Thought Garage

Its funny how Experts are made in America. Rule No.1 : You can become an Expert on anything just by claiming you are already one. So much for dreaming big and believing in yourself.

And once you are an Expert (or rather once you claim) you will be treated like an Expert !!

BTW, an expert’s observation on Cloud Computing. It is really funny. Please read.

Microsoft’s Azure cloud is a place you go to in order to build your applications. In the process, you are very likely to use Visual Studio, the .Net Framework, SQL Server in the form of Azure SQL Services, and Microsoft SharePoint, then run the resulting cloud application in Azure itself.

So is Azure just a super sales site for Microsoft products? No, no more so than Google’s AppEngine is a sales site for PHP tools, even though you will write your application in PHP if you want to take advantage of the AppEngine.

- Charles Babcock at Information Week’s Cloud Computing Section

If you are wondering is cloud –> marketing jargon to promote tools that build them or when did Google App Engine started supporting PHP, you hit the nail right on the head.

I am not saying they are not experts on the cloud.

Remember Rule 1.

These days, not a single day goes by without talking, hearing or reading something about Cloud Computing. It appears, the whole cloud (I mean the world; don’t blame me for overusing the word ‘cloud’, I just want to make a point) is totally excited about ‘Cloud’ suddenly.

In a way, Cloud Computing is the new web2.0, in terms of hype, buzz and activity all around. Every business has something to offer ‘on cloud’. Every consultant is busy selling strategies to cash in on the cloud. And every analyst is preparing a report on the cloud. Every developer is trying to equip to engineer applications on the cloud.

Simply put ..

What is really Cloud computing is all about? Why not look up the definition of Cloud Computing by going to the Encyclopedia on the cloud (??), Wikipedia.

The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on how the Internet is depicted in computer network diagrams and is an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it conceals. – Wikipedia

Cloud computing is an example of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. – Wikipedia

Though Cloud Computing could be everything for everybody (just like Web2.0), most stakeholders would agree to confine Cloud Computing in three forms.

Three Forms of Cloud Computing

1. Software-As-A-Service (SaaS)

Refers to Software Applications offered over the internet as a service. SalesForce.com is an excellent example and one of the most successful SaaS offerings. BaseCamp for Project Management, Google Apps are few other successful and well known SaaS offerings.

2. Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS)

Refers to Servers, Storage and Networks offered as a service over the internet.  Most Internet hosting providers fall in to this space. Amazon ECS, Rackspace, AT&T, Akamai are very good examples. They offer servers, databases, storage area networks, networking gear, content delivery networks as a service.

3. Platform As A Service (PaaS)

These providers offer Infrastructure as a Service with a limitation or leverage (depends on what you are looking for) that all applications must be built and run on top of their often proprietary platforms or technology stacks. PaaS inherently include IaaS. Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure, SalesForce Force.com are fine examples for this service.

SaaS and IaaS have been offered in the market for a while. Though there are lots of advances in the technicalities of managing them and lot more new players in the market, these services are not entirely NEW.

What is new in Cloud Computing is the third service, Platform-As-A-Service (PaaS). Not only Infrastructure to run your Business applications but a full platform to develop those applications. It is quite unlikely that these PaaS offerings (at least initially) will not provide a smoother migration for Enterprises to adopt Cloud Computing as this means re-developing most of their business applications.

Easier Adoption Path for Enterprises

For most enterprises, the only option that make sense at this point is IaaS. Instead of running their own data centers, applications can be moved to a public Cloud or a private cloud or managed cloud with little to no impacts. Cost of migrating to a Cloud will be quite insignificant and offer the best level of cost savings, while not forcing a vendor lock-in as applications run on generic platforms. This is the best option.

Or Enterprises can migrate to SaaS offerings, if there are comparable applications are available. For instance, instead of running your own CRM solution on premises, can migrate to SalesForce.com.  But it is a big question for how much generic application like SalesForce.com can offer unique capabilities for each organization, a primary reason why Enterprises developed their own software in the first place. Vendor + Application lock-in is implicit. All Employees and Customers need to be retrained in new sets of applications. Extensive customization is required.

The latest entry in to Cloud Computing, the PaaS is the most Unlikely path of migration of any Enterprise application to the cloud, as this needs re-architecture of their applications and Migration of application software as well  along with data migration. And this would be quite expensive and time consuming for any non-trivial, uncommon business application. Vendor + Platform lock-in is implicit.  Need to retrain Software Development groups and it could be quite extensive as the Platform could be significantly different from generic platform most software developers are comfortable with.

That’s my 2 cents on the Cloud. You can read a little more on the Wikipedia. Or anywhere on the Cloud (:-)).

Cloud Computing is the new web2.0, in terms of hype and buzz all around. I hate to invent yet another Buzzword. But isn’t Cloud Computing just a Hardware-As-A-Service (HaaS)?

If you look at the definition on Wikipedia, that is what Cloud Computing is all about. Isn’t it?

Cloud computing is an example of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. – Wikipedia

If you agree in principle that Cloud Computing = HaaS, then there is nothing really NEW about it. It must be as old as the concept of renting a server or the first internet Hosting company. And, all internet (as well as in house applications) that we know of did scale as needed. They are all in principle dynamically scalable. Didn’t they?

Then why so much undue buzz about Cloud Computing?

Is it because now there are more players in the hosting market? Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Rackspace … etc.

Or is it because of the new Billing model of hosting services that charges based on actual usage rather than a fixed cost?

Some analysts argue that ‘Cloud Computing’ is only for small businesses, ISVs and web startups where there is a need to start low (and cheap) and scale later. The underlying assumption behind the argument is that, in enterprises (read as large businesses), demand is quite predictable and doesn’t change so often.

Well, that is not quite true. While number of Employees in the organization may not change so often, their usage patterns are much like any web application startup.

For instance, take an enterprise with 10,000 employees. The enterprise IT department has developed an intranet web application for Performance Reviews. The web application will be accessed by Employees and Managers at the beginning of the year to set Goals. And will be accessed in December to appraise performance with respect to the set goals. The application will also be accessed sparingly by employees and managers through out the year to make necessary status updates, follow ups on action plans etc.

Typically, IT department will design the system such that it can handle the load during the worst peak hours.  In most Enterprises, the most productive day to get any thing done is the Last day. So, the system shall be designed to handle the load of all 10000 employees accessing the system in a single day.  Assume that need 5 servers to handle the load. So what happens to those 5 servers for the rest of the year?

If the enterprise uses a cloud service (could be an in-house, partner or a public cloud service), the firm can run the least possible configuration throughout the year and scale up to 5 servers during the last few days of the year or whenever they need (like a mid-year reviews in June/July).

There are many Enterprise applications that are normally run with a fixed infrastructure designed to take care of peak loads. For instance Expense reporting applications (normally accessed only at end of month), Payroll applications(normally accessed only at the beginning of the month or once in a fortnight) and even Email servers(normally accessed only during office hours). Most Enterprise applications are not accessed all-the-time. Cloud service is a perfect target for all those applications and could save an enterprise a huge chunk of their budgets.

So, Cloud Computing will benefit businesses large and small alike. In many cases, larger the enterprise, larger will be the savings if Cloud computing is used.