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What are cloud technologies? List of used literature. The main reasons for the transition of medium and small businesses to cloud technologies

In recent years cloud technologies have ceased to be exotic for Russian entrepreneurs. More and more companies are transferring their business processes to a virtual environment. “Clouds” are becoming the very place where information is stored, processed and from where it is transmitted at lightning speed to anywhere on the planet.

Very soon, not a single commercial enterprise will be able to do without this business tool. We asked Kirill Voitsekhovich-Kazantsev, the chief ideologist and development director of the i-Retail company, which deals with online cash registers, to talk about these processes.

Information: Kirill Voitsekhovich-Kazantsev is known as the creator of a number of successful and ambitious projects, such as: the Empay payment platform (now owned by QIWI); Amega inform service (now owned by Beeline); cloud telecom operator clickphone.net; multichannel system i Retail.

“We are creating a product based on our vast experience in the B2B sector. Three pillars of i Retail’s activities: reducing costs - simplifying work - increasing profits. Today, i Retail is, without exaggeration, the peak of evolution in trade.”

Now “cloud technologies for business” are becoming more and more popular topic discussions in business circles, but, nevertheless, for many they still remain a mystery. How can in simple words explain the essence of this “phenomenon”?

The essence of this phenomenon is very simple: you use the program via the Internet. Accordingly, your business is served by a professional team that is responsible for technical support of the selected program, updating functionality, and storing data.

And in Russia there is already a market cloud services? Is it competitive?

In Russia, the market for SaaS services (Software as a Service is what cloud technologies are called in the professional world) is gaining momentum very well.

This market cannot be called established, since new services are opened every day, designed to simplify the life of industry businesses. For example, you have a small business, but there is no system administrator or programmers on staff, and, most likely, you have neither the strength nor the ability to understand virtual technologies. The great thing about cloud services is that they solve everything. similar problems“for once two.” You simply buy a finished product and concentrate on your core business.

Here's another one clear example: Let’s say you want to open a store, there is a need to automate business processes and accounting. Let's compare the standard approach and a solution using cloud technologies.

At standard approach you are looking for a contractor who will help you install a program (for example, 1C), buy a server, buy an expensive license. You will spend at least two weeks and from 60 to 100 thousand rubles on the launch alone. From there, you'll pay monthly for support and updates. In addition, you will have to have a permanent staff member who has at least some understanding of IT technologies.

Now let's see what happens when using cloud technology. Let's take the i-Retail online cash register as an example. To start, you do not need to have any special skills or abilities. You simply fill out the required fields in the form on the website, download the cash register application Google Play or App Store, and you start working right away. At the same time, you see all reporting in real time. Time and material costs are minimal. i-Retail, for example, has a tariff for micro-businesses, where the monthly fee is 900 rubles.

Who needs cloud technologies in the first place?

First of all, this service is of interest to small and medium-sized businesses - for those companies that do not have their own qualified system administrators. These include companies from the service sector - beauty salons, car services, and small shops, and transport companies, and many other enterprises not related to the IT field. As for our i-Retail service, we provide a package solution not only for offline stores and companies, but also for online trading. Special software will allow you to start selling goods and services via the World Wide Web in two clicks.

Everything is clear with legal entities, but why do individuals need cloud technologies, that is ordinary people?

We're all like individuals We use such services every day without thinking that they are called “cloud”. This includes mail, taxi calling programs, buying tickets online, and much more. Don’t forget also that there is a huge layer of Soho companies. These are aspiring entrepreneurs, private craftsmen and manufacturers who have not registered as entity. But each of them needs the same tools to run their own small business.

Okay, but, anticipating questions from our readers, let's assume: all business processes have started, everything is going well, but suddenly an emergency happens, and technical support cannot be reached. This is understandable - there are a lot of clients, they can wait...Can you guarantee that clients will not be left without support?

A lot depends on the cost and capabilities of the service you choose. Some people certainly skimp on support. For example, we keep a whole pool backup servers, which are physically located in different places. We have extensive user support, which works 7 days a week, and programmers are on duty. Thus, we monitor the operation of our system 24/7.

In addition, in addition to our call center, we have subcontractors who, if our specialists are busy, take on user requests. By the way, i-Retail, even at the most economical rates, has the right to full technical support. In more budget option– this is support by e-mail, in the more expensive one – a personal manager.

Software is a whole set of tools. Do you have to buy them as a set, or do you select the tools needed for each client individually?

For all of us tariff plans The “no restrictions” rule applies. That is, you only pay for one workplace and use any functionality. Our workplace is considered to be a point of sale - a cash register or an online store. You have the option to set a limit on the number of trading positions to avoid extra costs to use the program.

I would like to end our conversation with an interesting forecast. What percentage of retail do you think will transfer business processes “to the cloud” in 2017? And when will Russia catch up with its foreign colleagues in using this technology?

If we talk about small retail businesses, then next year at least 500,000 users will, one way or another, switch to the cloud. It would be fair to say about our foreign colleagues that the forecast is unclear. This is a very subjective question, much depends on what countries, industries and services we are talking about. I know that there are industries where we are significantly ahead of our colleagues from the European Union and the United States, but there are also those where, unfortunately, we are still far behind.

With Kirill Voitsekhovich-Kazantsev,

development director at i-Retail,

Olga Zhukova communicated

1

The prospects for using cloud technologies in the educational process are considered. The definition of cloud computing is revealed, the types of cloud services and cloud models are described. The main ways of using cloud computing in the learning process are presented. The possibilities of using cloud technologies in the educational process are considered.

cloud technologies

information technology

educational process

Microsoft Office 365

1. Misevicien R., Budnikas G., Ambrazien D. Application of Cloud Computing at KTU: Informatics in Education, 2011, Vol. 10, No. 2. – URL: http://www.mii.lt/informatics_in_education/pdf/INFE194.pdf.

2. Seidametova Z.S., Seitvelieva S.N. Cloud services in education // Information technologies in education. – 2011. – No. 9. – P.105-111.

Information technologies in the field of education in modern world is a necessary condition progressive development of society. Informatization and improvement of learning technologies occupies one of the main places among the many new directions in the development of education. The relevance of the use of new information technologies in education lies in the fact that they not only perform the functions of tools used to solve individual pedagogical problems, but also provide qualitatively new opportunities for learning, developing independent skills educational activities, stimulate the development of didactics and methodology, contribute to the creation of new forms of training and education. With development computer tools and by introducing them into the educational process, its participants have new opportunities and new approaches are implemented.

The objectives of this study are:

1. Studying basic information about “Cloud” technologies, the varieties and areas of application of these technologies;

2. Application of cloud technologies in education;

3. Consider the possibilities of using cloud products from Microsoft for educational institutions.

Technologies based on cloud computing are one of the popular and actively developing areas of modern information world. Cloud computing technology refers to an innovative technology that allows you to combine IT resources of various hardware platforms into a single whole and provide the user with access to them through local network or global network Internet. Cloud services from various providers offer users access to their resources via the Internet through free or shareware cloud applications, the hardware and software requirements of which do not require the user to have high-performance and resource-consuming computers.

On this moment there are three basic models for building a cloud: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Let's analyze these cloud models to identify the possibility of using them in the educational process.

Software as a Service (SaaS) - “Software as a service”, a cloud service delivery model in which the user uses supplier applications running in the cloud infrastructure, which are accessible to the client using a web interface or program interface.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - “platform as a service”, a model for providing cloud services in which the user gets access to use software platform: operating systems (OS), DBMS, application software, software development and testing tools. In fact, the user receives a rental computer platform with an installed OS and specialized tools for developing, hosting and managing web applications.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - “infrastructure as a service”, a model for providing cloud services in which the user gets the opportunity to manage processing and storage facilities, as well as other fundamental computing resources ( virtual servers and network infrastructure) on which he can independently install the OS and application programs.

There are currently four deployment models in use: cloud systems:

Private cloud is an infrastructure intended for use by one organization, including several divisions. A private cloud can be owned, managed and operated by the organization itself or by a third party.

Public cloud is an infrastructure designed for free use by the general public. A public cloud can be owned, operated, and operated by commercial, academic, and government organizations (or some combination thereof).

A hybrid cloud is a combination of two or more different cloud infrastructures (private, public), which remain unique objects, but are interconnected by standardized or private technologies for data transfer and applications (for example, short-term use of public cloud resources for balancing loads between clouds).

Community cloud is a type of infrastructure intended for use by a specific community of consumers from organizations with general tasks and may be co-operatively owned, managed and operated by one or more community organizations or a third party (or any combination thereof).

Many foreign educational institutions have switched to using cloud technologies. In the United States, active use of cloud technologies is observed in universities. This is how Hofstra University uses cloud services provided Google Apps. European universities are not lagging behind either; in Lithuania, Kaunas University of Technology has been recent years uses cloud services provided by Microsoft Live@edu. Today, cloud technologies are just beginning to be introduced into the educational sphere of the CIS countries, but there are already institutions that are actively using these technologies. For example, Moscow University of Finance and Law switched to using Office 365 technology. By according to Microsoft Office 365 was also implemented by REU named after. Plekhanov and RUDN. In Ukraine, Sumy State and Donetsk National Universities were the first among Ukrainian universities to introduce cloud office suite Microsoft Office 365 for organization collaboration teachers and students, as well as expanding distance education opportunities.

Having analyzed all cloud models and the experience of using them in foreign and CIS countries, we came to the conclusion that most often educational institutions use the “software as a service” (SaaS) cloud model. The advantage of using this model includes the following factors: it does not require the educational institution to create own center data processing and its maintenance, allows you to reduce financial and organizational costs, and also makes it possible to establish native applications on the provider's platform.

The analysis made it possible to highlight the following advantages of using cloud technologies in the educational process (table).

Based on the services considered, we will formulate the didactic capabilities of cloud technologies, confirming the feasibility of their use in the educational process:

Organizing collaboration for a large team of teachers and students;

The ability for both students and teachers to share and edit documents of various types;

Quick start created products into the educational process due to the lack of territorial connection of the service user to the place of its provision;

Organization of interactive classes and collective teaching;

Completion by students independent work, including collective projects, in the absence of restrictions on “audience size” and “class time”;

Benefits of using cloud technologies

Interaction and collaboration with peers, regardless of their location; . creation of web-oriented laboratories in specific subject areas(mechanisms for adding new resources, interactive access to modeling tools, information resources; user support, etc.);

Organization different forms control;

Moving used learning management systems (LMS) to the cloud;

New opportunities for researchers to organize access, develop and disseminate applied models.

Thus, the main didactic advantage of using cloud technologies in the educational process is the organization of collaboration between students and teachers.

We can highlight some disadvantages of cloud technologies, which are mainly technical and technological in nature and do not affect their didactic capabilities and advantages. Such disadvantages include limited functionality compared to local analogues, the lack of domestic cloud service providers (Amazon, Goggle, Saleforce, etc.), the lack of domestic and international standards, as well as the lack legislative framework application of cloud technologies.

However, today the methodological and technological aspects application of cloud technologies in the educational process. In the educational process, including in the process of teaching computer science, the use of cloud technologies comes with a delay and has not yet found widespread use. Despite a number of obvious advantages, their spread is hampered by a number of objective factors. Traditionally, most domestic educational institutions are distrustful of leasing virtual capacities, preferring to work with specific, preferably their own, equipment, software and data that is stored locally.

Introduction of cloud technologies into the learning process in higher and high school will provide:

Efficient use of classroom space (there is no need to allocate separate and specially equipped rooms for traditional computer classes);

Drastic reduction in costs required to create and maintain computer classes;

A qualitatively different level of obtaining modern knowledge - students have the opportunity to be in the learning process at any time and in any place where there is the Internet;

More effective interactive learning process;

The ability to quickly create, adapt and replicate educational services during educational process;

Opportunity for students to exercise feedback with the teacher by evaluating and commenting on the educational services he offers;

Guarantee of licensed purity of the software used in the training process;

Reducing the cost of licensed software by creating functionally equivalent educational services based on open source software;

Minimizing the number of required licenses through their centralized use;

Centralized administration of software and information resources, used in the educational process.

Currently, the most common service systems based on cloud computing technology used in the educational process are Microsoft Live@edu and Google Apps Education Edition. They are cloud-based web applications that provide students and teachers with educational institutions tools, the use of which is designed to improve the efficiency of communication and collaboration.

Another option for using cloud services is to move Learning Management Systems to the cloud. Transfer of support for such systems, external providers makes sense for educational institutions that cannot afford to purchase and maintain expensive hardware and software.

If we consider cloud technologies from Microsoft for educational institutions, this is Microsoft Office 365, which combines a set of web services that is distributed on a subscription basis under the “software + services” scheme. The kit provides access to various programs and services based Microsoft platforms Office, email, communication and document management functionality. Microsoft Office 365 for Education allows you to take advantage of all the capabilities of cloud services, improve the performance of students and employees, and save time and money. Basic functionality of Microsoft Office 365 includes cloud versions Lync Online with video conferencing capabilities, SharePoint Online, Office Web Apps and Exchange Online will be provided free of charge. Office 365 for Education combines the capabilities of familiar Office applications for desktop systems with new generation Internet versions Microsoft services for communication and collaboration. Office 365 is very easy to use and administer, has a stable security system and a level of reliability.

Windows Azure is another cloud service offered by Microsoft that can be used in the educational process. Windows Azure is a cloud analogue of the OS Windows Server. However, if you buy Windows Server and install it on servers in your local data center, then the Windows Azure platform is hosted in Microsoft data centers and is available remotely as a platform for developing and running applications. With the help of the Windows Azure in education platform, teachers have the opportunity to include one of the most innovative and quickly developing technologies, both in its theoretical and practical parts.

There are three main directions for using the Azure platform to solve problems in universities:

1. Training

Using Windows Azure for calculations practical problems arising during training;

Cloud usage Windows technologies Azure in diploma and coursework;

Perform voluminous and complex calculations that require large computing resources;

Usage virtual machines on Linux based or Windows in the cloud

2. Scientific research work (R&D)

Processing large amounts of data for research;

The ability to transfer your own server cluster to the cloud;

Simulation of scientific experiments;

Usage innovative technologies for research.

3. Information and training portals

Collaboration on educational projects;

Personal account of a student/employee/teacher;

Distance learning;

Create new or expand existing applications

Conduct training events and webinars.

The set of services provided by the educational “cloud” to a specific user forms his personal information and educational environment. This environment is accessible everywhere (Figure).


The set of services provided by the educational “cloud”

Cloud technologies are new way organization of the educational process and offers an alternative traditional methods organization of the educational process, creates an opportunity for personal training, collective teaching and interactive classes. The main advantage of using cloud technologies in education is not only reducing the cost of purchasing the necessary software, efficiency and improving quality educational process, but also prepares pupils and students for life in the modern information society.

Bibliographic link

Shekerbekova Sh.T., Nesipkaliev U. OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND USE OF CLOUD TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION // International magazine applied and fundamental research. – 2015. – No. 6-1. – P. 51-55;
URL: https://applied-research.ru/ru/article/view?id=6841 (access date: November 25, 2017). We bring to your attention magazines published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural Sciences"

The concept of "cloud computing" originated in 1960, when John McCarthy suggested that computer computing would one day be performed using "public utilities."

Cloud computing may seem like a relatively new phenomenon. However, their history dates back to the early 1950s, when the advent of mainframe computers allowed multiple users to access central computer. In the 1960s, some ideas emerged that resembled what we call cloud computing today, such as the concept of "intergalactic computer network" J. C. R. Licklider.

The ideology of cloud computing gained popularity in 2007 due to the rapid development of communication channels and the exponentially growing need of both businesses and private users to horizontal scaling their information systems.

The modern cloud began in 2006 when Amazon.com, then an online bookstore, introduced Amazon Web Services (AWS), kickstarting the cloud computing movement. AWS provides a wide range of services, such as computing power and data storage, and remains the leading and highly reliable cloud web services platform infrastructure to this day.

Amazon.com was soon joined by Nexflix, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and IBM, and the cloud computing market grew in size.

Properties and models of cloud computing

Basic properties

NIST in its document `The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing` defines following characteristics clouds:

  • the possibility of self-service without human intervention from the provider;
  • availability of broadband network access;
  • concentration of resources on individual sites for their efficient distribution;
  • fast scalability - resources can be allocated and released indefinitely high speed depending on needs;
  • managed service - the cloud management system automatically controls and optimizes resource allocation based on measured service parameters (storage system size, bandwidth, number of active users etc.).

On-demand self-service. The consumer has the opportunity to access the provided computing resources in unilaterally as needed, automatically, without the need to interact with employees of each service provider.

Wide network access(Broad network access). The provided computing resources are available over the network through standard mechanisms for various platforms, thin and thick clients ( mobile phones, tablets, laptops, workstations, etc.).

Resource pooling. The provider's computing resources are pooled to serve many consumers using a multi-tenant model. Pools include a variety of physical and virtual resources that can be dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer requests. There is no need for the consumer to know exact location resources, but you can specify their location at a higher level of abstraction (for example, country, region, or data center). Examples of this type of resource include storage systems, computing power, memory, throughput networks.

Rapid elasticity. Resources can be elastically allocated and released, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale with demand. For the consumer, the possibilities for providing resources are seen as unlimited, that is, they can be appropriated in any quantity and at any time.

Measured service. Cloud systems automatically manage and optimize resources using measurement tools implemented at the abstraction level for various types of services ((for example, management external memory, processing, bandwidth, or active user sessions). The resources used can be tracked and controlled, providing transparency for both the provider and the consumer using the service.

Cloud service models

Software as a service (SaaS). The ability to provide the consumer with the use of provider applications running in the cloud infrastructure. Applications are accessible from various client devices or interfaces thin clients, such as a web browser (eg webmail) or program interfaces. The consumer does not manage the underlying cloud infrastructure, including networks, servers, operating systems, storage systems, and even individual settings applications with the exception of some custom settings application configuration.

The consumer must put in place “on its own territory” appropriate policies and procedures that exclude the transfer of access rights to information to third parties. In this sense, the objective advantages of “clouds” should not be confused with relieving the customer of any efforts to ensure the security of their own information perimeter.

Solving security problems includes traditional and broad known solutions, although it contains a number of specific solutions that, in the process of performing traditional tasks, must be optimized to save productivity virtual environment, adding security.

Even large cloud service providers are already experiencing serious equipment failures. In the global practice of cloud computing, there are cases when a consumer could not access applications for a long time. And a banal “Internet shutdown” due to the fault of the provider (not necessarily the provider directly serving the customer; the backbone operator may also be at fault) can make working with “cloud” resources impossible in principle.

Obviously, before starting projects related to moving certain IT services to the cloud, customers should assess such risks, conduct a thorough inventory of applications (fixing a list of business-critical ones), and only then make decisions on how to build your “cloud” IT future.

Alternative hot standby ISP, alternative cloud solution provider, transparent maintenance management archival copies data, insurance, strict liability conditions in agreements with suppliers are mandatory security elements in the clouds.

The problems of ensuring information integrity in the case of using individual “cloud” applications can be solved thanks to modern database architectures, backup systems, integrity checking algorithms and other industrial solutions. But that's not all. New problems may arise when we're talking about about the integration of several cloud applications from different providers.

For those companies for which information security issues are very acute, for example, these are enterprises associated with the military-industrial complex, working with state secrets, or strictly bound by the requirements of non-disclosure of data about private clients, the way out of the situation is the creation of private clouds. The fact is that private clouds, unlike public or hybrid systems, are most similar to the virtualized infrastructures that IT departments of large corporations have already learned to implement and over which they can maintain full control. Information security deficiencies in public cloud systems pose a serious problem. Most hacking incidents occur in public clouds.

Virtualization can be secure and compliant with information security regulations. However, customer security demands still often outpace vendor capabilities.

Gartner experts are of the opinion that this direction should in the near future change the established status quo in information technology. It is expected that cloud computing will push even more intensive development of the Internet. Gartner predicts that the trend will be fully formed over the next few years.

Analysts also note that cloud computing technology will reduce costs and increase demand for new IT products, but the growth effect of such technologies will only appear in the long term.

Choosing a cloud vendor is almost like getting married. Both parties are determined for the best and are confident that the relationship will be long and full of love and mutual understanding. But... appearances can be deceptive, and relationships with the vendor can deteriorate. In such a case, you need a “marriage” contract (more precisely, a clear and comprehensive contract), guaranteeing that both parties involved know their rights and obligations.

CRN turned to the leaders of the VAR company Progress Software to gain first-hand knowledge. Matt Cicciari, OpenEdge/SaaS platform marketing and cloud adoption manager, and Mike Ormerod, cloud and SaaS solutions architect, shared their experience: what key elements should be present in the “prenuptial agreement” with the cloud vendor in order to potential client I could confidently say yes.

Prepare the network

During the Interop 2012 exhibition in Las Vegas, Cisco Systems released the results of its annual Global Cloud Networking Survey, which was attended by 1,300 IT professionals from 13 countries. Over a third of IT professionals consider a cloud-native network to be a necessary infrastructure element to begin the process of migrating applications to the cloud. 28% of them believe that a cloud-optimized network is more important than a virtualized data center, 21% - than a service level agreement with a cloud service provider.

At the same time, almost 40% of respondents would prefer to avoid any network restructuring associated with the implementation of private or public clouds by all means possible. In other words, many IT managers understand the importance of building a specialized network infrastructure for cloud computing, but few are ready to tackle objectively complex projects.

Praveen Akkiraju, vice president and general manager of the Cisco Services Routing Technology Group, warns that business leaders must have a clear understanding of all the necessary steps before a full-scale deployment of cloud infrastructure at the planning stage. Cisco representatives believe that in the foreseeable future the number of such projects will grow at an increasingly rapid pace. According to the Global Cloud Index report, by 2014, more than half of the data center capacity will be used to service cloud computing; by 2015, cloud traffic will grow 12 times and reach 1.6 zettabytes per year. 73% of participants have all necessary information for the implementation of private and public cloud environments, the cornerstone successful project they consider smooth processes and proper planning.

First understand the cloud

Progress Software executives warn that the decision to adopt the cloud can get bogged down in terms, acronyms and notations. It is important that the potential customer fulfills “ homework” and became familiar with the terms that vendors use before embarking on the negotiation path. “You shouldn’t jump into a new business right away if you don’t understand some terms and technologies,” says Chicciari. “First of all, you need to understand what you are getting into,” echoes Ormerod.

Know all the details of the SLA

The recent string of cloud failures has taught us something. There needs to be a clear service level agreement (SLA) to ensure this union has a long and happy life. Progress Software executives recommend that cloud service buyers carefully review all SLA terms to know who is responsible for what in different circumstances. It is important to ensure that it is critical important applications will not change later; a signed SLA protects not only your reputation, but also the name of the vendor. “The text and language of the SLA is everything,” says Ormerod. “As with any contract, you must have absolute clarity about who is doing what, when and how,” adds Cicciari.

Have a work plan

Don't forget: cloud vendors are not IT management service providers. When you step into the cloud, you have the same responsibilities as you would with on-premises infrastructure. The cloud does not belong to the “set it and forget it” category, and the “out of sight, out of mind” principle does not apply here. It is important to plan how day-to-day operations will be carried out, who has access to what and when, and all aspects of IT security. You also need to understand maintenance procedures, be it bug fixes or upgrades. "Just because you don't see something doesn't mean you're not responsible for it," Cicciari says.

Have a disaster recovery plan

The union of two is constant work, and something can go wrong. It is important to plan for unexpected problems. Progress Software is ready for this. Before you dive into the cloud, you need to have a disaster recovery and rebuild plan in place. working environment. High availability is the cloud vendor's job, but failure recovery is not, warns Cicciari. “There is a misconception: I send all my applications to the cloud - and there are no worries,” echoes Ormerod.

Know where your data is

If the union breaks up, then division of property is inevitable. The situation is approximately the same with the cloud. The vendor's contract should detail what happens to the customer's data if the customer or the vendor goes out of business, if one of the parties is merged or purchased, and how long the vendor must retain the customer's data. Data location and regulatory compliance are also important aspects transition to the cloud, says Ormerod.

Multi-platform cloud

This may seem like a lie, but any cloud vendor agreement must contain a support clause various types clouds with the ability to use other platforms. You should ask vendors whether they provide public cloud, private cloud and hybrid model support, says Cicciari. For a long-lasting relationship, the customer must be able to use multiple cloud vendors simultaneously for the same application, system or environment. “Why limit yourself to just one cloud? - he says. “What if something happens at Amazon, GoGrid or Rackspace?” Customers must ask themselves, “How easy will it be for me to migrate my applications from one vendor to another?” - adds Ormerod.

Need an exit strategy

And finally, what to do if the relationship doesn’t work out and both parties are forced to break up? Once the honeymoon period is over, users need to know what to do, says Cicciari. What to do if a problem occurs, how to recover data and start again cloud application? What if the customer simply changes his mind and no longer wants to use the cloud? What if your business profile or market has changed and you need to change your strategy? The cloud service agreement should include an exit strategy so that both the vendor and the customer can part ways amicably, avoiding unpleasant disputes.

Cloud Computing: Myths and Misconceptions

The cloud is based only on software

Theoretically, it is quite possible to build a cloud on standard servers(x86) and intelligent software. We combine several virtual devices and get a “cloud”. But in reality this is far from the case. By various reasons such as maintaining adequate performance (specialized ASICs or dedicated hardware resources), ensuring compatibility (installing drivers for each new platform x86), or control functions (HIPPA, PCI-DSS, departmental isolation, etc.), not all system developers have yet abandoned the use of dedicated hardware resources for certain elements their data centers. In principle, the inevitability of virtualization of some components of the computer environment is obvious. Therefore, market leaders produce appropriate equipment. For example, Nexus 1000v, which provides virtual machine traffic transparency at the network security, with built-in VN-Link technology providing network mobility. As well as a virtual security gateway and vWAAS. In some cases, clients choose virtual devices. In other cases, they prefer a combination of software and hardware resources, e.g. control points, presented by Nexus 1010v. All these unified network services provide system developers standard set techniques that allow, if necessary, to share software and hardware resources.

Cloud and elastic resources

Available from many suppliers network equipment the idea of ​​elastic resources is not fully realized. The fact is that the concept of “elastic resources” should not be limited only to servers and data storage systems, it should extend to the entire “cloud”, including its network elements.

"Cloud" and pooled resources

This is another area that many people associate only with servers and storage systems. For many years, before the advent of the cloud, the network was an end-to-end resource that provided services (bandwidth, security, segmentation or isolation, QoS, etc.) separate groups systems As networks have become more virtual, more automated, and the number of their tenants has grown, companies offering solutions in this market have continued to expand the intelligent logic of their products required to operate modern cloud systems. These solutions allow customers to deploy modular virtual systems (such as Vblock and SMT from Cisco).

Virtualization makes the cloud more flexible

On the one hand, this is absolutely true regarding the dynamic allocation of resources and the rapid inclusion of new virtual machines using templates and clones. However, this requires some structural changes. For example, when using vMotion, Live Migration, or XenMotion, the source and destination must be in the same logical domain. And administrator surveys virtual systems show that they have to perform thousands of virtual machine migrations per month. So, in addition to this flexibility, all they have to do is eliminate the traditional level distinction. To do this, they need to be given the opportunity to build large, two-level networks, devoid of constant problems hierarchical networks. And it would be even better if this concept covered not one, but many networks, thereby greatly simplifying the problem of application mobility and disaster prevention. Just as the network once began to support the transfer of various multimedia data in real time, it must now adapt to changes associated with virtualization and dynamic computing environments.

A virtual machine is the same server, only software

This is not entirely true. Indeed, the application and the guest operating system probably do not see any difference, but network administrators and the security service is not at all indifferent to this. The virtual machine no longer starts and ends at one end Ethernet cable. In fact, its traffic may have nothing to do with this cable, if it communicates with another virtual machine within the same host. Or it can move from one host to another several times a day, thereby occupying gigabytes of traffic (virtual machine and storage system). Therefore, it is much more reasonable to introduce a function in the cloud to register all these migrations, assign certain policies (security, QoS function, role-based access system, etc.) to these virtual machines to limit their movement to certain places, and, thereby, expand the capabilities of the technical support service. Most virtual machine administrators would be happy to have such capabilities, especially now that they are being asked to provide data about virtual machines. backup, restoration in emergency situations, guest operating system, data storage system and all other elements that are somehow related to virtualization.

Clouds are planned and networks are administered

This may be true, but it implies that your computing environment is still isolated from your network. You can look at things differently. Technologies such as virtualization require not only tighter integration of computing and network operations, but also a higher level of automation and control, a level of automation that ensures open access to all autonomous systems and functional modules with specified policies.

Estimates of the effect for the economies of EU countries

In its December 2010 Cloud Dividend 2011 report, the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) states that by 2015, cloud computing will power developed economies European countries will receive an additional 177.3 billion euros per year. The report, commissioned by EMC, is the first of its kind to assess the macroeconomic implications of cloud adoption for Europe's five largest economies.

The authors of the CEBR report concluded that if the implementation of cloud technologies continues at the expected pace in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and France, then by 2015 they will bring the economies of these countries 177.3 billion euros per year. It is important to note that the lion's share of these funds, as the study shows, will be provided through the development of private and hybrid cloud computing models.

CEBR has calculated that the annual economic impact of cloud computing for each country by 2015 will be: Effect, billion euros:

  • Germany - 49.6
  • France - 37.4
  • Italy - 35.1
  • UK - 30.0
  • Spain - 25.2

The €177.3 billion could cover loans to some of the region's indebted countries, such as Ireland (€85 billion) and Greece (€110 billion), and help the UK government meet its plan to cut public spending by €95.7 billion over four years , which it recently announced.

Cloud computing is new approach to IT, in which technology becomes available to enterprises in the right volume and when they need it, the study says. This speeds time to market, removes traditional barriers to entry and allows companies to seize new business opportunities. By increasing competition, this direct effect of cloud computing will have a huge impact on market structure in many sectors of the economy, and consequently on global macroeconomic indicators, says CEBR.

CEBR believes that cloud computing will become important factor economic growth, competitiveness and new business creation across the eurozone. This underscores the technology's importance to the region's economic recovery, particularly in the face of the growing threat from emerging economies that have traditionally benefited from more intense competition.

The study focuses on the three most common cloud computing models:

  • public cloud, which is under the control of the service provider;
  • a private cloud controlled by the organization’s own IT department;
  • hybrid cloud, which is a combination of the first two models.

CEBR predicts that by 2015, €133 billion, or 75% of the total annual economic impact of €177.3 billion, will come from non-public cloud computing models. The private cloud model allows you to kill two birds with one stone: organizations receive dynamic, on-demand, self-service, and scalable cloud computing services, but control remains in the hands of IT so that security and manageability requirements are not compromised.

During the study, CEBR also found that private cloud would contribute €23.8 billion in accelerating growth and new business creation. The resulting indirect and derivative investments and general spending will create additional demand for goods and services, which in turn will increase gross value added (GVA) and employment in the economy. CEBR forecasts that by 2015, indirect economic benefits from additional GVA in all five countries will total €280 billion - 60 billion per year - and that indirect and induced employment between 2010 and 2015 could reach 2,396,000 workers.

CEBR Lead Economist Oliver Hogan said: “CEBR research shows that cloud computing is not simply a matter of short-term improvements in the efficiency of individual companies' IT investments and therefore their productivity. This technology could become a critical macroeconomic driver that will be critical to driving economic growth in Europe, which is especially important in today's uncertain economic environment. As an enabler of productivity improvements, cloud computing is likely to play a particularly important role in ensuring that Europe remains competitive in the global market and therefore boosts export growth. Moreover, as one of the main modern means achievements maximum efficiency investment in IT, cloud computing can also become a driver of European business investment, which, in turn, will move European countries forward.”

EMC EMEA President Rainer Erlat said: “The agility and competitiveness that private and hybrid cloud computing brings to enterprises creates a real opportunity for European businesses to help companies expand their advantage while driving economic recovery. own countries. It is widely accepted that achieving economic recovery and maintaining economic stability requires debt reduction while promoting commercial competition. Cloud computing, which will replace many modern IT technologies, offering more efficient, flexible and simple solutions, serve as a real means for this.”

Cloud computing will help companies not only take advantage of opportunities to expand their business, but also achieve significant cost savings. The fee-for-service model leads to lower capital expenditures (CAPEX) and current expenses(OPEX), rapid return on investment and more efficient reallocation of resources. These savings can be reinvested, encouraging innovation, increasing competitiveness and directly improving profitability, creating tangible benefits for countries' economies.

Research methodology

The Cloud Dividend report calculates the savings (capex and operating expenses) that companies realize from adopting cloud computing services and measures the impact of those savings on macro and corporate economic indicators, such as favorable business opportunities; creation of new enterprises; indirect gross value added (GVA); contribution to the payment of taxes; as well as costs for cloud computing services in order to determine economic significance of this technology for each country.

“Cloud Dividends - 2011” is the first in a series of two reports. The second report, due in February 2011, will look at the economic impact and impact of cloud computing on specific industries in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

The report can be downloaded

Taking into account the specifics of the implementation of the scientific and educational process using remote educational technologies, we can highlightthe following advantages of cloud services:

availability for any personal computers And mobile devices, which ensures savings in high-performance software and hardware systems on the side of educational institutions (cloud service users). Cloud service clients can access their work area at any point connected to the Internet;

the reliability of cloud services is ensured by the fact that the hardware and software platform is located in specialized centers data processing (data center), which includes 100% redundancy of network and hardware infrastructure;

economic benefit. Availability of platforms such as Google docs, does not require educational institutions to purchase a license software, its settings and updates.

Disadvantages cloud servers are:

necessity permanent connection to the Internet. IN populated areas remote from information and communication centers, the likelihood of technical and technological problems accessing the Internet can be high. On the other hand, with the development of 3G, 4G technologies, satellite and mobile transport environments this disadvantage will be practically excluded in the future;

limited software scalability. Many cloud services provide a minimal set of tools for setting up the service workspace. Accordingly, the user often cannot optimally configure his workspace;

inaccessibility of implementing these technologies to small companies due to the high cost of cloud software and hardware.

The concept of a cloud computing model is often viewed in two ways; some see it as security risks and new “threat vectors,” but at the same time this system has new features to improve safety. Improved infrastructure visibility, automation, and standardization all enhance information security. For example, if you use a predefined set of Cloud interfaces in parallel with centralized management identification information, along with an access control policy, we reduce the risk of clients accessing unwanted resources by an order of magnitude. Security measures such as the execution of computing services in isolated domains and the use of data encryption significantly increase the security of information, reducing its losses. It is worth adding that the use of automatic initialization and recovery of executable images will reduce the attack surface, allowing you to solve a number of legal aspects.

How to “increase the number of advantages”?

Ensuring security in the Cloud environment is enough difficult task, the reason for this is the additional risk that arises due to the fact that often important services provided by third parties on an outsourcing basis. This significantly complicates such aspects as data availability and confidentiality, maintaining integrity, and service availability.
The Cloud Computing concept involves transferring control over operations and data to the Cloud service provider from the client organization. Including tasks of installing update packages, configuring firewalls can move to the Cloud service provider from the end user.
The consequence of this is the need for clients to establish trusting relationship with suppliers, while assessing the risks and how competently the security controls will be configured and managed on their behalf. Relationships built this way are important because customers, even though the workload resides in the Cloud, are responsible for the protection and compliance of their critical data.
It is precisely because of the risks associated with outsourcing services that some organizations prefer hybrid or private models over Cloud environments.
Other aspects of Cloud Computing also require a review of risk and security. The reason for this is the difficulty of establishing the location of physical storage of data. Previously visible processes The security in such a system is hidden by layers of abstraction, which in turn creates compliance and security issues.

Serious differences in terms of security in traditional IT environments and Cloud environments are also due to the large-scale collective use of Cloud infrastructure. Very often, users who represent completely different organizations and at the same time have different levels trust, have the same set of system resources.

At the same time, such aspects of today's dynamic IT environments as workload balancing and SLA , suggest a large number of possibilities of data corruption and misconfiguration.

Of course, a shared infrastructure needs high level automation and standardization of processes, which will contribute to a higher degree of safety due to the elimination of opportunities for operator errors.

However, the risks inherent in large-scale infrastructure sharing mean that issues such as isolation, compliance, and identity must be given great importance in cloud computing models.



And yet, what is the main advantage of “clouds”?

One of the main benefits of the cloud is cost reduction. However, some analysts provide examples in which the total total costs of owning a cloud solution may be higher than with the classical scheme, and therefore it is necessary to evaluate the cost-effectiveness. Initial costs required for cloud deployment information system, lower than with the classical approach, but in the future their significant growth is possible. For example, Richard Jimarck (Hyperformix), Amy Spellmann (Optimal Innovations) and Mark Preston (RS Performance) conducted a detailed analysis of the prospects for an online store whose management has to make a choice: to contain own server or use Amazon's cloud computing service. For both options, costs and energy consumption were calculated for two years in advance. These calculations showed that the cost of a website built using Amazon would initially be lower than the cost of an internal server. However, over time they will begin to exceed them, even taking into account the saved energy. This is explained by the fact that the customer needs the solution not from time to time, but constantly, and ever-increasing cloud computing will require more and more computing power, which increases the payment for the “cloud”. In addition, the rental price includes costs such as software development, maintenance, hardware maintenance, and the customer pays for the services directly from the supplier. As a consequence of this, and also taking into account the risk assessments described above, it is recommended to develop “cloud” projects so that the solution provider creates the entire infrastructure to order, according to the “private cloud” principle, and there is no rental fee for the use of this resource. Naturally, it will not be possible to completely refuse the services of the supplier, because it is also necessary technical support, and project improvements, and support. However, their cost and labor costs of the contractor will be similar to the classical scheme, which will not affect the final cost of the project for the customer and, accordingly, on economic efficiency"clouds" compared to normal classic model.

If in most developed countries cloud technologies for business have already become widespread, then in Russian market This is enough new service, which many entrepreneurs have not yet had time to appreciate. But at the same time, it should be noted that there is already competition in the field of cloud technologies for business in Russia.

Cloud technologies for business

Many company managers still underestimate cloud technologies for business for the simple reason that they have insufficient understanding of what cloud technologies are and fear for the security of their data. And some consider cloud technologies for business to be just a fashionable trend.

But if we are already talking about fashion, then it is worth noting that we have never stayed in fashion for for a long time things that are inconvenient and impractical. Therefore, we can say with confidence that the fashion for cloud technologies has come for a long time and cloud technologies for business will only gain popularity.

Using cloud technologies for business compared to creating a classic IT structure is much simpler, cheaper and significantly reduces the time for creating an IT structure. If the creation of a classic IT structure usually takes several months, then a cloud IT structure can be created in just a few hours, and at the initial stage without any monetary costs. As a rule, each provider provides test period, when you can evaluate the quality of the services provided for free.

The main advantage of cloud technologies is that such business infrastructure is usually based in a special, modern data center. IN in this case technical means The provider includes powerful servers, telecommunications equipment, data storage and protection systems, cooling systems, etc. Computer resources are constantly equipped with the most modern serial programs, and in some cases the provider creates specialized software for the client that will meet the needs of his business.

All this allows us to minimize the threat of leakage commercial information and and creates the maximum convenient conditions use of the services provided by clients. In addition, the personnel to work in such a data center are selected very carefully, which also improves the quality of the services provided and reduces the risk of information leakage to almost zero.

And so, let’s summarize what are the main advantages of cloud technologies.

Cloud technologies for business provide significant economic advantages:

  • Capital costs for purchasing equipment are reduced by up to 70%
  • Reduce equipment maintenance costs by up to 70% monthly.
  • Reducing the cost of maintaining a data center (electricity, air conditioning system, rent of premises) by up to 50% monthly.
  • Reduced costs for equipment redundancy (No need to buy equipment with a power reserve. It is possible to pay only for the actual use of resources and at any time increase or decrease the amount of consumed resources).
  • Licensing costs are reduced by up to 30% monthly.
  • Deployment time for new services is reduced by up to 90%
  • The main advantages of cloud technologies compared to the classical model:
  • Availability. Possibility of access from anywhere in the world where there is Internet.
  • Mobility. You can connect to the cloud from almost any device that has access to the Internet: computer, laptop, tablet, phone, etc.
  • There is no territorial reference. The partner office may be located in another city. However, not only in another city, but also on another continent, almost anywhere on the planet.
  • Sustainability of the company.
  • Increased security.
  • Improving the quality of IT services provided while reducing the number of highly qualified specialists on the company’s staff.
  • No or significant reduction in capital costs.
  • Reducing time spent on implementation and redistribution of resources.
  • Rapid increase or reduction in the power of consumed resources.

Why do you need cloud technologies for business:

  • To speed up the process of introducing new technologies.
  • To reduce the cost of purchasing IT infrastructure.
  • To increase the efficiency of the company through the introduction of the best technologies.
  • To reduce software costs. Only what is needed is used.
  • To reduce the risk of data leakage or loss.
  • To reduce the cost of maintaining IT personnel.