The Cloud (Cloud Computing, Collaboration and Storage)

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Governmental Institutions

• National Institute of Standards and Technology

Non=governmental Organizations and Groups

• IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

Cloud Services and Softwares

1. Google Apps
2. Dropbox
3. Box
4. Funambol: White-label personal, business, safety, IoT and SIM Clouds - http://www.funambol.com/

CONCEPTS of CLOUD COMPUTING

1. What is it?
   1. Internet-based computing
      1. Provides shared processing resources and data
      2. To computing devices
      3. on demand
   2. Enabling Model
      1. Ubiquitous
      2. On demand access
      3. To Shared pool of configurable computing resources: Networks, servers, storage, applications and services
2. Who uses it
   1. Personal
   2. Enterprises
3. Value Proposition
   1. Sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economies of scale
      1. Through Converged infrastructure and Shared Services
   2. Avoid upfront infrastructure costs
   3. Focus on projects that differentiate business instead of on infrastructure
   4. Get applications up and running faster
   5. Improved manageability
   6. Less Maintenance: IT rapidly adjust resources to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand
4. Characteristics of Cloud Computing
   1. Generic
      1. Agility
         1. improves with users' ability to re-provision technological infrastructure resources.
      2. Cost reductions
         1. A public-cloud delivery model converts capital expenditure to operational expenditure.[40] This purportedly lowers barriers to entry, as infrastructure is typically provided by a third party and need not be purchased for one-time or infrequent intensive computing tasks. Pricing on a utility computing basis is fine-grained, with usage-based options and fewer IT skills are required for implementation (in-house).[41] The e-FISCAL project's state-of-the-art repository[42] contains several articles looking into cost aspects in more detail, most of them concluding that costs savings depend on the type of activities supported and the type of infrastructure available in-house.
      3. Device and location independence
         1. enable users to access systems using a web browser regardless of their location or what device they use (e.g., PC, mobile phone). As infrastructure is off-site (typically provided by a third-party) and accessed via the Internet, users can connect from anywhere.[41]
      4. Maintenance
         1. easier, because they do not need to be installed on each user's computer and can be accessed from different places.
      5. Multi-tenancy
         1. enables sharing of resources and costs across a large pool of users thus allowing for:
            1. centralization of infrastructure in locations with lower costs (such as real estate, electricity, etc.)
            2. peak-load capacity increases (users need not engineer for highest possible load-levels)
            3. utilisation and efficiency improvements for systems that are often only 10–20% utilised.[44][45]
      6. Performance is monitored, and consistent
         1. loosely coupled architectures are constructed using web services as the system interface.[41][46][47]
      7. Productivity may be increased
         1. when multiple users can work on the same data simultaneously, rather than waiting for it to be saved and emailed.
         2. Time may be saved as information does not need to be re-entered when fields are matched, nor do users need to install application software upgrades to their computer.[48]
      8. Reliability improves
         1. with the use of multiple redundant sites, which makes well-designed cloud computing suitable for business continuity and disaster recovery.[49]
      9. Scalability and elasticity
         1. via dynamic ("on-demand") provisioning of resources on a fine-grained, self-service basis in near real-time[50][51] (Note, the VM startup time varies by VM type, location, OS and cloud providers[50]), without users having to engineer for peak loads.[52][53][54] This gives the ability to scale up when the usage need increases or down if resources are not being used.[55]
      10. Security can improve
          1. due to centralization of data, increased security-focused resources, etc., but concerns can persist about loss of control over certain sensitive data, and the lack of security for stored kernels.
          2. Security is often as good as or better than other traditional systems, in part because providers are able to devote resources to solving security issues that many customers cannot afford to tackle.[56] However, the complexity of security is greatly increased when data is distributed over a wider area or over a greater number of devices, as well as in multi-tenant systems shared by unrelated users. In addition, user access to security audit logs may be difficult or impossible. Private cloud installations are in part motivated by users' desire to retain control over the infrastructure and avoid losing control of information security.
   2. US: National Institute of Standards and Technology's 5 Essential Characteristics
      1. On-demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider.
      2. Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).
      3. Resource pooling. The provider's computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand.
      4. Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear unlimited and can be appropriated in any quantity at any time.
      5. Measured service. Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized services
5. Cloud Computing Service Models

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
3. Software as a Service (SaaS)
1. Models of Deployment of Cloud Computing
   1. Personal Cloud: Collection of digital content and services that are accessible from any device.
      1. 4 Types of Personal Cloud:
         1. Online Cloud: Software and data storage available over the internet. E.g. Google Apps, Office Online, Dropbox, Box, Funambol, Basefolder
         2. NAS Device Cloud: NAS Device on personal Network. Often used for backups and archiving.
         3. Server Device Cloud: Cloud server is on-premises device connected to the internet. e.g. ownCloud, CloudLocker and Nimbus Project
         4. Home-Made Clouds: Connection of external USB hard drive to Wifi-router
   2. Private Cloud: Cloud infrastructure operated for single organisation, managed internally or 3rds part, and hosted internally or externally
   3. Public Cloud: Cloud Services that are rendered over a network for public use. E.g. Amazon AES, Microsoft and Google
   4. Hybrid Cloud: Composition of 2 or more clouds that remain distinct entities but bound together as a multiple deployment model.
      1. Examples: Dependent on data security, compliance requirements, level of control needed over data and applications an ogranisation uses
         1. Organisation store sensitive client data in house on private cloud application, but interconnect htat application to Business Intelligence application on a public cloud as software service
         2. Cloud Bursting: IT Organisations use public cloud computing resources to meet temporary capacity needs that are unable to be met by private cloud. For scaling across clouds when demands temporary increase
         3. Cross-Platform Hybrid Cloud: Powered by different CPU architectures and transparently deploy and scale applications without knowledge of hardware diversity
   5. Community Cloud: Shares infrastructure between several organisations from specific community with common concerns (Security, compliance, jurisdiction)
   6. Distributed Cloud: Distributed sets of machines in different locations, connected to single network or hub service
      1. Public Resource Computing: A form of distributed computing
      2. Volunteer Cloud: Volunteered resources
   7. Intercloud: Interconnected global cloud of clouds, Internet Network of networks. Direct Interoperability between public cloud service.
   8. Multicloud: Multiple cloud computing services in a single heterogeneous architecture to
      1. reduce reliance on single vendors
      2. Increase flexibility through choice
      3. Mitigate against disasters
2. Cloud Architecture and Cloud Engineering
   1. Cloud Architecture

1. Cloud Engineering: Multi-disciplinary methods in
   1. Systems
   2. Software
   3. Web
   4. Performance
   5. Informaiton
   6. Security
   7. Platorm
   8. Risk
   9. Quality Engineering

Reference

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

Concepts of Cloud Collaboration

1. What is it?
   1. Sharing and Co-authoring of computer files using cloud computing
   2. Documents are uploaded to central "Cloud" for storage
   3. Can be accessed by others
   4. Users Can Upload, comment, collaborate on documents
2. Why People are Resistant to Collaboration (Report by Erica Rugullies)
   1. People Resist Sharing their knowledge
   2. Safety Issues
   3. Users more comfortable using email as primary E collaboration Tool
   4. People do not have incentive to change their behaviour
   5. Teams want or are selected to use software do not have strong team leaders who push for collaboration
   6. Senior management is not actively involved or does not support collaboration intiative
3. Features of Cloud Collaboration Tools
   1. Use real-time commenting and messaging features to enhance speed of project delivery
   2. Leverage presence indicators to identify when others are active on documents owned by another person
   3. Allow users to set permissions and manage other users' activity profiles
   4. Allow users to set personal activity feeds and email alert profiles to keep abreast of latest activities per file or user
   5. Allow users to collaborate and share files with users outside the company firewall
   6. Comply with company security and compliance framework[11]
   7. Ensure full auditability of files and documents shared within and outside the organization
   8. Reduce workarounds for sharing and collaboration on large files

Personal Cloud Computing

Personal Cloud Computing Vs Personal Computer

• http://personal-clouds.org/wiki/Main_Page

References

• http://personal-clouds.org/wiki/Main_Page

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