Understanding Cloud Computing

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing broadly describes off-premise, on-demand computing where the end-user is provided applications, computing resources, and services (including operating systems and infrastructure) by clouds services provider via the Internet. The hosting industry came out of the need for software and computing services that were managed internally, but were made more economical and accessible through the economies of scale of a hosted implementation. Most service providers offer cloud computing in the form of VPS hosting, shared hosting, andsoftware-as-aservice (SaaS). Cloud services have long been offered in the form of SaaS, such as Microsoft Hosted Exchange and SharePoint.

Large-Scale Operations
Computing clouds consist of thousands of servers located at data centers running tens of thousands of application instances accessed by millions of users at the same time. Such large-scale operations make pervasive automation an absolute necessity. Further, in order to provide secure access to computing resources for various user roles cloud operators, service providers, resellers, IT administrators, application users computing clouds need to have delegated administration and self-service capabilities. Cloud computing significantly changes the way applications are delivered, managed and integrated. Compared to traditional computing, cloud computing operates on a larger scale, attracts a variety of users accessing services and application within a single cloud, and comes with the inherent "lights out" dependency on the cloud service providers.

Cloud Benefits
Cloud computing is efficient and offers opportunities for increased revenue and new channels for independent software vendors (ISVs), telcos and VARs (in the form of SaaS). It offers on-demand services where customers can pay for what they use, and adjust resources to what they need with no long-term commitment. For hosters, cloud computing provides tremendous growth potential. The cloud services industry is growing rapidly and is forecasted to be 9% of all IT spending by 2012. Plus, the industry buzz is changing from hosting to cloud computing and SaaS, and your customers will begin to expect you to be an expert in these areas.

Types of Clouds
Parallels envisions a world where the majority of computing will move to five different types of clouds over the next five to 10 years. There will be proprietary platform clouds that provide various platform services provided by Google (Type 1), Microsoft (Type 2) and other large IT players (Type 3) such as IBM, Apple, HP and Amazon. Then there are services clouds (Type 4) where we envision thousands of clouds services providers offering a variety of services. Examples are web and application hosting clouds, vertical industry clouds (ex: government clouds, healthcare clouds, etc..), ISV clouds (ex: business intelligence, CRM, etc..), telecommunication services (ex: voicemail, VOIP). Finally, there will be clouds run by enterprise IT (Type 5) that will provide services for internal use and by employees and partners.

Platform Clouds
Type1: Google cloud Type2: Microsoft cloud Type3: Other clouds (ie: IBM and Apple Amazon, Facebook, Adobe and more)

Services Clouds

Type4: Channel clouds of service providers telcos, web hosters, ISVs, SaaS players Type5: In-house clouds of large companies (Fortune 1000)
The competitive economics of computing today require that businesses transform themselves into Type 5 clouds or outsource to Type 4 clouds. To meet this need, Parallels creates solutions, ecosystems and partnerships with service providers and businesses to build and operate efficient services clouds. In addition, Parallels has been investing in SaaS to enable independent software vendors and service providers to offer SaaS applicationsbuilt on industry standards enabled by our software. To understand more about SaaS relates to cloud computing, read our "What is SaaS?" article.

http://www.parallels.com/spp/understandingclouds/

How Cloud Computing Works

by Jonathan Strickland

A typical cloud computing system. See more computer networking pictures.

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Let's say you're an executive at a large corporation. Your particular responsibilities include making sure that all of your employees have the right hardware and software they need to do their jobs. Buying computers for everyone isn't enough -- you also have to purchase software or software licenses to give employees the tools they require. Whenever you have a new hire, you have to buy more software or make sure your current software license allows another user. It's so stressful that you find it difficult to go to sleep on your huge pile of money every night. Soon, there may be an alternative for executives like you. Instead of installing a suite of software for each computer, you'd only have to load one application. That application would allow workers to log into a Web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job. Remote machines owned by another company would run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex data analysis programs. It's called cloud computing, and it could change the entire computer industry. In a cloud computing system, there's a significant workload shift. Local computers no longer have to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to running applications. The network of computers that make up the cloud handles them instead. Hardware and software demands on the user's side decrease. The

only thing the user's computer needs to be able to run is the cloud computing system's interface software, which can be as simple as a Web browser, and the cloud's network takes care of the rest. There's a good chance you've already used some form of cloud computing. If you have an e-mail account with a Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, then you've had some experience with cloud computing. Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn't exist on your computer -- it's on the service's computer cloud.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/cloud-computing.htm

5 Ways to Keep Your Information Secure in the Cloud

Computer Image Gallery The beauty of cloud computing lies in the easy access you have to your data using any Internet-connected device. But without proper security precautions, you could be leaving yourself open to trouble. iStockphoto.com/Thinkstock

In 2011, hacking groups like Lulzsec and Anonymous provoked an Internet firestorm by hacking major Web sites like Fox.com and online services like Sony's PlayStation Network. Millions of user accounts were compromised. Usernames, passwords, home addresses and credit card information -- lax Web site security often allows hackers easy access to boatloads of personal information. We can blame corporations for poor security and hackers for maliciously attacking Web sites, but there's a third party often at fault in these attacks: ourselves, the users. No, it's not our fault Web sites get hacked. But poor Web safety habits put us at risk when we shouldn't be. How often do you use the same username and password? Every time you create a new profile? If someone hacked your Facebook account, could they just as easily get into your e-mail inbox? Reusing passwords -- or using weak passwords -- makes you an easy target for identity theft. Remembering multiple passwords can be a pain, but there are Web services that can help. We'll talk about one of the most popular options later in this article. Internet cloud services -- services that store your data on a server rather than on your hard drive so you can access it from any Internet-enabled device -- are more powerful than ever before. Backing up photographs and important documents has never been easier. Google Docs and Gmail can take the place of Microsoft Word and Outlook Express. Banking sites take the place of expensive finance applications. All we have to do is be safe while we use them. Here are some simple safety tips for keeping your data secure in the cloud. First up: making your passwords as tough to crack as Fort Knox.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/5-ways-to-keep-your-information-secure-inthe-cloud.htm