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Is the cloud service I just signed up for really cloud computing?

  

  

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Cloud Characteristics?

Almost every IT vendor on the planet has recently announced a ‘cloud’ version of their product.  Hosting your product and making it available through a web browser is only one characteristic of cloud computing (broad network access).  To be able to call yourself a ‘true’ cloud computing vendor your product must have very specific characteristics.

The five essential characteristics taken from the NIST definition and typically associated with cloud computing are:

On-Demand Self Service - Consumers must be able to consume cloud services at the infrastructure, platform or application level whenever they want without requiring significant assistance.

The buyer can typically set up an account with the seller, establish security and billing credentials, and then select and schedule the use of the cloud computing resources on sale. This is generally done using an easily accessible and user-friendly online system.

Broad Network Access - Network access is needed to establish the initial provider/consumer relationship, for subsequent use of the cloud services themselves, and for use of added services that the consumer may implement using the cloud services. The cloud services must be accessible through standardized mechanisms. This introduces an important consideration for all cloud implementations – the use of standards. Without adherence to standards throughout the technology stack, from the network level up to the client access and presentation level, accessibility from such a variety of devices and applications would inevitably be reduced and broad network access would not be achievable.

With broad network access, a company can implement added services that can be successfully used by anyone, anywhere on the globe, using a variety of devices.

Resource Pooling - The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. Efficient resource use is one side of the resource-pooling coin; multi-tenancy is the other.

A traditional IT model is generally centered on the provision of IT services for one enterprise. Because they can assign pooled resources dynamically to meet demand, cloud service providers can maintain maximum service levels with minimum resources. For consumers, this means high Quality of Service at low cost. It is a major reason why cloud computing, unlike other initiatives, is expected to succeed.

Rapid Elasticity - Capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.

One of the key benefits of cloud computing is the ability to have a flexible computing service which can expand or contract in line with business demand, giving you capacity which would be impossible to generate from an in-house implementation without significant investment in resources.

Measured Service - Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.

If services are to be charged on a per-use basis, it is immediately obvious that usage must somehow be measured. Consumers require sufficient measurements from their cloud computing service providers to enable them to make purchasing and operational judgments.

Sellers of cloud services must provide sufficient information about their charging regimes up-front to allow purchasers to make informed choices. On an ongoing basis, they must provide accurate accounting information to support their bills, and give sufficient usage information to allow solutions to be managed operationally.

In my next blog article we will look at how to classify the cloud computing deployment models and services that are readily available today.