Cloudy Cloud - Pay As You Go, Upscale As You Need.

Cloudy Cloud - Pay As You Go, Upscale As You Need is a blog which tries to take a stab at the Cloud Offerings in three simple steps. As you will walk through this blog you will get to learn more about these steps for choosing the Cloud solution mix that is right for your organization viz., Cloud Service Delivery Methods, Cloud Deployment Methods and Cloud Service Provider.

Knowing Cloud Computing.

Let us start with what is Local Storage and Computing before we jump into the Cloud Computing arena. Local Storage and Computing is when you store data or run programs from your local hard drive and working off the local hard drive is how the computer industry has functioned for decades and some geek's even today advocate that they are better off using local Computing over Cloud Computing. So what is this Cloud Computing and why most of the small scale industries are up for it and a lot of bigger players also are getting into the mix. Cloud Computing in its simplest terms is a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in brand new infrastructure, training new resources, or licensing new software's. Cloud Computing is any subscription based or pay per use service that extends computer industry's existing capabilities in real time over the Internet. Let's take a deep dive into the three steps I had mentioned at the beginning of the blog to understand Cloud offering.

Cloud Service Delivery Methods.

Cloud Computing resources are delivered to users through three basic service models: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS), they correspond to Hardware, Frameworks, Applications being rented on subscription basis.



In IaaS method of delivering Cloud services, compute resources, complemented by storage and networking capabilities are owned and hosted by a service provider and offered to customers as subscription based or pay per use service or pay as you go service, and the users who manage the infrastructure have full control of the software installation and configuration. E.g. Amazon EC2, MS Azure and Google Compute Engine, etc.
In PaaS model, we have two basic classifications, application Platform as a Service (aPaaS) and integration Platform as a Service (iPaas). In aPaaS, the application development platforms are hosted on Cloud and made available to users over the internet. iPaaS provides a platform for developing and deploying integration's within the cloud and integrating enterprises, application, services with a cloud and also integrating the cloud to another cloud or to the outside world. Users can develop integration flows that connect applications residing in the cloud or on-premises and then deploy them without installing or managing any hardware or middleware. The cost model is again pay-per-use. In this model, the user do not have direct access to the system resources, rather the resource allocation to applications is automatically managed by the platform. E.g. for aPaaS are Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure, etc. E.g. for iPaaS are Dell Bhoomi, mulesoft, Informatica, SAG.
In SaaS model, sometimes referred to as "on-demand software" is a software delivery method that provides access to software and its functions remotely as a Web-based service. Software as a Service allows organizations to access business functionality at a cost typically less than paying for licensed applications as it is subscription based and you typically pay per month or based on usage. E.g. Office 365, Salesforce.com, etc.
Cloud is Cloudy when it comes to 'who is responsible for what' in the Cloud delivery method, it is definitely a big question to answer, the chart below guidelines the breakdown of the responsibilities, violet boxes is what you manage and Oranges are what the service provider do. There is always room for customization.
 


A lot of times the best solution is often a combination of delivery methods. The decisions you make will be based on the applications, frameworks or hardware that best fits the required parameters (budget, time, security, performance, manageability etc.) of your business. 
Cloud Deployment Models
Different Cloud deployment models offer varying levels of control, scalability, availability, and cost. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines the four primary models viz., Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Community Cloud and Hybrid Cloud. In Public Cloud Computing the service providers make resources, such as hardware and applications available to the general Public over the Internet, Public Cloud offerings may be free or offered on a pay-per-usage model. In private Cloud Computing model the Cloud infrastructure is hosted, owned and managed internally by the organization it serves. In Community Cloud Computing, Cloud is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that share common interest or concern. Hybrid Cloud Computing is a combination of a Community, Private and Public Clouds in all possible combinations.



Cloud Deployment Suggestions: The onsite private Cloud is ideal for organizations that require complete control over technology, data and information. Offsite private Clouds offer dynamic scalability of Computing resources, with the highest levels of data security and segmentation. The private Cloud may be a good fit for your organization if you need to meet strict security or compliance requirements, Need robust data segmentation capabilities, Experience fluctuating demand of Computing resources, due to seasonal variation or promotions etc. To summarize, the private Cloud is typically the most expensive of the models to deploy, as it is dedicated solely for one organization and also it provides highest level of data security and segmentation. The Public Cloud is typically the most cost effective of the Cloud Models. It can be deployed quickly and when it comes to economies of scale it is definitely impressive. In the Public Cloud, your organization may sacrifice some control over visibility and data security in exchange for better efficiency. To summarize public cloud computing may not best choice for sensitive or regulated data but definitely a good alternative for greater efficiency and economies of scale. The community Cloud works best when more that one organization share common needs or concern viz., security, compliance requirements, economies of scale etc. The community Cloud provides the advantages of the private Cloud, when it comes to security and advantages of public cloud as multiple organizations partner together, economies of scale are achieved and you have complete control over who you share resources with. Anyways an organization need to be careful when storing private or proprietary data in the Community Cloud, as others may be able to access it. Community Cloud has its own Challenges like allocation of costs, responsibilities, governance and security. The hybrid Cloud combines several Cloud models to create a customized solution based on your business requirements. One could store sensitive information and critical processes in a private Cloud, and less sensitive data and non-critical processes in the Public Cloud. If you need varying levels of security, control, economies of scale and scalability, a hybrid Cloud option is worth considering. In using a mix of various deployment models and various cloud providers the cloud solutions are architected with best practices in mind and ensuring to build and make a completely interoperable could solution.

Choosing the Right Service provider

IaaS Service Providers: The primary evaluation criteria in choosing the IaaS service provider would be Compute, Storage, Network, Security and Access, Service Offerings, Support and Service Levels, Management and DevOps, Price and Billing, the evaluation criteria would be based on you organizational pre-requisites. AWS and Microsoft Azure are clear market leader in the IaaS offerings, google back in 2013 was not visible in the Gartner magic quadrant and now it's listed in the visionaries and it is closing in on the gap, looking at the pace it is inching towards the Leaders quadrant possibly by 2015. Let us looks at comparison between AWS and Azure, you should choose AWS if you require significant scalability, you need to automate a lot, you require local and global availability, you require a robust app marketplace, better security. You should choose Microsoft Azure if you are deeply invested in MS technologies or if you already using Azure PaaS or SaaS(office 365) and want to have single provider, you are ok with scalability limitations, Azure definitely has a better support when compared AWS.

Source: Garner webinar on AWS vs Azure

Gartner Magic Quadrant for IaaS

 
aPaaS Service Providers: As per Gartner Salesforce is by far the largest provider of the enterprise aPaaS market. Microsoft takes the second place. Google App Engine which stand next to MS has a huge customer base close to 30,000 paying customers, many are small web innovators alongside are few large businesses like Snapchat and Khan Academy. Salesforce is widely used among large businesses. Enterprise customer base is definitely larger that larger than Google, for the reason that Google has limited reputation as an enterprise service provider. A few newer entrants are also doing well like the CloudControl, a German company serving the European market, says it has 400 paying customers for aPaaS and Docker has like 500 paying customers.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for aPaas

iPaas Service Providers: Gartner lists Dell Boomi and Informatica on top of its Leaders quadrant, with Boomi having an edge. Just trailing a little low is MuleSoft, the open-source firm that started out supplying a lightweight enterprise service bus for financial customers. We have a few Challengers like Actian and Fujitsu, with Actian having the edge. In the Visionaries quadrant are IBM, SAP, and SnapLogic, with IBM having the edge. And there are many Niche Players.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for iPaaS

 

SaaS Service Providers: Salesforce.com is a clear leader in the SaaS enterprise in the leaders quadrant followed by Pegasystems, Microsoft and Oracle Service Cloud. Oracle Siebel and SAP are in the challengers quadrant with Oracle having the edge, Lithium technologies in the visionaries' quadrant and a lot of Niche Players.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for SaaS - CRM

References:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/
http://aws.amazon.com/
http://www.Cloudproviderusa.com/private-Public-community-or-hybrid-Cloud/
http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1UKQQA6&ct=140528&st=sb
http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1T8MR2K&ct=140417&st=sg
http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1P3OLZW&ct=140107&st=sb
http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1WYKAUG&ct=140711&st=sb
http://www.salesforce.com/CloudComputing/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee309870.aspx
https://www.softwareag.com/corporate/images/sec_SAG_Cloud_Computing_8PG_WP_Sep14-Web_tcm16-122984.pdf
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2683784/Cloud-Computing/what-Cloud-Computing-really-means.html
http://www.planforcloud.com/pages/resources/cloud_services.html
http://blog.cloudharmony.com/2014/07/comparing-cloud-compute-services.html
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CEkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.opdion.com%2Fdbimage.php%3Fid%3D552&ei=AEtSVIjUPMueyASjhYHgBw&usg=AFQjCNHxUbdd2vvM3Iz8zgUjGWtUGkGSew&sig2=fpnMoVTyU3nY4ef8XzvqYw&bvm=bv.78597519,d.aWw&cad=rjt
http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/iaas-providers,1-1560.html

http://www.itworld.com/article/2702083/cloud-computing/paas-winners-and-losers--so-far--might-surprise-you.html




   

IOT Peaks While Big Data Finds Trough Of Disillusionment.

The Internet of Everything - A new era where everything is connected

Plateau of productivity:

To dive into trending technologies (here IOT and Big Data) that are in hype and to understand when they will become commercially viable, let's take a jab at the Hype Cycle and its Stages. Hype Cycle is a branded graphical tool developed and used by Gartner for representing the maturity, adoption and social application of specific technologies.

Hype Cycle. Source: Gartner.

Hype cycle is mainly classified into five phases: The first phase "Technology Trigger" starts when a potential technology breakthrough occurs and proof-of-concept stories trigger media headlines at this stage early adopters start investigating and normally the products is of no commercial value or use. The second phase is the "Peak of Inflated Expectations" at this stage the mass media goes viral and supplier proliferation begins. A few companies, approx. 5% of audience start working on the pilot implementations, to get a firsthand at the technology, a few of them result in success stories. This third phase is "Trough of Disillusionment", it's time for supplier consolidation and failures, interest fades as experiments and implementations fail to deliver to expectations of the consumer at this stage. The investments will continue to flow in only if the remaining producers work to improve the product quality to the satisfaction of the early adopter. The fourth phase is the "Slope of Enlightenment" more possibilities on how the technology can benefit the enterprise start to become clear and become more widely understood. Second and third generation products appear from technology providers along with support for those products. Methodologies and best practices are developing at this stage. More and more enterprises start funding pilot projects, conservative companies remain conservative ;). In the fifth and final phase of Hype cycle "Plateau of Productivity" there is high growth and increased adoption of the product, 20-30% audience have already adopted the innovation, as a result of the product becomes commercially viable and starts paying off the producers for its product and services. Hype cycle ends when innovations reach the early majority, early majority are one who adopt an innovation after a varied time that is significantly longer than the innovators and early adopters.

Hype Cycle August 2014. Source: Gartner

Big data fame and future:

Big data systems tend to have raw data, like business operations log reports, website user activity tracking, or other real world usages like census surveys. This raw data is left as is because its usage is not predetermined, so there is no known target to transform it to. Most of unstructured/raw data that never had any real value, now is being used by big data systems in making data useful.

Eg: Retailers can now track user web clicks to identify behavioral trends that improve their campaigns, pricing and stock inventory. Governments and even Google can detect and track the emergence of disease outbreaks via social media signals. Take an example of any major bank, they get millions of customer service calls and it has lots of useful information. All of this unstructured call data can now be used by banks to reveal the top reasons for the call and take action to completely eliminate calls for that reason in the future.


 

 
So far, so good. What next. Big Data ruled the "Peak of Inflated Expectations" last year, but now big data has moved down to the "Trough of Disillusionment" replaced by the Internet of Things at the top of the hype cycle. What's intriguing to me is that, interest in big data remains undiminished, yet Gartner gives it a 5-10 year time to reach the "Plateau of Productivity"(Refer to Hype cycle, August 2014), Is Gartner still skeptical? What it means to big data is that it has moved beyond the peak as supplier consolidation has taken place and markets have settled into a reasonable set of approaches, and the new technologies and practices are only additive to existing ones. Only time can tell if investor confidence continues in Big data reaches the "Plateau".


 

IOT Peaks, what's next:

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a scenario in which a set of objects that have a unique identifiers(IPs) and have the ability to transfer data over a network and communicate with each other without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. Ever wonder, movies like "I, Robot" and "Terminator" coming to life, a far-far dream, but has definitely begun, not in as Hollywood style though. As per the August 2014 Gartner report on Hype cycle, it will only take 2 to 5 years for IoT to reach the plateau of productivity.  Gartner also say that, "IoT will go on to include about 26 billion units installed by 2020, and by that time, IoT product and service suppliers will generate incremental revenue exceeding $300 billion". With so many devices getting connected to internet and IPv4 being able to address only 4.3 billion addresses, it would have been a problem, now that we have IPv6 and it can address 340 trillion trillion trillion possible IP addresses, in short every atom on the planet can be addressed, that is no more a concern for IoT, right.

A thing, in the IoT, can be a person with a heart monitor implant, cell phones, coffee maker, washing machine, headphone, lamp, wearable devices, or any other natural or man-made object that can be assigned an IP address and provided with the ability to transfer data over a network. So far, the Internet of Things has been most closely associated with machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in manufacturing and power, oil and gas utilities. With the advent of wearable devices, home automation, even the Human to Environment (or also know as H2M) communication with its surroundings is well on its way.

 

 

Eg: Let's take a peek at daily activities and how it might looks like with IOT propagating every aspect of our life. Say you have set up an alarm at 6am in the morning, alarm clock wakes you up at 6 am and then notifies your coffee maker to start brewing coffee for you and the coffee maker will notify your TV to start your favorite news channel, by the time you get ready and close your house door to start to office, the door lock sensors relays signal to your car to start and your car in turn connects with your meeting calendar to choose the best route depending on traffic and your meeting time and still if the traffic is heavy your car will send a text note to the other parties on the calendar invite notifying them that you are running late, the possibilities are endless and achievable now, and more so that they are becoming more and more affordable and commercially viable.


 

References:

http://www.gartner.com/it/content/2760900/2760917/july_15_hypcycleforproviders_hbarnes.pdf?userId=78021830

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2014/08/18/its-official-the-internet-of-things-takes-over-big-data-as-the-most-hyped-technology/

http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/big-data/finding-value-in-big-data-1991047.pdf\

http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/the-cloud-and-big-data-are-no-threat-data-warehouses-243801

http://olap.com/forget-big-data-lets-talk-about-all-data/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/05/13/simple-explanation-internet-things-that-anyone-can-understand/

http://www.mongodb.com/big-data-explained

http://www.control4.com/blog/2014/03/the-internet-of-things-and-the-connected-home

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-internet-of-everything-2014-slide-deck-sai-2014-2?op=1


 

 

 

 

 

 

The skies are opening up and Integration will be Key in The Game of Drones

Lights, Action, Drones

The skies are opening up and Integration will be Key in The Game of Drones

The big question, "WHY" - The possibilities are endless.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as drone is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. Its flight is controlled either autonomously by onboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle also called as remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS). The utilities are endless, equip it with a camera and a GPS device, fly it through the window of a burning building, then have it roll around hallways seeking survivors and sounding an alarm when it finds one. Check for damage on road and rail bridges, monitor natural disasters such as flooding and spray crops with pinpoint accuracy. Estate agents and architects can use them for aerial photography. Energy firms will be able to monitor pieces of vital infrastructure, such as pipelines. See logistic and online shopping giants delivering customers' packages via air drone, Routine aerial surveillance, domestic policing, etc.

 

 

Reality check - Hurdles are just a jump away.

Civil drones are increasingly being used in Europe, in countries such as Sweden, France and the UK, in different sectors, but under a fragmented regulatory framework. Basic national safety rules apply. Commercial use of drones is banned by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in US; there are few exceptions to this, such as running remote controlled flights as a hobby in unpopulated areas where the aircraft stays in sight of a human operator. By Sep '15 FAA has plans to select six UAS testing sites from a list of 25 applicants in 24 states. These sites will help the FAA understand how to integrate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into American airspace. In 2014 rules will be published on the use of craft weighing less than 25kg/~55lb. This is the area most of the restrained commercial demand appears to be coming from.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) reckons that by 2025 civil drones could boost the domestic economy by as much as $82 billion a year, which includes tax revenue from sales of drones and their components as well as more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs created.

There have been lots of controversies surrounding usage policy on domestic drones rules must be put in place to ensure that all can enjoy the benefits of this new technology without bringing us closer to a "surveillance society" in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded, and scrutinized by the government. Drones are here to stay and policies will evolve.

Front runners in Commercial Space – All set to make Drone happen.

All are waiting for the green signal and they will be ready to rock and roll. Retailers like Amazon and other major tech giants like Google and Facebook have and are investing hundreds of millions in drone technology. The motivation behind investments might seem to be slightly different for each of them.

Amazon will likely want drones to deliver packages within hours of orders being placed. Amazon Prime is a popular service offered by retail giant Amazon to ensure customers get their packages as quickly as possible. The company is about to take things to the next level. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently revealed Amazon Prime Air on 60 Minutes. The service would see customers' packages delivered via air drone as soon as 30 minutes after they placed their order.

 

 

Facebook may use its drones to make internet available in remote areas of the world. Facebook already has more than a billion users on its service, but the fact remains that two thirds of the world population does not have Internet access, and to sign up the rest of world it needs to get them online. Facebook's new Connectivity Lab is researching on drones and other mediums to spread the reach of the Internet to isolated locations in provide basic Internet access to "every person in the world".

 

 

Google may use them to deliver products ordered through Shopping Express and also use them for making internet available along with its balloons(another interesting spear you might want to explore), couple of weeks ago Google, the search engine giant announced that it has acquired Titan Aerospace, a start-up founded in 2012 that makes high-altitude, solar-powered drones.

Logistics giants DHL, FedEx and UPS are experimenting with drones for delivery. On top of that there are law enforcement departments that will be buying drones for surveillance. Recreational use of drones for purposes such as hunting is also being explored. FAA estimates 10,000 drones in US airspace by 2017.

Will Integration play a key role in The Game of Drones:

No matter what the motivation may be, one thing's for sure that popular use of drones for various purposes is becoming a reality in the near future.

As more and more companies start deploying hordes of drones for various purposes, they will be handling enormous amount of data generated by these machines. Data streams such as battery status, locational data, delivery confirmation, video streams, engine health, environmental data and several other types of data will be sent back to control tower. This data will in turn be used to give customers update via push notifications, SMS, emails etc. This can open up n number of use cases:

§  Buy online and get it delivered via drone in 20 minutes

§  Check status of your delivery drone online (or mobile)

§  Try out new purchases and return if do not like (while drone waits)

§  Farm fresh food delivered via drone right from the farm

§  Deliver time critical medical devices (or harvested organs) bypassing airport delays

To enable these use cases, Integration platforms will need to evolve to handle drone data and treat them like any other application. Integration with drone management systems might become a mainstream requirement in next 5 years. Shippers might soon be switching to generating drone prototypes for shipping and Enterprise resource planning (ERP) business management softwares might be exchanging information with Drone servers via Integration layer. ITs might need to establish a drone center of excellence to manage and control drone applications.

Both B2B and B2C uses of drones will require integration of different types of data streams and integration will become the key in making commercial drone programs successful.

 

 

References:

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21591862-some-see-privacy-threats-civilian-drones-others-see-profits-game-drones

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10632262/EU-spent-320-million-on-surveillance-drone-development.html

http://www.softwareag.com/blog/reality_check/index.php/uncategorized/integration-will-be-key-in-the-game-of-drones/

http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/14/technology/innovation/google-titan-drone/

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/27/tech/innovation/facebook-drones-lasers-connectivity/

http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/04/facebook-drone-company-internet/

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amazon-prime-air-drone-delivery,25252.html

http://internet.org/

https://www.aclu.org/blog/tag/domestic-drones

http://www.google.com/loon/

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/60030650/facebook-drones-bring-internet-everywhere.html