The cloud in cloud computing originated from the habit of drawing the internet as a fluffy cloud in network diagrams. No wonder the most popular meaning of cloud computing refers to running workloads over the internet remotely in a commercial providers data centerthe so-called public cloud model. AWS (Amazon Web Services), Salesforces CRM system, and Google Cloud Platform all exemplify this popular notion of cloud computing.

But theres another, more precise meaning of cloud computing: the virtualization and central management of data center resources as software-defined pools. This technical definition of cloud computing describes how public cloud service providers run their operations. The key advantage is agility: the ability to apply abstracted compute, storage, and network resources to workloads as needed and tap into an abundance of pre-built services.

From a customer perspective, the public cloud offers a way to gain new capabilities on demand without investing in new hardware or software. Instead, customers pay their cloud provider a subscription fee or pay for only the resources they use. Simply by filling in web forms, users can set up accounts and spin up virtual machines or provision new applications. More users or computing resources can be added on the flythe latter in real time as workloads demand those resources thanks to a feature known as auto-scaling.

The array of available cloud computing services is vast, but most fall into one of the following categories:

This type of public cloud computing delivers applications over the internet through the browser. The most popular SaaS applications for business can be found in Googles G Suite and Microsofts Office 365; among enterprise applications, Salesforce leads the pack. But virtually all enterprise applications, including ERP suites from Oracle and SAP, have adopted the SaaS model. Typically, SaaS applications offer extensive configuration options as well as development environments that enable customers to code their own modifications and additions.

At a basic level, IaaS public cloud providers offer storage and compute services on a pay-per-use basis. But the full array of services offered by all major public cloud providers is staggering: highly scalable databases, virtual private networks, big data analytics, developer tools, machine learning, application monitoring, and so on. Amazon Web Services was the first IaaS provider and remains the leader, followed by Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM Cloud.

PaaS provides sets of services and workflows that specifically target developers, who can use shared tools, processes, and APIs to accelerate the development, test, and deployment of applications. Salesforces Heroku and Force.com are popular public cloud PaaS offerings; Pivotals Cloud Foundry and Red Hats OpenShift can be deployed on premises or accessed through the major public clouds. For enterprises, PaaS can ensure that developers have ready access to resources, follow certain processes, and use only a specific array of services, while operators maintain the underlying infrastructure.

Note that a variety of PaaS tailored for developers of mobile applications generally goes by the name of MBaaS (mobile back end as a service), or sometimes just BaaS (back end as a service).

FaaS, the cloud instantiation of serverless computing, adds another layer of abstraction to PaaS, so that developers are completely insulated from everything in the stack below their code. Instead of futzing with virtual servers, containers, and application runtimes, they upload narrowly functional blocks of code, and set them to be triggered by a certain event (e.g. a form submission or uploaded file). All the major clouds offer FaaS on top of IaaS: AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Google Cloud Functions, and IBM OpenWhisk. A special benefit of FaaS applications is that they consume no IaaS resources until an event occurs, reducing pay-per-use fees.

The private cloud downsizes the technologies used to run IaaS public clouds into software that can be deployed and operated in a customers data center. As with a public cloud, internal customers can provision their own virtual resources in order to build, test, and run applications, with metering to charge back departments for resource consumption. For administrators, the private cloud amounts to the ultimate in data center automation, minimizing manual provisioning and management. VMwares Software Defined Data Center stack is the most popular commercial private cloud software, while OpenStack is the open source leader.

A hybrid cloud is the integration of a private cloud with a public cloud. At its most developed, the hybrid cloud involves creating parallel environments in which applications can move easily between private and public clouds. In other instances, databases may stay in the customer data center and integrate with public cloud applicationsor virtualized data center workloads may be replicated to the cloud during times of peak demand. The types of integrations between private and public cloud vary widely, but they must be extensive to earn a hybrid clouddesignation.

Just as SaaS delivers applications to users over the internet, public APIs offer developers application functionality that can be accessed programmatically. For example, in building web applications, developers often tap into Google Maps API to provide driving directions; to integrate with social media, developers may call upon APIs maintained by Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. Twilio has built a successful business dedicated to delivering telephony and messaging services via public APIs. Ultimately, any business can provision its own public APIs to enable customers to consume data or access application functionality.

Data integration is a key issue for any sizeable company, but particularly for those that adopt SaaS at scale. iPaaS providers typically offer prebuilt connectors for sharing data among popular SaaS applications and on-premises enterprise applications, though providers may focus more or less on B-to-B and ecommerce integrations, cloud integrations, or traditional SOA-style integrations. iPaaS offerings in the cloud from such providers as Dell Boomi, Informatica, MuleSoft, and SnapLogic also enable users to implement data mapping, transformations, and workflows as part of the integration-building process.

The most difficult security issue related to cloud computing is the management of user identity and its associated rights and permissions across private data centers and pubic cloud sites. IDaaS providers maintain cloud-based user profiles that authenticate users and enable access to resources or applications based on security policies, user groups, and individual privileges. The ability to integrate with various directory services (Active Directory, LDAP, etc.) and provide is essential. Okta is the clear leader in cloud-based IDaaS; CA, Centrify, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Ping provide both on-premises and cloud solutions.

Collaboration solutions such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and HipChat have become vital messaging platforms that enable groups to communicate and work together effectively. Basically, these solutions are relatively simple SaaS applications that support chat-style messaging along with file sharing and audio or video communication. Most offer APIs to facilitate integrations with other systems and enable third-party developers to create and share add-ins that augment functionality.

Key players in such industries as financial services, healthcare, retail, life sciences, and manufacturing provide PaaS clouds to enable customers to build vertical applications that tap into industry-specific, API-accessible services. Vertical clouds can dramatically reduce the time to market for vertical applications and accelerate domain-specific B-to-B integrations. Most vertical clouds are built with the intent of nurturing partner ecosystems.

The clouds main appeal is to reduce the time to market of applications that need to scale dynamically. Increasingly, however, developers are drawn to the cloud by the abundance of advanced new services that can be incorporated into applications, from machine learning to internet-of-things connectivity.

Although businesses sometimes migrate legacy applications to the cloud to reduce data center resource requirements, the real benefits accrue to new applications that take advantage of cloud services and cloud native attributes. The latter include microservices architecture, Linux containers to enhance application portability, and container management solutions such as Kubernetes that orchestrate container-based services. Cloud-native approaches and solutions can be part of either public or private clouds and help enable highly efficient devops-style workflows.

Objections to the public cloud generally begin with cloud security, although the major public clouds have proven themselves much less susceptible to attack than the average enterprise data center. Of greater concern is the integration of security policy and identity management between customers and public cloud providers. In addition, government regulation may forbid customers from allowing sensitive data off premises. Other concerns include the risk of outages and the long-term operational costs of public cloud services.

Yet cloud computing, public or private, has become the platform of choice for large applications, particularly customer-facing ones that need to change frequently or scale dynamically. More significantly, the major public clouds now lead the way in enterprise technology development, debuting new advances before they appear anywhere else. Workload by workload, enterprises are opting for the cloud, where an endless parade of exciting new technologies invite innovative use.

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What cloud computing really means - InfoWorld

Security specter still haunts cloud computing

As the move into cloud environments isnt slowing down anytime soon, security professionals are working to ensure the security of these computing and storage solutions.

If you start looking at operational day-to-day needs, the biggest problem that I have today is securing the cloud, SallieMae's Chief Security Officer Jerry Archer told a crowd at the Cyber Security R&D Showcase hosted by the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate. If were going to move successfully to the cloud, then were going to have to change security in some significant ways.

There are a number of areas where security will have to improve in order to ensure the safety of cloud environments, Archer said. This includes continuous monitoring, resilient operations, highly granular access control and incident response. It also means better encryption. Data should be always be encrypted, he said: while it's being analyzed, while it's at rest and while it's moving.

If we could have fully homomorphic encryption we would change everything, he said. I wouldnt say it would be the holy grail, but its close to it. Fully homomorphic encryption, which allows users to work with encrypted data without decrypting it, has made strides in the last decade to the point where it can be used for some applications. But for the most part, it slows down operations so much that its just not feasible.

The way security professionals think about the network is also changing as organizations move to the cloud. Were going to change the scope of where we are as a perimeter, he said. We have to know where we are in order to protect ourselves.

Additionally, security features offered by large cloud providers would be hard to incorporate into older environments. Retrofitting legacy systems with security that meets the same standards as whats offered by the large cloud providers is almost impossible, he said.

While Archer has concerns, he said he isnt shying away from cloud technology and has full confidence in its security abilities.

I think what well see is we can create security in the public cloud that is better than any security I can create in a current infrastructure, he said.

Large cloud providers have created security capabilities that would be hard to build into distributed systems that are, at this point in their life, legacy systems. Retrofitting legacy systems with security system that meet the same standards as whats offered by the large cloud providers is almost impossible, he said.

Northrop Grumman Chief Information Security Officer Michael Papay offered a qualification.

I think the technology for security in the cloud could rival the security in the current infrastructure, but it only will if people remember to turn it on and use it correctly, he said.

Alma Cole, the CISO at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, agreed.

I think it is good that when you look at the major cloud providers they do have lots and lots of secure capabilities. But it certainly still is your responsibility to figure out how you architect security both in that environment and then how you spread that out in a hybrid environment or something else, Cole said.

For Archer, the notion that having to remember to turn it on and use it correctly is a barrier to better security. You cant fix stupid," he said. "If you cant turn it on, then you shouldnt be there to begin with."

About the Author

Matt Leonard is a reporter/producer at GCN.

Before joining GCN, Leonard worked as a local reporter for The Smithfield Times in southeastern Virginia. In his time there he wrote about town council meetings, local crime and what to do if a beaver dam floods your back yard. Over the last few years, he has spent time at The Commonwealth Times, The Denver Post and WTVR-CBS 6. He is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received the faculty award for print and online journalism.

Leonard can be contacted at mleonard@gcn.com or follow him on Twitter @Matt_Lnrd.

Click here for previous articles by Leonard.

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Security specter still haunts cloud computing - GCN.com

Alex Lesser is Executive Vice President of PSSC Labs.

Todays companies are often faced with the complex decision of whether to use public cloud resources or build and deploy their own IT infrastructures. This decision is especially difficult in an age of mounting data requirements when so many people expect limitless access and ultra-flexibility. For these reasons, cloud computing has become an increasingly popular choice for many organizations though not always the right choice.

According to Right Scales 2017 State of the Cloud Survey, 85 percent of enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy.

Common reasons for using public cloud resources include scalability, ease of introductory use and reduced upfront costs. In many ways public cloud usage is considered the easy button.

However, cloud computing does present many drawbacks that often come back to haunt users, such as skyrocketing fees, poor performance and security concerns. The decision between using a public cloud versus owning your own infrastructure is not so different than deciding between renting and a buying a home. It is a choice between controlling your own environment versus living within someone elses domain. The home owner (or public cloud provider) reaps the benefits of equity gains while the renter continues to pay someone elses mortgage.

Some enterprises choose cloud services for their scalability. Although the pricing model for cloud computing is pay for what you use and buy more computing power as your business demands, this may not be as cost-effective as it initially appears. Organizations that move significant amounts of data should think twice before moving to the cloud because bandwidth prices can be all over the map. Bandwidth prices for cloud computing can easily rack up unexpected costs, especially when dealing with performance and security setbacks.

In fact, trading algorithm developer Deep Value estimates that using Amazon EC2 is 380 percent more expensive than having an internal cluster. insideHPC.coms Rich Brueckner described the claim that cloud services could lower the cost of high-performance computing as being owed more to marketing hype than to reality.

The big three providers, Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform have massive buying power, however between them the average bandwidth price is 3 to 4 times higher than colocation facilities. Amazon does offer the ability to reduce some of the expense by offering reserved instances. However, this can cripple a companys cash flow. With all these added expenses, on premise hardware starts to make more financial sense, especially for businesses with predictable workloads.

Many IT departments choose cloud services to improve access for remote employees and find an inexpensive solution to run data center applications. Clouds have also been praised for handling non-sensitive needs and non- mission-critical data that are not utilized for long periods of time. They can be ideal for start-up or business-to-consumer companies who are not working with large amounts of sensitive data. However, public cloud services have always been large targets for breaches and attacks, especially if they are well- known and frequently used services like Amazon EC2. For Amazon Web Services

Users security can be automatically affected by anything that happens to their cloud provider. Additionally, anyone using a public or shared cloud can experience a data breach and information loss through no real fault of their own. This drawback makes public clouds a potential nightmare for enterprises running mission-critical applications with high-availability and compliance or regulatory requirements.

Cloud customers also encounter problems with performance and reliability. Using a public cloud means sharing a network with potentially noisy neighbors that hog resources. Given that cloud service providers have servers in several dispersed locations, users can also experience latency issues and are often forced to pay exorbitant fees for a solution to these issues. AWS customers, in particular, experience performance glitches with server virtualization. In contrast to bare-metal hardware users, public cloud customers have limitations on resource availability and may struggle with application performance and data transfer rates. The solution from service providers pay more money for premium access only adds to the headaches.

Several factors determine when it is time to leave a public cloud and deploy on premise infrastructure. At the top of this list is the monthly spending statement. For some companies the $30,000 monthly Amazon bill is the threshold at which it is time to consider a move from the public cloud. For other companies, the decision to move away from a public cloud is tied to performance and security issues. In-house infrastructure allows companies to control their computing environments to best ensure application successleading to performance that is much more predictable and consistent. As a result, deploying on premise infrastructure is best for high-scale IT environments that process a lot of data, especially if that data is consistently growing. Organizations also have the option of building dedicated servers for workload-specific needs.

In a Wired magazine article, Dropbox outlined their journey leaving Amazon. According to Dropboxs Vice President of Engineering, Aditya Agarwal, Nobody is running a cloud business as a charity. There is some margin somewhere. Companies working at a large enough scale can save huge sums of money by cutting out the public cloud provider. Companies should also be cautious that Amazon, with arms in such a vast number of industries, may in the future offer online applications that will compete against those of their own customers, something Dropbox noted as part of their decision making. Giving a potential competitor insight into your business model, applications and customer base could be a risky endeavor.

The conversation about where and how to store an organizations data is a hotly debated topic in IT. In some cases, the solution is a combination of services. While some enterprises may be better suited for in-house servers, others could certainly benefit from using a public cloud. Just as frequently, an organizations IT needs can be met by a hybrid of the two, such as implementing in-house servers to handle standard traffic which can burst to the cloud for additional capacity.

However, organizations need to seriously consider their own IT needs outside the hype of the cloud, placing focus particularly on specific applications. This includes prioritizing requirements for processing, performance, storage, security, data transfers and, of course, determining how much they are willing to spend on all factors.

There is an unmatched value in building and owning your infrastructure instead of living in someone elses environment. Companies should take a long-term approach of making their IT environment an asset rather than a cost center. Spending today on in-house infrastructure results in equity, and ultimately leads to long-term profits that will support the growth of not only the IT organization but the larger business of which it is a part.

Opinionsexpressed in the article above do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Data Center Knowledge and Penton.

Originally posted here:
When Clouds Break: the Hidden Dangers of Cloud Computing - Data Center Knowledge

Total spending on IT infrastructure products, including servers, enterprise storage systems and Ethernet switches, for deployment in cloud environments will increase 12 percent year over year in 2017 to $40.1 billion, according to a report from International Data Corp.

Public cloud data centers will account for the majority of this spending (61 percent) and will grow at the fastest rate year over year (14 percent). Off-premises private cloud environments will represent 15 percent of overall spending and will grow 12 percent year over year, IDC predicts.

Also See: Cloud computing market predicted to reach $41.7B

On-premises private clouds will account for 62 percent of spending on private cloud IT infrastructure and will grow 10 percent year over year in 2017, the research firm estimates.

Increased spending on cloud IT technology and decreasing investments in non-cloud IT infrastructure will be a common theme for all regions, IDC said. Worldwide spending on traditional, non-cloud IT infrastructure will decline 5 percent in 2017, accounting for 59 percent of overall end-user spending on IT infrastructure products across the three segments, down from 63 percent in 2016.

"The overall profile of spending on IT infrastructure in various deployment/location scenarios seen in 2016 will continue in 2017, with some differences in specific technology segments," said Natalya Yezhkova, research director of enterprise storage at IDC.

"Enterprise adoption of hybrid and multi-cloud IT strategies and the proliferation of cloud-native applications and areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT), which embrace a cloud-first approach to supporting IT resources, will fuel further increases in end-user spending on services-based IT, Yezhkova adds.

In turn, this move will be reflected in a shift of the overall spending on IT infrastructure from on-premises to off-premises deployments and from traditional IT to cloud IT," she concludes.

Bob Violino is a freelance technology and business writer who covers a variety of topics, including big data and analytics, cloud computing, information security and mobile technology.

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Cloud computing grabbing greater share of IT budgets - Health Data Management

Microsoft Store.Fuzzy Gerdes/Flickr

In a new report, Microsoft has just announced that it is going to be conducting mass termination among its sales force. The company would be shedding about 10 percent of the workers who are stationed in retail, the majority of the affected being overseas employees. This is due to the massive effort by the company to focus on its cloud computing business, which is fast becoming a major part of its enterprise.

The reorganization effort by Microsoft is intended to shift its focus on more profitable ventures, CNBC reports. Right now, this would be its cloud computing efforts, which as it turns out does not require too many sales personnel. This really did come as a surprise to analysts since reports of the mass layoffs have been circulating since last week.

In any case, the terminations are not indicative of troubles within Microsoft and instead is just an expected part of running a software business. These changes are also a reflection of how the company intends to serve its customers in the future, as a spokesperson told CNBC.

"Microsoft is implementing changes to better serve our customers and partners, the spokesperson said. "Today, we are taking steps to notify some employees that their jobs are under consideration or that their positions will be eliminated. Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time-to-time, re-deployment in others."

While the layoffs will mostly be centered on the sales department, which includes cashiers and store personnel, some of the finance and legal departments related to these sectors will be affected as well, Business Insider notes. In total, these could number somewhere around 5,000. Whats more, the announcement also coincides with Microsofts fiscal year end. This occurred back on June 30 and the event is typically accompanied by restructuring efforts.

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Microsoft Terminating Up To 5000 Employees Due To Cloud Computing Focus - EconoTimes