Summary
Summary Management Information Systems (part 2)
- Course
- Institution
very detailed and inclusive
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
Beretta
Content preview
Marston, S., Li, Z., Bandyopadhyay, S., Zhang, J. & Ghalsasi, A. (2011). Cloud computing – The businessperspective, Decision Support Systems, Vol.51, p.176-189.
Aim of this paper:
- Identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the cloud computing industry.
- Identify the various issues that will affect the different stakeholders of cloud computing.
- Outline the different areas of research that need attention.
- Outline some of the key issues facing governmental agencies who, due to the unique nature of the
technology, will have to become intimately involved in the regulation of cloud computing.
1. Introduction
The emergence of cloud computing represents a fundamental change in the way IT services are invented,
developed, updated, maintained and paid for. Computing as we know today reflects a paradox: on one hand,
computers continue to become exponentially more powerful and the per-unit cost of computing continues
to fall rapidlyà computing power is considered to be a commodity. On the other hand, as computing
becomes more pervasive within the organization, the increasing complexity of managing the whole
infrastructure of information architectures and data and software has made computing more expensive to
an organization.
à The promise of cloud computing is to deliver all the functionality of existing IT services (and enable new
functionalities) even as it dramatically reduces the upfront costs of computing that deter many organizations
from deploying many cutting-edge IT services.
The impetus for change is seen predominantly from a costs perspective, as organizations increasingly
discover that their capital investments in IT are often grossly underutilized. Equally pertinent are the
maintenance and service costs that have proved to be a drain on scarce corporate resources.
Cloud computing represents a convergence of two major trends in information technology
(a) IT efficiency, whereby the power of modern computers is utilized more efficiently through highly scalable
hardware and software resources;
(b) business agility, whereby IT can be used as a competitive tool through rapid deployment, parallel batch
processing, use of compute-intensive business analytics and mobile interactive applications that respond in
real time to user requirements.
The concept of IT efficiency also embraces the ideas present in green computing, since not only are the
computing resources used more efficiently, but the computers can be physically located in geographical
areas that have access to cheap electricity while their computing power can be accessed long distances away.
However, as the term business agility implies, cloud computing is also about businesses being able to use
computational tools that can be deployed and scaled rapidly, even as it reduces the need for huge upfront
investments.
Cloud computing: an information technology service model where computing services (both hardware and
software) are delivered on-demand to customers over a network in a self-service fashion, independent of
device and location. The resources required to provide the requisite quality-of-service levels are shared,
dynamically scalable, rapidly provisioned, virtualized and released with minimal service provider interaction.
Users pay for the service as an operating expense without incurring any significant initial capital expenditure,
with the cloud services employing a metering system that divides the computing resource in
appropriate blocks.”
The Fig. shows a schematic of the cloud computing model. It shows how the computing
resources in the cloud can be accessed from a variety of platforms through the Internet.
The definition does not explicitly require that the services be provided by a third-party, but
emphasizes more on the aspects of (1) resource utilization, (2) virtualized physical resources, (3)
architecture abstraction, (4) dynamic scalability of resources, (5) elastic and automated self-
provisioning of resources, (6) ubiquity (i.e. device and location independence) and (7) the
operational expense model. Cloud computing can be provisioned using an organization's own
servers, or it can be rented from a cloud provider that takes all the capital risk of owning the
infrastructure.
1
, 2. The Key Advantages of Cloud Computing
Cloud co putting offers:
a. It lowers the cost of entry for smaller firms trying to benefit from compute-intensive business analytics
that were hitherto available only to the largest of corporationsà typically involve large amounts of
computing power for relatively short amounts of time, and cloud computing makes such dynamic
provisioning of resources possible. Cloud computing also represents a huge opportunity to many third-
world countries that have been so far left behind in the IT revolution.
b. It can It can provide an almost immediate access to hardware resources, with no upfront capital
investments for usersàfaster time to market in many businesses. Treating IT as an operational expense
also helps in reducing the upfront costs in corporate computing. The cloud becomes an adaptive
infrastructure that can be shared by different users, who can use it in very different ways. The users are
completely separated from each other, and the flexibility of the infrastructure allows for computing loads
to be balanced as more users join the system. As the number of users goes up, the demand load on the
system gets more balanced in a stochastic sense, even as its economies of scale expand.
c. It can lower IT barriers to innovation.
d. It makes it easier for enterprises to scale their services – which are increasingly reliant on accurate
information – according to client demand. Since the computing resources are managed through software,
they can be deployed very fast as new requirements arise.
e. It also makes possible new classes of applications and delivers services that were not possible before.
Examples include (a) mobile interactive applications that are location-, environment- and context-aware
and that respond in real time to information from users etc and independent information services; (b)
parallel batch processing, that allows users to take advantage of huge amounts of processing power to
analyse data for relatively small periods of time, while programming abstractions makes the complex
process of parallel execution of an application over hundreds of servers transparent to programmers; (c)
business analytics that can use the vast amount of computer resources to understand customers, buying
habits, etc from voluminous amounts of data; and (d) extensions of compute-intensive desktop
applications.
3. Core Technical Concepts and Terminology
Virtualization is the technology that hides the physical characteristics of a computing platform from the
users, instead presenting an abstract, emulated computing platform. This platform behaves like an
independent system, but unlike a physical system, can be configured on demand, and maintained and
replicated very easily. The computing infrastructure is much better utilized, leading to lower upfront and
operational costs (savings in real estate for the data centers).
A related concept is that of multitenancy, whereby a single instance of an application software serves
multiple clients. This allows better utilization of a system's resources (in terms of memory and processing
overhead).
A Web service is defined by the W3C as “a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-
machine interaction over a network”. The definition encompasses many different systems, but in common
usage the term refers to clients and servers that communicate on the Web. Web services help standardize
the interfaces between applications, making it easier for a software client to access server applications over
a network.
From an end-user's perspective, the cloud computing industry often speaks about different delivery models
of cloud computingà different layers of the cloud computing architecture. The most commonly heard term
is Software as a Service or SaaS, in which the application runs on the cloud, eliminating the need to install
and run the application on the client computer. A Platform as a Service, or PaaS, facilitates the development
and deployment of applications without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying
hardware and software layers. The third ‘model’ of cloud computing is Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS,
whereby storage and compute capabilities are offered as a service.
There are different cloud deployment models. A public cloud is characterized as being available from a third-
party service provider via the Internet, and is a cost-effective way to deploy IT solutions, especially for small
or medium sized businesses. A private cloud offers many of the benefits of a public cloud computing
environment, such as being elastic and service based, but is managed within an organization. Private clouds
provide greater control over the cloud infrastructure, and are often suitable for larger installations. A private
2
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller Beretta. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $11.41. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
67232 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now