Thursday, January 3, 2013

Cloud & RackSpace

Buyya, Broberg, and Goscinski (2011) define cloud computing architecture as “a techno-business disruptive model of using distributed large scale data centers either private or public or hybrid offering customers a scalable virtualized infrastructure or an abstracted set of services qualified by service level agreements and charged only by the abstracted IT resources consumed” (p. 44). In order to completely grasp the aforementioned definition some prior knowledge is required. The techno-business disruptive model refers to the opportunities that business can select today. In the past, business needed to acquire and maintain expensive infrastructure and data center in order to host any services. Now, businesses do not need the hardware. In essences, they can lease the hardware while having a third party maintain it as well. Additionally, Buyya, Broberg, and Goscinski (2011) elaborate on several categories of cloud computing, primarily concentrating on public, private, and hybrid. The public cloud offers several utilities and services to the general public in a pay as you go manner. The private cloud provides similar services, but can only be accessed by the internal organization and not the general public. The third category, hybrid, bases its foundation on a private cloud, but references tools and resources from the public cloud.

Buyya, Broberg, and Goscinski (2011) describe the cloud well; however, many definitions and understandings of the cloud architecture exist. The concept of the cloud has been “coined as an umbrella term to describe a category of sophisticated on demand computing services…” (Buyya, Broberg, & Goscinski, 2011, p. 3). Tom Bittman describes the cloud as the elastic and scalable IT capabilities delivered as a service to consumers through Internet technologies. He continues to explain the reasoning for the growth in cloud computing as developing through the expansion of worldly connectivity through the Internet, evolution of sharing technologies (both software and hardware), progress with service oriented interfaces, and automation (both software and hardware). Furthermore, he focuses on the popular intensification of the cloud. He states that the speed, agility, and low burden entry of leveraging the cloud has caught everyone’s attention. Startup firms along with small and medium size businesses no longer require data centers to house, host or supply data. Warehouses of server farms (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRwPSFpLX8I) provide the backbone of the hardware infrastructure for the cloud which eases the burden of every corporation needing a data center.

More importantly, the cloud fits the needs of the customer. The scalability factor alone benefits many businesses as they only pay for what they use. Additionally, different levels of the cloud allow businesses to select what they need. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offers virtualized resources, such as computation, storage and communication. Platform as a Service (PaaS) offers an environment where developers can create and deploy software. Finally, Software as a Service (SaaS) offers web applications for the end user, alleviating the business from supporting the software.
One cloud solution that I have heard and read a lot about, but never really researched until now is Rackspace. Rackspace supports all three levels of cloud intervention: public, private, and hybrid. Additionally, Rackspace offers the traditional perks of a cloud solution: pay as you go, all of the service packages (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS), and complete manageability. Furthermore, Rackspace advertizes its speed and agility to provide a business service even when there is a moving target of resources that is required.

Rackspace has an extremely impressive resume. Rackspace can provide all the solutions that a business would need in terms of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. Additionally, Rackspace can setup and support private clouds where the equipment actually resides within the business’ walls, likewise with their hybrid cloud support. Moreover, the Rackspace infrastructure holds security very high with multiple safeguards such as firewalls, antivirus, antimalware, and encryption through SSL certificates along with physical security within its hardware infrastructure. Additionally, Rackspace holds a slew of accolades in security prevention and expertise areas. Furthermore, Rackspace offers a 100% uptime service level agreement.

References
Buyya, Broberg, & Goscinski (2011). Cloud Computing: Principles and Paradigms. John Wiley & Sons.

Tom Bittman’s videos

www.rackspace.com

1 comment:

  1. According to me, for cloud hosting services CloudOye is the best option, I have used their services from a long time and didn't found any problem in their services.

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