We’ve all heard of buzzwords like “Software-as-a-Service” (SaaS), “on-demand” software, and software provided “in the cloud”. They are all related to the concept of being able to use software applications over the Internet. These applications are typically provided as a service to users via the "cloud", which enables the delivery of the applications over the Internet in a scalable, reliable, and secure way. Those who take advantage of cloud computing can essentially change the way they consume IT, realizing substantial business and technical benefits.
Technically, cloud computing is a network of servers and connections that deliver services and applications as a “service” via the cloud (the Internet). This provides a more scalable architecture than traditional on-premise solutions, as applications and services are balanced across many resources, thereby allowing users to access technology via the Internet. Because the IT-related capabilities and applications are provided over the Internet, users can use the technologies without in-house IT implementation and the related IT expertise needed to manage the in-house resources.
The business benefits:
Companies can “lease” or subscribe to the IT service, and therefore shift resources (money and time) away from large capital investments in hardware and software, as well as IT resources. Rather than investing in IT infrastructure and maintenance, they can invest resources in the core business or technology . Companies can also forego an upfront capital investment in assets such hardware, software, and IT personnel required to install, configure, and integrate the assets. Instead, they can consume the IT as a service. The pricing model allows companies to “pay as they go”, so cost of entry and exit is low, with predictable, defined spends.
And because cloud-based (or SaaS-based) applications are browser based, cloud-based application vendors can deliver updates and new versions quickly via the Internet without having to test against customers’ IT environments. This allows customers to get a lot more software for their investment, as well as allowing the software vendor to deliver software in a more competitive, agile way, independent of the underlying IT platform customers are running.
The technical benefits:
Most cloud platforms, correctly architected, can deliver much higher service levels, with load balancing, security, automatic backups, performance monitoring, scaling, and redundancy. The cloud is architected to share computing power across virtual and physical servers, so it can handle multiple tenants that share the infrastructure, and can also balance the utilization of the assets to accommodate peaks in demand for computing power.
Who benefits from cloud computing?
Small- and medium-sized companies especially would benefit from implementing cloud computing for any application or service that typically requires intensive IT resources in hardware, software, and skills. However, larger enterprises are also looking at where to reduce costs and how to shift resources to their core businesses.
As an example of how this can benefit a particular application, let’s look at websites. Websites are very costly and time consuming to implement and maintain due to the different tools and skill sets needed to create customized, interactive websites. Requirements can range from programming languages (such as .NET, Java, and so on) to website-specific implementation languages (such as HTML, CSS, PHP, and so on), and from physical and virtual servers to software servers (such as the OS, database, and web servers). And then there’s the content management phase, which requires integration of a content management system (CMS) that is typically costly as well as time consuming. Analytics and search engine optimization often need to be integrated with third-party solutions. The website then needs to be hosted via a professional hosting solution, such as on-premise, co-located servers, or cloud-managed hosting.
In sum, the entire website lifecycle is a complex implementation undertaking – and one that needs to be revisited every time website functionality changes. Website implementation and ongoing management is an application that would highly benefit from a cloud environment, both for hosting the website itself and as the tool for implementation.
To see our own spoof on "life without cloud computing", see the last two issues of Web of Pain comic.
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