Cloud computing - a new wave in IT

Information Technology (IT) has become an essential component in smooth functioning of enterprises with efficiency and profitability. Heavy investments incurred in IT developments is a major constraint faced by enterprises specially, the small sector in adopting IT solutions.

S.Wijesiri

Cloud computing is a cost effective technological solution in IT which benefits small, medium as well as large organizations. Instead of having investments on hardware and software, with low start-up costs, organizations can obtain IT services based on the usage of services under this technological solution.

In implementation of any IT solution, organizations may have to follow complicated procedures in procurement, such as obtaining approvals, evaluations which are time consuming and involved technological expertise.

Maintaining of computer network system is also costly and needs of having a professional staff. This type of situation could be avoided in cloud computing and organizations could pay to use software, processing power and storage.

Switching to cloud computing solutions is easy, fast and comparatively with low cost.

Special feature of this solution is possibility of scaling the infrastructure when and as it required and this processes takes only a very short time. Another feature is accessibility of data and systems from any location and a PC with internet facility may be sufficient for this purpose.

There are several deployment models in cloud computing and they are public clouds, private clouds, community clouds and hybrid clouds.

In public clouds, multiple customers share computing resources provided by a service provider.

Private cloud is designed to meet the needs or wants for more control over their date. Concerns such as security and privacy, compliance, performance, reliability, continuity are some reasons for looking for private clouds by some organizations.

The private cloud infrastructure may be managed by the organization or a service provider and may exits on premise or off premise. In community cloud, cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns. The hybrid clouds combine any two or more cloud models.

It has observed that more and more organizations are showing interest in cloud computing.

Although economies are recovering from global recession, as the budgetary provision for IT remaining restricted and profit margins of the enterprises are at sustainability levels, it has compelled to think about cost saving strategies.

This is the major factor for growing interest in cloud computing by many organizations.

Further, the cost saving has been identified as the main benefit of cloud computing based on a survey carried out in Europe, among CIOs and senior IT professionals of organizations.

Possibility of scale up when and as required and possibility to refrain from maintaining own data centres are other benefits identified.

Cloud computing is expected to have a significant increase in most of the European countries according to surveys. Based on studies done in UK small and medium sector enterprises will show a rapid progress in switching to cloud computing while this rate is very high among the large SMEs with more than 50 employees.

However cloud service penetration is generally at early stages and its figure is low as 7% in New Zealand and 18% in Australia. In New Zealand about 39% are unfamiliar even with the concept of cloud computing. In India also penetration in low. In our country the cloud computing is still an unfamiliar concept. According to some analysts cloud computing is considered as its infancy or adolescence stage and even in developed countries cloud computing do not comply with true definitions of cloud computing in some instances. Sometimes these services are merely restricted to virtual servers without delivering real benefits of cloud computing. Similar situations have been reported from Australia also. There are several areas organizations concern in cloud computing and mostly the security of data in which the question of location of data is also associated with. According to a survey carried out among CIOs in Europe the rate of prevention from launching cloud computing solutions due to fears on security is approximately 70%. Based on surveys on SME sector in UK it has found security and privacy concerns are avoiding the use of cloud services by nearly 50% of SMEs.

In an another sample survey among IT professionals it has found that key concerns around cloud computing, as security and privacy and this figure as a percentage is approximately 51%.

Performance, reliability, business continuity, availability of service provides, transparency over pricing models are some other concerns hinder the expansion of cloud computing programs.

In India, it has revealed that bandwidth catastrophe in the country is among the reasons other than security behind the low penetration of cloud computing.

According to surveys it has reported that nearly 80% of IT professionals are in view that adoption of security standards is an immediate requirement. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) and the Cloud Security Alliance have already initiated to take measures in this regard.

Importance of cloud computing has been realized by some governments and they are looking into possibilities of launching cloud computing program.

In UK, a government could, G-cloud is being developed and cost savings expected from IT strategies including cloud computing is up to pound 3.2 billion a year. Public sector's annual IT spend in UK is approximately pounds 16 billion and cost savings from the proposed program is 20% of spend. The Korean government is planing to invest in cloud computing for the benefit of local IT industry and in government sector.

Initiatives have taken in USA and Japan for cloud computing in government sector. Recently www.recovery.gov, and official website of US government has moved to a cloud computing infrastructure. According to news reports from Japan it is expected to improve operational efficiency in IT activities while reducing cost by more than 20% under the proposed government cloud computing program.

In India, state government of Kerala has taken initiatives in cloud computing and has decided to setup a cloud computing test bed at the Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala.

However, according to recent news reports from Ireland, now legal advice has to be obtained before implementation of cloud computing services by government departments and public bodies. This situation is being discussed as some type of precautionary measures according to news reports.

In our country we may study the feasibility for commencement of cloud computing programmes in consideration of budgetary constraints which restricts the e-government programs.

In the case of public sector it has to mention that issues such as data protection, confidentiality and security and liability are to be dealt that would be necessary for public sector responsibilities.

Now, the introductory programs on cloud computing have initiated in our country.

Selection of the most appropriate service provider would be a problem for most of the clients while larger organizations can depend on their own consultancy firms for evaluation process.

Reliability and viability of the service provider, reputation in market and experience in the market are to be investigated and evaluated. Cost for services may include hidden charges. Proper studies on own requirements may avoid unnecessary expenses on services. One of the areas the clients should be careful is legal parameters around their data and the servers where the data is kept. It is important to study properly the service agreement with the service Provider before implementation of the cloud computing services and at the same time should study on the exit strategy for the service.

However as an environment of healthy competition among service providers created, best products and services would be emerged from the market. As a result opportunities to select the best service providers will be increased.

One of the best examples is the telecommunication market where the prices of products and services came down drastically and best products were introduced to the market at competitive prices as a competition created among service providers.

While the technological developments in cloud computing taking place and services expanded more and more unforeseen issues may arise.

It has reported that in some instances steps have been taken by errant businessmen to store data in places out of reach by probe agencies for the purpose of evading taxes.

Another area is the IT skills requirement where the demand for certain specialities may be changed. However due to the cost reduction, IT usage would be expanded and could expect more job opportunities.

The writer is an ICT professional