Speed & Access: Are They Opposite Goals?

The economic slowdown has not dampened the IT world’s enthusiasm for fast computing and fast start-up

Speed, speed, speed. The economic slowdown has not dampened the IT world’s enthusiasm for fast computing and fast start-up.

Today, Steria, a European-based IT services company, joined forces with Cisco to create a solution that claims to give users access to the cloud in about 30 minutes. It’s called Infrastructure on Command, to debut around June, and it’s a Platform as a Service (PaaS) product that’s built on Cisco’s Unified Computing System and supported by Steria Advanced Remote Services (STARS).

Users will be able to access Infrastructure on Command through an online portal, and they can purchase additional computing power and infrastructure services on a pay-as-you-go basis. Companies – and this sounds like it would be perfect for small and mid-size firms – can scale up or down depending on what they need.

What’s so attractive about this is not only that they can adjust supply depending on their demand, but it also allows them to simply pay for the computing power they use.

While this is certainly good news for IT folks (especially at smaller companies) who want to get their apps and data on the cloud quick, and keep within their budget guidelines, too, quick access doesn’t necessarily address some of the major worries about cloud computing these days – especially who within a company should get access and how to control that.

A recent poll by the Ponemon Institute, called the “2010 Access Governance Trends Survey,” asked 728 IT practitioners about their procedures and outcomes in setting up access to information resources. The survey found that 87% thought individuals had too much access to information systems, up 9% from 2008.

Meanwhile, 73% said adoption of cloud-based applications is allowing users to circumvent existing corporate policies on access. This is clearly a problem for companies that want to tighten information control and security. And the study says that lack of central control over access to the cloud and online information “can contribute to excess user access and generally decrease the ability to apply policies and processes consistently across the enterprise.”

So, if you consider the first bit of news, that is, a way to get access to the cloud in 30 minutes, and then juxtapose it against the second, that is, that IT executives are unhappy about a lack of control over employees gaining access to the cloud, it seems we’ve got a problem here. Is cloud development moving too fast for IT folks concerned with governance?

This makes an even more compelling argument for monitoring services, especially the monitoring of networks, and even more especially, multi-site networks. If more and more people are accessing information services, whether it’s done via internal servers or virtual servers at remote sites, you’re bound to worry more about keeping it all running smoothly. What kind of monitoring can Monitis do for you? Here are some services for network monitoring:

* Native agent for Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD and Mac
* Computer configuration monitoring
* SNMP monitors, SNMP traps, MIB Browser with local infrastructure
* Internal telnet checks for switches, routers and other network devices
* Internal http check for intranet and extranet applications
* Office and cross-office WAN connectivity checks
* Ad hoc monitoring locations
* Expandable with custom scripts

Now is the time to consider letting a third-party monitoring system, like Monitis, do the tracking—and worrying—for you!

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Cloud Computing – Demystifying SaaS, PaaS and IaaS

Is cloud computing the next biggest thing since the Web? The answer is YES.

After Mainframe, Personal Computer, Client Server Computing and the Web, this is the next big thing. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) October 2008 report, projected Cloud IT Spending in 2012 will be $42 Billion; a growth of about 27% from 2008. IDC forecasts that Asia Pacific spending on IT cloud services to grow fourfold, reaching $3.6 billion by 2013. IDC sees that new uses of cloud technology will be introduced to include those markets which cannot yet take advantage of cloud computing.

SaaS, PaaS and IaaSFig 1. Cloud Computing Services

Cloud computing is broken down into three segments: “software”, “platform” and “infrastructure”.

Each segment serves a different purpose and offers different products to businesses and individuals around the world.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is the service based on the concept of renting software from a service provider rather than buying it yourself. The software is hosted on centralized network servers to make functionality available over the web or intranet. Also known as “software on demand” it is currently the most popular type of cloud computing because of its high flexibility, great services, enhanced scalability and less maintenance. Yahoo mail, Google docs, CRM applications are all instances of SaaS. With a web-based CRM all that employees need to do is register and login to the central system and import any existing customer data. The service provider hosts both the application and the data so the end user is free to use the service from anywhere. SaaS is very effective in lowering the costs of business as it provides the business an access to applications at a cost normally far cheaper than a licensed application fee which is possible due to its monthly fees based revenue model. With SaaS user need not worry about installation or upgrades.

From SaaS, now the industry is moving towards Platform as a Service (PaaS). PaaS offers a development platform for developers. The end users write their own code and the PaaS provider uploads that code and presents it on the web. SalesForce.com’s Force.com is an example of PaaS. PaaS provides services to develop, test, deploy, host and maintain applications in the same integrated development environment. It also provides some level of support for the creation of applications. Thus PaaS offers a faster more cost effective model for application development and delivery. The PaaS provider manages upgrades, patches and other routine system maintenance. PaaS is based on a metering or subscription model so users only pay for what they use. Users take what they need without worrying about the complexity behind the scenes.

There are basically four types of PaaS solutions – social application platforms, raw compute platforms, web application platforms and business application platform. Facebook is a type of social application platform wherein third parties can write new applications that are made available to end users. The CRM solutions provided by the companies are examples of business application platform. Developers can upload and execute their applications on Amazon’s infrastructure which is an example of raw compute platform. While the Google provides APIs to developers to build web applications which is an example of web application platform.

The final segment in the cloud computing is the infrastructure. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is delivery of the computing infrastructure as a fully outsourced service. Some of the companies that provide infrastructure services are Google, IBM, Amazon.com etc. Managed hosting and development environments are the services included in IaaS. The user can buy the infrastructure according to the requirements at any particular point of time instead of buying the infrastructure that might not be used for months. IaaS operates on a “Pay as you go” model ensuring that the users pay for only what they are using. Virtualization enables IaaS providers to offer almost unlimited instances of servers to customers and make cost-effective use of the hosting hardware. IaaS users enjoy access to enterprise grade IT Infrastructure and resources that might be very costly if purchased completely. Thus dynamic scaling, usage based pricing, reduced costs and access to superior IT resources are some of the benefits of IaaS. IaaS is also sometimes referred to as Hardware as a Service (HaaS). An Infrastructure as a Service offering also provides maximum flexibility because just about anything that can be virtualized can be run on these platforms. This is perhaps the biggest benefit of an IaaS environment. For a startup or small business, one of the most difficult things to do is keep capital expenditures under control. By moving your infrastructure to the cloud, you have the ability to scale as if you owned your own hardware and data center.

So we could see that where SaaS offers a complete application as service and PaaS offers the ability to develop an application, IaaS doesn’t care about the application at all. If you have already written a lot of code or have a software package you want to install and run in the cloud, then you’ll be looking for IaaS. If you have no software or want to build something from scratch to solve a problem for which there is no package available or the packages are too expensive or complicated, then you should go for PaaS. The unit of deployment varies from the server to the application and these three types of services offered in cloud computing will have great effect on the nature of IT operations.

Full Source: e2eNetworks

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Adecco Connects Its UK Branches with Magic Software's uniPaaS

Magic Software Enterprises Ltd., a provider of application platforms and business and process integration solutions, announced on Monday that Adecco, a market leader in human resource solutions, has developed MAX, a back-office system for its 200 UK branches, using Magic Software's uniPaaS application platform.

Magic Software's uniPaaS is an application platform that simplifies the process of building and deploying business applications. The MAX back-office system facilitates and optimizes the matching of candidates with enterprises, enables multi-agency registration of candidates, global access to human resources and rapid response to customer requirements.

The MAX system replaced Adecco's disparate local databases. It also simplifies procedures, eliminates the need for any manual intervention by data processing specialists and facilitates remote management of each recruitment agency by a central data processing team.

According to Andrew Chapman, IT Manager, Adecco UK: "It is obvious that centralized management from a single base is easier and more efficient than the previous situation - in which this same type of operation was done on over 200 separate remote servers."

Through the new system, batch processing times have also been reduced to a fifth, enhancing the handling of business opportunities, as well as speeding up customer response times.

The development process was speeded up using the uniPaaS application platform that uses pre-compiled business logic, or 'metadata' rather than hard code. "As any IT manager knows, it's not easy to get the budget to replace existing IT investments. Magic Software had already provided a decade's worth of stable and trusted technology for our internal back office system. Now with uniPaaS we have the scope to evolve this and take our existing application into the cloud without turning our IT investments upside down," continued Andrew Chapman, IT Manager, Adecco UK.

uniPaaS also enables easy remote deployment of new versions of MAX, and an almost real-time correction of potential input errors, assuring the data processing team of a powerful, secure, and scalable infrastructure.

Andrew Chapman understands the benefits of moving applications into the cloud, commenting: "As we enter the new era of cloud based applications we have the scope to deploy our existing MAX system through the cloud to all our branches. Through the use of uniPaaS, we hope to further enhance our status as the world's leading recruitment & HR organization."

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The new wave in cloud computing (from the Hindu newspaper, India)

CHENNAI: Cloud computing is the latest buzzword. But small-time business operators are wondering if it will be useful and affordable. For them, the answer is a “software as a service” (SaaS) delivery model built into cloud computing.

It is a relatively new model of software deployment. Typically, here an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the Internet. This model eliminates the need for installing and running the application in the customer’s own computer, and also the burden of maintaining software, operations and support.

While the first revolution of the Internet saw the three-tier model emerge as a general architecture, virtualisation in clouds has created a new set of layers such as applications, services and infrastructure. These layers do not just encapsulate on-demand resources, they also define a new application development model.
There are three layers — SaaS; the middle layer, known as platform as a service (PaaS); and the lowest layer, infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

www.salesforce.com is a good example of SaaS. There are many others, including Google Apps, offering basic business services such as e-mail. While cloud computing is considered a boon to large and mid-sized players, the neighbourhood pop and mom stores are waiting for a technology or solution that can help in cost-effective and efficient business. Business Intelligence (BI) software is making inroads into the small business area, and new technologies like SaaS appear perfect for smaller firms.

According to Niraj Jaipuria, founder of BI Retail Ltd, these management software solutions help retail outlets, providing information and data on bill collection, customer trends, inventory management, product display and sales patterns.

New technologies such as SaaS help small firms save money by having a ‘host’ somewhere in cyberspace rather than being present in the physical firm. The inherent ability of SaaS to reduce price points to fractions is what is working to its advantage.

The use of SaaS can also reduce the upfront expenses on software purchase, through less costly on-demand pricing. End-users may thus reduce their investments in servers and other hardware, says Mr. Jaipuria.

HR solutions Human resource solutions created by Adrenalin eSystems Ltd are also marketed through the SaaS delivery model in cloud computing. According to its chief executive officer and managing director, the HR department in every company is expected to take on the role of process owner on behalf of the leader and facilitate this across the organisation. The HR department is also tied down to mundane administrative activities. Thus, there is a key challenge faced by the HR head — to use human resource solutions to help the organisation do the needful.

Such a solution for a small and medium enterprise (SME) could prove expensive. But implementing it through the SaaS delivery model could be cost-effective. Today, most of the mid and large-sized companies are using HR solutions through SaaS, says Mr. Ganesh.

Original Article - http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/27/stories/2009092756151400.htm