Cloud Computing: Certainly has a Great Potential

The basic idea of cloud computing is quite simple. In general terms, cloud computing can be described as a web architecture that allows users to work and save information online. The aim is to move all of the applications installed on our computers to a remote location. In other words, to do away with a number of standard components, including operating systems and hard disks, and make them accessible through an online desktop accessed via a standard browser.

Gartner defines cloud computing as a style of computing where massively scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service to external customers using Internet technologies. One IT-related function can be a software application. If the software application is written in such a way that it is "massively scalable", then SaaS is considered a form of cloud computing (SaaS).
Instead of data being stored on the PC, it is stored on a server on the Internet. User does not know, or care, where that server is located. In fact, the data might be scattered across a bunch of servers. It is all up in the sky someplace. Hence, the term "cloud".

According to IDC reports, cloud computing is reshaping the IT marketplace, creating new opportunities for suppliers and catalyzing changes in traditional IT offerings. In addition, over the next five years, IDC expects global spending on IT cloud services to grow almost threefold, reaching $42 billion by 2012.

Cloud computing transforms computer processing, data storage, and software applications, allowing them to be delivered as a utility. Just like people tap into existing infrastructure for water or power, companies can now tap into a variety of services – applications, platforms, raw computing power and storage – all via the Internet.

Aaron Katz, Area Vice-President, Corporate Sales, Asia Pacific, Salesforce.com, explains what Cloud computing is all about.

“Cloud computing is a general concept that includes many things. In the case of Salesforce.com, we see cloud computing as encompassing both Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS), both well-known technology trends, in which the common theme is reliance on the Internet for satisfying the computing needs of the users. For example, Salesforce.com provides Force.com – a platform from where developers can build and deliver any application – all without buying or maintaining any infrastructure. These applications are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on Salesforce.com’s servers. The Force.com Platform-as-a-Service provides the necessary building blocks to make cloud computing real for the enterprise,” says Aaron Katz.

Kiran Datar, Managing Director, Cisco WebEx Technology Group, says, “Cloud computing is a broader concept than utility computing and relates to the underlying architecture in which the services are designed. It may be applied equally to utility services and internal corporate data centres, as George Gilder reported in a story for Wired Magazine titled The Information Factories. Wall Street firms have been implementing internal clouds for years. They call it ‘grid computing’, but the concepts are the same.”

Cisco offers a software-as-a-service version of its WebEx collaboration software, called WebEx Connect. The combination of escalating customer demands for more powerful collaborative solutions, the availability of more dynamic web services and the success of partner ecosystems have inspired Cisco to create the WebEx Connect platform for multidimensional and cross-organizational collaboration.

WebEx Connect will enable an ecosystem of ISVs to create new, composite applications that can be delivered on-demand via the web to support collaboration across multiple organizations.

Salesforce.com is arguably one of the most well-known names in the on-demand market, and has made inroads into the Indian market.

The global market for on-demand products is exploding, with Salesforce.com estimating Western Europe's share of the market alone to be worth US$473 million by 2011.

Salesforce.com is the leader in enterprise cloud computing. While there are clouds that focus on computing power (like Amazon), clouds that focus on office productivity like (Google Apps), and clouds that focus on social networking (like Facebook), Salesforce.com is focussed on bringing the cloud and all its benefits to businesses. Salesforce.com’s core CRM application brings all the benefits of the Internet to managing every step of a company’s interaction with a customer, while it is Force.com platform delivers the reliability, security and core infrastructure that the Salesforce CRM product is built on to developers. The company is constantly innovating to enhance customer and developer success in the cloud. During Dreamforce 2008, Salesforce.com’s sixth annual User and Developer conference held in November 2008 in San Francisco, Salesforce.com made several significant new technology and product announcements pertaining to Cloud Computing for the Enterprise.

“For internal IT departments, we envision that the Force.com platform will completely change the role of IT departments. The break-fix-patch-upgrade components of IT will become irrelevant, because with the cloud everyone runs on one shared infrastructure and one version. It also creates a new role for IT departments: innovation. When you can develop, deploy, and run apps in the cloud, without having to worry about buying and maintaining hardware and software, you can focus on adding value to the business,” says Aaron Katz.
Sun Microsystems has recently showcased the Sun Open Cloud Platform, the company's open cloud computing infrastructure, powered by industry-leading software technologies from Sun, including Java, MySQL, OpenSolaris and Open Storage. Signalling a massive opportunity to open the world's nascent cloud market, Sun also outlined that a core element of its strategy is to offer public clouds and previewed plans to launch the Sun Cloud, its first public cloud service targeted at developers, student and start-ups. Both are key elements in Sun's strategy to bring openness and interoperability to the cloud computing market. To register for the Sun Cloud Early Access programme, go to sun.com/cloud.
Cloud computing is becoming an integral part of HP’s Business Technology ecosystem. HP is uniquely positioned as a trusted advisor to help enterprise customers and service providers implement the right mix of technology-enabled services – in-house, outsourced and cloud – to optimize their business outcomes. HP is also driving the industry’s future through cloud research and test beds around the world. “HP is partnering with Intel, Yahoo! and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore on the creation of a global, multi-data centre, open source test bed for the advancement of cloud computing research and education,” said Faisal Paul, Head – Marketing and Growth Initiatives, Enterprise Servers & Storage, Technology Solutions Group, HP India.
Companies of all sizes are contending with a combination of market trends, which are forcing them to seriously re-evaluate how they do business. These forces include growing globalization, lower customer loyalty and widening dispersion of today’s workforce.

With increasing globalization and mobility, as well as escalating competitive forces and corporate productivity requirements, corporations of all sizes have started to re-think how they should operate. At the same time, a combination of rapidly-changing customer expectations and radically different technological advancements is driving a new generation of on-demand services which are transforming the way organizations operate and innovate.
The concept of cloud computing and its tremendous benefits for enterprises in terms of scalability and cost savings are fairly well understood now in the IT community in India. Companies no longer must purchase every piece of hardware needed to plan for potential business needs. Now buyers can understand that this flexibility is available for software applications as well.
EMC has revealed more of its plans for cloud computing and its move into consumer devices, alongside plans to integrate more high-end storage technologies throughout its product ranges.

The cloud computing division will include the Mozy service, which is already providing online backup services to enterprises, small businesses and end-users, mainly in the US, and the company plans to expand the Mozy service to Europe and other regions in the near future.

EMC has made quick move into the cloud arena. In 2007, it bought Berkeley Data Systems, the basis of its current Mozy online backup service. Last year, it launched Atmos, the first storage system designed specifically for use by giant cloud providers. “Atmos is a multi-petabyte offering for information storage and distribution. It combines massive scalability with automated data placement to efficiently deliver content and information services anywhere in the world. This makes EMC Atmos the ideal foundation for anyone looking to build cloud storage.”

EMC Atmos operates as a single entity, while its revolutionary use of metadata and business policy gets the right information to the right location, at the right time – automatically. These qualities combine to increase operational efficiency, reduce management complexity, and save money,” says Deepak Visweswaraiah, Senior Director, SSG group, EMC India Centre of Excellence.

With the announcement of Windows Azure, Microsoft has made its play for cloud computing. Azure will provide the central platform for storage, computing and networking in Microsoft’s Azure Services Platform, which is intended to software and services to a range of platforms.

The Azure service platform will consist of Windows Azure, Microsoft SQL Services for database services and reporting, Microsoft .NET Services, Live Services for users to store data across different platforms and Microsoft SharePoint Services and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Services for content and collaboration services.
Microsoft has been building its data centre infrastructure to support more cloud-based computing, to help it compete with the leading players in the sector like Google and Amazon. A key point of Azure, according to Ozzie, is that it will allow developers to use their existing skills in technologies such as .NET and Visual Studio to create new cloud applications for PC, web or phone.

Netmagic with its experience and technical expertise is uniquely positioned in the market to lead the cloud computuing in the Indian market.

Netmagic Solutions has announced the availability of its cloud computing services for enterprises, including existing and potential customers. With this announcement, Netmagic now becomes the first managed IT services company in India to launch cloud computing services. Through this suite of offerings, Netmagic will enable Indian enterprises to carry out their operations economically whilst maintaining high standards even during times of downturn.

“With our cloud computing services, we will be able to provide our customers an additional value offering that will optimize needs and maximize the operation of their IT infrastructure. We are very excited about our new initiative along with having the first mover advantage,” said Sharad Sanghi, CEO & MD, Netmagic Solutions. “Today’s announcement also signifies a big step in our commitment to businesses in India and our expansion plans,” he added.

As part of the cloud computing services vision, Netmagic is offering three services, namely, CloudNet, CloudServe and PrivateCloud. The move is designed to address the key challenges of IT departments, allowing them to maintain availability of applications without having to invest double the amount of capital expenditure in hardware and software. It will also provide companies with the benefit of scaling and reducing compute resources as per business demands without having to worry about hardware management issues. Finally, through these services, IT departments will be able to contribute to the green initiative by subscribing to a service rather than having to underutilize in-house resources.

The Bottom Line
Companies will migrate existing computing chores from of their own data centres and over to the cloud computing. The benefits of cloud computing are numerous, the prominent one being its low cost. According to IDC, a shift to the cloud might reduce computing costs by half. IDC estimates that spending on cloud computing will boom to $42 billion in 2012 from $16 billion this year. "The cloud is really the foundation for the next 20 years of the IT industry," says an analyst at IDC.