Posts Tagged ‘IT operations’
Cloud Alignment – Part I
This is the first of a series of posts on cloud computing. This is a hot topic in the technology world yet it is also the source of much confusion. Before I start talking about cloud computing, I should provide you with my practical definition. My perspective is that of someone responsible for both IT and business operations within a larger “midsize” company. I don’t care about technology for technology’s sake but only for what it can do for my business. Given all of that my definition is:
“Cloud computing refers to beneficial software functionality delivered as services via the Internet. Those services reduce the demands on the company’s IT infrastructure, other than the capacity of the connection to the Internet.”
Its only value is to give me access to capabilities I didn’t have before for a price I can afford and/or to lower the costs of services already provided to my customers. The Wikipedia definition is provided here. There is much more material there but I believe it’s consistent with my definition above.
I also separate the cloud into two parts. There is that part of the cloud that provides my connection to a hosted application. It is composed of various routers, gateways and backbones but it basically my highway to the application. I’ll refer to that generically as the “pipe”. The other part is the hosting environment itself. It contains the application and data storage. I’ll refer to that environment generically as the “host”. This distinction will be important throughout the subsequent parts of this series.
My current plan for the series is:
Part I – Introduction and definitions (this part)
Part II – Cloud performance
Part III – Cloud security
Part IV – Cloud privacy (legal issues)
Part V – Conclusion
There is no shortage of material on cloud computing on the Internet and it’s not hard to find. Try not to get caught up in the hype. It’s easy to do. Remember, cloud computing in some form and by some name will be important to all of us in the future. It will be part of your business and IT strategic plan in the not too distant future. Stay tuned for more…
Cloud Alignment – Part II (Overall Performance)
This is part II of my series on some of the practical aspects of cloud computing. In this post I’ll focus on the overall user-centric performance of the cloud computing experience. I’m using this vague phrase because the performance of the user experience is made up of several factors, like Internet congestion, “last mile” bottlenecks, hosting server performance and user PC performance, to name a few. Let’s start by defining some general classes of users.
User Types
The most basic classes of users are those that do all their work in one place with dedicated infrastructure (fixed users) and those users who may do their work from multiple locations, both connected to the Internet and not connected (mobile users). Examples of fixed users are customer service workers, corporate staff jobs like clerical accounting workers, etc. They go to work at the same place every day, sit in front of the same PC doing the same kind of work and then go home at the end of the day and leave their job behind. I hear there are still some of them around these days. Examples of mobile workers are everybody else with a job and a computer. Now we need to focus on the types of data traffic involved.
Data Traffic
Any basic graphic of the use of the cloud consists of a user with a PC, a cloud containing a server and a lightning bolt connecting the two, as shown below. The firewall (brick wall symbol) can either be on the local network or in the user’s machine itself.
I am presenting two scenarios to consider. Scenario 1 is the least demanding on the user end and represents the slowest, lowest cost option. It is the scenario usually implied when we talk about cloud computing. It does require that the overhead of the user interface is moved down to the user’s machine along with the data itself. Scenario 2 is actually representative of a user application which relies on an external host to provide compute power and push data down to the user’s machine. It is the faster but more expensive option. It doesn’t require that the user interface overhead be sent down along with the data since the user interface is already on the user’s machine. Remember, the yellow lightning bolt (the remote connection) is the limiting link in the chain. It is by far the slowest segment of the trip. Now we need to consider the tradeoff between the two scenarios for each user type.
Tradeoff – Productivity vs. Cost vs. Performance
For the fixed user, scenario 1 will probably work well enough to justify the cost savings at the expense of performance. Our definition for this type of user is primarily clerical in nature. However, as we move to the mobile user, things get a little more complicated. The speed of the remote connection link will vary depending on the location of the user. In some cases, the remote connection will be slow or non-existent. If the remote connection is slow the user interface overhead will make a cloud application unacceptably slow. Obviously, if the connection is dropped or not available the point is mute, there is no cloud. There is a subset of the fixed user community that has other issues. There are those who are fixed in their location but are creative types who need the flexibility and richness of local applications. Examples of these people are graphic artists, designers, architects, engineers, etc. For them, browsers are not yet a visually rich or powerful enough user interface for their work. In time, that will change but not now.
The solution for mobile and creative types may lay with composite applications, mashups and hybrid clouds. The discussion of these options is beyond the scope of this post, but check out the links for more information. My main point is that cloud computing is not one size fits all. It’s important to not get caught up in the hype and realize that, with some adaptation, the benefits of cloud computing and acceptable levels of performance are available for all users.
I have provided some video links below that present a somewhat cynical view of cloud computing. While I think that Larry Ellison (Oracle CEO) represents an oversimplified view, he is entertaining. The Forrester analyst offers a thoughtful counterpoint.
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','www.youtube.com']);">Larry Ellison on Cloud Computing " onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','www.youtube.com']);">Forrester Research