Cloud Computing for the Enterprise - The Benefits, Opportunities and Challenges of The Cloud

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Executive Summary

'Cloud computing' has been causing a buzz within the IT industry for a number of years, but has only recently begun to be considered as a viable proposition for the enterprise market. Technologies, and people's attitudes, have matured to a level where businesses can now feel confident in the services and security on offer, and take advantage of the benefits of cloud products.

With this newfound confidence in place, the market is seeing a number of new cloud services and applications that can make a real positive impact to organisations. One such service, 'The Squiz Cloud', has been designed to bring together the advantages of cloud computing with the Squiz Suite of Web Experience Management software. The Squiz Cloud is a fully managed cloud-hosted environment - run by Squiz, for Squiz products and solutions. It combines a secure 'private cloud' with public content delivery networks to deliver a scalable, robust and efficient online infrastructure for high performance websites and online applications.

What is Cloud Computing?

'Cloud computing' is a term many people have heard, though few fully understand what it actually means. Even fewer still understand the impact the cloud will have on their business, and the importance of fully understanding this shift in IT services. Garter, the IT research and advisory company, believe the cloud computing market is a big opportunity for many companies, and predict it will grow from $36 billion in 2009 to over $160 billion by 2015 (1).

The word 'Cloud' has long been used in IT circles to describe large networks of computers. However it was the CEO of Google who popularised the term 'cloud computing' in 2006, during a search engine conference (2). Since then its use in everyday language has exploded. So what does it actually mean?

Cloud computing can be described as the means of delivering software and/or hardware, as a service, via a computer network such as the internet. Put simply, users can harness the power of a computer located somewhere out on the internet. This computer may be used for its number crunching horsepower, e.g. to process particularly complex mathematical calculations. Or it may be used to serve up software that the user otherwise doesn't have access to, e.g. using Google Docs over the web instead of buying Microsoft Office.

Gartner more formally define cloud computing as:

"A style of computing where scalable and elastic IT capabilities are provided as a service to multiple customers using internet technologies" (3).

Gartner go further and define five attributes of cloud computing (4). These attributes are:

• Cloud computing is 'service based - Cloud computing provides a specific 'off the shelf' service to end users
• Cloud computing is 'scalable and elastic' - Capacity can scale up and down as required by the user
• Cloud computing is 'shared'
- Resources are shared amongst public, private, or both sets of users
• Cloud computing is 'metered by use'
- Services are paid for by unit measure of use, much like a utility bill
• Cloud computing 'uses internet technologies' - The service is delivered over the internet, typically over the world wide web

The 'Consumer Cloud'

The cloud, as a way of delivering computer services, has been gaining in popularity for a number of years now, though the technology is in fact nothing new. Ignoring the 'dumb terminal' concepts of the late seventies and eighties (arguably even earlier incarnations of the cloud) the internet has been providing cloud services for almost as long as it's been around. Our earlier definition of cloud computing described it as delivering 'software services through the internet'. This would bring all manner of internet based websites and products under the banner of the cloud computing. A good example is Microsoft Hotmail.

Hotmail was one of the first webmail services available on the internet. It launched back in 1996, and by 1997 had 8.5 million subscribers. Microsoft quickly snapped the company up and developed it into one of the leading email services in the market today. Its user base currently stands at close to half a billion users(5). Each of these users launches a web browser of some description to access the service. They then connect to a remote datacentre somewhere on the web, and log in to read and send emails. All messages are stored remotely, nothing is held permanently on a local PC. Data is passed to and from the user as needed over a secure encrypted connection. It is a shared service, scalable to millions of users, and whilst not strictly 'metered' (Hotmail is free) it isn't charged for like traditional software. Hotmail is a bona fide cloud service, and it is not alone. Gmail, Yahoo, and many more all operate in the same way. It seems the cloud has been with us for some time.

Cloud computing isn't limited to email services either. Many widely used software applications and services are available over the web in 'cloud' form. From word processors and productivity software (like Google Docs), to social networking and multi-player games (like Facebook and Farmville), to file storage and communications (like Dropbox and Skype).

The key point here is that the public accept and understand cloud computing, and have done so for some time. Whilst they may not always associate the now ubiquitous 'cloud' label with what they are doing, they are comfortable with the principle. So comfortable, in fact, that millions trust their personal data to the cloud every day.

The Rise of Enterprise Cloud Computing

Adoption of the cloud in the enterprise space has, on the whole, been a lot slower than in the consumer space. Indeed it is only in the last couple of years that it has been considered seriously by the business community at all. However the cloud is now gathering pace in this market. 2010 saw its move to the mainstream, but 2011 has seen a real acceleration of activity, with a plethora of services and products are now targeting the Enterprise market.

Conceptually, the enterprise cloud is the same as the consumer cloud. It is all about users accessing data or services located out on the internet and web. But the enterprise market is much more risk adverse, generally only happy to adopt technologies that have proven themselves over a period of time. There are two key reasons for this:

Large Numbers of Users

The first is down to an enterprise's need to support technology and systems for a large number of users. If a consumer chooses to implement a new technology and it goes wrong, it will affect that user and maybe their immediate family. If a business chooses to do likewise, and it goes wrong, it could potentially affect the entire company - which could be a very large number indeed.

IT departments, and businesses generally, must consider the effects on a large user-base before they make significant changes to process or operation. In moving some, or all, of their operations to the cloud they need to look at the capabilities of a particular service. Is the tool suitable for the different needs of the user-base? Is the service capable of handling the maximum number of users at any given time? Will users require ongoing training and support? What are the maintenance requirements of the product?

The Bottom Line

The second reason for this slower cloud uptake is purely financial. Most businesses are in existence to make money. They need to generate a return for investors, shareholders, or employees. Mature IT applications and services, that work, help met this goal. Ineffective tools can have a negative impact on the bottom line, meaning businesses will stay away until they can be sure they won't end up suffering at their hands.

Both of these factors have contributed to an initial wariness of cloud computing by big business. But as the model has matured, and individual services have proved themselves in the consumer market, enterprises are starting to fully understand what the cloud can do for them.

At the same time that the cloud computing market has matured, the world economy has suffered its biggest slow down since the early 1990's (6). Businesses are looking for ways to save money and cut costs. Traditional outsourcing, once the darling of cost-cutting measures, has lost its appeal for many (7). Cloud computing is seen as a more effective way of cutting expenditure, especially upfront costs like hardware and software licensing.

The Technology

As we have seen, the cloud is not necessarily a new idea. But advances in computing technology have made today's cloud a much richer, and more realistic, proposition. There are three key areas of technological improvement have been responsible for this:

'Moores Law' and the Sheer Power Available in The Cloud

'Moore's Law', attributed to the former head of Intel Gordon E. Moore, states that computing capability doubles every two years. As a prediction it has proved particularly accurate, standing the test of time since it was coined in the late 1960's. It really means that computers, be they simple laptops or the huge servers that can be found running the cloud, double in power every two years. This has meant that data centres, full of super computers, can now be built more cheaply and easily than ever before. The technology is now available to build a cloud that can power enterprise services and applications with ease, at an affordable price.

Similarly, advances in storage technology have enabled computer hard discs to be developed at huge sizes and volumes, capable of storing the extreme amounts of data being placed in the cloud. Apple have spent the last year building a $1 billion, 500,000 sq feet facility in North Carolina, the home for its new iCloud service (8). It has stocked the facility with storage devices capable of holding 12 petabytes of data each. That is enough to store 160 years worth of high definition video.

Widely Available Fast Internet Access

When the world wide web first hit the mainstream, most businesses were using dial up modems, giving them very basic and pedestrian network access. In those early days, accessing the internet was only an occasional activity, so the slow speed of connection could be tolerated. Nowadays even the smallest of businesses can afford extremely fast internet access, and broadband is common in all but the most rural of areas. The 'always on' Internet access demanded by cloud is now a reality, and has paved the way for cloud computing to replace more traditional 'desktop' computing in many areas.

'Web 2.0' Technology

Users brought up on Windows 95, Microsoft Office, and Minesweeper, expect a certain level of functionality and form from their applications and services. They understand the way their word processor works and how to print documents. They understand how to use the mouse, and what toolbar buttons to use. Applications in this context tend to have a similar look and feel, and users become accustomed to the standards and generic tools that they employed. But, early versions of applications on the web behaved in a different manner. They were unfamiliar and confusing – very different to the desktop applications, and whilst users took to the various advantages of the web, it was a very different experience to that which they were used to.

Then around 2003 the term 'Web 2.0' was coined and a new version of the web made applications and services on the internet more interactive and usable. A number of new technologies were launched, enabling web designers to get closer to the rich experience people were used to on their desktops. This trend has accelerated in the last few years as things like HTML5, CSS3, and Google Chrome, have pushed the boundaries of the cloud even further. The end result is it is now possible to build cloud computing services that offer all the power and convenience of traditional desktop applications, but keep the benefits that internet delivery has always promised.

Benefits of the Cloud

Cloud computing, in its many varied forms, can offer businesses a wide range of benefits. These include:

Low Barriers to Entry

Cloud computing can be thought of as a form of 'utility service', similar to an electricity or gas company providing power to its customers. Companies such as these have made significant investments in infrastructure, developing a service, and managing and supporting its delivery. Businesses can easily connect to an electricity supply, without having to setup their own electricity company. Somebody else has done all of the hard work for them. Similarly, cloud services offer a low barrier to entry, because someone else has done all of the difficult work by setting up and supporting the service.

For example, many companies offer cloud services to host public facing websites, Squiz included. Accessing such a service is as simple as signing up with the relevant company, selecting a web address and various configuration options, and then uploading or creating a pre-designed website. Hosting a website hosted locally is a much harder proposition, requiring sophisticated server hardware, lots of configuration and setup work, and a significant amount of expert knowledge.

Scalable Performance as Needed

Cloud computing is often referred to as a 'service', again in the same way that utility companies provide a specific service to their customers. With cloud computing, there is no need to pre-plan or predict usage requirements too heavily upfront. The cloud service can scale up automatically as usage demand increases, and decrease when the additional resources are no longer needed.

For example, if the number of employees at a business increases rapidly, or a 'line of business' application needs to be accessed 24/7 instead of just in normal working hours, the cloud provider can automatically increase the power and availability (and associated support and help-desk time) of the affected services.

Greater Cost Control

As well as scaling performance, costs can also be scaled accordingly. Cloud services are typically charged based on the amount of that service used. There is no need to pay upfront or bulk buy data or access. Simply pay for what is actually consumed.

A second cost advantage to cloud services is the removal of significant upfront costs. Going back to our utility company example, setting up the equipment and staff needed to start production can be considerable. Running IT services and applications can be similarly expensive to get going. Server hardware is commonly needed, as are expensive software licenses, and also support and operational staff. Cloud computing does away with these issues completely. The cloud provider has already made an investment in a data-centre, software, and the appropriate staff. Businesses can simply tap into the available service as much or as little as they need.

More Effective Use of Internal Resources

Cloud computing enables enterprises to effectively outsource the operation of key services to external companies and providers. This can inevitability lead to spare capacity amongst existing internal resources. This can be viewed in one of two ways. Firstly is can be a viewed as a way of reducing costs within the business. Moving a service to the cloud is often cheaper than running it in house, and it may well be that the aim is a reduction in headcount and savings on salaries. This approach has been seen increasingly over the last year or two as the uncertainties in the economy continue to effect many businesses.

The second, more positive, approach is to view cloud computing as a chance to redeploy existing staff internally, to more interesting or suitable roles. Cloud services can give businesses a chance to outsource traditionally mundane or repetitive tasks, allowing the staff previously responsible to be moved somewhere they can add real value.

Challenges of the Cloud

Whilst cloud computing brings with it a range of benefits, like any new technology it has its limitations. It is important to understand these challenges, to enable them to be adequately managed or mitigated. There are four key challenges when it comes to cloud computing.

Security

The first challenge relates to security. The first part of this challenge relates to the security of access to the service itself. How is the service provided to end users, using which protocols and methods? Is the service and its data encrypted in transmission? How is the service then received by end users? If it is in a browser, which variant and version? Are users of the service patched and protected against the latest viruses and threats?

The second component of cloud security is that of data and storage. Inherent in cloud computing is the need to store data, of some description, away from the traditional security of the specific business's IT department. Data must be stored off site with a third party provider. It is important to understand where physically the data will be stored, and who will have access to it within the data-centre. What precautions and measures are in place to protect the data in the long run, in the event of a fire or natural disaster?

Physical Location of Data

The second challenge of cloud computing relates again to where the data is stored, but this time from a legal standpoint rather than its security. Data is ultimately stored in one or more physical locations somewhere on the globe. This will normally be in a private or shared data centre owned or hired by the cloud service provider. The information stored in this data centre will be subject to the local laws and regulations of that hosting country. These laws may very well be different to those in the location the service is being used, and those using the service should be aware of this and any issues it may cause. Ultimately the contents of the data-centre may be subject to access and inspection by ruling parties in that country. For many this will pose no concerns, but for government or sensitive data it may well be an issue to more fully consider.

Quality of Service, Support and Maintenance

The third challenge to be aware of relates to the quality, reliability and integrity of the cloud computing provider. An internal IT department may work to certain service level agreements, with staff trained to a particular standard or in particular disciplines. The subsequent cloud provider should match these standards, and provide evidence and assurances that they are able to offer the level of service that is required of them.

Similarly are they capable of maintaining the service they provide in accordance with the clients requirements? Is it available when it needs to be and maintained correctly?

Integration with Existing Systems

Many businesses and enterprises run a wide range of systems and applications within their organisations. Often these applications integrate with each other e.g. displaying data from one tool within another as a dashboard. Integration between systems can vary in complexity depending on the exact software in question. Sometimes interfaces exist allowing easy interoperability, on other occasions bespoke work must be carried out.

Such integration work can be difficult to carry out when cloud services are brought into the equation. As discussed above, security can be a challenge with cloud services. Combining the cloud with other systems multiplies security considerations, increasing the complexity of the work. Many cloud computing suppliers will point blank not allow existing systems to be combined with their cloud offering.

More practically, there are issues of communications, access, and testing that result from introducing an additional layer of software and an additional partner relationship.

The Squiz Cloud

The Squiz Cloud is a fully managed private cloud-hosting environment, which is run by Squiz, for Squiz products and solutions. It delivers a scalable, flexible and robust online infrastructure for cost-effective hosting of websites, online applications and the Squiz Web Experience Management Suite.

The Squiz Suite includes four complementary products, which together form a powerful platform for creating, managing and optimising websites and online applications:

• Squiz CMS – a revolutionary CMS with a highly usable interface
• Squiz Search – quality website search with a host of features to improve user experience
• Squiz Analytics – innovative tools to optimise site content and monitor site usage
• Squiz Matrix – an enterprise content management system with powerful integration features

CA Technologies' 3Tera AppLogic cloud computing platform is used to facilitate rapid deployment of infrastructure to the Squiz Cloud. Clients can then create and manage websites and online applications using the Squiz Suite, as well as publish and host them within the Squiz Cloud.

Public cloud services can be used alongside the Squiz Cloud in order to facilitate globally efficient websites. Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve a website's low-risk content from a number of worldwide locations ensures that download times for end-users are kept to a minimum, regardless of their geographic location.

Hosting the Suite on the Squiz Cloud delivers the advantages of cloud computing whilst ensuring security and availability, and preserving the value of existing technology investments. It also benefits from the support and professional services offered by Squiz, and their many years of experience in delivering successful web solutions and global support.

Each Squiz Cloud implementation includes the following as standard:

99.9% Uptime Guarantee

Squiz provides 99.9% uptime guarantees for all Squiz Cloud services as required for any enterprise or mission-critical online presence. Squiz also has a range of Service Level Agreement offerings in place for additional peace of mind, like guaranteed response times and 24/7/365 service desk support with our highly qualified IT and web support team.

24x7x365 Health Monitoring

The Squiz Support team monitors all client services around the clock. This includes not only all cloud hardware, but also the client services like Database, Web & Network services that are crucial to ensuring your online applications are running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

Automatic Healing & High Availability

The Squiz Cloud is specifically designed to provide full system redundancy with automated healing of all storage, computer and network services without human interaction. In the event of a hardware failure on any part of the Squiz Cloud, an automated process rebuilds the infrastructure redundancy in a matter of minutes, which readies the system for handling any future hardware failure.

Automatic Backups

The Squiz Cloud includes an automatic backup service that copies customer data to an external backup service, providing a further level of security to your data. Copies of data are stored for 3 months after being made, and this can be extended to up to 7 years if required.

Content Delivery Network

A content delivery network can be used alongside the Squiz Cloud to improve the speed at which global users can access a website or service. By caching a website's low-risk content at different geographical locations, download speeds are fast and consistent around the world.

Physical Security

The Squiz Cloud is housed in an ex-military bunker, delivering extremely high levels of physical security.

Interoperability

Squiz understand that clients often use a variety of software products and services for their web and Intranet systems and can easily accommodate non Squiz products alongside the Squiz Suite on the Cloud. This enables organisations to leverage existing technologies and consolidate their solution into one environment, giving all applications the advantages and benefits offered by the Cloud, as well as limiting maintenance and support requirements to a single platform.

Squiz Client Services and Support

In addition to these technical features, the Squiz Cloud is backed by many years of customer service excellence. The Squiz team are experts in both the Squiz Suite, and cloud technologies. The team can offer its clients the experience and technical know-how demanded by business critical 24x7 services. What's more, the Squiz team understand the importance of a personal service and are available on the end of the telephone or email.

Conclusions

The huge amount of hype around cloud computing for enterprises is a reflection of advancing technology, evolving attitudes, escalating business requirements and the ever-growing need for increased cost-effectiveness. The time is right for businesses to take advantage of the benefits offered by cloud computing products and services, albeit with the need to ensure that risks are mitigated and that cloud partners are reliable and experienced providers.

The Squiz Cloud is designed to deliver the benefits of cloud computing, with the power of the Squiz Suite. This combination delivers a robust platform for managing and hosting efficient and reliable websites and online applications in a secure, highly available, private cloud. The complementary use of a public content delivery network, to serve low-risk content, means that download times are fast around the world. The platform is backed by the experience and expertise of Squiz, and the company's set of professional support and services, ensuring that clients are able to achieve their online objectives and benefit from the cloud, without sacrificing security and peace of mind.

For more information on Squiz, Squiz products and Squiz services, please contact us

References

1. http://www.gartner.com/
2. http://www.google.com/press/podium/ses2006.html
3. http://blogs.gartner.com/daryl_plummer/2009/01/27/experts-define-cloud-computing-can-we-get-a-little-definition-in-our-definitions/
4. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1035013
5. http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/01/500000000-windows-live-users-on-hotmail-and-messenger.ars
6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10775625
7. http://www.cio.com/article/603075/The_End_of_IT_Outsourcing_As_We_Know_It
8. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com