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Cloud Computing – “Whats the Buzz? - Ask, Find, Discuss about ...

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eVapt Inc. is a US‐based, wholly‐ownedsubsidiary of MagnaQuest, and enables <strong>the</strong>metering, billing, subscription managementand pay‐as‐you‐use model for <strong>Cloud</strong>computing, SaaS, On‐Demand Content andMobile VAS service providers. eVapt’s ondemandbilling and monetization platformenables service providers to both automate<strong>the</strong>ir back office operations, as well assupport more sophisticated pricing and billingmodels.eVapt is revolutionizing <strong>the</strong> way <strong>Cloud</strong>businesses can run and manage billing. Inaddition to dramatically simplifying a serviceprovider’s billing, payments and subscriptionmanagement capabilities, eVapt can alsooffer additional benefits to o<strong>the</strong>r parts of aservice provider’s organization:Marketing: Determine optimal ways topackage <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> offerings intopricing and discount schedules. Build andmanage marketing programs arounddiscounts, coupons and customer loyalty.Finance and Accounting: Manage contracts,commitments, and mediate <strong>the</strong> contractterms with actual usage to determine billingand overage fees. Manage <strong>the</strong> end‐to‐endbilling, payments and collection process.Sales: Manage <strong>the</strong> trial‐to‐subscriptionprocess, up‐selling, renewal and customersupport process.Product Management: Understand <strong>the</strong>feature sets that are used most often by yourcustomers, and incorporate <strong>the</strong>se findingsinto product enhancements that will have <strong>the</strong>biggest impact.eVapt is a comprehensive and marketprovenproduct that can be easily integratedwith your operations. It currently serviceshundreds of users and millions of subscribersacross <strong>the</strong> globe. From subscriber acquisitionto subscriber retention, eVapt handles allaspects of creating, managing and cultivatingrelationships, throughout <strong>the</strong> subscriberlifecycle. Its architecture ensures that <strong>the</strong>entire network of internal and externalrelationships is seamless and geared toenhance <strong>the</strong> subscriber experience.eVapt has built a world class solution thatsupports metering, billing and subscriptionmanagement. <strong>Cloud</strong> computing serviceproviders will have <strong>the</strong> access to robustfeature sets including Customer InformationManagement, Product Management, ServiceFulfillment, Policy Management, Prepaid &Postpaid billing, Rating, Collections, CustomerCare and Self Care.In summary, <strong>the</strong> eVapt solution provides<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> providers with “bestpractices” capabilities in <strong>the</strong> areas of contractmanagement, billing, mediation and revenuesettlement, and will enable service providersto better focus on <strong>the</strong>ir core businessstrengths and service delivery capabilities.


‘From <strong>the</strong> Editor’s DeskAniket Chauhan‘With great enthusiasm and pleasure we havecome out with second issue of CONFLUENT. Thistime we brought clouds to earth, jokes apart <strong>the</strong><strong>the</strong>me is “<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>”.But any management magazine cannot becomplete without a well‐deserved tribute to aneminent thought leader, renowned managementthinker and a distinguished professor, CKPrahalad who tragically passed away on April 16 th ,2010. It was a huge loss to management worldthat was enlightened by his works on StrategicIntent, Core Competence and Bottom of <strong>the</strong>Pyramid; last of which was most famous, openeda gateway into people below poverty line being asa world market.Professor CK Prahalad willalways be rememberedamong <strong>the</strong> greatest thoughtleadersof <strong>the</strong> 21st century.A sharp and analytical mind,his ability to drill down to <strong>the</strong>core of <strong>the</strong> problem andcome up with innovativesolutions was legendary. His ground breakingwork on strategy undoubtedly represents one of<strong>the</strong> significant contributions in <strong>the</strong> evolution ofmanagement <strong>the</strong>ory.He broke away from <strong>the</strong> mould of purelyanalytical and mechanistic ways. Instead, headvocated <strong>the</strong> need to shift out focus frommerely incremental change to revolutionarychange. In true sense, he lifted managementthought to new levels of excitement and activism.He worked with missionary zeal to get Indianbusinesses to uncover <strong>the</strong> vast opportunities at<strong>the</strong> bottom of <strong>the</strong> pyramid. This is not onlybecause of <strong>the</strong> latent business opportunities, butalso because of his conviction — that’s how <strong>the</strong>poor could be uplifted, and that’s how businessescould win <strong>the</strong> legitimacy and trust that <strong>the</strong>ydeserved. “His <strong>the</strong>ory and vision behind <strong>the</strong>viability of <strong>the</strong> high‐volume, low‐cost businessmodels was path‐breaking,” said Kiran Karnik,former president of NASSCOM.“It’s a profound loss. CKP was not only a greatmanagement thinker but also a luminousintellect always renewing himself,” said RKKrishna Kumar, vice‐chairman, Indian Hotels,and director, Tata Sons, who has known Mr.Prahalad for <strong>the</strong> last 40 years.It was in his book "The New Age of Innovation:Driving Co‐Created Value through GlobalNetworks" he proposed ‐ N=1 states that "valueis based on unique, personalized experiences ofconsumers." That is, even companies serving100 million consumers need to focus onindividuals. R=G, meanwhile, argues that sinceno company can hope to satisfy <strong>the</strong> variedexpectations of so many consumers, it mustdiversify how it operates.He foresaw <strong>the</strong> market and proposed <strong>the</strong> abovewhich is THE BASE OF CLOUD COMPUTING.That being said, I invite all readers to <strong>the</strong>“World of <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>”.Mail <strong>the</strong> editor: aniket.chauhan@hotmail.com3


CONFLUENT TEAMEditor in ChiefAniket ChauhanCore Technical TeamTeam HeadsAkash Mohan Tushar Swapnil GadreMembersVaishali Banerjee Achintya Agarwal Paranpreet SSudarshan Taparia Saurabh AcharyaManagement TeamTeam HeadsMousumi Ray Krutarth MMembersRicha Singh Anamika Datta Ninad DhavaseNikhil Sarup Parul SaxenaIndustry Connect TeamTeam HeadsAnushree Sen Sheetu LuthraMembersNiraj Bhave Abhishek Mardikar Nipun MohantyTapendra Marwah UshaKiran KorlaAnalysis TeamTeam HeadsSupam Dua Akash TotadeMembersPragathi M.S. Adam Husain Sharendran MNikhil Sarup Karan JariwalaDesign TeamTeam HeadJaison Salu JohnMembersVaishali Banerjee Achintya Agarwal Partha P KarjeeApoorva Srivastava Amit SinghFusion TeamTeam HeadsSanket Jarunde Shalini MMembersAnushka Saha Tarang Bahuguna Anjali YadavJaved Shabir Ali Pallavi Mitra‘IN THIS ISSUETechnology<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> – “Whats <strong>the</strong> <strong>Buzz</strong>?”Vaishali BanerjeeReliability & Security of <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong>Achintya AgarwalDetailed Analysis of C 2Adam Husain, Karan Jariwala, Nikhil Sarup,Pragathi MS & Sharendran Mannar<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>: A Developing WorldPerspectiveNinad DhavaseThe Golden <strong>Cloud</strong>Parul SaxenaProduct Review HTC EVO 4GParampreet SalujaManagementManaging <strong>the</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong>sAnamika DattaMark ShuttleworthSudarshan TapariaGeneralTHE G‐GAMEParampreet SalujaNaturally ITRicha Singh‘


[CLOUD COMPUTING – “WHATS THE BUZZ?”]Vaishali BanerjeeIn 2006 <strong>the</strong> Chief Executive of Google Inc. EricSchmidt publicly articulated <strong>the</strong> term "cloudcomputing". Ever since <strong>the</strong>n a storm has beencongregating over <strong>the</strong> Silicon Valley.Technology industry companies have beenjockeying to associate <strong>the</strong>mselves with clouds.Amazon.com Inc., better known for peddlingbooks online, began selling an Elastic Compute<strong>Cloud</strong> service in 2006 for programmers to rentAmazon's giant computers. Juniper NetworksInc., which made gear for transmitting data,dubbed its latest project Stratus. Yahoo Inc.,Intel Corp. and a handful of o<strong>the</strong>rs recentlylaunched a research program calledOpenCirrus. Cricket is a game where <strong>the</strong> bowler throwsa ball towards <strong>the</strong> batsmen. An iPhone is a device that lets you callanywhere in <strong>the</strong> world. The Niagara Falls is a tourist attraction inCanada.These statements are not wrong, per se. But<strong>the</strong>y still take you aback, don’t <strong>the</strong>y? Theymiss <strong>the</strong> most important point, miss <strong>the</strong>magic, miss <strong>the</strong> crux and neglect <strong>the</strong> mostimportant differentiators. They by explaining<strong>the</strong> subject too little, define <strong>the</strong> subject toonarrowly, and finally tell nothing that is usefulto <strong>the</strong> reader.Here’s ano<strong>the</strong>r:<strong>Cloud</strong> computing is where you have a lot ofintelligence in <strong>the</strong> network and it’s availablefrom wherever you need to get to itWhile almost everybody in <strong>the</strong> tech industryseems to have a cloud based project or atleast are talking <strong>about</strong> <strong>the</strong> latest buzz, veryfew actually truly understand its meaning oragree upon a common definition."I have noidea what anyone is talking <strong>about</strong>," saidOracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison,when talking <strong>about</strong> cloud computing at afinancial analyst conference in September,2009. "It's really just complete gibberish.What is it?" He added: "When is this idiocygoing to stop?"Consider <strong>the</strong>se statements:The main problem is that <strong>the</strong> mainstreammedia covering cloud computing has decidedthat <strong>the</strong> best way to explain <strong>the</strong> phenomenonis to make hand‐waving general statementssuch as <strong>the</strong> above example fromBusinessWeek.In its broadest sense, cloud computingdescribes something apparent to anybodywho uses <strong>the</strong> Internet: Information is storedand processed on computers somewhere else‐‐ "in <strong>the</strong> clouds" ‐‐ and brought back to your5


screen. Let’s take an example. Let us say thatyou are an executive at a large firm. Yourresponsibility is to provide each employeeworking at your firm with <strong>the</strong> properinfrastructure. This includes not onlycomputers, but also software and softwarelicense for using <strong>the</strong>m. It becomes a grea<strong>the</strong>adache for you to buy so many softwareand install <strong>the</strong>m on each computer. There maybe an alternative for executives like you.Instead of installing a suite of software foreach computer, you'd only have to load oneapplication. That application would allowworkers to log into a Web‐based service whichhosts all <strong>the</strong> programs <strong>the</strong> user would needfor his or her job. Remote machines owned byano<strong>the</strong>r company would run everything frome‐mail to word processing to complex dataanalysis programs. It's called cloud computing,and it could change <strong>the</strong> entire computerindustry.Different Levels of <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong><strong>Cloud</strong> computing is typically divided into threelevels of service offerings that are describedbelow: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platformas a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as aservice (IaaS). These levels supportvirtualization and management of differinglevels of <strong>the</strong> solution stack.Software as a ServiceA SaaS provider typically hosts and manages agiven application in <strong>the</strong>ir own data center andmakes it available to multiple tenants andusers over <strong>the</strong> Web. Some SaaS providers runon ano<strong>the</strong>r cloud provider’s PaaS or IaaSservice offerings. Oracle CRM On Demand,Salesforce.com, and Netsuite are some of <strong>the</strong>well known SaaS examples.Platform as a ServicePlatform as a Service (PaaS) is an applicationdevelopment and deployment platformdelivered as a service to developers over <strong>the</strong>Web. It facilitates development anddeployment of applications without <strong>the</strong> costand complexity of buying and managing <strong>the</strong>underlying infrastructure, providing all of <strong>the</strong>facilities required to support <strong>the</strong> complete lifecycle of building and delivering webapplications and services entirely availablefrom <strong>the</strong> Internet. This platform consists ofinfrastructure software, and typically includesa database, middleware and developmenttools.Infrastructure as a ServiceInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is <strong>the</strong> deliveryof hardware (server, storage and network),and associated software (operating systemsvirtualization technology, file system), as aservice. It is an evolution of traditional hostingthat does not require any long term6


commitment and allows users to provisionresources on demand. Unlike PaaS services,<strong>the</strong> IaaS provider does very little managemento<strong>the</strong>r than keep <strong>the</strong> data center operationaland users must deploy and manage <strong>the</strong>software services <strong>the</strong>mselves‐‐just <strong>the</strong> way<strong>the</strong>y would in <strong>the</strong>ir own data center. AmazonWeb Services Elastic Compute <strong>Cloud</strong> (EC2) andSecure Storage Service (S3) are examples ofIaaS offerings.Types of <strong>Cloud</strong>sAs we focus on building <strong>the</strong> cloud, a numberof models have been developed for deployinga cloud infrastructure.Public <strong>Cloud</strong>sIn a public cloud, external organizationsprovide <strong>the</strong> infrastructure and managementrequired to implement <strong>the</strong> cloud. Publicclouds dramatically simplify implementationand are typically billed based on usage. Thistransfers <strong>the</strong> cost from a capital expenditureto an operational expense and can quickly bescaled to meet <strong>the</strong> organization’s needs.Temporary applications or applications withburst resource requirements typically benefitfrom <strong>the</strong> public cloud’s ability to ratchet upresources when needed and <strong>the</strong>n scale <strong>the</strong>mback when <strong>the</strong>y are no longer needed. In aprivate cloud, <strong>the</strong> company would need toprovision for <strong>the</strong> worst case across all <strong>the</strong>applications that share <strong>the</strong> infrastructure. Thiscan result in wasted resources whenutilization is not at its peak.Hybrid <strong>Cloud</strong>sPrivate <strong>Cloud</strong>sIn a private cloud, <strong>the</strong> infrastructure forimplementing <strong>the</strong> cloud is controlledcompletely by <strong>the</strong> enterprise. Typically,private clouds are implemented in <strong>the</strong>enterprise’s data center and managed byinternal resources.A private cloud maintains all corporate data inresources under <strong>the</strong> control of <strong>the</strong> legal andcontractual umbrella of <strong>the</strong> organization. Thiseliminates <strong>the</strong> regulatory, legal and securityconcerns associated with information beingprocessed on third party computing resources.Currently, private clouds require CapitalExpenditure and Operational Expenditure aswell as highly skilled labor to ensure thatbusiness services can be met.To meet <strong>the</strong> benefits of both approaches,newer execution models have been developedto combine public and private clouds into aunified solution.Applications with significant legal, regulatoryor service level concerns for information canbe directed to a private cloud. O<strong>the</strong>rapplications with less stringent regulatory orservice level requirements can leverage apublic cloud infrastructure.Implementation of a hybrid model requiresadditional coordination between <strong>the</strong> privateand public service management system. Thistypically involves a federated policymanagement tool, seamless hybridintegration, federated security, informationasset management, coordinated provisioningcontrol, and unified monitoring systems.7


<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> ConcernsSecurity and Privacy are perhaps <strong>the</strong> biggestconcerns in a cloud computing environment.The idea of handing over important data toano<strong>the</strong>r company worries some people.Corporate executives might hesitate to takeadvantage of a cloud computing systembecause <strong>the</strong>y can't keep <strong>the</strong>ir company'sinformation under lock and key.San Jose, California(CNN) says, “I keepthousands of photoson Flickr. I've also got<strong>the</strong>m on Facebookand tucked away infive years of Gmail messages. My videos areon 12seconds and YouTube I've blogged fromMadagascar on Blogger; my tech writing is onWordPress; and I post random snippets of infoon Tumblr and Twitter. This is not just data.It's my life. And I would be sick if I lost it or inany way tampered with. Previous generationsstored <strong>the</strong>ir family photos and importantdocuments in safety deposit boxes or under<strong>the</strong> mattress. Here it is 2009, and I have noidea where my data lives.”This is <strong>the</strong> main issue with cloud computingthat we do not know where our data is keptand whe<strong>the</strong>r it is well secured or will itssecurity and privacy will be compromised atsome point of time Privacy is ano<strong>the</strong>r matter.If a client can log in from any location toaccess data and applications, it's possible <strong>the</strong>client's privacy could be compromised. <strong>Cloud</strong>computing companies will need to find waysto protect client privacy. One way is to useau<strong>the</strong>ntication techniques such as user namesand passwords. Ano<strong>the</strong>r is to employ anauthorization format ‐‐ each user can accessonly <strong>the</strong> data and applications relevant to hisor her job.The Road AheadHow will cloud computing affect o<strong>the</strong>rindustries? There's a growing concern in <strong>the</strong> ITindustry <strong>about</strong> how cloud computing couldimpact <strong>the</strong> business of computer maintenanceand repair. If companies switch to usingstreamlined computer systems, <strong>the</strong>y'll havefewer IT needs. Some industry experts believethat <strong>the</strong> need for IT jobs will migrate to <strong>the</strong>back end of <strong>the</strong> cloud computingsystem.<strong>Cloud</strong> computing offers realalternatives to IT departments for improvedflexibility and lower cost. Markets aredeveloping for <strong>the</strong> delivery of softwareapplications, platforms, and infrastructure as aservice to IT departments over <strong>the</strong> “cloud”.These services are readily accessible on a payper‐usebasis and offer great alternatives tobusinesses that need <strong>the</strong> flexibility to rentinfrastructure on a temporary basis or toreduce capital costs. So will <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>prove to be a boon for <strong>the</strong> IT industry or willcome out as a bane, time will only tell.References:[1] An Oracle White Paper in EnterpriseArchitecture, August 2009, “ArchitecturalStrategies for <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>”[2] An RPath white paper, “ApplicationArchitecture for <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>”8


[ RELIABILITY AND SECURITY OF CLOUD COMPUTING ]Achintya Agarwal<strong>Cloud</strong> computing has become <strong>the</strong> fastestpotential sector in Information Technology.Who would say no to IT infrastructure without<strong>the</strong> attached high capital expenditures?Businesses do not have to bo<strong>the</strong>r with <strong>the</strong>intricacies of managing infrastructure which isnot utilised fully. With typical usage patternsof servers in a Data Center way less than full,businesses are be sick of paying for somethingused only for occasional load spikes. <strong>Cloud</strong>computing has come as a boon for bothproviders and customers. The term ‘cloudcomputing’ is relatively new while <strong>the</strong> actualconcepts behind it have existed from <strong>the</strong>1990’s.server hosting multiple client virtual serverscrashes [2] ; Amazon had a major power outragein May 2010 [3] which left some of itscustomers offline; A software glitch causedAmazon’s Storage Services to go offline [4] ;Gmail has regular outages occurring morethan once to twice a year [2][5][6] ; Google AppEngine suffered an outage in February 2010due to a power failure [1] ; an Australiancompany called Datacom suffered a majoroutage due to a power failure in March 2010[1] ; Microsoft subsidiary, Danger, sufferedmajor data losses due to a power failure inOctober 2010 where <strong>the</strong> data was for <strong>the</strong>cloud enabled Sidekick mobile phone [7] . Theseare just a few scenarios which have happenedin <strong>the</strong> past.The two biggest sore points of <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong> are <strong>the</strong> reliability of <strong>the</strong> servicesand <strong>the</strong> security of <strong>the</strong> data within. Reliabilityrelates to <strong>the</strong> uptime of all <strong>the</strong> services onesubscribes to and security relates to <strong>the</strong> datastored at <strong>the</strong> provider end being secure andinaccessible to third parties. There arenumerous examples of <strong>the</strong> cloud service goingdown.ReliabilityAmazon’s Elastic <strong>Cloud</strong> Compute service goesdown [1] ; Rackspace, a major hosting provider’sThese incidents point out that trusting your(virtual) hardware, software or data to a thirdparty provider is just not a viable option formost companies. The SLA’s provided by mostproviders come with major riders and hiddenclauses, and are almost never adhered to.Services like <strong>the</strong> Chrome OS, which are littlemore than a thin client on steroids, areheavily dependent upon <strong>the</strong> cloud. T‐Mobile’s Sidekick mobile is completely cloudbased. All <strong>the</strong> data would be stored on <strong>the</strong>9


cloud and any outage would result in youbeing unable to access any of <strong>the</strong> data, or evendata loss as in <strong>the</strong> case of Sidekick.These technical risks aren’t <strong>the</strong> only reliabilityissues involved. What happens in case youcloud provider goes out of business? Theapplication or services you have been using forsome time now would be suddenlyunavailable. And since everything is offered asa service, <strong>the</strong>re is no falling back on legacysystems being run on crutches.Reliability does not just mean <strong>the</strong> absence ofservice; It also means that <strong>the</strong> services beingsubscribed to, not being provided in <strong>the</strong>irentirety. For a consumer, a slowdown inservices being consumed can have a great losson profits. If a manager is unable to access hishosted services provider in a timely fashion, itmay result in contracts worth millions beinglost.SecuritySecurity can be broadlyclassified into threetypes – Data Security,Access Security andTransmission Security.Since <strong>the</strong> data does notreside in‐house in <strong>the</strong> case of cloudcomputing, all three factors need to be takencare of in a highly detailed manner.This is one of <strong>the</strong> first issues is with <strong>the</strong> SaaSmodel. Today, most providers focus ondelivering application by using web standardssuch as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This leaves<strong>the</strong>m highly vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting(XSS) and o<strong>the</strong>r types of web attacks. A fewyears back <strong>the</strong>re was a major case of Gmailbeing affected with such an XSS attack whichenables a malicious web page to get access toyour entire contact list [8] .Most of <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r issues with security in cloudcomputing are <strong>the</strong> same as those of any formsof data storage outsourcing. Security issuesare numerous and data security techniquesand provisions will vary from provider toprovider, from country to country.The cloud presents a very juicy target tomalicious hackers as it represents a collectionof data from various sources in one place,which can be easily hacked into andexploited. In such cases where multipleclients’ data is being stored within <strong>the</strong> samelogical network, <strong>the</strong> security of <strong>the</strong> systembecomes as strong as <strong>the</strong> security of <strong>the</strong>weakest link, i.e. least security aware client. Ifa hacker exploits a vulnerability in onesystem, he can gain access to <strong>the</strong> data ofo<strong>the</strong>rs as well. This can be especially observedon shared webhosting solutions on whichmany websites are hosted.A few questions which need to be asked whenlooking at security of <strong>the</strong> cloud are: Where is <strong>the</strong> data located? Who has Access? Can you audit your provider? What kind of data segregation andsecurity systems does <strong>the</strong> provider use? What are <strong>the</strong> Disaster Recovery &Business Continuity Plans? What essential systems does <strong>the</strong> companyneed in <strong>the</strong> case of a provider outage?Final WordsAn important facet while purchasing cloudservices is <strong>the</strong> need to know <strong>the</strong> underlying10


structure and design of <strong>the</strong> hardware andsoftware. If <strong>the</strong>re are not adequate controlsprovided to keep up <strong>the</strong> security andreliability of <strong>the</strong> services consumed <strong>the</strong>n aconsumer can never trust someone whom healready has a bit of trust issues with. Alwaysknow that <strong>the</strong>re will always be a trade‐offbetween cost and reliability & security andalways have backup plans in place in <strong>the</strong> caseof a provider outage.References[1] “Google Apps Fowntime Report: PerfectExample?”, July 25, 2010, http://administratosphere.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/google‐apps‐downtime‐reportperfect‐example/[2] “The Day After: A Brutal Week forUptime”, July 26, 2010, http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/07/06/<strong>the</strong>‐day‐after‐abrutal‐week‐for‐uptime/[3] “Amazon Addresses EC2 Power Outages”,July 25, 2010, http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/05/10/amazon‐addressesec2‐power‐outages/[4] “Storms in <strong>the</strong> cloud leave users up creekwithout a paddle”, July 26, 2010, http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2008/08/storms‐in‐<strong>the</strong>‐clouds‐leaveusers‐up‐creek‐without‐a‐paddle.ars[5] “It’s Not Just You: Gmail Not Working ForMost Users”, July 27, 2010, http://mashable.com/2009/09/24/gmail‐isdown‐2/[6] “Gmail Is Down … Again”, July 27, 2010,http://mashable.com/2009/09/24/gmail‐is‐down‐4/[7] “Microsoft Loses Sidekick Users' PersonalData”, July 27, 2010, http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/a r t i c l e / 1 7 3 4 5 7 /microsoft_loses_sidekick_users_personal_data.html[8] “Gmail bug exposes your mail account tospammers”, July 24, 2010, http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/01/gmailbug‐exposes‐your‐mail‐account‐tospammers/[9] “<strong>Cloud</strong> computing promise still stormy withreliability issues”, July 24, 2010, http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/07/cloud‐computing‐promise‐still‐stormy‐with‐reliability‐issues.ars[10] “Reliability and <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>”, July 26,2010, http://www.enkiconsulting.net/blog/reliability‐and‐cloud‐computing.html[11] “<strong>Cloud</strong> computing security issues:Protecting your UC applications”, July 27,2 0 1 0 , h t t p : / /searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.co m /tip/0,289483,sid186_gci1516270,00.html[12] “Twitter breach revives security issues withcloud computing”, July 27, 2010, http://www.computerworld.com/s/a r t i c l e / 9 1 3 5 8 9 3 /Twitter_breach_revives_security_issues_with_cloud_computing_11


<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> (C 2 ) is not a brand new revolution. It has evolved over <strong>the</strong> period of time with <strong>the</strong>increase in business ability. More and more companies are moving towards cloud computing from webhosting. Adam Husain, Karan Jariwala, Nikhil Sarup, Pragathi MS and SharendranMannar shares <strong>the</strong>ir [ DETAILED ANALYSIS OF C 2 ]TrendsIt is evident that this technology is slowlyfinding its way into <strong>the</strong> enterprise especiallyas a testing and development environment.However cloud vendors are still trying togrow to become a platform for businesscriticalapplications. They are already workingon standards and security issues, improvingservice level agreements and charging <strong>the</strong>clients based on software use and not perseatcost.The coming years will be all <strong>about</strong> movingenterprises to <strong>the</strong> cloud and <strong>the</strong> trendsdriving it are‐Commodity cloud price slashingAs per Jeff Maling, CEO of Roundarch Inc., aWeb Services Consultancy in Chicago “<strong>Cloud</strong>pricing is getting so low it’s ludicrous. <strong>Cloud</strong>computing vendors are pricing veryaggressively to get volume on <strong>the</strong> platform”.In November 2009, Amazon EC2 cut prices upto 15%, Google cut its Picasa photo sharingpricing from $20 to $5 a year and Microsoft’sBusiness Productivity Online Suite whichincludes <strong>the</strong> SaaS versions of Exchange wentfrom $15 a month per user to $10.Move to simpler cloud pricing modelsThe pricing complexity is increasing amongstcloud computing vendors as <strong>the</strong>ycontinuously adding more options andservices. For instance, Amazon has acalculator for estimating <strong>the</strong> cost ofbandwidth transfers, load balancing andelastic IP. Ahmar Abbas, senior vice presidentof remote infrastructure management at CSSCorp, an IT services and consulting firm in SanJose said recently that “2010 may see aproliferation of all‐you‐can‐eat‐pricingmodels where a user contracts for a setnumber that includes a range of services.<strong>Cloud</strong> providers increasingly offerenterprise‐calibre SLAsImad Mouline, <strong>the</strong> CTO of performancemonitoring firm Lexington, which recentlybecame a division of Compuware Corp., saysit is important to know how good <strong>the</strong>providers’ network connections are. ITmanagers would want service levelagreements with cloud providers o<strong>the</strong>rwise<strong>the</strong> cloud will remain like a sandbox. Hence,<strong>the</strong> cloud will mainly be used as anapplication for testing and development.New technologies will improve cloud useand performanceThe trend is for <strong>the</strong> third parties toincreasingly focus on adapting data centretechnologies to cloud environments, ormoving applications into <strong>the</strong> cloud. Forinstance, Riverbed Technology Inc., a SanFrancisco based company that makes WANoptimization technology is making <strong>the</strong> coreservices provided by its hardware applicationinto a virtual system for use in <strong>the</strong> cloud.<strong>Cloud</strong> providers address securityconcernsA broad range of companies, including both<strong>the</strong> vendors and cloud users formed <strong>the</strong><strong>Cloud</strong> Security Alliance in March 2009 tocreate a consensus on <strong>the</strong> issue of security.12


Justin Steinman, vice president of Novell Inc.and a member of <strong>the</strong> Alliance said “Security is<strong>the</strong> number one inhibitor to cloud adoption”.For example, if a payroll services providerconducts services in a third party cloud and<strong>the</strong>re is a breach of sensitive consumer data<strong>the</strong>n certain questions need to be answeredsuch as “Who is liable? Who owns <strong>the</strong> data?Who sues whom?” Justin Steinman sees<strong>the</strong>se questions would be resolved with <strong>the</strong>help of tough SLAs with cloud providers thathave drastic penalties if things go wrong.<strong>Cloud</strong> users can also expect to seetechnologies that enable cloud providers tomeet different customer securityrequirements and a push for regulatorychanges that take into account cloud services.Performance monitoring will becomeomnipresentbetween clouds depends on how quicklyvendors and customers reach agreements onstandards. In December 2009, <strong>the</strong> Enterprise<strong>Cloud</strong> Buyers Council was created to work onsecurity, reliability and interoperability.Microsoft, Cisco and IBM are part of thisgroup. Emil Sayegh, general manager of cloudfor Rackspace US Inc. said “For cloudcomputing to really take off, it has to beopen. <strong>Cloud</strong> providers will have to allowmovement between clouds andinteroperability, as well as enabling disasterrecovery between clouds.” DistributedManagement Task Force (DMTF) thatannounced its “Open <strong>Cloud</strong> StandardsIncubator” is working on one its majorproblem i.e. <strong>the</strong> lack of standards that enableinteroperability between private cloudswithin <strong>the</strong> enterprise and hosted or publiccloud providers.Decentralization of IT decision‐making<strong>Cloud</strong> services are mainly public consumerdeliveryservices and whenever any of <strong>the</strong> bigcloud providers has a data centre glitch it isimmediately noticed. There is constantscrutiny from large number of third partieswith comparative score cards and glitchreports. As a result cloud providers are underincreasing pressure for tell‐all reports on<strong>the</strong>ir outages. It is expected that performancereporting will be as common as rush hourtraffic reports.Open standards for cloud computingadvanceWill customers be able to move easilyOne of <strong>the</strong> first significant actions byPresident Barack Obama’s federal CIO, VivekKundra, was to create a federal applicationstore that allows U.S. government employeesto order services and tools withoutnecessarily having to go through an ITapproval process for each and every action.The federal effort is one of <strong>the</strong> more visiblesignals of a broader trend. After a drivetowards centralization of IT resources anddata centre consolidation, business units mayget a little independence to add and removeIT services via cloud providers.13


HR Collaboration will go BigCustomer Relationship Management (CRM)will be joined by Human Capital Managementand collaboration in driving cloud applicationadoption. While Salesforce.com and OracleCRM will continue to drive <strong>the</strong> adoption ofcloud‐based CRM, Taleo and Success Factorswill drive <strong>the</strong> adoption of HCM. Google Appsand Cisco WebEx will drive <strong>the</strong> adoption ofmessaging and collaboration apps by midsizeand large enterprises.Social networks become main‐stream in <strong>the</strong>enterprisenetworks provide mobile workforces withnew approaches for delivering and receivingbusiness applications.Across all industries and all company sizes<strong>the</strong>re is a significant number of individualsinterested in <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> that have notbeen presented with compelling or relevantinformation regarding <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>. Thewillingness of those that are familiar with<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> to adopt it combined with<strong>the</strong> large number of companies that are stillseeking information and have not formed aconclusive opinion signals a strong marketopportunity. Innovative providers thatdevelop client‐driven solutions will continueSocial networking will soon become mainstreamin <strong>the</strong> enterprise and find its way into<strong>the</strong> cloud. The widespread use of socialnetworks will fur<strong>the</strong>r expand from unofficialto HR and marketing, requiring <strong>the</strong>establishment and enforcement ofstandardized enterprise guidelines.As and when companies recognize <strong>the</strong>monetary and technology benefits of cloudcomputing, <strong>the</strong> number of executivesidentifying cloud computing as a prioritywould increase. Factors such as adoption ofSoftware‐as‐a‐service (SaaS), virtualizationand access to broadband and wirelessto shape <strong>the</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> landscape.Here are <strong>the</strong> few examples from manyresearch companies are known for <strong>the</strong>ircredibility.According to Merrill Lynch research note, by2011 <strong>the</strong> volume of cloud computing marketopportunity would amount to $160bn,including $95bn in business and productivityapps (email, office, CRM, etc.) and $65bn inonline advertising.Gartner, a well known informationtechnology research and advisory firm,through <strong>the</strong>ir research noticed that <strong>Cloud</strong>14


computing is one of <strong>the</strong> top two strategictechnologies in <strong>the</strong> year 2009 (Figure shownearlier). It also predicts that <strong>the</strong> impact ofcloud computing on IT vendors will be huge.Established vendors have a great presence intraditional software markets, and as newWeb 2.0 and cloud business models evolveand expand outside of consumer markets, agreat deal could change. Gartner predictsthat by 2012, 80 percent of Fortune 1000enterprises will be paying for some cloudcomputing services, and 30 percent will bepaying for cloud computing infrastructureservices.Here is an example of architectural changeswhich Gartner has predicted for <strong>the</strong> nextcouple of years.Phase 1: Monolithic (Early)Early cloud computing serviceswill be based on proprietary orinternal architectures – islandsof cloud services delivered by megaproviders. This is what Google, Salesforce andMicrosoft look like today.Phase 2: Vertical Supply Chain (2+ Years):Over time, some cloudproviders will leverage cloudservices from o<strong>the</strong>r providers(for example, ISVs moving intoSaaS on top of Microsoft’s Azure ServicesPlatform, use of Force.com, use of GoogleApp Engine). Still proprietary islands, butecosystems are starting to build.Phase 3: Horizontal Federation (4+ Years):Smaller providers willfederate horizontally togain economies of scale(and efficient use of assets) – also,enterprises will leverage horizontalfederation for peak capacity (overdraftprotection, cloud bursting). There will bemore choices at each layer of cloudcomputing, and standards will gainmomentum. Again, this is very similar to <strong>the</strong>development of <strong>the</strong> overall server market.Survey Conducted by Hosting.comA survey was conducted by Hosting.comrecently on <strong>the</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> Trends. Thesurvey was conducted across variousindustries such as Financial Services, Retail,Social Networking, Healthcare,Manufacturing, IT Service Providers,Marketing and Advertising, Non Profits andCity Governments. 69% of <strong>the</strong> organizationssurveyed had fewer than 100 employees,20% had greater than 100 but less than 1,000employees and 11% had greater than 1,000employees. The annual revenues of <strong>the</strong>organizations ranged from less than $1million to over $100 billion. The surveyprovided insight into <strong>the</strong> expectations small,medium and large businesses have of cloudcomputing, <strong>the</strong>ir intended uses, reasons foradopting and expected timeframes forimplementing cloud based solutions. Afteranalyzing <strong>the</strong> survey, <strong>the</strong> following pointscould be concluded:‐Two‐thirds of <strong>the</strong> respondents believe thancloud computing will have a major impact on<strong>the</strong> IT industry. However, 22% were familiarwith <strong>the</strong> term cloud computing but did notbelieve it would provide value to <strong>the</strong>ircompany. The larger companies view cloudcomputing more positively mainly due to<strong>the</strong>ir familiarity with cloud computingsolutions.The three most important factors drivingorganizations of all sizes to invest in cloudcomputing are Reduced Costs, Uptime andScalability. Similarly, <strong>the</strong> two least factorsdriving <strong>the</strong> organizations to invest in cloud15


computing are Rapid Deployment andConsumption‐based Pricing.64% of <strong>the</strong> organizations (mostly large)consider security as a top concern fororganizations and understandably so. Allbusinesses spend countless hours andinvestments to protect <strong>the</strong>ir valuable dataassets. Due to <strong>the</strong>ir size, large companies aremore frequently <strong>the</strong> targets of malicious dataattacks and have a greater need to protect<strong>the</strong>ir assets. However, security fororganizations of all sizes will become less of aconcern due to advances in virtualisedtechnologies that have produced increasedsecurity options to meet any organizationsbusiness demands.More than 50% of small organizations believecloud computing will evolve to impact <strong>the</strong>irbusiness in <strong>the</strong> near future.Two solutions best suited for a cloudcomputing environment with respect to <strong>the</strong>size of organizations are –250+ Employees – Web Applications,Application Server50‐249 Employees – Web Applications,Application Server1‐49 Employees – Web Applications,Database ServerHence, it can be seen that hosting webapplications is <strong>the</strong> most popular solution forall organizations.The preference of organizations to pay forcloud computing services are –32% companies prefer month‐to‐month, nocontracts and charged on usage option18% companies prefer annual contract andbased on resource needs and bursting option16% companies prefer month‐to‐month, nocontracts and base fee plus resource burstingoption34% companies were unsure <strong>about</strong> <strong>the</strong>option <strong>the</strong>y would preferFrom <strong>the</strong> above mentioned points it can beconcluded that <strong>the</strong>re is little differencebetween how large and small organizationswill utilize cloud computing. For instance, <strong>the</strong>driving factors for adopting cloud services arenearly <strong>the</strong> same for companies of all sizes,business size is immaterial in how quicklycloud technologies will be adopted, executiveleadership in small businesses list cloudcomputing as a high priority and so do <strong>the</strong>executives of large companies. Smallbusinesses are likely to receive a greateramount of IT services from a cloud platform.Hence cloud providers while continuing tocreate cloud based solutions that providereduced costs, scalability, improved servicelevel agreements, increased flexibility andoverall performance must keep in mind <strong>the</strong>scope in small businesses.Reactions of Gartner Analysis<strong>Cloud</strong> computing is helping corporationscreate new, cost‐effective business models. Ithas opened a world of opportunities forIndian IT companies. Gartner majorconsulting firm has also holds same opinionwith <strong>the</strong>ir findings.Gartner analysts are world renowned expertsin <strong>the</strong>ir fields, leveraging all of <strong>the</strong>seperspectives to create holistic forecasts of<strong>the</strong> IT Industry. They say that leading <strong>the</strong> ITorganization in 2010 requires a clear visionfor melding technology, business process andfinancial management into a cohesive view ofIT investments and priorities. <strong>Cloud</strong>computing will play an important role in costcutting across IT industries which is justrecovering recession.According to Gartner analysis, <strong>the</strong> IT spendingby industry vertical Markets Worldwide(Millions of U.S. Dollars) in 2009 and 2010 is16


as below:Vertical 2009 2010Financial 502,616 515,927Public Sector 443,368 459,969Manufacturing 433,244 436,024Communications 201882 206,386Retail 210816 214,161Services 172,061 175,046Utilities 114,306 118,218Transportation 99,842 101,711Healthcare 79,798 82,207Agriculture, 25,391 25,805Mining andConstructionGrand Total 2283325 2335453In <strong>the</strong> midst of many postponed, cancelled orrestructured IT Projects in financial services,new sets of priorities and strategies willbecome more coherent toward <strong>the</strong> end of2009.Movement toward SaaS and cloudcomputing ,shared services, and moreselective outsourcing will take firmer shapeas near‐term priorities to address constrainedIT budgets.To validate this research by Gartner we havereactions from <strong>the</strong> people from differentindustries who are potential users of cloudcomputingA true cloud offering," says Jeremy Cooper,vice‐president (marketing) of salesforce.com(vendor for both Bajaj Finance and Sun Life)for Asia‐Pacific, "is one that is subscriptionbased,which involves no purchase ofhardware, software but only needs aninternet connection. It could also be a multitenancymodel where a single infrastructureis used by many (like Google or Yahoo)."Patni, according to Chief Executive OfficerJeya Kumar, plans to have all its internal ITservices hosted on <strong>the</strong> internet with manyB2C players by June 2010. The company, saysKumar, spends around Rs 190 crore (Rs 1.9billion) on its internal IT needs annually.These include servers for storage, desktops,networks and bandwidth."We are our own guinea pigs when it comesto cloud computing. Once we are convincedthat it is secure and fruitful, we will extend<strong>the</strong>se services to our customers too," saysKumar. Not only will Patni be "able to savearound 30 per cent by way of capitalexpenditure and ano<strong>the</strong>r 30 per cent onspace when <strong>the</strong> process is complete", saysKumar, but "when we acquire a newcompany, we will not need two data centerseven if <strong>the</strong> headcount doubles. The completenew portfolio from <strong>the</strong> acquisition will behosted on <strong>the</strong> web."Wipro too has built a "private cloud" forinternal use. The software giant is nowoffering that expertise to existing customersto optimize <strong>the</strong> computing power of <strong>the</strong>irdata centers. Wipro is also building what itcalls <strong>the</strong> "enterprise cloud" ‐ a capability itplans to offer to clients who have alreadyoutsourced or plan to outsource <strong>the</strong>ir hostingor infrastructure management activities with<strong>the</strong> company, according to Girish Paranjpe,Joint CEO of <strong>the</strong> company."Creating a private cloud is something thatWipro can help clients with. Managingsecurity within private clouds is what Wiprocan do. It is much more efficient both interms of costs and kind of provisioning.Earlier, we in Wipro noticed that once weplaced an order for a server, it used to take43 days to install. Now that we have capacityon demand, we have to just switch on, and ittakes just 36 minutes," says Paranjpe.17


<strong>Cloud</strong> as major cost saver"Companies love <strong>the</strong> cloud as <strong>the</strong>y have onlyoperating costs to pay. As more and morepeople are using multiple screens, desktops,laptops, mobile phones and TV screens toaccess <strong>the</strong>ir data, <strong>the</strong> cloud is inevitable.Corporate India can save lots of money byusing <strong>the</strong> cloud," says Vijay Mukhi whopromotes 'The India <strong>Cloud</strong> Initiative'.Ascentius Consulting Principal Analyst AlokShende: "We anticipate cloud computing tobe adopted in segments that currently havelow IT penetration and demand solutionswith low complexity. Small‐ to medium‐sizedbusinesses will be <strong>the</strong> prime candidates.Large enterprises may have some initialconcerns on compliance, data security andunproven reliability of cloud computing.However, <strong>the</strong>re will be pockets such as backupstorage and hosted email service wherelarge enterprises will be more open toemploy <strong>the</strong> cloud."When a company needs more capacity duringits peak season, it simply pays for it ondemand. When business slows down and <strong>the</strong>company needs less capacity, its bill goesdown because it uses fewer resources. Infinancial terms, this allows a company tomove much of its infrastructure costs frombeing a capital expenditure to an operatingexpenditure.Research firm Saltmarch Intelligence saysdata confidentiality and ability to be auditedtopped <strong>the</strong> list of primary obstacles for <strong>the</strong>use of cloud computing technologies in <strong>the</strong>irorganizations, according to a survey of over1,100 Indian Business Technologyprofessionals."Security incidents in <strong>the</strong> cloud have madeclear that this new promising technologycomes with complexity and security andprivacy challenges. Cyber attacks areexecuted with precision and patience andsecurity technology seems to fall behind <strong>the</strong>threat curve," says Indu Britto, grouppublisher & senior vice‐president, SaltmarchMedia.Vendors say <strong>the</strong>y have <strong>the</strong> resources to make<strong>the</strong>ir data centers more secure than anybodyever could and resilience is better becausedata is distributed and backed up ingeographically dispersed locations. Cooper ofsalesforce.com says: "That cloud computingcompromises security is a myth. We have1,800 customers who mostly comprisefinancial institutions and banks."Analysts also say that few firms have workedout "which data should go where from abusiness point of view. This failing meansmoving everything to <strong>the</strong> cloud would notprovide any real benefits as <strong>the</strong> fundamentalshave not been sorted out. It would merely"create a new set of network dependenciesbecause <strong>the</strong> data is no longer in <strong>the</strong> samedata centre".There are o<strong>the</strong>r hurdles too. Dearth ofsufficient bandwidth, lack of robust networks,virtualization and security issues could delayadoption of <strong>the</strong> technology. More than 30per cent of large businesses have someenterprise applications in <strong>the</strong> cloud, but twothirdsdo not have a security strategy forcloud computing, a survey conducted by IDCfound.In spite of all <strong>the</strong>se hurdles <strong>the</strong> cloud is a winwinfor everyone, in this critical juncturewhere majority of <strong>the</strong> industries looking forways to cut down <strong>the</strong> cost and improveefficiency.18


Learning from Adopters of <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong> VendorsAccording to survey by KPMG in May, 2010<strong>the</strong> benefits of cloud computing aremeasured by <strong>the</strong> profits achieved by vendors.The multi tenancy concept of cloudcomputing <strong>the</strong> IT resources are exploitedmore efficiently which leads to low costs. As aresult <strong>the</strong> services are offered at much lowerprice compared to on premise alternatives.At every layer cloud computing providesalready installed and instantly usable servicesdue to which implementation is lesscomplicated and less time consuming.Combing with ‘pay‐as‐you‐go’ or subscriptionmodels that are common to cloud computingcustomers only pay for what <strong>the</strong>y use and <strong>the</strong>IT capacity is always available.The survey result of <strong>the</strong> main concerns forusing cloud computing is shown below. Thesurvey was conducted among 125 memberswho were from various organizations ofdifferent sectors.Source: KPMG <strong>the</strong> Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands, 2010Some of <strong>the</strong> major problems KPMG figuredout during <strong>the</strong> survey, organizations that arebenefitted by cloud computing services willhave some major concerns in near future.The report says till now <strong>the</strong> major incidentsregarding security breaches are low. Thevendors who providing cloud computingservices have a higher adoption rates andexceptionally strong market positions but itsdependency will increase in future which canlead to major disruptions regarding securitybreaches.Integrating different systems and applicationshas been long stumbling block in IT but cloudcomputing is not <strong>about</strong> to change it as <strong>the</strong>vendors are building <strong>the</strong>ir own standardswhich complicates integration with o<strong>the</strong>rvendors.The fur<strong>the</strong>r development of cloud computingwill remove <strong>the</strong> need of hardware, andsoftware licenses .There would be limitedconsultancy and IT management which wouldchange <strong>the</strong> IT markets profit model which ismainly based on on‐premise IT for <strong>the</strong> lasttwo decades. The cloud computing vendorsshow that profit margins are paper thin andfinancially so far it has been a dubiousbusiness model.Future scope for <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>Online opt‐in survey fielded by <strong>the</strong> PewResearch Centre reveals that nearly 71% of<strong>the</strong> respondents well versed in technologyagreed with <strong>the</strong> statement:"By 2020, most people won't do <strong>the</strong>ir workwith software running on a general‐purposePC. Instead, <strong>the</strong>y will work in Internet‐basedapplications such as Google Docs, and inapplications run from smart phones. Aspiringapplication developers will develop forSmartphone vendors and companies thatprovide Internet‐based applications, becausemost innovative work will be done in thatdomain, instead of designing applicationsthat run on a PC operating system."Some experts believe that people intechnology driven areas will allow <strong>the</strong>m tohave <strong>the</strong> cloud in <strong>the</strong>ir homes.Mobile cloud computing is <strong>the</strong> thing of <strong>the</strong>future, with mobile cloud computing19


applications, as long as you have access to<strong>the</strong> web, you have access to <strong>the</strong> mobileapplication. This will act as disruptive force in<strong>the</strong> mobile world, since <strong>the</strong>re is no need tohave relationship with <strong>the</strong> mobile operatorsto access particular mobile applications.Mobile applications will begin to store <strong>the</strong>data in <strong>the</strong> cloud as opposed to on <strong>the</strong> mobiledevice, and <strong>the</strong> applications will becomemore powerful as processing power is alsooffloaded to <strong>the</strong> cloud. Applications likeSchlage and few applications of iPhone appare likely to come up, with remote keylessentry system which can help user to controlhome from a distance. This is meaningful onlywhen <strong>the</strong>re is speedy 3G mobile internetaccess everywhere without any intermittentconnection issues and slow speeds and toutilize <strong>the</strong> faster networks, mobile withbetter CPU is needed. Initiatives like OMA'sSmartcard Web Server, essentially a hop‐upSIM card that connects directly with <strong>the</strong>carrier to push applications to mobile phoneshave come up. There's also TokTok, atechnology that allows access to web serviceslike Gmail and Google Calendar by voice.With voice‐enabled search like this, mobileapps could talk directly to <strong>the</strong> service itselfwithout <strong>the</strong> need for <strong>the</strong> user to launch aweb browser.IBM Blue <strong>Cloud</strong> is Ready‐to‐Use <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong> based on open standards andopen source software that will allow adaptcenters to operate like <strong>the</strong> Internet acrossdistributed resources. Such an Initiative byone of <strong>the</strong> big players in <strong>the</strong> IT industry willrise <strong>the</strong> demand for cloud computing.Paul Slakey, who is Google’s Head ofEnterprise Sales, Asia Pacific and LatinAmerica, said that "cloud computing can beused to cater for <strong>the</strong> demand for on‐premisedata storage and offline access, Google isworking on developing offline functionalityfor its range of Web‐hosted applications andit is close to having offline Gmail".All <strong>the</strong>se major changes are just few yearsaway, but <strong>the</strong> concern is, only those marketswith higher internet participation and highersubscription penetration will lead <strong>the</strong> waywhich includes Western Europe, NorthAmerica and few parts of Asia.Even though we are talking <strong>about</strong> <strong>the</strong> futurehere, surprisingly cloud businesses havealready grown by over 200% only in this year,and it is going to have phenomenal growth innext couple of years.[ Facts <strong>about</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> ] In 1961, Stanford professor John McCarthywas one of <strong>the</strong> first to suggest a time‐share,service bureau computing model In a 1996 paper, The Self‐governing Internet:Coordination by Design, MIT researchersused <strong>the</strong> term “cloud” to describefoundational elements of today’s movement. Amazon Elastic Compute was <strong>the</strong> first majorcloud computing service to embrace <strong>the</strong>cloud technology. Google's entry into <strong>the</strong> enterprise cloudmarketplace came with <strong>the</strong> February 2007launch of Google Apps Premier Edition. In late 2009 <strong>the</strong> city of Los Angeles reportedthat it will likely save $5 million by switchingfrom Novell's GroupWise desktop softwareto cloud‐based Google Apps. Research and Market analysts are morebullish, expecting cloud computing to be a$160.2 billion market by 2015. IBM is working on a computing systemdubbed project Kittyhawk that would becapable of hosting <strong>the</strong> entire Internet as anapplication.20


[ CLOUD COMPUTING: A DEVELOPING WORLD PERSPECTIVE ]Ninad Dhavase<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> is no more a technical term,ra<strong>the</strong>r it has become <strong>the</strong> need of <strong>the</strong> time. Youmight be an entrepreneur planning to start anew business, or a Mid‐Cap company planningto start a data centre for your esteemed client,or a government official charged with <strong>the</strong> taskof developing a system to deliver efficientservices to <strong>the</strong> citizens, you can’t move aheadin your strategy without giving “<strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong>” a thought.<strong>Cloud</strong> computing is like a Giant Office Buildingwhere everyone shares <strong>the</strong> infrastructure and isable to customize as per <strong>the</strong>ir needs. It is a “Pay‐as‐you‐go” system where you pay only for <strong>the</strong>time/space you use, just like <strong>the</strong> time sharingsystem used during <strong>the</strong> early days of <strong>the</strong>computer evolution. <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> (C2)releases businesses from <strong>the</strong> cumbersome taskof setting‐up, developing and maintaining <strong>the</strong> ITinfrastructure at <strong>the</strong>ir end.<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> has tremendous advantagefor <strong>the</strong> Businesses, Research Departments andgovernments of <strong>the</strong> developing economies.These economies, which have limited resourcesto invest in technology, need not worry <strong>about</strong>keeping abreast with <strong>the</strong> technology. <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong> is “super agile” and will take care ofupgrading to <strong>the</strong> new technologies. <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong> provides three kind of services‐Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as aService (Paas) and Software as a Service(SaaS).These services are spread across three mostexpensive elements in any system namelyStorage, Servers and Software Applications. C2thus provides a level playing field for everyoneand reduces <strong>the</strong> set‐up time for enterprises andindividuals to start <strong>the</strong>ir businesses.The developing countries are living in a veryprime age. Those who have some systems inplace and want to upgrade, as well as thosewho do not have any, have a wonderfulopportunity to reap <strong>the</strong> benefits provisionedby C2. SME’s who are willing to venture intonew arenas, can utilize <strong>the</strong> low cost solutionsprovided by C2. At <strong>the</strong> same time, SME’s canact as vendors of <strong>the</strong> big C2 giants andestablish a nexus between <strong>the</strong> producer and<strong>the</strong> consumer. There is a definite need forsuch agencies. This will help develop acomplete ecosystem of Producers, <strong>Cloud</strong>agents and <strong>the</strong> Consumers. This ecosystemwill help generate a lot of revenue for both<strong>the</strong> people and <strong>the</strong> governments, which willtrigger a technology wave in <strong>the</strong> country.On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, C2 behemoths likeMicrosoft, Google and Amazon can enable <strong>the</strong>process of setting up infrastructure in <strong>the</strong>sedeveloping countries which will ultimatelybenefit <strong>the</strong>ir businesses and can also featurein <strong>the</strong>ir Corporate Social Responsibilitycolumns. It is impossible to think businesswithout an IT arm and hence largeorganizations can leverage <strong>the</strong> cloudtechnology to bring a transformation in <strong>the</strong>way <strong>the</strong>y run <strong>the</strong>ir business.In a classic example from India, <strong>the</strong> ApparelExport Promotion Council has developed acloud platform that provides computingservices and enterprise software to more than11,000 of its members— most of whom lack<strong>the</strong> capital and resources to build <strong>the</strong>ir ownIT infrastructure.C2 will surely require some boost from <strong>the</strong>providers and <strong>the</strong> early adapters in order for itto penetrate up to <strong>the</strong> grass roots. Thebenefits are multi‐faceted, but as with any21


new technology C2 is facing some critic <strong>about</strong><strong>the</strong> Confidentiality, Integrity and Availabilityaspects.While companies and governments are busythinking <strong>about</strong> <strong>the</strong> pros and cons of C2,individuals have already accepted cloudservices and are heavily relying on it toprovide <strong>the</strong>m ubiquitous access to <strong>the</strong>ir data.As on September 2008, Google docs, a cloudbased application from Google had aregistered user base of 4.4 Million. Consumershave been very agile and shown enormousfaith in <strong>the</strong> capabilities of cloud, and hencehave reaped <strong>the</strong> maximum benefits. In aninteresting case reported by New York Times,a 22 year old developer, Wilfred Mworia fromKenya developed an iPhone app using anonline iPhone simulator service hosted in <strong>the</strong>cloud. (Kenya doesn’t have an iPhone serviceyet). He can now sell this app across <strong>the</strong> worldusing “<strong>the</strong> cloud”, and <strong>the</strong>reby widen hiscustomer base.Time is not far, when individuals will startpaying a few cents to access <strong>the</strong>se servicesand cloud will be <strong>the</strong> distinguishing factorcontributing to <strong>the</strong> revenues of anorganization.To conclude, C2 though in a nascent stage hasall <strong>the</strong> potential to grow into a phenomenaltechnology, which will be able to serve anyindustry. To concord with Thomas Friedman,World is really getting flat and C2 is <strong>the</strong> primecatalyst.[ One Small Incident ]Sudarshan TapariaMy fa<strong>the</strong>r is <strong>the</strong> eldest among his bro<strong>the</strong>rs. Froman early age only he was mischievous and had apenchant for cricket.There is a saying that ‘You have to reap what yousow’. During his 12 th pre‐boards he loitered amonghis friends <strong>the</strong> whole month playing cricket, <strong>the</strong>results were inevitable, he failed miserably in 3 ofhis 5 subjects.On hearing <strong>about</strong> <strong>the</strong> results at a family function,my uncle pondered for a while he said “Hmm.. Itseems that your main aim in life is to work as amunim under Raju.”Those words pierced him as if an arrow scars <strong>the</strong>heart. He couldn’t sleep that whole night. In <strong>the</strong>morning he made a vow to prove his uncle wrong.He still had 3 months to make amends before <strong>the</strong>commencement of boards. Papa devised atimetable and started studying vigorously. Heclocked around 10 hours <strong>the</strong> first day, increasing itto 12 and <strong>the</strong>n gradually taking it to a whopping18hrs a day!.After 3 months, <strong>the</strong> results left his Uncle Zapped.He had got distinction (above 85%) in Physics,Chemistry and Math.That one incident changed my fa<strong>the</strong>r’s entire life.He found out that <strong>the</strong>re is no shortcut to successand keeping this mantra in his mind, he latergraduated from <strong>the</strong> prestigious BITS PILANI.Currently, he is a successful entrepreneur havingdistributorship and dealership of reputed brandslike Godrej, Onida, LG etc. Having crossed halfcentury, he now aspires to tread into real estateand social entrepreneurship.My idol has always taught me to believe in God asGod helps those who help <strong>the</strong>mselves. Heexemplifies hard work as <strong>the</strong> key to success andtells me not to be afraid of failures. For those whorediscover <strong>the</strong>mselves after a debacle and learnsomething from it call it an awakening or arevelation.22


[ THE GOLDEN CLOUD ]“From CapEx to OpEx”Parul Saxena<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> transforms <strong>the</strong> financialparadigm of an enterprise. <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>shifts <strong>the</strong> CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) to anOPEX (Operating expenditure) model by useof operational expenses ra<strong>the</strong>r than capitalassets and <strong>the</strong> treatment of operatingstatements ra<strong>the</strong>r than balance sheetmanagement.Adopting <strong>the</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> paradigmseeks to make more money (increaserevenues) while driving capital costs downthrough greater efficiencies of workingcapital and OPEX changes. As per IBM's CTOfor <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>, Kristof Kloeckner, cloudcomputing reduces IT labor costs by up to50%, improves capital utilization by 75% andreduces provisioning from weeks to minutes.However what is <strong>the</strong> primary motivation ofany firm’s financial resource? It is costreduction.How does cloud computing efficientlyachieve cost reduction?An article written by Michael Amburst, ”TheView of <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong>” answers thisquestion through <strong>the</strong> following three cases:Case One‐ Demand for a service varies withtime. If a conventional data center isprovisioned for its peak <strong>the</strong>n it would beunderutilized on o<strong>the</strong>r days. Instead, cloudcomputing lets an organization pay by <strong>the</strong>hour for computing resources, potentiallyleading to cost savings, even if <strong>the</strong> hourly rateto rent a machine from a cloud provider ishigher than <strong>the</strong> rate to own one. As per <strong>the</strong>example taken by Michael Amburst, if anenterprise’ service has a predictable demandwhere at peak <strong>the</strong> requirement is 500 serverswhile at trough only 100 are required and <strong>the</strong>average utilization over a whole day is 300servers, <strong>the</strong> actual cost per day is 300 × 24 =7,200 server hours; but since it must beprovisioned for <strong>the</strong> peak of 500 servers, wepay for 500 ×24 = 12,000 server‐hours, afactor of 1.7 more. Therefore, as long as <strong>the</strong>“pay‐as‐you‐go cost” per server‐hour overthree years (usual amortization time) is lessthan 1.7 times <strong>the</strong> cost of buying <strong>the</strong> server,utility computing is cheaper thanconventional data centers.Case Two‐ Forecasting of unknown demand.For example a startup meets invariabledemand. Initially <strong>the</strong>re might be a highdemand but it might gradually wean away. Asecond scenario could be unforeseendemand. To understand that by taking ahypo<strong>the</strong>tical example, we can divide <strong>the</strong>users in two categories: active users anddefectors (those who abandon <strong>the</strong> site or areturned away from <strong>the</strong> site due to poorperformance).Assuming that 10% of users are lostpermanently due to under‐provisioning inpeak hours.If we have 400 servers with each havingcapacity of 1000 users, total capacity that canbe handled is 400000 users .But with duepopularity if it has 500000 hits in 1st hour<strong>the</strong>n as per our assumption 10000 users arelost (permanently) with 4,90,000 users left.If in next hour, we have 2,50,000 new andunique users <strong>the</strong>n as 10,000 can still beaccommodated rest 2,40,000 are23


permanently lost which in turn will leavewith 24,000 defectors so we have 3,76,000users now.Now if <strong>the</strong> same pattern continues for19 hours <strong>the</strong>n we will have nearly zero newusers and site reaches a steady capacity. So,Service operator could never utilize itscapacity fully from which we can deduce thatunderutilization results in <strong>the</strong> bad reputationfrom <strong>the</strong> dissatisfied users. Thus <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong> offers elasticity that a normaldata center can only provide when it is overprovisioned.Case three ‐ Finally, by performing batchanalytics, organizations can use <strong>the</strong> “costassociativity” of cloud computing to finishcomputations faster: if it uses 1,000 EC2machines for one hour it costs equals to usingone machine for 1,000 hours.Drawing a table as per Dennis‘O’Sullivan inParameters On‐premisessoftware<strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong>Pricing License +maintenance +supportPay as you usetransaction orsubscriptioncostingCapitalSoftware licenses, Noneexpenditure hardwareCost of entry Very high Very lowReturn oninvestmentTotal cost ofownershipHidden andadditional costsCost to benefittimeProlonged, based onfull license andhardware costsHigh, difficult tomeasure. Manycomponents andhidden costsHardware, support,maintenance,installation,customizationHigh based on highup‐front costsRapid, basedon low upfrontcostsLow andtotally visible.Costs allincluded in Pay‐as‐you‐GofeesNo hiddencosts; lowconfigurationcostsLow based onlow up‐frontcostsBudgeting Capital expenditure Operatingcosts, flexiblebasisTax implicationsCapital allowances;VAT up frontCosts 100% taxdeductible;VAT deferred(at time ofpublication)”The Internet <strong>Cloud</strong> with Silver Lining” toanalyze financial benefits of cloud computingover desktop computing we observe cloudcomputing has an upper hand.Cost savings are also incurred with respect toreal estate (required in data centers), powerand cooling costs. Thanks to virtualizationand <strong>the</strong> cloud’s capability of tappingresources (ei<strong>the</strong>r through a private cloud ortapping publicly available cloud resources),data centers can rein in <strong>the</strong> unrelentingpressure to expand <strong>the</strong>ir physical footprint.<strong>Cloud</strong> computing fosters business innovationby enabling organizations to explore quicklyand cost effectively <strong>the</strong> potential of new, ITenabledbusiness enhancements that cangrow with unprecedented scaleThus, <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> offers managers anopportunity to keep in pace with advances intechnology, at cheaper rates, without capitalexpenditure, avoiding business interruptionand without considerable consulting andtechnology fees.[ Only for You ]Suneet MalikYou are my spirit, you are my skin,You are my moon, want and wishThat I shall be your sun,To bring happiness in your life,And moon to be my wife...Want in my life such an action,not afraid of your reaction,It’s up to you, what you choose,But I have nothing to lose, because forever in meYou speak to my heart; you are like a cream,Still it's such a shame that we are worlds apart!!!Were you ever keen to know, since when I love you?No! But it was first when I saw you in forth,But for you my love was of no worth,I didn’t care, hope you understand one day,But I dare not say that yes I am yours,And will be forever... until my life flies away,Until my life flies away!!!!24


What do you get when you take an HTC HD2,add 4G WiMax connectivity, a front facingcamera and use Android instead of WindowsMobile? You get <strong>the</strong> HTC EVO 4G! Sprint hasraced <strong>the</strong> EVO 4G to market, giving <strong>the</strong>m <strong>the</strong>distinction of being <strong>the</strong> only carrier inAmerica to carry a 4G Smartphone. Alongwith that, <strong>the</strong> EVO 4G offers many o<strong>the</strong>rclaims to fame. It can do live video chat, it's<strong>the</strong> first Android device to natively supporthigh quality YouTube, has a kickstand and anHDMI port for outputting video to a projectoror larger television. On paper, <strong>the</strong> EVO 4G is amonster, it's truly <strong>the</strong> most powerful andfeature‐rich Android device to date.PRODUCT REVIEW [ HTC EVO 4G ]Parampreet SalujaTECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONSThe device has a Qualcomm QSD8650Snapdragon CPU clocking in at 1GHz, runningon top of Android 2.1.It has an ample 512MB of RAM, plus 1GB ofROM. It also comes with an 8GB microSD cardfor storage, although this is expandable up to32GB. The capacitive display is a traditionalbacklit LCD and is 4.3" and WVGA resolution,which is <strong>the</strong> same as <strong>the</strong> HD2.The EVO 4G has a number of wireless radiosand components: WiFi, WiMax, CDMA,Bluetooth, FM Radio, GPS (assisted), andeven a digital compass.For imaging, <strong>the</strong>re are two cameras. Thefront camera captures image at 1.3MP andvideo at VGA resolution, while <strong>the</strong> rearcamera (which has a dual LED flash) takesstills at 8MP and video at 720p.For video out, <strong>the</strong>re is a microHDMI type Dconnector, and for syncing/synchronizing andcharging, we have microUSB.The battery is 1500mAh, though we wish itwere double <strong>the</strong> size.The EVO's build quality is modestly higherthan average, but isn't excellent. It is agenuine feel in hands and <strong>the</strong> screen too, isvery robust. Unfortunately, <strong>the</strong> back platedoesn't slide off like in o<strong>the</strong>r HTC handsets—you’ll have to snap it out with your fingernail.The phone doesn't feel cheap, but <strong>the</strong>secharacteristics detract a bit from <strong>the</strong> buildquality. The EVO's 4.3‐inch screen isconsidered by some to be <strong>the</strong> device'sprinciple selling point. It's roughly half an inchlarger than <strong>the</strong> display on <strong>the</strong> N1, but it's <strong>the</strong>same exact resolution. This means that youdon't necessarily get to see more content—itjust stretches everything to a bigger size. Thisis evident when you look at <strong>the</strong> EVO closelynext to an N1 (Nexus One). The big screenhas some advantages, but <strong>the</strong>re are alsosome disadvantages. It makes <strong>the</strong> devicecumbersome and awkward to use for onehandedoperation. Much like a tablet, <strong>the</strong>EVO tends to be more comfortable to workwith when used in landscape mode with twohands.25


SOFTWAREThe EVO 4G uses pretty much <strong>the</strong> sameversion of <strong>the</strong> Sense interfaces than do <strong>the</strong>HTC Desire and Legend. You get sevenhomescreens which you can fill up with avariety of widgets, shortcuts, folders, andmore. The Scenes feature lets you savepreconfigured widget setup so that you canhave different configurations for differentpurposes.The web browser on <strong>the</strong> EVO 4G is verycapable, though not as fast as <strong>the</strong> browser thatcomes in Android 2.2 (though <strong>the</strong> EVO 4G isupgradeable to 2.2). It uses Flash Lite to bringsome Flash capability to <strong>the</strong> browser.PERFORMANCEOverall, <strong>the</strong> EVO 4G is a fast device. Whilerunning multiple applications <strong>the</strong>re are nei<strong>the</strong>rany issues with <strong>the</strong> device getting slower nor<strong>the</strong>re is a delay when launching an applicationfor <strong>the</strong> first time. Call quality and cellularreception is fantastic. The EVO 4G has a1500mAh battery, which is clearly not enoughto power this monster. It's odd because <strong>the</strong>HTC HD2, with a 1300mAh battery, has <strong>about</strong>50% better battery life than <strong>the</strong> EVO 4G. It'spossible that <strong>the</strong> 4G chip may suck out a lot ofjuice, or perhaps it's <strong>the</strong> balancing act that <strong>the</strong>device must do constantly to select between3G, 4G, and WiFi.PROSHuge, beautiful screenSolid performanceDual camerasKickstand has a lot of utilityFirst American smartphone with 4GHDMI outputOn‐screen keyboard is super easy to useGreat call qualityDevice is large and heavy4G network is in its infancy, isn't that muchfaster than 3GCONCLUSIONWe can comfortably say that if you don't mind<strong>the</strong> bulkiness of <strong>the</strong> handset and have noissues with charging your phone over and over,<strong>the</strong> EVO 4G is <strong>the</strong> best Android phone out in<strong>the</strong> market right now. Don't buy this phone for<strong>the</strong> 4G, because right now it's not that big adeal. The real attraction is <strong>the</strong> overall featurerichnessof this phone, plus <strong>the</strong> experience itprovides to <strong>the</strong> user through <strong>the</strong> butterysmooth HTC Sense interface. This is truly aphone that can grow with you.I give <strong>the</strong> HTC EVO 4G a 4/5.OverallRiddle 1Only one color, but not one size,Stuck at <strong>the</strong> bottom, yet easily flies.Present in sun, but not in rain,Doing no harm, and feeling no pain.What is it.Riddle 2There was a green house. Inside <strong>the</strong> green house <strong>the</strong>re was awhite house. Inside <strong>the</strong> white house <strong>the</strong>re was a red house.Inside <strong>the</strong> red house <strong>the</strong>re were lots of babies. What is it?Riddle 3What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not indecades, years or days?Riddle 4The one who makes it, sells it. The one who buys it, never usesit. The one that uses it never knows that he's using it. What isit?CONSBattery life is poorAnswers:1. Shadow 3. Letter ‘n’2. Watermelon 4. Coffin26


[ MANAGING THE CLOUDS ]Anamika DattaThe cloud applications and platforms requiremanagement and processes to support <strong>the</strong>traditional applications. Most of <strong>the</strong> ITapplications and (IT) infrastructure are beingshifted to <strong>the</strong> cloud by <strong>the</strong> organizations. Theneed for managing and enhancing <strong>the</strong>se cloudapplications are growing with time. Since<strong>the</strong>re is no hardware or software tool by <strong>the</strong>infrastructure to manage <strong>the</strong> cloudapplications, more efforts are needed to beput for <strong>the</strong> cloud maintenance. Hence, <strong>the</strong>managing part of this application is essentialwith potential benefits to <strong>the</strong> organization.applications to service storage to spammanagement. SaaS (software as a service) is apart of <strong>the</strong> great mix called utility‐styleinfrastructure. IT is plugged into cloud‐basedservices for <strong>the</strong> most part. The aggregationand integration is coming up with <strong>the</strong>individual services provided by cloudcomputing. use The "<strong>Cloud</strong> Ready" programhelps <strong>the</strong> customers to migrate to <strong>the</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong> environment. Google Appsprovides assistance to this program. Ano<strong>the</strong>rexample of cloud computing can be GoogleDocs. The main focus is on delivering newways to give <strong>the</strong> best to <strong>the</strong> customers and<strong>the</strong> easiest access to all <strong>the</strong> onlineinformation. The file management andsynchronization is dealt by integrating <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong> along with Google Docs.Factors for managing <strong>the</strong> cloudsThe iterative capabilities provided by cloudplatforms support <strong>the</strong> needs of a growingbusiness. If one thinks from <strong>the</strong> needs of an ITperspective, few points come into mind whileincorporating <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> like –increasing capacity or adding capabilitieswithout any new infrastructure investment,new personnel training, or new softwarelicensing. The cloud concept encompassesservices like subscriptions or pay‐per‐use over<strong>the</strong> internet, all in real time which will extend<strong>the</strong> capabilities of <strong>the</strong> IT background. Thewhole idea of cloud computing is still at apremature stage, with a host of largeproviders and small deliverables, a pinch ofcloud‐based services from full‐grownScalability ‐ The resources provided by cloudcomputing mostly are on‐demand for most of<strong>the</strong> organization needs which includes servers,storage and networking. This nature of cloudcomputing states that more <strong>the</strong> demandgrows, <strong>the</strong> more easily one can match <strong>the</strong>capacity/costs to <strong>the</strong> demand. <strong>Cloud</strong>computing allows <strong>the</strong> developers to deploy<strong>the</strong> IT operations that can easily be successfulwithout paying serious attention to <strong>the</strong>location and nature of <strong>the</strong> infrastructure. It isa platform for <strong>the</strong> most cost effective and aflexible technology where even smallcompetitors can earn with <strong>the</strong>ir skills.Cost Management – Incloud computing, <strong>the</strong> needto switch from capitalinvestment to an27


operational expense arises frequently. Whenit comes to cloud computing adoption, costplays a key role. The decision of adopting acloud is mainly based on operational costswhich require some serious analysis by everyorganization so as to understand <strong>the</strong> internalneeds as well. The data centers of mostorganizations are oversized when <strong>the</strong>y arebuilt and run at a utility rate of 60%. Based onconsumption, cloud computing provides offerslike pay per hour or pay per gigabyte. This hascreated a huge impact on <strong>the</strong> economy of <strong>the</strong>industry.Flexibility ‐ <strong>Cloud</strong> computing has anunderstated advantage which enables <strong>the</strong>organization to be more agile. The newcomputing capacities are growing at a fastpace which is a vital element for cloudcomputing. Rapidly changing factors likestorage, bandwidth, and memory along withcomputing power needs to be adaptedinstantaneously. Most infrastructure designsfocus on <strong>the</strong> flexibility to change or add ormove an application on a very little amount oftime. This nature of cloud computing servesan advantage to <strong>the</strong> in‐house data centers.Disaster Management ‐ The burden oftechnology management is on <strong>the</strong> technologyprovider. An estimation of disaster recoverycosts is twice <strong>the</strong> cost of <strong>the</strong> infrastructurebuilt for cloud computing. A true estimate canbe done with a cloud‐based model with areasonable saving. Replication of data is doneby cloud service providers so as to recover <strong>the</strong>loss of data centers is covered. The previousmanaged solutions cannot match <strong>the</strong> level ofrecovery so every business needs to planaccording to <strong>the</strong> environmental changes.<strong>Cloud</strong> Management Services and ToolsPostini is a cloud‐based anti‐spam service byGoogle provided by IBM, SecureWorks andVerizon. Desktop management services areoffered by CenterBeam or Everdream. Tap InSystems provide <strong>Cloud</strong> Management Services.RightScale, is managing hybrid clouds whichbuilds an environment in which applicationsare transferred between public and privateclouds. FastScale Technology aims to provide<strong>the</strong> solution with in‐house VMwareenvironments FastScale Stack ManagerWorkstation Edition.References:[1] Syncplicity Enhances Sync and <strong>Cloud</strong><strong>Computing</strong> for Google Appshttp://blog.syncplicity.com/2010/01/12/syncplicity‐enhances‐sync‐and‐cloudcomputing‐for‐google‐apps/[2] LTech—<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Computing</strong> Services Searchhttp://www.ltech.com/[3] Growing Wave of <strong>Cloud</strong> ManagementOptionshttp://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/cole/growing‐wave‐of‐cloudmanagement‐options/?cs=31895[4] 3Crowd Launches <strong>Cloud</strong> ManagementPlatform CrowdDirector To The Publichttp://www.techcrunchit.com/2010/07/11/3crowd‐launches‐cloud‐management‐platform‐crowddirector‐to‐<strong>the</strong>‐public/[5] Private <strong>Cloud</strong> Managementhttp://www.vmworld.com/community/conferences/2010/cfpvote/pcmanagment28


[ THE G‐GAME ]Parampreet SalujaHealthy competition is always valued, butwhen this competition becomes aggressive itturns into a war. I am not talking <strong>about</strong> <strong>the</strong>war with sword and spears but this is <strong>the</strong> warof brains, <strong>the</strong> battle of <strong>the</strong> two biggest techgiants‐ Apple and Google.It all started when Google introduced its G‐Phone in <strong>the</strong> market following Apple’s successwith its iPhone. This was enough tobeard <strong>the</strong> lion in his own den and soApple came up with newer versions ofiPhone and an enhanced version of itssoftware iTunes. To give it a tough fightcame in Android, an open source OS anda very powerful in its kind, by Google.Therefore, <strong>the</strong> war became official and<strong>the</strong> saga of <strong>the</strong> tech giants started.Adding fuel to <strong>the</strong> fire, Google isbelieved to be coming up with its ownmusic service, ‘GOOGLE AUDIO’, whichwould pose a tough contender to <strong>the</strong>biggest music service provider ‘iTunes’.Google’s plans do appear quite advancedand such a product is believed to becoming soon. Rumors <strong>about</strong> Google gettinginto <strong>the</strong> music business are getting stronger by<strong>the</strong> day. Google itself hinted at a music storeand an associated service for Android and a‘Google music’ logo was found on Googleservers. Now various sources from <strong>the</strong> musicindustry claim (Lala, iLike, Pandora, imeem)that this service would be launching as early asthis fall. CNET has reported that several peoplehave confirmed that this service will belaunched in this US holiday season [1]. Also,according to <strong>the</strong> Android product manager,Mr. Gaurav Jain, in one of his interview on 2ndJuly, 2010 with an Israeli financial newspaper,Calcalist, he testified/hinted that this servicewould be launched with <strong>the</strong> Android 3.0[2].The difference between Apple’s iTunes and<strong>the</strong> yet to come Google‐Audio is that ofstreaming. Google claims that <strong>the</strong> product willhave <strong>the</strong> capability of providing <strong>the</strong> users withdownloading and streaming services;while iTunes currently offers onlydownloading services. Initially, <strong>the</strong> G‐Audio was thought of being launched forAndroid users alone, but now it will befor all <strong>the</strong> users. For <strong>the</strong> Android usersthis service will be based on <strong>the</strong> cloudcomputing service i.e. <strong>the</strong> android userswill be able to download <strong>the</strong> data on<strong>the</strong>ir mobile phone directly throughwireless services.Google has already signaled that itwishes to give phone users equippedwith Google's Android operating systema better music offering. At Google's I/Oconference in May, <strong>the</strong> searchengine offered attendees a demonstration of aWeb‐based iTunes competitor.Google’s CEO, Mr. Eric Schmidt, already boastsgreat success in <strong>the</strong> industry with YouTube.Before three of <strong>the</strong> four top labels launched &took control of <strong>the</strong>ir videos YouTube was byfar <strong>the</strong> Web's most successful streaming musicservice. Zahavah Levine, YouTube's generalcounsel, who previously worked withRealNetworks' Rhapsody music subscriptionservice, has a prominent role in helping todevelop Google's new music store, <strong>the</strong> sources29


said. Google has partnered with Lala andiLike (which was recently acquiredby MySpace) to provide previews andpurchasing links. Music suggested is providedby Pandora, iMeem, and Rhapsody. Users willalso be offered <strong>the</strong> opportunity to purchasesongs for download, both have confirmed.Both iLike and Lala provides limited streamingservices today. Lala lets users stream a songonce, <strong>the</strong>n a user ei<strong>the</strong>r has to pay or only geta 30 second clip. iLike has some full streaming,some 30 second clips. MySpace Music has fullstreaming rights from all four major labels. [3]If <strong>the</strong> reports are to be believed, GoogleAudio is poised to become a one‐stop shop formusic lovers, <strong>the</strong>reby making <strong>the</strong> giant’s firststep into <strong>the</strong> digital music market a leap.The service puts Google on track to competefor music lovers’ attention with Apple’s iTunesand could provide a big boost to <strong>the</strong>participating music services, as Googlecurrently holds <strong>about</strong> 70 percent of <strong>the</strong>internet search market.Google is racing iTunes to be <strong>the</strong> first one witha cloud service. Sources in <strong>the</strong> entertainmentindustry state that Apple is working on a WebbasediTunes service that could enable usersto store music and video on digital shelves and<strong>the</strong>n stream <strong>the</strong> content to Web‐enableddevices.Google is still <strong>the</strong> undisputed provider of <strong>the</strong>cloud services and will not let go <strong>the</strong> cloudentertainment space so easily but apple is <strong>the</strong>master of <strong>the</strong> music industry. It will be a greatfight to be awaited for. May <strong>the</strong> bestPROVIDER win![ Mark Shuttleworth ]Sudarshan TapariaThe creator of Ubuntuwhzich means 'for humanity'.Born in Welkon, Free StateSouth Africa as a son of asurgeon and a nursery schoolteacher, he holds a degree ofFinance & Information Systems at <strong>the</strong>University of Cape Town.His entrepreneurial stint began in 1995,when he formed a company 'Thawte' whichdealt with Internet Security and digitalcertificates which was later acquired byVerisign for 3bn USD. In 2000, his nextventure was <strong>the</strong> HBD corporation to nurture<strong>the</strong> talent of young entrepreneurs. Due tohis love for free software and being an opensource fan, he founded Cannonical Ltd in2004 to fund in free projects.Apart from being an technocrat, he is aphilanthropist and a space adventurer. TheShuttleworth foundation is one of <strong>the</strong>biggest non‐profit organizations in Africathat supports social innovations in educationin Africa. On 25th April 2002, he self fundedhis mission to space by investing 20 milliondollars.He is an inspiration to all <strong>the</strong> buddingentrepreneurs who wish to pursue <strong>the</strong>ir ownventures and at <strong>the</strong> same time have <strong>the</strong> zealto contribute to <strong>the</strong> society.REFFERENCE”Google Audio “October 23, 2009, ”http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/googleaudio‐lala‐ilike‐pandora‐and‐imeem/”30


“ NATURALLY IT”Richa SinghNature has given summons and it isdemanding attention. Energy crisis around <strong>the</strong>world is craving for some sombre thought.Development is what we are looking at butdevelopment at <strong>the</strong> cost of nature is what willcastigate <strong>the</strong> society. But <strong>the</strong> question likely toarise is how can IT, potentially be harmfulwhen <strong>the</strong> physical elements associated with itare so low. The software that lacks a physicalform or <strong>the</strong> cloud of internet used forcomputing, can possibly cause any visible harmor posses any kind of threat??The answer exists in re‐examining <strong>the</strong> ITenvironment once again. The exigency forenergy is rising and so are <strong>the</strong> prices. If <strong>the</strong>trend continues business will face a futurechallenge of economic sustainability.Manufacturing sectors have always been <strong>the</strong>major nucleus of energy consumption but IT ismuddling through pretty fast. Be it <strong>the</strong>maintenance of data centers or distributedarchitecture, all has come up by paying heavycosts in terms of energy consumption. Read<strong>the</strong> given fact and you will understand <strong>the</strong>concept better.“A typical 10,000‐square‐foot data centreconsumes more electricity than 8,000 60‐wattlight bulbs. That represents six to 10 times <strong>the</strong>power needed to operate a typical officebuilding at peak demand, according toscientists at Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory. Given that most data centres run24x7x365 , <strong>the</strong> companies that own <strong>the</strong>mcould end up paying millions of dollars thisyear just to keep <strong>the</strong>ir computers turnedon.”2 Forrester Research estimates that datacentres require 0.5 to 1 watt of coolingpower for each watt of server power used,and that a typical x86 server consumesbetween 30% and 40% of its maximumpower when idle”. [1][2]As published in IBM Global TechnologyServices January 2007 ‘Green IT’ – <strong>the</strong> nextburning issue for business. To continue <strong>the</strong> listI must mention E‐WASTE disposal as yetano<strong>the</strong>r apprehension. The fact that E‐WASTES are non biodegradable is itselfenough to agitate <strong>the</strong> ecological cycle of <strong>the</strong>nature. Equipments like computers, cameras,power tools, watches, calculators are not onlynon biodegradable but also have toxicsubstances in <strong>the</strong>m. The most common31


practices adopted for clearance of e‐ waste areacid baths, land filling and open air burning.Examining each one in detail will bring out amore alarming picture. . Land filling may lead topollution of <strong>the</strong> soil. This may lead to decreasein <strong>the</strong> productivity of <strong>the</strong> land and harmfulchemicals may get into <strong>the</strong> foo chain leading tobio magnification. And none<strong>the</strong>less to say thatopen air burning has always being a devastatingconsequence for nature.Green house gas emission is ano<strong>the</strong>r serioustrepidation. According to GARTNER, PC’s andmonitors (excluding embodied energy) are <strong>the</strong>biggest culprit contributing almost 39% togreen house gas emission closely followed byserver’s (including cooling) of 23%. The overallcontribution of <strong>the</strong> IT sector is 2%. Finally it hasmade a small contribution to <strong>the</strong> dreadedglobal warming scenario.The alarm bells are ringing and some of <strong>the</strong> bigplayers have already taken a note of it.Microsoft is <strong>the</strong> player who has taken <strong>the</strong> issuevery seriously. A portal by <strong>the</strong> name of“Microsoft environment” contains all <strong>the</strong>details <strong>about</strong> <strong>the</strong> commitments of <strong>the</strong> companytowards green IT solutions. The trend istowards products that will help to save energyin <strong>the</strong> long run.According to a press release by SYMANTEC inCUPERTINO, Calif. – May 27, 2009 “data,senior‐level IT executives report significantinterest in green IT strategies and solutions,attributed to both cost reduction andenvironmental responsibility. The data pointsto a shift from implementing “green”technologies primarily for cost reductionpurposes, to a more balanced awareness ofalso improving <strong>the</strong> organization’senvironmental standing.”Kudos to <strong>the</strong> big giants, but GREEN IT as aconcept is still in its nascent phase. In spite of<strong>the</strong> stipend it offers in terms of cost savingand reduced carbon footprint, companieshave not looked up in this issue. GREEN IT isnot on <strong>the</strong> priority list as o<strong>the</strong>r big fishes arepromising better returns for <strong>the</strong> immediatefuture. I intend to write this to catch an eyewhich can take <strong>the</strong> baton ahead. IT is time togo green.Yes, you heard it right!IT is time tO GO GREENReferences[1] DATA CENTERS Powering DownSusannah Patton – CIO.com, 15 April2006.[2] Power And Cooling Heat Up The DataCenterRichard Fichera – Forrester Research8 March 2006Laugh OutTech Support: "I need you to right‐click on <strong>the</strong> Open Desktop."Customer "Ok."Tech Support: "Did you get a pop‐up menu?"Customer: "No."Tech Support: "Ok. Right click again. Do you see apop‐up menu?"Customer "No."Tech Support:: "Ok, sir. Can you tell me what youhave done up until this point?"Customer: "Sure, you told me to write 'click' and Iwrote 'click'."32


[ Sketches ] fromUsha Kiran Korla[Amazing & Beautiful]Ritesh DassSometimes life turns up in such a way,Where one has nothing around but a mad fray.Legions of people are around but still you’re single,The bell of happiness inside you doesn’t jingle.When <strong>the</strong> way ahead of you is full of mist,<strong>Find</strong>ing someone you love is a real tryst.Pleasure of meeting someone you love,Seems as if your hand got touched with a dove.Time doesn’t pass away without listening to hervoice,How to nurture a relationship is always a matter ofchoice.Waiting for <strong>the</strong> moment when I can hold her hand,When I can write her name on <strong>the</strong> dunes of sand.My soul finds an unknown solace within her,Not sensing her presence around gets my sight blur.Packed with care, love & surprises, she is a sparklingbeauty,Warding her off from any evil is my humble duty.Being unique is her way which no one can don,Found a shoulder where I can sob and rest my hands on.Small are <strong>the</strong> things that make her happy,No need of buying her something whacky.The way she has impacted my heart is very deep,Can be awake my entire life to watch her sleep.Want to see two different souls submerging in one,The very purpose of my life on this earth will be done.33


CROSS SUDOKU (Difficulty: Medium)Laugh Out[ Homeland Security ][ Logo Quiz ]1.3.2.4.An old arab lives 40 years in New York.He would love to plant potatoes in hisgarden, but he is lonely and old andweak. His son studies in Paris. Hewrites an email to his son <strong>about</strong> hisproblem.‘Dear Ahmed, I’m very sad because Ican’t plant potatoes in my garden. I’msure if you would be here, you couldhelp me to dig my garden.I love you. Your fa<strong>the</strong>r’The day after <strong>the</strong> old man gets anemail.‘Dear fa<strong>the</strong>r, please don’t touch <strong>the</strong>garden. I’ve hidden ‘<strong>the</strong> thing’ <strong>the</strong>re. Ilove you too. Ahmed’4 o’clock in <strong>the</strong> morning <strong>the</strong> US Army,<strong>the</strong> Marines, <strong>the</strong> FBI, <strong>the</strong> CIA and <strong>the</strong>RANGERS come to <strong>the</strong> house of <strong>the</strong> oldman. They search everywhere, takeapart <strong>the</strong> hole garden, dig everymilimeter, but don’t find anything.Disappointed <strong>the</strong>y leave.The day after <strong>the</strong> old man again gets anemail from his son.I hope your garden is digged by nowand you can plant your potatoes. That’sall I could do for you. I love you.Ahmed’5. 6.Answers:1. Konami 2. Hilton 3. Sun Microsystems4. Billabong 5. Apple 6. Boeing34


Flexiant is a Software and Services Company,one of <strong>the</strong> only three independent publiccloud providers in Europe and fiveworldwide. Its public cloud, Flexiscale, wasEurope’s first cloud platform and waslaunched in 2007. In March 2010, <strong>the</strong>company launched its flagship product,Extility, a private cloud that allows licenseesto build <strong>the</strong>ir own cloud and sell cloudservices under <strong>the</strong>ir own brand.FlexiscaleIt was originally developed by XCalibreCommunications, an award‐winning companywith a 12‐years track record of providinghosting services to <strong>the</strong> enterprise market. InDecember 2009, XCalibre was sold toWebfusion and <strong>the</strong> original team at XCalibreacquired Flexiscale, launching <strong>the</strong> newsoftware and services company, Flexiant.ExtilityIt allows hosting companies and datacentre owners to compete on an even playingfield with <strong>the</strong> big three global market leadersin cloud virtualisation: Amazon, Google andMicrosoft.A licensed virtualised cloud platform,Extility offers a real alternative to <strong>the</strong> cost ofdeveloping a cloud computing platform inhouse.Licensees generate substantial savingsand reduced energy consumption slashesoperating costs and shrinks carbon footprints.All <strong>the</strong> benefits of real‐time server estatemanagement are delivered to end usersthrough Extility’s unique user interface andAPI. Users can shape server requirements tomeet fluctuations in demand, allowingprovisioning and reconfiguration of servers inseconds or minutes ra<strong>the</strong>r than hours ordays.Extilitys’ licensees see substantialcapital expenditure savings, streamlining oftechnical resource and progressiveefficiencies in server utilisation, allowing<strong>the</strong>m to achieve business acquisition andprofitability targets. This in turn enables <strong>the</strong>mto offer Extility’s unified platform at a realisticcost.Importantly, in times of challengingmargins and market fluidity, sales gestationperiods are dramatically shortened throughaccelerated delivery timescales, so reducingtime to invoice and to attaining positive,profitable cash flow.The launch of Extility is an importantmilestone in <strong>the</strong> evolution of cloudcomputing with its ease of use, platformindependence, reliability and leveragedinvestment as cornerstone concepts of thisleading edge technology.FlexiScale 2.0FlexiScale 2.0 is a complete rebuild ofEurope’s first cloud platform, using Extilitytechnology. FlexiScale 2.0 not only allowsend‐users to benefit from a wholly scalablehosting infrastructure but also reaches out to<strong>the</strong> wider world of IT services deliverycompanies.In an increasingly demanding marketplace where most IT services have been, orare seen to have been commoditised,Flexiscale 2.0 allows IT service deliverycompanies to extend <strong>the</strong>ir offerings toexisting customers and differentiate <strong>the</strong>irservices.FlexiScale 2.0 resellers and affiliatesare able to rapidly leverage <strong>the</strong>ir existingcustomer base to take advantage ofFlexiScale’s platform independentinfrastructure, bringing immediateimprovements to bottom‐line performance,whilst delivering highly dependable worldclass services to <strong>the</strong>ir customers.

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