Argumentative Essay on Benefits of Cloud Computing

Introduction:

As SysOps Engineer for NERF, we have received funding for a particle accelerator program and now it is our responsibility to choose an operating system and in effect a cloud platform that fits all the requirements of the job at hand. The main concerns that the company faces with this is that the chosen cloud program should fit a certain criterion to deem it suitable for NERT. The applications that the operating system should support should acquire real-time data for statistical comparisons, and this should always be available. One of the more prominent concerns is that of security. Working on particle accelerators is a job that draws a lot of attention to say the least, the scientists would hence require protection from data misuse through proper security and encryption that the cloud platform providing service should guarantee.

In contemporary times, with the advancement of technology, a conundrum that has arose with tech companies around the globe is their inability to notice change and respond effectively. Out of this need to get with the times comes the advent of cloud computing, which is a revolutionary digital tool in its own sense. Even though big tech possesses its own hardware and software, which are usually servers stored in huge data centers. Deviating from normal computing norms, cloud computing enables their hardware to be used anywhere around the globe. Consumers do not have to worry about the hardware and simply rent out the required processing power and storage. Colloquially speaking, it is “somewhere in the cloud”. Some people would argue that it is a paradigm shift in the way computer power is generated and consumed. It is a proverbial xerox of the industrial shift from steam power to electricity. As SysOps Engineer for NERF, it is our responsibility to choose an operating system and in effect a cloud platform that fits all the requirements of the job.

Although sceptics are still in doubt about cloud computing, and generally ask the following questions:

1. Why is it a big deal?
2. What are the main concerns?

To begin with the first question, it can do anything. What this means is companies that build the software and hardware and send it to the “cloud”, and consumers can access daily plethora of processing power and storage on their low-powered handheld devices. Companies and consumers alike can opt for plans that give them processing powers or storage depending on their requirements, this turns out to be economical because they are not liable to expend on any unnecessary resources or buy tangible hardware. No maintenance cost of cloud storage is at the customers end. Another benefit of cloud storage would be its security. With the increasing threat of data misuse and cybercrimes, data protection is pertinent due to industry standards and regulations in place, and cloud storage provides just that with numerous encryptions and passwords to allow access.

As with anything, concerns are evident. The industry has been lethargic to the acceptance of cloud computing. Cloud computing’s annual growth to be 19% which is quite scant when put relative to the worldwide IT expenditure of less than 5% (Gartner,2009). In addition to this, the upfront cost of running a cloud computing setup can be hefty, the shift from data centers to cloud computing would increase costs by 144% (Mackenzie,2015). This system not very reliable as well, which could be explained by the April 2011 Amazon Web Services outage for three days. This affect trickled down to numerous companies that were dependent on its services, although some companies were able to sustain this, it was the fresh startups that took the biggest hit.

There are three different service models of cloud computing. The differ in the ways they satisfy various business requirements.

Models of cloud computing

• SaaS: Software as a Service
• PaaS: Platform as a Service
• IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service

SaaS: Software as a Service is the one in which applications you access over the web are handled by the software provider, instead of your company. Due to this, the company does not have to take constant pressure of maintaining software, the management of infrastructure, security of the network, availability of the data and any other operational procedures that are relevant to keeping an application running and operating correctly.

The factors which impact the cost are time of usage, no. of approvals, the data stored, and the total transactions processed. SaaS is the most popular model and some of the applications at this point include monitoring of systems, scheduling and more. (Anon, 2019)

The risks associated with SaaS include the need for it to be running continuously. Any interruptions can be costly. Further, the companies must relent some control over to the cloud company. If the provider company makes any changes in the cloud services, it can impact the clients and clients must adjust accordingly.

PaaS: This model (Platform is a Service) is one which combines attributes of both Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Users do not have to install and work with integrated development environments (these are expensive), and instead they can work on the cloud-based environment, building and delivering applications in one place. Essentially, a platform is provided by the cloud company to clients, giving them the service of developing, running and managing business applications; clients do not have to maintain and build those, and hence they save a lot of money. (Violino, 2019)

The biggest advantage of PaaS is the time saved by clients since they do not have to develop their own infrastructure for development of applications and then after that the running and managing process of applications. This leads to faster development of applications. A big positive for a business looking to earn a competitive edge. Applications of PaaS include API development and management, Business analytics/intelligence, Business process management, Master data management.

IaaS: IaaS stands for Infrastructure as a Service. This provides a way (standardized) of getting computing services on demand on the internet. These resources constitute processing power, network, virtual pirate servers and storage. The billing is done under a ‘pay as you go’ model, where the bill is according to the number and extent of resources that are used, over a time is which is defined. Here, the customers do not manage infrastructure, and it is up to the provider to guarantee the resources and their availability. (Anon, 2019)

Third party providers of service host hardware equipment, the operating system, storage systems and any other IT services. Further, they sometimes also handle data backup, management of systems and continuity of business.

Comparison of the three models: (Stephen Watts, 2019)

Deployment Strategies:

There are four main deployment strategies when it comes to cloud computing.

• Private Cloud
• Community Cloud
• Public Cloud
• Hybrid cloud

Private cloud: This is the type which is run for one organization alone. The management work can be done by another third-party service, or by the organization itself.

Community cloud: In this strategy the service is shared by many organizations and it is used to support specific communities that have similar concerns (e.g. policy, security requirements etc.). This, too, can be managed by the third party or the organization itself.

Public cloud: This is the one which is available to the public, and it is owned by the organization which is selling cloud services.

Hybrid cloud: This is a combination of two or more clouds mentioned above. While the constituents remain unique clouds, they are connected to each other by propriety technology, enabling application and data portability. (Winkler, 2011)

Suggestions

The suggestion we put forward is a private deployment with Software as a service (SAAS). Firstly, the software is readily available to access across all sites and no further installations or modification are required by the research center. It is an economic data-sharing tool as no licensing cost is due since it is all accessible and the center is on a budget due to funding constraints. Any update to the main server would translate into real time upgradation across all devices. The interface is easy to use as everything is built into the cloud and so usage is not esoteric. Private deployment would also allow NERT as the sole organization that receives the services and so it ensures end-to-end security and encryption which is essential for the line of work that NERT does. For SAAS the organization responsible to provide the cloud, so they are always legally and contractually liable to provide availability which is also an important requirement at NERF.