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Computing in the clouds

Cloud computing is giving a whole new dimension to online computing. Now it’s up to enterprises to leverage this opportunity, writes Varun Aggarwal

The Business Web has evolved from a static destination where businesses merely publish and search for information, into a set of dynamic virtual workplaces where employees create and share information in a flexible, continuously evolving way. This flexibility provided by the Internet is increasingly leading to applications being developed in the cloud. Players like IBM and Google have already positioned themselves strongly in this arena whereas others like Yahoo, Microsoft, eBay and Salesforce.com are not far behind. Wipro is also trying to leverage this lucrative opportunity and plans to start offering services around it.

Cloud computing goes beyond convenience. A generation used to posting and sharing photos on orkut, instant messaging with friends and interacting online for a good chunk of its spare time is having an impact on expectations in the workplace. By reducing the traditional costs and labor associated with deploying, maintaining and upgrading business technology, IT departments are increasingly becoming free to devote their limited resources to projects more strategic to the business. And since software lives in the cloud, it can be improved as often as needed without tying up the IT department or inconveniencing users. This “versionless” software eliminates upgrade projects and helps technology keep pace with the speed of business, giving employees access to new technology early and often rather than forcing them to wait for a final, packaged product to be shipped.

Understanding Cloud Computing

Cloud computing describes both a platform and a type of application. A cloud computing platform dynamically provisions, configures, reconfigures, and deprovisions servers as needed. Cloud applications are those that are extended to be accessible through the Internet. These cloud applications use large data centers and powerful servers that host Web applications and Web services.

Shashi B Mal, Director, Systems & Technology Group, IBM India/South Asia explained, “Cloud computing is an emerging approach to shared infrastructure in which large pools of systems are linked together to provide IT services. Cloud Computing will allow corporate data centers to operate more like the Internet by enabling computing across a distributed, globally accessible fabric of resources, rather than on local machines or remote server systems. Organizations can use them as much as they want and as wireless broadband connection options grow, wherever they need them.”

Cloud computing describes how computer programs are hosted and operated over the Internet. The key feature of cloud computing is that both the software and the information held in it live on centrally located servers rather than on a end-user’s computer. A Google spokesperson added, “This means people can access the information that they need from any device with an Internet connection—including mobile and handheld phones—rather than being chained to the desktop. It also means lower costs, since there is no need to install software or hardware.”

Clouds of different colors

The architecture behind cloud computing is a massive network of ‘cloud servers’ interconnected as if in a grid running in parallel, sometimes using the technique of virtualization to maximize compute power per server.

Blue Cloud, built on IBM’s massive-scale computing initiatives, will be based on open standards and open source software supported by IBM software, systems technology and services. This is supported by more than 200 IBM Internet-scale researchers worldwide and targets clients who want to explore the extreme scale of cloud computing infrastructures quickly and easily.

“A front-end interface allows a user to select a service from a catalog. This request gets passed to the system management which finds the correct resources, and then calls the provisioning service which carves out resources in the cloud. The provisioning service may deploy the requested stack or Web application as well.

“Blue Cloud based on IBM’s Almaden Research Center cloud infrastructure will include Xen and PowerVM virtualized Linux operating system images and Hadoop parallel workload scheduling. Blue Cloud is supported by IBM Tivoli software that manages servers to ensure optimal performance based on demand. This includes software that is capable of instantly provisioning resources across multiple servers to provide users with a seamless experience. Tivoli monitoring checks the health of the provisioned servers and makes sure they meet service level agreements,” said Mal.

Taking a look at the Google’s version of the technology, the Google spokesperson claimed that businesses can get started using Google Apps online pretty much instantly. “It’s as easy as signing up and making some changes to your domain settings to activate your services. Organizations with existing IT solutions and more complex migration or integration needs may require additional time to make the switch, but with Google Apps, these companies have access to a number of Google partners who can help them get started quickly and easily,” said the Google spokesperson.

The architecture used at Salesforce.com consists of Force.com Development as a Service, a set of development tools and APIs that enable enterprise developers to easily harness the promise of cloud computing. Jeremy Cooper, Vice President Marketing Asia Pacific & Japan, Salesforce.com said, “Development-as-a-Service provides full access to the database, logic and user interface capabilities of the Force.com Platform and unites the productivity of development and IT collaboration tools with the power of Force.com Platform-as-a-Service. Force.com Development-as-a-Service includes the new Force.com Meta data API, the Force.com Integrated Development Environment (IDE), the Force.com Sandbox, and Force.com Code Share to provide developers with a comprehensive set of services to build enterprise Software-as-a-Service applications.”

The Force.com Platform provides the necessary building blocks to enable business application creation and delivery, without the need for software and hardware client-server infrastructure via the Internet. “By replacing the cost and complexity of software platforms with a complete, scalable service, Force.com provides developers the fastest path to turn ideas into business impact. The Force.com encompasses a complete feature set for the creation of business applications, including the ability to create any database on demand, a workflow engine for managing collaboration between users, the Apex Code programming language for building complex logic, the Force.com Web Services API for programmatic access, mash-ups, and integration with other applications and data, and Visualforce for a framework to build any User-Interface-as-a-Service,” added Jeremy.

Tough weather ahead

With cloud computing, we are at a point similar to when people started realizing that their money was safer in a bank than under their mattress. However, the benefits of cloud computing will not be realized if businesses are not convinced that it is secure. Trust is at the center of success and providers have to prove themselves worthy of that trust if hosted services are going to work. The Google spokesperson opined, “That’s why security is one of the most important factors we consider when we develop products that handle a lot of personal and business data. The security review process for product development is rigorous. We test and retest each product’s software code.”

“Security is built into the DNA of our products. This starts with the physical protection of our data centers, the measures we put in place to prevent network attacks, the application environment itself, and, most importantly, the procedures for deploying secure code. In addition, with Google Apps (our suite of online communication and collaboration tools hosted in the ‘cloud’) we create a virtual firewall around an organization’s data, giving the administrator the choice of which users and applications are permitted and how data is shared. We plug into an organization’s authentication system, giving them control over access to the system. We trust Google products so much that we run our own mail and document data on Google Apps, using the same infrastructure and applications we develop and deploy for our customers.”

Advantages of the cloud

According to a Google spokesperson, Cloud computing is particularly valuable to small and medium businesses, where effective and affordable IT tools are critical to helping them become more productive without spending lots of money on in-house resources and technical equipment. “But we are seeing large businesses moving to the cloud as well, for a variety of reasons, such as cost savings, remote access, ease of availability and real-time collaboration capabilities. The time is right for business users to embrace online applications in ways that make sense for them. There will always be a need for desktop applications that provide advanced functionality that’s best delivered from a client such as high powered computations in spreadsheets; but less and less work is like that.”

Storing data in the cloud already has some distinct advantages over client-based access. We can leverage the sheer processing power of the cloud to do things that traditional productivity applications cannot do. “For instance, users can instantly search over 25 GB worth of e-mail online, which is nearly impossible to do on a desktop. To take another example, each document created through Google Apps is easily turned into a living information source, capable of pulling the latest data from external applications, databases and the Web. This revolutionizes processes as simple as creating a Google spreadsheet to compare stock prices from vendors over time, because the cells can be populated and updated as the prices change in real time,” explained Google spokesperson.

Cloud computing offers almost unlimited computing power and collaboration at a massive scale for enterprises of all sizes. “The Force.com Platform-as-Service provides the necessary building blocks to make cloud computing real for the enterprise. Our customers have already developed applications in the cloud such as Accounts Receivable, Bug Enhancement Tracking, Employee Compliance and Training, Emergency Room Staffing, Expense Reporting, Food Ingredient Management, Recruiting, Time Management,” said Cooper.

“As part of the Force.com Cloud Computing Architecture, we have announced a new utility pricing model for the Force.com Platform. The pricing gives customers the flexibility to deploy Platform-as-a-Service applications to users throughout their enterprise based on their usage needs and patterns. CIOs and IT managers now have the power to deploy Force.com for unlimited or per-login usage for regular or occasional users depending on the specific needs of their enterprise,” he concluded.

varun.aggarwal@expressindia.com