Cloud Computing

Today, we can easily notice how the nature of the Internet is changing from a place used to read web pages to an environment that allows the users to run software applications.
The future belongs to the Web 3.0, also called as the intelligent Web.


The evolution of the Web can be described in the following terms:

• Web 1.0 was seen as read-only;


• Web 2.0 introduced the read-write content;


• Web 3.0 will allow the read-write-execute operations, so the content will become executable web.

The WEB 3.0 can be seen as a new way of creating and using applications that can run on different devices, like mobile phones or PDAs and having the data stored into the cloud.

Simply speaking, the cloud means the Internet. The term is derived from the way in which the Internet is often represented into the network diagrams.

Cloud computing represents a new paradigm of the Internet computing in which the software is seen as a service and the applications and data are stored on multiple servers that can be accessed from the Internet.



It is important to notice a client could be a hardware device and/or a software application, like a browser, for example.
The client is renting or simply accessing the processing capacity needed from the data center.
The quality of the service becomes a crucial factor of the cloud computing success.
Cloud computing allows to move the processing effort from the local devices to the data center facilities.
In such a way, any phone, for example, could be able to solve complex differential equation systems by simply passing the specific arguments to a data center service that will be capable to give back the results in a very short time.
In these conditions, the security of data and applications becomes a very major issue.

The main advantages of the cloud computing are the following:

• cloud computing can be used on clients having minimal hardware requirements, like mobile phones or PDAs

• the problem of licensing different software packages is moved to the data center level;

• no costs (or very small ones) for hardware upgrades;

• the users are not dependent by their personal computer because they can use any other device having an Internet connection and minimum software requirements;>

• there is no need to download or install a specific software;

• the cost is low or even free, in some cases;

• if the client computer crashes, there is almost nothing lost because everything is stored into the cloud;

• there is no need to update the local system when some new fix packs are released

Of course there are some disadvantages as well, like:

• an Internet connection is required in order to be able to access and use the cloud and this Internet dependence the offline mode impossible. On the other hand, some applications require a high speed Internet connection so the traffic speed may affect the overall performances

• on a long term basis, the subscription fee may be more expensive than buying the hardware, for example;

• a very big concern is the data security because the data and the software are located on remote servers that can crash or disappear without any additional warnings. In this context, the service quality becomes crucial and the need of the backups is vital.

The major players in field of the cloud computing are Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, and some traditional hardware producers like HP, IBM, Intel.

One of the first approaches belongs to the Amazon and it is called AWS (Amazon Web Services), launched in 2002. It includes a component called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (or EC2), that allows to the users to rent from Amazon processing power to be used to run their own applications.

The main advantage of the AWC EC2 web service suite is the user doesn’t need to install or run applications on the local computer, so there is no need of hardware support and maintenance.

Today, EC2 is able to host Windows Server and SQL Server database. From October 2008, also Oracle is running on the EC2 platform.

Due to the fact cloud computing becomes a very interesting subject, Microsoft announced it is developing a new Windows platform, called Windows Cloud (AZURE), which will be able to run cloud based applications.

One of the biggest promoters of the cloud computing is Google. They already have a massive computer infrastructure (the cloud) where millions of people are connecting to.

The Google cloud can be accessed by using the Google Apps, intended to be a software as a service suite dedicated to information sharing and security.

There are three main categories, as the following:

• Messaging – includes Gmail, Calendar and Talk;

• Collaboration – Google Docs, Video and Sites;

• Security – email security, encryption and archiving.

Cloud computing provides some major security benefits:

• centralized data storage – this goes to reduced effects of loosing some hardware items, like a laptop, for example. While the main part of the applications and data is stored into the cloud, loosing a client is not a big issue anymore – there are no sensitive data lost and a new client can be connected to the cloud very fast;

• monitoring of data access becomes easier because it is enough to monitor only one place, not thousands of computers belonging to a major company, for example;

• increased uncertainty – it is almost impossible for a thief to determine which physical component to steal in order to get a digital asset;

• virtualization allows a rapid replacement of a compromised server located into the cloud without major costs or damages. Also, the downtime for computers in the cloud could be substantially reduced because it is very easy to create a clone by using an image;

• logging – extended logs can be activated because the cloud is big enough to store large collections of data;

• the security changes can be easily tested and implemented.

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