Almore Cato, II

Professor Lang
Operating Systems
11/26/14
In the Clouds
In this increasingly technology dependent society, internet users are given a first row seat to the
expansion of the web. Having access to data online is becoming a necessity for not only companies but
individuals. The wide array of cloud services makes it attractive to all kinds of consumers, businesses,
educational institutions, and consumers, alike will be able to experience the connected cloud in a way
that is sure to change the way they use the internet. The cloud has become integrated into daily life,
but does it really live up to all the hype? This essay will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of
cloud computing, determining its viability in today's society.
The first step in breaking down cloud computing is to know what it is. The cloud, like the
web is somewhat mysterious and hard to pin down into a definitive thing. NIST defines cloud
computing as a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared
pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services)
that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider
interaction (2 NIST). This model is also broken down into five essential characteristics, three service
models, and four deployment mode, which will help explain the different services and networks that
compile into the cloud. The five essential characteristics of cloud services are:

On Demand Self Service - A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities,

such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring
human interaction with each service provider.
Resource Pooling - The providers 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. There is a sense of
location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over
the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a
higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).
Broad Network Access - Capabilities are available over the network and accessed
through standard

mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g.,
mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).
Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to
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scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand. To the consumer, the capabilities
available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be appropriated in any quantity at any
time.
Measured Service - Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by
leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction 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.
(NIST 2).
One may be able to make a distinction on what is cloud computing and what is not cloud computing
from the characteristics, but there will never be any definite definition because of the evolving nature
of the cloud and web.
The history of cloud computing dates as far back as the 1970s with the idea of mainframe
computing, which were computers primary used by corporate and government organizations. These
systems were used for various processes like: critical applications, bulk data processing, industry,
consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and transaction processing. The engineering of
mainframe computing overflowed into engineering of virtual machines. We see the first instance of an
interconnected computer network with the creation of ARPANET. This was not, however, designed for
public use because the high amount of bandwidth that it would take. It was not until the concept of
virtual private networks that networking computers was even considered useable. Virtualized private
network connections had the same service quality as their dedicated services at a reduced cost. Instead
of building out physical infrastructure to allow for more users to have their own connections,
telecommunications companies were now able to provide users with shared access to the same physical
infrastructure. This was huge due to the fact that it offers so much useability and made network
sharing much more efficient. With the entrance of Web 2.0, the transition from static html web pages
to a dynamic web that is more organized and based on serving Web applications the technology for

the web exponentially grew, creating way more bandwidth and usability for applications. This
introduces us to the present day idea of cloud computing.
Who is on the cloud? The chances of this question's answer actually being no is very slim. If
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one is connected to social networks, they are connected to the cloud; if one is using dropbox to share
files with someone, they are connected to the cloud. Today, almost everyone is connected to the
internet with their mobile device. The prominence of mobile devices create the perfect market for cloud
computing to be reliable to the normal consumer. Most people are familiar with the icloud, dropbox,
and google services which can store user information online & provide web applications exclusively
online based. This alone shows how it can be present in daily situations. Cloud computing is interesting
because it allows much of the processing load to be taken off the user application and transfers this load
to the network. This makes for a much more efficient application because the network will have better
hardware and a larger data capacity, which enables a faster working application. This, in turn, causes
concerns because the user of the network. Networks can be volatile with not only availability, but
connection. The only way this becomes viable is with the constant connection to internet that can
handle the networking requirements. This is becoming less of a problem as we speak because of the
prominence of mobile device and always being connected. Price is even on a downhill slope,
decreasing with time. Services like Google, Apple, and Amazon are in a race to zero, seeing who can
provide the lowest prices for data. One can obtain 200 Gbs of space for less than five dollars a month.
NIST separates the enormous array of services offered by cloud computing into three different
models: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Software as a service (SaaS) is a software licensing and delivery model
in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to
as "on-demand software". SaaS is typically accessed by users using a thin client via a web browser
Apple offers this with icloud. Platform as a service (PaaS) is a category of cloud computing that
provides a platform and environment to allow developers to build applications and services over the

internet. - businesses like Microsoft offer this via online development program Microsoft Visual Studio
Online. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a provision model in which an
organization outsources the equipment used to support operations, including
storage, hardware, servers and networking components. The service provider
owns the equipment and is responsible for housing, running and
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maintaining it. The client typically pays on a per-use basis. This can be seen with
the providers of Dedicated servers. (Nist 3) There are many markets that would
find use in connecting to cloud , but it would be foolish to forget the operable
word: connect. The dependence on the internet continues to surface as the main
concern.
In the professional world, keeping up with technology is a must.The
relatively cheap cost of storage and computing resources that cloud computing
provides makes it an excellent option for businesses and educational
institutions.For educational and business institutions,an IaaS would benefit them
tremendously in their data storage and retrieval. The accessibility of the data
would be the primary advantage when looking at the possible uses for cloud
computing. Most educational institutions are bogged down by the outdated use of
technology, which does not compliment the advances in technology that are
available for use.For developers, there is now a way to utilize the best hardware to integrate
with their software without actually having to deal with the hardware. This creates an enormous
advantage when creating software because of the software now available in computing processing. All
the developer has to worry about is creating quality software because the hardware processing is taken
care of.

The cost of cloud computing isnt much of an issue due to the fact that buying hardware and
servers is just as costly if not as costly. cloud computings ability to add or remove resources allows
matching resources to workload very efficient.Like anything

on the internet, the main concern is

security. With the exchanging of data online, it's hard to feel fully confident that the information will be
safe.The presence of another party provider of the service -- may make some companies skeptical
who require full privacy disclosure when dealing with their information. For example, the government
would not utilize the average cloud computing service because of the privacy that comes along with
government information.. Although there is encryption of data, this is an extra task that the company
would have to deal with. Another problem lies with the fact that there's no access to physical servers. If
the servers
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crash, the chances of it being back up are fully reliant on the service providers. The biggest of them all
is at no surprise:If there is no internet, there is no access to the servers.
Cloud computing has so many different services that it is hard not to find a use one of
them.Companies who are looking for maximum confidentiality will most likely render
outsourced cloud computing services useless, but this does not stop them from
starting up their own private cloud network.The increase of cloud computing
popularity will either increase or decrease the service fees. Cloud computing
creates services that seems natural and intuitive to the internet age we are
entering. Everyone wants to interact with the cloud , leaving interacting
physical equipment in the past. The constant need for connection and access to
data will most likely over shadow any concerns and disadvantage that arises with
cloud computing. Like anything else, it will only increase and get better in due
time, there is no doubt that cloud computing will excel and become an integral

part in the internet.

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Works Cited
Armbrust, Michael, et al. "A view of cloud computing." Communications of the ACM 53.4 (2010): 5058.
Computing, Cloud. "Cloud computing privacy concerns on our doorstep." Communications of the ACM
54.1 (2011).
Ercan, Tuncay. "Effective use of cloud computing in educational institutions." Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences 2.2 (2010): 938-942.
Mell, Peter, and Tim Grance. "The NIST definition of cloud computing." (2011).