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From: www.cio.com
Cloud computing: The very definition of cloud computing remains controversial. Consulting firm Accenture has crafted a useful, concise definition: the dynamic provisioning of IT capabilities (hardware, software, or services) from third parties over a network. Cloud computing is computing model, not a technology. In this model of computing, all the servers, networks, applications and other elements related to data centers are made available to IT and end users via the Internet, in a way that allows IT to buy only the type and amount of computing services that they need. The cloud model differs from traditional outsourcers in that customers don't hand over their own IT resources to be managed. Instead they plug into the "cloud" for infrastructure services, platform (operating system) services, or software services (such as SaaS apps), treating the "cloud" much as they would an internal data center or computer providing the same functions. What is cloud computing? What are the different types of cloud computing? Why would I want cloud computing? What are the drawbacks of cloud computing? What to look for from cloud computing providers Snapshot: Pros, Cons, Risks
Cloud computing takes that abstraction one further step. Rather than making one server appear to be several, it makes an entire data-center's worth of servers, networking devices, systems management, security, storage and other infrastructure, look like a single computer, or even a single screen. The idea is to let companies buy exactly the amount of storage, computing power, security and other IT functions that they need from specialists in data-center computing in the same way they used to pay AT&T to come install the number of phones they required.
A slew of software vendors are rushing into the market to fill this gap with management tools, but that set of products remains quite young. Complying with HIPAA, Sarbox and other federal regulations and, more importantly, demonstrating to auditors that you have is extremely difficult right now with regards to cloud, according to Chris Wolf, virtualization and infrastructure analyst at The Burton Group. "When you're talking about virtualization, at least there's some commonality in the platform, the hypervisor you're using, if not in the hardware behind it," Wolf says. "Cloud is not a one-size-fits-all solution. You have various flavors of SAAS, Amazon's EC2 and other infrastructure services that are all different in how they treat data at rest [in storage] and in motion [when it's being used in applications or communications]. That's a big problem." Cloud customers risk losing data by having it locked into proprietary formats, may lose control over data because tools to see who's using it or who can view it as it moves across the network are inadequate, or may lose confidence in it because they don't know when data has been compromised or how, Wolf says.
The best use of clouds would be to be able to move specific workloads from internal servers to a cloud provider when you expect a spike in demand, take advantage of the cloud provider's additional capacity, move it back when the rush is over and pay only for the resources you used, Staten says. "We're a long way from being able to do that," Staten says. (See Busting the Nine Myths of Cloud Computing). CIOs on the leading edge of cloud adoption say using an external cloud can make sense, but that metrics and strict controls are even more important in a cloud environment than in a normal internal IT environment, specifically because there are so few controls inherent in cloud-computing relationships. They recommend this checklist of issues to go through before deciding whether and why to use cloud services, which to use, and how. Though the intent of cloud computing is simple, the impact and mechanisms for delivery are often far more complex. "There's a lot more to it than people often admit," Staten says. What is cloud computing? What are the different types of cloud computing? Why would I want cloud computing? What are the drawbacks of cloud computing? What to look for from cloud computing providers Snapshot: Pros, Cons, Risks
a Business Edition, which holds up to a 10 gigabyte relational database. For .NET Services a set of Web-based developer tools for building cloud-based applications Microsoft is charging $0.15 per 100,000 message operations, including Service Bus messages and Access Control tokens.