Despite the alleged disadvantages of a Cloud Computing implementation, it’s still a really smart move, here’s why…

It has been said that you cannot do or produce anything without also creating detractors and critics. We certainly see evidence of this phenomenon in technical circles; where every new release is met with disdain from a select few who simply cannot be pleased or contented. Likewise, cloud computing is certainly not immune from critical backlash. Since its formal inception, cloud computing has certainly had its run-ins with critics and curmudgeons; yet despite any backlash toward the technology, it has prevailed. Even today, when more and more of the world’s infrastructure is turning to cloud computing for solutions, there are those who seem intent on characterizing it as a lackluster technology. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is, despite whatever it is you might have heard about cloud computing, implementing it into your business is still one of the smartest moves you can make (as an owner or manager).

Fully-managed and reliable security
One of the main arguments against implementing cloud computing is built from a perceived weakness in terms of enterprise security. While it is true that there are slight security risks in cloud computing, the exact same thing can be said about any other IT infrastructure. There is no such thing as a perfectly incorruptible system. Sure, some infrastructures are sounder than others, but this isn’t an issue that’s related to choice in terms of design (it’s more a function of ethics and individual abilities). In all actuality, cloud computing is bringing enhanced security, detection, and forensic tools with it. It’s actually becoming easier to keep data safe and intruders out. In fact, thanks to cloud computing, most businesses can simply rely on the top-notch security that’s supplied to them by their provider. This brings us to a very important point about cloud security as it relates to cloud providers. The main source of disdain or distrust of cloud providers comes from the fact that they have control and access over your data. But is it a good idea to live in fear and distrust of cloud providers because you think they might do something unethical? The simplest and best solution for this moral dilemma is to seek out only the most reputable and visible organizations to deliver your cloud computing services. In other words, the bigger they are the better.

Your existing infrastructure components (enterprise/legacy) can be migrated
Another issue which often prevents businesses from exploring their cloud options is the fear of losing or disrupting the effectiveness of their critical components. The truth is that all of the mission-critical elements of your infrastructure can be painlessly deployed into a cloud setup, often without any type of service disruption to ongoing work. Another thing that makes cloud computing so flexible, elastic and powerful is its ability to assimilate virtually anything and everything in terms of software, hardware, and infrastructure. So, those elements which your business requires and relies on for daily production won’t be affected at all by a cloud transition in terms of their function or effectiveness.

Reduced energy consumption costs
Cloud computing’s ability to trim energy consumption is among one of its biggest selling points. In the same way that a cloud is able to scale to a network/user in terms of processing power, energy usage is also extremely “elastic”. If for example, your cloud service is metered (you only pay for what you use), it could be said that it is much more efficient than a system where costs remain the same regardless of usage. This exact same scenario applies to energy consumption as well; individual nodes or terminals are only powered on, for instance, when they are actually needed or in-use.

Reduced personnel costs
Given that most of your IT services will be covered by your cloud service provider, you can expand your IT operation without having to add extra personnel. The beauty of paying for a managed service is the ability to shift focus away from maintenance-relate issues. Does this mean you can do away with on-site IT altogether? No. It would be a mistake to simply eliminate your IT department and relegate all of your IT duties to your service provider.  Additionally, it is highly recommended that you require all of your current IT personnel (and incoming) to complete an affordable, informative, and internet-based cloud computing certification program, or foundation training course.

IT / hardware assets are more fully exploited
Another one of the great benefits of cloud-based technology is that it is able to more fully utilize any on-site or remotely located hardware assets more efficiently. In other words, all of your available IT assets are going to be leveraged in ways that not only add real value to the work you do, but do it in the most powerful and competent manner possible.

If you or your organization is “on the fence” about transitioning to cloud computing you should organize some meetings and go over a complete list of benefits with your IT personnel. Moreover, some larger cloud providers might be able to send representatives who will be able to address all of your specific concerns and even quell some any nagging fears that might be lingering.

Finding the right cloud computing solution for your business

Certainly no one would argue that it is tough to find a cloud provider these days. But having an abundance of vendors to choose from doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you will in fact find the right one (capable of providing adequate solutions and service), does it? Without naming any names, we will explore some of the basic cloud service options that are out there for businesses to choose from. Additionally, we’ll also detail some of the cloud computing needs that you (as a business manager or owner) should take into consideration.

Public, Private & Hybrid Clouds
Although the various individual service models offered by vendors may mix and match elements to form new offerings or packages, you really only have three types of “clouds” after you strip everything else away. As you might expect, a Public Cloud is essentially a type of cloud infrastructure which is available for use by the general public. In general, most public clouds deliver mostly low-cost applications and storage to thousands, if not millions of users. Most web-delivered services which comprise some form of storage fall under the category of Public Cloud computing. Likewise, some public clouds will feature free services in addition to metered (pay-per-use) ones. Often times, businesses will simply take advantage of free public cloud-delivered services, avoiding the various metered services; whether or not this is possible really depends on what your area(s) of business / interest are.

By contrast, a private cloud is owned, rented, or licensed by an organization through a provider directly and is generally not open for public use. The organization paying for or building the private cloud is also tasked with its maintenance and / or management. In other words, if you are looking for a private cloud you will be paying for it and likely managing it directly as well. However, all private cloud setups are not created equal. For example, some private clouds may simply be partitioned sections of a larger public cloud which have been set aside for storage and virtualization by a provider. Then of course you have true private clouds which are basically massive self-contained infrastructures which are in turn built, owned or leased by one or a limited number of participating organizations. But perhaps the biggest difference between public and private clouds is that private clouds tend to incorporate more comprehensive virtualization. In other words, public clouds are essentially designed to provide a la carte’ cloud services / products, whereas its private counterpart, will often encompass and impart what is essentially an entire company’s IT infrastructure. For most businesses, private clouds are going to be the best and most obvious choice.

Then of course you have hybrid clouds, which are more or less co-managed by both the client and provider. In this type of model, not all the duties are covered by the cloud vendor, so it is important that the hybrid cloud client to have their own IT personnel on hand who are proficient in and comfortable with cloud computing technologies. Arguably, the most cost-effective way to ensure and achieve this is to simply have your IT department attain some form of cloud computing certification or at the very least, training.  

So, what should you be looking for in a cloud provider?
There are a number of things that any business needs to carefully consider before finally choosing their cloud provider; some are fairly obvious, others are not. For instance, security is of very serious concern, especially for organizations that host, store, or transfer customer/client/employee data. This is yet another reason why you should always keep the larger cloud providers in mind; they often have much more extensive budgets of which more generous portions are generally devoted toward security. As a rule, the bigger a cloud provider is, the more they have to lose. So, in order to grow and preserve their operation (as well as better service their clientele) they must fight harder to stay ahead of the vandals, hackers and ne’er-do-wells.

In keeping in line with the concept of security is stability; or rather, the long-term viability of your cloud service provider. In the same way that you would never attempt to build a house upon ground that is not solid (or is perhaps prone to dramatic shifts), you certainly don’t want to place all of your company’s data as well as its future in the hands of a fly-by-night provider. Simply put, you should choose a provider that’s going to both stick around and hopefully grow with your organization. Basically, you want a cloud provider that’s strong enough to endure any and all future changes as well as weather through the competition it might face in the market.

Let’s not forget about service level agreements (SLA) either, right? As with any other type of organization you plan on doing business with in an extended capacity, contracts and agreements are usually necessary to outline responsibilities, obligations, and codes. This is an area where you really should consider forming a joint committee of lawyers, managers and IT strategists in order to chart out potential plans and future pitfalls. Without a great SLA in place, you might find yourself in a situation where your cloud service provider makes life very difficult for your organization.

Remote data backups, storage access and disaster recovery are also very important considerations which should not be overlooked. While it’s not likely that your provider’s cloud will experience a complete catastrophic “melt-down”, their plans for ensuring the safely of their customer’s applications and data in the event of the unforeseen should be discussed. Many of the top cloud providers these days actually employ a system of daily or even hourly remote backups which copy data across multiple servers in an effort to make complete data loss virtually impossible.  

Regardless of what type of cloud service provider you choose, the aforementioned concerns should give you a much better idea about what you need to be looking for. While it’s important that a vendor is able to offer you a buffet of individual software / hardware virtualizations solutions / options, you must also make sure that they have some of the basics covered. The truth is, you get what you pay for. If a cloud provider seems to be offering an incredible number of perks at a severely reduced price you should tread carefully.

Cloud Computing, Clarified…for the Confused cloud computing clarified

Cloud Computing for Dummies

Chances are, the computer or device you’re using right now is a completely self-contained unit. In other words, your computer or device has its own storage, OS, hardware, software, and functionality, apart from its ability to connect to and use the internet (and its services). That makes it “self-contained”, right? Well, what if you were to turn that concept “on its head” and instead, have all of your computing resources centralized (along with those of many others) to a completely separate location? If you did that, you would basically have cloud computing. cloud computing clarified

Cloud computing comes in a couple of different “flavors”, also. For instance, you have the scenario where lots of remotely and randomly located servers and essentially bundled together, forming a big “cloud” of sorts. This combined power is in turn, managed from perhaps another place altogether and used to build a loose but coherent central infrastructure. That collective infrastructure then supports the ability to create virtualization for individual users and groups, and so on and so forth.

Another “flavor” of cloud computing, if you will, would be the private cloud. With a private cloud, extensive hardware resources are controlled (in part or entirely) by one organization or group (of organizations). In other words, the private cloud is set up and established to provide only a limited number of people with cloud computing services; it is not being leveraged to provide services to the consumer or professional public.

Then you have extensive and powerful public clouds (and service providers / brokers) that are set up by companies who are seeking to capitalize on it in some way. For example, even if a cloud service is offered for free, perhaps there is advertising going on to create profits and/or offset operational costs. A lot of big companies (like Google) are offering (or looking to begin offering) cloud computing-based services. In turn, most of these services are provided at lower costs which are based entirely on consumption; so, you get what you pay for, and you only pay for what you get. Amazon is one of the most visible exponents of cloud-based services for individuals. As you are probably already well aware, they are trying to steer consumers in the direction of investing their potential music budgets toward digital products and services.

Regardless of the manner in which you expect to receive your cloud computing service, chances are (unless you have the money to build a private cloud), you will go through a cloud provider. Most businesses out there are going to be relying on, and looking for cloud providers as well. If competition in the cloud computing industry remains high, it’s entirely foreseeable that providers may begin tailoring their services to better suit specific types of businesses or industries.

The end result of all of this could mean even cheaper overall computing costs for businesses when cloud computing really becomes a mainstream ticket item. This is why, if you are a business owner, IT manager, business manager, (or even affiliated with budgets and accounting), etc…you need to have cloud computing “on your radar”, so to speak. For those people who have more direct control over their IT assets and personnel, it might be very wise to consider having these individuals complete some form of certification in cloud computing. Or, at the very least, some form of training.

But getting back to what cloud computing actually is, or rather, does; it’s really about creating scalability while redefining the relationship between computing and networking. What is meant by the term “scalability”? Try to imagine the total amount of processing power, as well as energy consumption, which a cloud is capable of producing, handling or consuming.

Under the current model for computing and networking, individual machines are often ridiculously overpowered for what their intended uses are, and might even go virtually unused most of the time. At the same time, these machines will likely be left powered on and unattended. So, what you have is an abundance of both processing power and energy being wasted, and producing no work or additional benefit. In a cloud computing scenario however, both energy and processing power is “scaled” and delivered to individual users based on their need at any given time.

The end result is access to even more power and resources for those who need it, and significant savings in terms of energy consumption costs. Likewise, the way cloud infrastructure uses energy is arguably, the most efficient way it can be done given our current level of technology, or course.

Simply put, cloud computing is what you get when you merge computing with networking. Instead of thinking of your (cloud-enabled) machine or device as its own entity, what you have is more like a monitor. All of the hardware, software, storage and infrastructure is virtually absent, because it’s in a remote location. As a cloud user, you would be essentially paying for a complete computing and networking solution service. In other words, cloud computing could very well become sort of like a utility service (water, electricity) in the very near future. If the costs are low enough and the benefits are high enough, what’s to prevent nearly everyone from turning to cloud computing in lieu of the system / model we currently have in place?

(New) Cloud computing compliance and code of practice literature is inbound, it’s called

“CloudCode”

The creation and adoption of a set of formalized rules and standards for cloud computing is long overdue. As more and more businesses continue to take up and implement cloud computing, the need for more formally established codes of practice (in this area) is going to become even more significant. Corporations, businesses and individuals are adopting cloud technologies in increasingly larger numbers and in even more profound and unexpected ways; without some compliance-based reference in place, things could get messy, don’t you agree? cloud computing compliance and code of practice literature

At least one group seems to see the importance of instituting what is arguably the world’s first true compliance and code of practice reference tool for cloud computing, this group is of course, the New Zealand Computer Society. This new set of voluntary adaptive rules for cloud computing in New Zealand is called the “CloudCode”. The aim of it is simply to provide minimum standards and operational methodologies which can be used to both protect cloud practitioners as well as help provide a more balanced and dependable cloud service for users (in the long run).

The New Zealand Computer Society (NZCS) was tasked with the formation of what is to be the first step in the larger process, and that is the creation of the code itself. Additionally, the NZCS is producing this code without assistance or input from any particular industry vendor(s). Likewise, they are not attempting to help promote cloud computing through the creation of these guidelines. Furthermore, the NZCS is also helping to devise a system of assessment whereby some type of procedure is devised to reward those who are in compliance with the code (and punish those who are not).

While this emerging “CloudCode” is meant for organizations based in New Zealand, it should be noted that a number of international vendors are participating (including Microsoft). However, the general aim of the project itself is to keep everything as neutral as possible (in terms of who the code is serving / benefiting).

Perhaps the real question is, why has it taken so long for an organization to step up and formally establish some rules and guidelines for cloud computing? Cloud computing has been around for quite a while now and has made its way into virtually every area of business and industry; why are we just now talking about establishing formal codes of practice?

The truth is, we might have finally reached a point in cloud technology development whereby it is possible to look back at what’s been done / created and offer up recommendations with regards to methodology (or use of these technologies). It would simply be foolish and untrue to say that cloud computing has slowed down or even hit a wall in terms of ongoing development. However, there are a number of things which are becoming “standardized” in cloud computing; not to mention the fact that the expectations of users/clients is also dictating what any particular cloud service will actually entail.

The great hope of the cloud computing community is (or rather should be) that this CloudCode will become adopted internationally. People often forget that we lack a definitive set of codes/practices for organizations providing cloud computing services. While it’s often true that formal regulations are not always needed, that’s not the point; cloud computing regulations will help establish a higher level of standardized services as well as help distill any incumbent technologies in a faster and more efficient manner. It could very well be that this CloudCode will eventually grow and come to function in a similar fashion as ITIL does in predominantly non-cloud IT setups.

This emerging CloudCode might also help to create new formalized expectations for IT professionals with regards to cloud computing. In other words, IT workers might soon find themselves needing to attain some form of cloud computing certification in order to remain compliant with the new standards which might be coming into play. The reality is that the increasing assimilation of cloud computing will directly affect IT workers across the globe. One of the best ways for any IT professional to protect themselves and their career is to seek out high quality cloud computing certification (you can find a world leader in cloud certification / e-learning, here).

If you’re eager to learn more about the New Zealand Computer Society’s CloudCode project you can check out the details right here.

• www.nzcloudcode.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/NZCloudCode.pdf

If you’re interested in cloud computing certification & training, click here.

• cloud.theartofservice.com

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