The Rise of the Clouds: Progress and Prospects

The Rise of the Clouds: Progress and Prospects

Several converging and complementary factors are driving the further ascension of the cloud (cloud computing). The increasing maturity of cloud technologies and offerings coupled with users' greater awareness of the cloud's potential benefits (as well as limitations) is accelerating the cloud's adoption. Better Internet connectivity, intense competition among cloud service providers (CSPs), and digitalization of enterprises — particularly micro-, small-, and medium-sized — are increasing the cloud's usage. The changing attitude and mindset toward the cloud among users now accustomed to the growing ubiquity of mobile devices and applications is also greatly improving the cloud's adoption. Cloud technologies offer appealing responses to the growing demand from emerging markets for computing services at affordable cost, and governmental support and initiatives are propelling the clouds, as well.

The Cloud is Poised to Rise Further

Cloud computing's appeal is driven by several distinct features, including:

·         pay-as-you-go access to a variety of IT service offerings,

·         on-demand access to resources at low cost,

·         resource elasticity to meet varying demand, and

·         colocation of computation and data that enables large-scale data analytics.

It can efficiently and effectively source huge computing resources to a large number of users.

Yet, despite cloud computing's appeal and growing usage, several concerns and limitations have kept it from mass market adoption. Understanding and addressing these limitations and vulnerabilities as appropriate is key to successfully embracing cloud's potential. Cloud promoters are offering new cloud services and pursuing standardization efforts to address cloud migration and adoption constraints.

In this month's Computing Now theme, we examine some key challenges in harnessing the cloud and how to address them and highlight emerging services and applications. We explore cloud adoption best practices and how the cloud is changing enterprise IT's role, and we conclude with a look at the cloud's prospects.

Cloud Considerations and Challenges

Embracing the cloud isn't just about using or deploying applications and storing data. To realize the cloud's promise, users must address not only functional requirements and technical feasibility but also several important nonfunctional aspects. It requires a holistic approach that considers both technical and nontechnical issues.

Security

As several recent surveys reconfirm, users' concerns about security and privacy of data and applications remain a barrier to cloud adoption. Several technological options are available for securing data and application on the cloud, but many cloud users fail to give adequate upfront thought to securing the systems. This is an issue that not only CSPs but all stakeholders must tackle through multipronged efforts and further research and development.

Migration and Integration

The nontrivial act of migrating an existing (legacy) application to the cloud requires thoughtful and careful handling, tailoring the application and interfaces as required. Currently, aggregating and integrating cloud offerings is difficult, particularly from different providers. Yet, several efforts are under way to address this problem, including the development of cloud standards and open platforms, such as Open Virtualization Format (OVF), Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI), IEEE P2301 Cloud Portability & Interoperability (CPIP) standard, and IEEE CSP2302 Standard for Intercloud Interoperability and Federation (SIIF).

Network Access

Ensuring appropriate high-bandwidth network connectivity is crucial to successfully using the cloud. However, many users as well as internet service providers neglect to enhance their network infrastructure and capacity to handle increased traffic — both from and to the cloud.

Cloud Strategy

To realize the benefits of clouds, an enterprise must develop a comprehensive cloud strategy that also examines and addresses potential risks, including cloud unavailability and failures, as well as compliance requirements, as applicable. Relying on the cloud doesn't eliminate the need for risk management or disaster recovery.

Industry Perspectives

In the video segment, Dejan Milojicic (IEEE Computer Society President and senior researcher and managing director, HP Labs' Open Cirrus Cloud Computing Testbed), Sesh Murthy (VP, Cloud Innovation and Solutions at IBM Global Technology Services), and John Messina (Senior Member, Cloud Computing Project, NIST) offer their viewpoints and perspectives on cloud infrastructure, security, and standards, respectively.

Bright Prospects

Cloud computing's transformational potential is huge and impressive. Investors, corporations, and start-ups continue to eagerly invest in promising cloud computing technologies and services in both developed and developing economies. The cloud ecosystem has begun to evolve to provide an array of services that support the deployment of cloud-based solutions for applications across numerous domains. Further new cloud deployment types, models that deliver value-added services, and costing and business models are on the horizon.

Many new players are getting into the cloud arena, performing niche roles, and individuals and businesses are increasingly adopting cloud-based applications in both developed and developing economies. Governments in many countries are also promoting cloud adoption, particularly among micro, small, and medium enterprises. As a result, a new larger cloud ecosystem is poised to emerge.

As we've discussed, successfully and fully embracing the promise of clouds will require adopters to address a range of factors, including security, privacy, access management, and business continuity. Furthermore, they may have to use services from multiple service providers, aggregating and integrating them with the organization's legacy applications and systems, as well.

Thus, near-future developments should focus on standards for cloud security, data virtualization through advanced analytics and parallel-processing optimization, mobile applications, and platform as a service for specialized mobile platforms. Another key area for further development is interoperability among clouds, which would let users scale a service across disparate providers, while maintaining the appearance of a single system. Cloud federation — the interconnection of cloud services from different providers and networks — is another promising approach that would let providers wholesale or rent computing resources to other providers to balance workloads and handle spikes in demand.

BY,

B.KIRUTHIKA (III CSE-A)