Cloud Computing

Resources like computing power and infrastructure, application platforms and

business processes are provided through the internet as general utilities to users in
an on-demand fashion.
Consumers can access and use these resources and services anytime and anywhere
using an internet connection.
Consumers may not be aware of the equipment being used to provide these
services.
Business enterprises are now increasingly reshaping their business models to
benefit from these new technology.

Traditional role of Service Providers categorized into 3 parts

1. Infra providers who manage platforms in the cloud and lease resources
according to a usage-based pricing model.
2. Service providers who rent resources from infra providers to serve the end
users
3. Service providers who offer cloud services
Basic attributes of Cloud Computing
1. Data intensive More focus on data rather than computation. Thus I/O is
more important than CPU utilization. Thus storing enormous amounts of data
at data centers.
2. Resource pooling Multiple tenants or users can be served using same
software programs and also keeping each user independent of each other.
3. Highly scalable This is due to inherent property of resource sharing, which
can be made as per requirement of cloud provider or cloud user.
4. On demand access User can unilaterally access these resources giving him
freedom to provision them according to the needs. It thus employs a pay-asyou-go policy.
Three main service models
1. Software as a Service A software distribution model, in which a user can use
the providers applications on a cloud infrastructure. User may not be
controlling the infrastructure used to provide these services, and can access
the applications provided on different devices such as web based email etc.
IT operational costs are drastically reduced and testing speed is fast
compared to traditional methods.
2. Platform as a Service The service provides the consumer hardware and
software infrastructure to be deployed onto the cloud infrastructure the
applications created or being used by the user. User may not have control of
the above mentioned infrastructure, but may control the environment in

which the applications are deployed. This service enables integration of web
services and databases.
3. Infrastructure as a Service Provides the consumer ability to provision the
basic computing resources like storage, networks etc. It gives the user the
flexibility, to expand the scale of applications provided to the end user by a
process called virtualization.
Four deployment models
1. Public cloud This type of cloud is made available to the general public by a
third party cloud provider, who is also responsible for the creation of cloud.
2. Private cloud This cloud infrastructure is operated only for a single private
organization which is managed privately. This enables the organization to
centralize the usage of its IT resources by different departments or branches.
3. Community cloud This infrastructure is shared by several organizations and
supports a specific community with same goals. Membership however,
doesnt guarantee access and control over the cloud infrastructure.
4. Hybrid cloud Composition of two or more above mentioned cloud
environments, that remain unique entities, but are bound together enabling
data and application portability.
SMEs in India are now using online portals to tap into the large international
markets. Also the IT requirements of these SMEs are not as complicated and
extensive as those of large enterprises, thus outsourcing them to a cloud provides is
easier and enables them to focus on their core business. Factors like minimum risk
and lower capex makes cloud computing an extremely viable option for them.
But there are also barriers to entry like security of data, interoperability of cloud
service providers, initial investments required in shifting to cloud services, quality of
service, and legal issues related to the industry.
Considering large capital investments and relevance of these services in the global
economy, a handful of companies can achieve a dominant position in the industry,
and in turn can shape the future of the industry as per their interests, thereby
monopolizing the market, which in turn will harm the interests and the autonomy of
the users in the long run. It can also impair innovation and evolution in the service.
Enterprises also spend money on variety of services, like Business Processes as a
Service, in which advertisement automation is a major area of interest. Software
services are also provided which include the likes of office tools, CRM packages,
which are being used by many large scale enterprises.

Key opportunities for operators can be

1. Transforming the back end systems to cloud based across geographical and
organizational borders. Also by procuring these services like CRM, value
added services, they can convert their capex to opex, and will be able to
scale their services in accordance with their business needs.

2. Leveraging the unique assets possessed by the operators like end-customer

user profile, location information, messaging platforms, new sources of
revenues can be generated.
3. As security, privacy and quality of service is one of the key consumer
experience factors, it gives telecom operators a certain edge over the general
broadband providers.