infrastructure.


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Software as a Service (SaaS), built upon the underlying IaaS and PaaS provides clients with

integrated access to software applications. For example, Oracle SaaS Platform allows

independent software vendors to build, deploy and manage SaaS and cloud-based applications

using a licensing economic model. Here, users purchase a license and support for components of

the Oracle SaaS Platform on a monthly basis.

Benefits of Cloud Computing:

1. Lower Capital Costs

This is the first and the most considered aspect of the Cloud Computing. The Cloud

decimates the need for each user to invest in stand-alone servers or software that is

capital intensive, but under-utilized most of the time. You can maintain easy access to

your information with minimal upfront spending. Pay as you go (weekly, quarterly or

yearly), based on demand.

2. Increased Flexibility in Operations

It allows companies or large enterprises to save time in buying and setting up the

hardware. Even users can quickly scale up or down usage requirements or companies can

respond quickly to any business changes that may arise unexpectedly.

3. Compatibility

Well this is a big debate question whether to use Windows, Linux or Mac on old

traditional application. While are you on Cloud Computing than you can work on any

popular platform.


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4. Improve accessibility

You have access anytime, anywhere, making your life so much easier. You only need is

an internet connected device as most of the companies provide apps or softwares for

popular platforms like Windows, Mac, Android, iOS etc to work from anywhere.

5. No Software Glitches

Almost, every Cloud Storage company gives vast compatibility with Cloud applications.

So theres no more glitches for software installation.

6. Backup and Recovery

On any Cloud network almost, everyone have this option to automatically backup the

whole data. To reinstate backup if you damaged your data you only need to click some

buttons means lot of time is saving which you can use to do some other work. It is one of

the most asked benefits of Cloud Computing users are asking while buying storage.

Challenges in Cloud Computing:

Specific issues relate to deploying future infrastructure-as-a-service clouds and include

efficiently managing such clouds to deliver scalable and elastic service platforms on demand,

developing cloud aggregation architectures and technologies that let cloud providers collaborate

and interoperate, improving cloud infrastructures' security, reliability, and energy efficiency.

Companies are increasingly aware of the business value that cloud computing brings and are

taking steps towards transition to the cloud. A smooth transition entails a thorough understanding

of the benefits as well as challenges involved. Like any new technology, the adoption of cloud

computing is not free from issues. Some of the most important challenges are as follows.


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1.

Data location - Cloud computing technology allows cloud servers to reside anywhere,

thus the enterprise may not know the physical location of the server used to store and

process their data and applications. Although from the technology point of view, location

is least relevant, this has become a critical issue for data governance requirements. It is

essential to understand that many Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) can also specifically

define where data is to be located.

2. Common data Access - Application sharing and multi-tenancy of data is one of the

characteristics associated with cloud computing. Although many CSPs have multi-tenant

applications that are secure, scalable and customizable, security and privacy issues are

still often concerns among enterprises. Data encryption is another control that can assist

data confidentiality.

3. Cloud security policy / procedures transparency - The main challenge to cloud

computing is how it addresses the security and privacy concerns of businesses thinking of

adopting it. The fact that the valuable enterprise data will reside outside the corporate

firewall raises serious concerns. Hacking and various attacks to cloud infrastructure

would affect multiple clients even if only one site is attacked. Some CSPs may have less

transparency than others about their information security policy. The rationalisation for

such difference is that policies may be proprietary. As a result, it may create conflict

with the enterprises information compliance requirement. The enterprise needs to have


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and scalability. Businesses will be reluctant to switch to cloud without a strong service

quality guarantee.

10.Interoperability and Portability- Businesses should have the leverage of migrating in

and out of the cloud and switching providers whenever they want, and there should be no

lock-in period. Cloud computing services should have the capability to integrate

smoothly with the on-premise IT.

11.Reliability and Availability - Cloud providers still lack round-the-clock service, this

results in frequent outages. It is important to monitor the service being provided using

internal or third-party tools. It is vital to have plans to supervise usage, SLAs,

performance, robustness, and business dependency of these services.

All these challenges should not be considered as road blocks in the pursuit of cloud computing. It

is rather important to give serious consideration to these issues and the possible ways out before

adopting the technology.

Future of Cloud Computing:

1. Software floats away from hardware

Software will become divorced from hardware, with more and more technologies

consumed as a service, Cloud computing is the final means by which computing becomes

invisible. As a result, by 2020, if you were to ask a CIO to draw a map of their

infrastructure, they would not be able to. He will be able to say 'here are my partner


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providers', but he will not be able to draw a diagram of his infrastructure. This will be

because it will be in a "highly abstracted space", where software is written in such a way

that it goes through several filters before it interacts with hardware. This means that

front-end applications, or applications built on top of a platform-as-a-service, will be

hardware agnostic.

2.

Modular software

To take advantage of the huge hardware available via clouds, individual software

applications are set to get larger and more complex as they are written to take advantage

of scale. With the growth in the size and complexity of individual programs, the software

development process will place an emphasis on modular software as in, large

applications with components that can be modified without shutting down the program.

As a consequence, cloud applications will require a new programming mindset,

especially as they interact with multiple clouds.

Software has to be thought about differently. The management of federated services will

be one of the main 2020 challenges. This is because applications are not only going to be

based in the cloud, but will hook into other clouds and various on-premise applications as

well.

In other words, different parts of applications will "float around" in and out of service

providers. Assuring good service-level agreements for these complex software packages

will be a challenge.


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3. Social software

Along with the modular shift, software could take on traits currently found in social-

media applications like Facebook. Programs could form automatic, if fleeting,

associations with bits of hardware and software according to their needs.

It will be a social-media evolution. In other words, the infrastructure and software of a

datacenter will mould itself around the task required, rather than the other way around.

Developers will no longer need to worry about provisioning storage, a server and a

switch, all of this will happen automatically.

4. Commodity hardware rules

By 2020 the transition to low-cost hardware will be in full swing as schemes such as the

Open Compute Project find their way out of the datacenters of Facebook and Amazon

Web Services and into facilities operated by other, smaller companies as well. Servers

and storage devices will look like replaceable sleds. Cloud computing is the final means

by which computing becomes invisible. By breaking infrastructure down into its basic

components, replacements and upgrades can be done quickly. The companies best placed

to use this form of commoditized infrastructure are large businesses that operate huge

datacenters.

5. Low-power processors and cheaper clouds


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The chips are coming to market with a 64-bit capability, and once that happens, uptake

should accelerate, as enterprise software will be developed for the RISC chips, allowing

companies to use the power-thrifty processors in their datacenters, and thereby cut their

electricity bills by an order of magnitude. By 2020 it's likely that low-power chips will be

everywhere.

6.

Faster interconnects

By 2020 we can expect communications in the datacenter to be "running at a speed in the

low hundreds of gigabits per second". There will be a "very rapid commodification" of

high-end interconnect technologies, leading to a very cheap, very high-performance

interconnect. This will let information be passed around datacenters at a greater rate than

before, and at a lower cost, letting companies create larger applications that circulate

more data through their hardware (known in the industry as 'chatty' apps), potentially

allowing developers to build more intelligent, automated and complex programs.

7. Datacenters become ecosystems

Cloud datacenters will become much like a breathing and living organism with different

states. The twinned technologies of abstracted software and commodified hardware

should combine to make datacenters function much more like ecosystems, with over-

arching system ruling equipment via software, with hardware controlled from a single

point, but growing and shrinking according to workloads.


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8.

Clouds consolidate

The internet rewards scale, and with the huge capital costs associated with running

clouds, it seems likely that there will be a degree of consolidation in the cloud provider

market. Fierce competition between a few large providers could be a good thing, as it

would still drive each of them to experiment with radical technologies. For example, in a

bid to cut its internal networking costs and boost utilization, Google has recently moved

its entire internal network to the software-defined networking Open Flow standard, which

looks set to shake up the industry as more people adopt it.

9. The generational shift

By 2020, a new generation of CIOs will have come into companies, and they will have been

raised in a cloudy as-a-service world. There will be an expectation that things are available

"as-a-service", The consumption model is changing as a generational issue. And this new

generation may lead to a shake-up in how businesses bill themselves for IT,

10.Clouds will stratify


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Today clouds are differentiated by whether they provide infrastructure-as-a-service,

platform-as-a-service or software-as-a-service capabilities, but by 2020 more specialized

clouds will have emerged. Middle virtualization tools and 'dynamic BPO services' to appear

by 2020, along with a host of other inelegant acronyms. In other words, along with some

large providers offering basic technologies like storage and compute, there will also be a

broad ecosystem of more specific cloud providers, allowing companies to shift workloads to

the cloud that would otherwise be dealt with by very specific (and typically very expensive)

on-premise applications.

Companies utilizing Cloud service

The following list shows the current top 10 areas in which the companies are using the cloud

services.

1. Development and Testing

2. Development Platform Servers

3. Training Servers

4. One-time Big Data Projects

5. Website

6. Customer Relationship Management

7. Project Management, Expense Reporting & Time Management

8. Email

9. Human Resources

10.Cloud-Based Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus Services


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What the Future of Cloud Computing Holds

With cloud computing and the technology behind it there are many potential opportunities and

capabilities. Cloud computing can open a whole new world of jobs, services, platforms,

applications, and much more. There are thousands of possibilities beginning to form as the future

of cloud computing starts to really take off. For instance, vendors and service providers can get

on board to develop new and different ways of selling their goods and services to the cloud users

through the cloud technology. It opens up a whole new platform for designers and web

developers. Businesses and organizations can organize themselves and conduct business much

more affordable and professionally. For one thing, the extreme agility and accessibility of a

cloud is far superior to the use of current technology. No matter where in the world someone

happens to be, or what device they are using, they can access their cloud and continue to do their

work or share their information. There are many visions for the future of computing, and by-and-

large they all involve some form of distributed storage and processing. Sure, our computers,

tablets, and smartphones will continue to evolve and become more powerful, but so too will

cloud services and the internet infrastructure that connects it all.

The following new services have come about -

1. Security as a Service: Many security applications have been moved into the cloud, with

the latest being security suites. Some notable vendors are offering hosted security

solutions for desktops and servers -- the desktop solutions work with a host system to

deliver anti-malware, firewall, antiphishing and several other security capabilities -- fully

integrated with the desktop. The advantages offered by hosted security include up-to-date


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protection -- no signature updates needed -- deep packet inspection taking place at the

host and comprehensive reporting.

2. Elastic Clouds: Companies such as Amazon are now offering services where virtual

servers can be rented to run customer applications. The idea is that a customer can

instantly scale as needed, have complete control over a virtual instance of a server OS

and pay based upon demand. At the same time, a method like Amazon's EC2 is a way for

customers to leverage cloud computing. That service can also be used by solution

providers to build out virtual data centers, which then can be provisioned to create cloud

services to customers. In other words, services such as EC2 can be used to create an

instant cloud-related business.

3.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructures: Many businesses are looking to desktop virtualization

as a method to centralize and control PC desktops. A VDI works by delivering a virtual

PC down to a client device or end point. Users then have full access to that virtual PC

either as a remote client or using synchronization technology. VDI is poised to become a

cloud computing service, where custom virtual PCs can be created and then delivered

down to an endpoint. Customers pay for access to that virtual PC, which is also

constantly backed up and part of a business continuity solution.

Those are just a few examples of emerging technologies that are delivered via the

cloud and that could prove to be very channel friendly if managed and delivered properly.

Solution providers may want to explore those technologies and others to find a ground

floor opportunity that they can transform into a new business opportunity.


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Note for reference

Open sourcerefers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for

use and/or modification from its original design free of charge, i.e., open. Open source code is

typically created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and

share the changes within the community.

Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is

focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 basically

refers to the transition from static HTML Web pages to a more dynamic Web that is more

organized and is based on serving Web applications to users

Conclusion

Businesses are under increasing pressure to sharpen their business practices. Too few people are

aware of the security threats that are emerging. Nevertheless, they are responsible for ensuring

that sensitive data will remain authentic, accurate, available, and will satisfy specific compliance

requirements. Thus, it is essential for an organization to understand their current IT risks profile

in order for them to determine the companys levels of IT risk tolerance and IT risk policies, and

oversee management in the design, implementation and monitoring of the risk management and

internal controls system.

Overall Cloud computing, offers significant computing capability and economy of scale that

might not otherwise be affordable, particularly for small and medium-sized organizations.

cloud computing - challenges and future

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