Introduction
In the past years data storage, access and retrieval have been tedious and time consuming. As times have been changing, different approaches have been considered in undertaking different duties.
This has necessitated the continuous development of technology. This has been done by doing research and improving the current technology as time passes. In the business world, time management and efficiency are key aspects to continuous business growth. This has led to integration of information technology in their day to day operation of the businesses.
The advancement of information technology has found its significance in different business aspects which includes: accounting software, computer aided design, computer aided manufacturing, computer assisted dispatch, customer relation management, data warehouse, decision support system, electronic data processing, enterprise resource planning, geographic information system, management information system, material requirement planning, strategic enterprise management, supply chain management, product life cycle management and utility computing among others.
This paper gives a concise study of cloud computing. The computer and its communication with others form the basis of computing. This paper seeks to explore the trends of cloud computing.
Cloud computing
There are many versions used to explain cloud computing in, “Cloud computing is information processing model in which centrally administered computing capabilities are delivered as services, on an as needed basis, across the network to a variety of user facing devices” (Chee & Franklin, 2009, p. 4).
It therefore refers to accessibility of data to different persons. It is compared to the internet which has accessibility to different individual and acts as the centre for data access. Cloud computing has a centre responsible for handling all the data and making it accessible to the user at their request. It also has the privilege of limiting the access to different individuals according to the agreements made. This reduces the overall costs as the main costs are shared.
To ensure uniformity in the computing field there are a number of abstraction that are allowed. The frequently operation one is the open systems interconnections. This ensures universality of software. This also gets rid of dependence of communication on a specific platform. All these regulations are based on the seven layer model.
The seven layers are “physical layer, data link layer, network layer, transport layer, session layer, Presentation layer and application layer” (Chee & Franklin, 2009, p. 4). These layers perform different but specific roles. The interactions between the various layers are responsible for efficient open networking.
Due to various reasons, there can be failures in the internet providers. With cloud computing the likelihood of the application failures in case of failure by the internet provides. But if all resources required are obtained from the same site, then they will be inaccessible until everything is brought back to its normal operation.
This has limitation in that it is not advisable to store crucial data in other machines other than that of the owner. There is also a demerit in integrating applications. This is brought forth by the fact that the server and user are not close in proximity and thus accessibility and manipulation of data is not that free as it is under control.
Components of Cloud Computing
The cloud computing comprises of different elements. These include clients at the receiving end, the data centre as well as servers which are located at various locations. These different elements are allocated specific task to perform. There are cases when one machine is run from another. This is referred to as Full virtualization. Virtualization occurs when the two platforms have similar hardware platform. Thus one machine acts as the master while the other acts as the servant.
This type of virtualization is efficient in case of numerous users. This can be used to control the user’s access to programs. On the other hand, multiple operating systems can run on the same hardware platform. This is referred to as paravirtualization. These different operating systems can run at the same time. Paravirtualization is found to be good and performs well in various deployments. These deployments include: “disaster recovery, migration and capacity management” (Chee & Franklin, 2009, p. 4).
Softwares are applications that are installed on the computers. In cloud computing, the users can either avail it through the internet or off-site. Depending on the software availability, they can availed or denied right to alter other systems. Due to the need for different software, some of them are provided.
SaaS is one of the providers. It has some benefits which include: “familiarity, smaller staff requirement, customization, good marketing, web reliability, security as well as more bandwidth” (Chee & Franklin, 2009, p. 4). Despite the numerous merits, it also faces obstacles.
Some Obstacles
The amount of data stored for retrieval is large. Thus an efficient system must be put in place to ensure ease in retrieval and updating. Databases are used for this purpose. They have various advantages which include: “improved availability, improved performance, less expensive and flexibility” (Chee & Franklin, 2009, p. 4).
Its main problems are associated with security and integrity. In cloud computing, database as a service (DaaS) is very useful and beneficial in ease of accessibility, power, integration and management. There are numerous providers among them Microsoft structured query language (MS SQL) and Oracle.
Due the presence of many applications in cloud solution system, there arises the need for identity management. This is applicable by limiting accessibility to users if and only if the login details coincide with those in the database. This avoids unauthorized persons from accessing the information.
Identification may be required when accessing both the cloud and the local network. There are also identity federation standards. They outline the operation roles. In the case a user requires secure internet access, the identity provider is used. It is used in the case of many users. The other one is the service provider (Toby, Velte, Velte, & Elsenpeter, 2009).
It is possible and efficient to run other application from a local server. This is applicable to various institutions and reduces the costs incurred. This is referred to as intranet. The good thing about cloud computing is that it can run on different platforms e.g. Linux and windows 7. This brings about uniformity irrespective of the service provider.
Cloud Computing Implementations
Cloud computation has various implementations. These includes compute clouds, cloud storage and cloud application. They differ in flexibility and size of organization. The limitation of cloud computing is that, sensitive or restricted data for example medical records are not preferred. There are legislative measures that allow access of data to specified security organs without owners consent. Also there is restriction in posting information outside ones region due to geographical and political reasons.
Cloud solution is not effective for dependent application. Thus universal applications are best suited. Full control in cloud solution is not very appropriate. One of the main things to consider in cloud solution is the cost. The overall cost of installing the entire system is very expensive.
Thus cloud computing is found to be cost effective due to shared costs. It also reduces work load for the information department of a given corporation. To increase security, data encryption using passwords is used (Meghanathan, 2010). This is also dependent to a higher level to the application used.
Programming is the key to application development. One can be able to make different applications that satisfy his specific needs. This is however dependent on individual proficiency in programming. After writing the code, deployment is done to make the self executable files. Graphical user interfaces will be essential for efficient communication between the user and the database. There are various kinds of database architectures.
These includes: single tier architecture database, two tier architecture database and multiple tier architecture database. The difference in this architecture is in the number of users. There must be sufficient knowledge on how to avail, manipulate and control the data. Despite the many merits of making a personal database, there are problems which arise in case of multiple users (Ugbolue, 2009).
Due to the presence of traffic in communication, there has been on going research on how to approach the problem. The information technology is very active is presenting a future solution to the traffic problem (Slabeva, (2009). The cost of implementing a new system is very expensive and would take too much time.
Due to this reason, the current best approach to this problem is to try and modify our current system. This entails the use of items to trace cloud traffic and then using them to control the traffic. One of these modern equipments is a router (Meghanathan, 2010).
Thus many institutions in the world are implementing the cloud computing system. On the other hand academic institutions are trying to explore and know more about it. This has resulted in various changes in the flow and accessibility of data. Thus joint collaboration between the two groups should result into further development in the cloud computing system (Jaatun, 2009).
In the business fields, the main benefits are improved quality service provision, cost justifiable service quality, services that meet business, customer and user demands, integrated centralized processes, ones knowledge on his roles and responsibilities and demonstrable performance indicators (Beard, 2008). Despite all these merits, there is a future problem of traffic. Therefore continuous researches have to be conducted to get a way out of this forthcoming mess.
References
Beard, H. (2008). Cloud Computing Best Practices for Managing and Measuring Processes for On-Demand Computing, Applications and Data Centers in the Cloud with Slas. Pittsburgh, PA: Lulu.
Chee, B. J. S. & Franklin. C. (2009). Cloud Computing: Technologies and Strategies of the Ubiquitous Data Center. London, United Kingdom: CRC Press.
Jaatun, M. G. (2009). Cloud Computing: First International Conference, CloudCom 2009, Beijing, China, December 1-4, 2009, Proceedings. New York, NY: Springer.
Meghanathan, N. (2010). Recent Trends in Network Security and Applications: Third International Conference. New York, NY: Springer
Slabeva, K. S. (2009). Grid and Cloud Computing: A Business Perspective on Technology and Applications. New York, NY: Springer
Toby, T. Velte, A. Velte, T. J. & Elsenpeter, R. C. (2009). Cloud Computing: A Practical Approach. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional.
Ugbolue, S. C. O. (2009). Polyolefin fibres: industrial and medical applications. London, United Kingdom: CRC Press.