Category Cloud Hosting Updates

Cloud computing is a buzzword of the moment, but what does it really mean? Is it really ready for prime time, or should you stay with a VPS? First, some definitions:

Head in the clouds?
In some ways, cloud computing is like grid computing in that it leveraged shared computing resources to handle applications instead of local servers or user devices. This is the supercomputing model revamped for the company IT folks, promising trillions of computations per second for financial services, personalized data processing or huge, immersive network computer gaming.

Cloud computing combines groups of servers using (mostly) low-cost, consumer-level PC components into networks that spread the data-crunching chores around. Virtualization techniques can maximize cloud computing’s power, we’re told, but what is not so clearly stated by its proponents is the fact that cloud computing is still rather hazily defined. Standards for PC and network connections, and software to make it all work, have not been worked out in final form.
Right now, cloud computing is a hot new thing, and its potential for accessing and sharing computing power as virtual resources, securely and in a scalable way, is making it attractive to large corporate data centers. It is all rather nebulous and uncertain, though, and early adopters need courage as well as expandable budgets.

VPS, tried and true
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server, which is created on a dedicated, physical server in a data center. VPS is essentially an isolated server sharing the hardware of a single, physical server, something like a dedicated server with its own RAM, disk space, and IP address. Since it can be independently rebooted, VPS acts like a standalone server on which you can run your own applications. Offering features similar to dedicated servers, but at a cost closer to a shared hosting plan, VPS servers can handle the demands of medium-sized business sites easily.

Every VPS account on a server will have its own drive partition, which allows them their own root access and bandwidth. This increases performance and lets users run their own custom applications. A VPS acts like a dedicated server in many ways, except when it comes to paying for them, as they are much lower cost, in comparison.

The cloud bandwagon
Cloud computing is definitely the hip new thing. Now IBM, Dell, Sun and Amazon are all doing it. Still, many experts believe the term is a multitasking buzzword, used to describe a confusing array of different technologies. The term cloud computing is being used to mean utility computing, grid computing, the software-as-a-service model, Internet-based applications, remote processing, autonomic computing and peer-to-peer computing. Someone using the term may be thinking of one (or, confusingly, several) of these definitions, and the listener may be thinking of something else entirely.

There are many people out there who believe the term cloud computing is just another buzzword that is used to describe too many technologies, making it confusing to many. The term Cloud computing has been used to mean grid computing, utility computing, software as a service, Internet-based applications, autonomic computing, peer-to-peer computing and remote processing. When most people use the term, they may have one of these ideas in mind, but the listener might be thinking about something else.

Real-world comparisons
The user forums are filling up with people who have a number of high-traffic web sites in the 10,000-hits-per-day range, not high-traffic like Amazon or iTunes with enough demand to warrant getting a solid, capable VPS or a dedicated server. Some are enticed by the claim of huge cost savings with the cloud, but discover that there are usually standard monthly charges over and above the utility billing. Clearly, at present, traditional hosting forms are less expensive until the economies of scale enter the formula, at which point the lines will cross and cloud computing will become the less-expensive alternative.

The problem, of course, is that no one yet knows where that line might be. Therefore, there is no way right now to make that calculation. Some cautious observers claim the economics of this personal network supercomputer are not cloud-ready, which is why you should stay with a VPS for now. This is borne out by the fact that the billing models vary among cloud providers so it is close to impossible to get a definitive answer on cost. Some cloud companies have online price estimating tools (usage and cost calculators) that will consider estimated bandwidth and storage needs to crank out an estimate of a monthly bill. That’s about all you can do to get a cost comparison at this point.

Does it even work?
Until the technology (and user experiences) mature, it takes a bit of work even to determine if cloud computing is roughly cost-comparable to traditional hosting, where you know what the fixed monthly fees are for your needs. However, there are far more important issues right now than price. Does cloud computing even work?

Not everyone is yet convinced about the scalability advantages claimed for the cloud, and the bean counters are certainly not sold on the cost savings yet. Among the user forum participants discussing cloud computing vs. VPS was a fellow working for a cost-conscious startup who stated that his company had converted to hosting in the cloud for all the advertised reasons. After three months, he said, they were looking at moving back because it’s too expensive. This is a common thing for early adopters to do. When they stop doing it, that will be among the first clues that cloud computing is ready for primetime.

Source by Amy Armitage

There are several reasons for organizations to move from in-house IT infrastructure set-ups to a Cloud Computing model. One of the most prominent reasons is the concept of cloud economics. Ultimately it all comes down to cost savings that cloud can bring in and below are the major aspects via which organizations are seeing cost reduction and reaping the benefits.

ü  By allowing for a shift from CaPex to OpEx

ü  Reduces the total cost of ownership

ü  Concentrate on core businesses

ü  Lowers the opportunity cost associated with running technology

One thing is clear there are several advantages for the customers but is it worthwhile for the vendors as well. Are they reaping as much advantage from this phenomenon?

The public cloud services market is forecast to grow 18.5 percent in 2013 to total $131 billion worldwide, up from $111 billion in 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. There are several opportunities in such a growing market. With total worldwide IT spending amount to 1.7 trillion dollar industry and with cloud shaking up the way traditional IT is being done then we have a tremendous scope of growth.

The 80-20 rule is often used within organizations to find the effects as it is seen that 80 percent of the issues are due to 20 percent of reasons. Information Technology has its own 80-20 rules. In IT, it is in terms of time where we are seeing that 80 percent of the time are being spent on maintenance, patching operating systems, performing back-ups. So rather than concentrating on the core functions IT teams are having to spend time on other routine and non-core activities. This is where the opportunity comes in for the adoption of cloud for consumers.

By allowing for a shift from CaPex to OpEx: IT infrastructure set-ups has always be very capital intensive. Hardware needs to be brought outright. Building server farms, buying networking hardware are all very expensive and can involve a lot of deliberating which is very time consuming and costly. Apart from the hardware there is the cost of buying software licenses which can be substantial as well. Hardware value depreciates over time and the licenses have to be renewed every year. After all the initial expense we need to invest in maintenance and support services to make sure what we have invested in continues to function optimally. Hence it makes sense to go for Cloud which is pay as per use model. No need to invest in costly hardware and have maintenance teams in place. The core selling point here is that Cloud Computing is like an electricity or telephone service that is pay only how much you use.

Reduces the total cost of ownership: It is important to accurately assess the actual cost of the two options – one is keeping it in-house and the other is going for the cloud model. Most of the cost associated with Cloud are upfront and there is clear visibility and control over the budget spending. Cloud providers give transparent spending on RAM, storage, bandwidth etc. On the other hand calculating the cost for in-house is not always accurate as sometimes firms do not take into account the direct costs like power, floor space, storage and IT operations to operate these resources. There are also the indirect costs of running a server like overheads of procurement and accounting resources. All of these aspects make the comparison difficult but despite this the cost savings that Cloud Computing will bring in will be significant and add value to the organization by reducing their cost by freeing up funds that would have be stuck by large capital investments. Allowing organizations to concentrate in their core business functions and making funds available for investments in the core business.

Concentrate on core businesses: A recurring case made for the adoption of Cloud Computing is that Cloud allows a firm to concentrate on their core business. This is same as even though we need electricity we don’t go out and start generating electricity on our own. Similarly there is no harm in following a similar policy for our hardware and software. Netflix the $10 Billion video streaming website recently migrated to cloud infrastructure. Netflix wants that their engineers to concentrate on product innovation and the pain of storage solutions, hardware failover mechanisms, networking infrastructure devices, etc. be handled by the cloud vendors.

Lowers the opportunity cost of running technology: Opportunity cost is a vital concept when understanding the economics of going for Cloud Computing as it allows to assess the true cost of adopting it. With this concept of opportunity cost when taking a decision to either retaining on premise IT or move to the Cloud. We have already seen that 80% of the time is being wasted on procedures that do not create any value for the organization. So the opportunity cost here is that if we are keeping it in house we are not able to optimally use the 80 percent. In simple words the difference between moving to cloud for an organization will be 20 percent efficiency for in house IT infrastructure and 80 percent efficiency when outsourced.

So to conclude from the customer perspective the economic advantages are enormous. Businesses can get advantages from two aspects one from the reduced cost and the other from increased focus on core activities which will lead to higher productivity and growth in the core functions of the business.

The global cloud services provider (CSP)/vendor market has grown tremendously. Today vendors consist of cloud services brokerages (CSBs), cloud services aggregators (CSAs), plus VARs and MSPs. Some of these companies were initially in the same business of providing IT hardware, the only difference is now they are providing it over the cloud. The hosting firms have started to offer these services like a natural extension to their existing business. Cloud is today providing lucrative opportunities to businesses which were providing telephony services, Internet Access etc. So even though we understand the advantages to the customers we must also understand why there would be a push from the vendors to get into this business. Vendors can provide Cloud services via three basic models – SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).

Some benefits seen are:

Market Size: Gartner said worldwide revenue in Cloud Computing has surpassed $68 Billion and the market is expected to reach $160 Billion by 2020. Hence a growing market not just in IT/ITES but as a whole for the Cloud Computing service providers encourages the vendors to enter the business and provide their services.

Additional Revenue Source: Initially many firms provided cloud services as an additional offering, an option that was available. But now the strategy is changing all together, rather than just an offering it is being looked at as a major source of revenue for these service providers.

Increasing Customer Loyalty translates to lower churn: One the adoption has taken place, firms tend to stay longer once they realize the benefits that they are getting. Hence a loyal customer translates to steady income and strong top-lines. A loyal and satisfies customer will stay as well as refer others to adopt the services. Hence vendors are able to gather increasing revenue once they have earned the trust of their customers. Once the customer is accustomed to the services of the vendor there is far lower possibility of switching. As the customer is also benefitting and the vendor is able to get sustained revenue, it is a win-win situation for everyone.

Differentiation of Services: Even though there are many service provides, the SaaS, PaaS and IaaS models provide enough scope for differentiation aspects for the vendors. This leads to a healthy competition which helps the customer as well as makes sure the best service providers survives.

Peer Pressure: Peer pressure is being seen where all are providing Cloud services. The risks are there but if the service is differentiated or of good quality then the customer will stay and the vendor does not need worry about losing the customer.

Market Leadership: Companies which are leading the way now will have the advantage of driving the direction of the market. There are currently a lot of players but ultimately who leads will have great advantages over the other and will subsequently reap the benefits of their leadership and innovation in terms of profits.

Monetization of Available networks: Bandwidth that a firm buys is very costly and ideally it would be in their best interest if there is optimum of this resource. Cloud Computing services can be provided over using this same infrastructure and thereby adding value to the organization by leveraging existing capabilities and resources.

Deregulation of Markets: Regulations are being relaxed and there is now connectivity even in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Cloud computing services are prime and will help customers and well as open up the market for more opportunities. Incumbents are being challenges and dethroned from their old business models.

Extension of Technology: All these vendors are technology aligned firms and already have skills in handling their core networks and running their operations non-stop and also have the necessary monitoring in place to manage these core offerings. Adding cloud computing to their existing services will not be a major headache for these vendors as they have the ability and skills to handle the transition to providing services on the Cloud.

Higher Margins: Cloud Computing comes with multiple opportunities for the vendors in adding value to their customers. They can provide managed services, monitoring of services, maintenance/upgrades of existing services, support services etc. the list is long and increasing in count day by day. Such tailored services allow higher margins than the base services which are now being increasing seen as a commodity and does not matter who is providing it.

These are some of the compelling reasons for vendors to venture into this area of Cloud Computing services. The Cloud Computing fruit is ripe for picking for both vendors as well as customers.

Source by attackplacements

In one of our earlier posts we did a comparison between Google App Engine and EC2 based on some of the key parameters driving a Cloud Computing platform. In this post we will focus on a comparison between Amazon EC2 and Microsoft Azure.

Language/Platforms Supported

• Amazon EC2 provides support for setting virtualized instances of operating systems/applications and databases which essentially implies that in can support pretty much all the standard environments like Windows(Server 2000/2008), Linux flavors, OpenSolaris, multiple Databases (DB2, Oracle, SQL Server) and various Web and application servers.
• Microsoft Azure on the other hand is purely a Windows environment with Windows Server 2008 the primary environment and all languages/applications that are available on Windows Server is supported. While they have released SDKs to support interop for other languages like Java, PHP and Ruby to run on Azure, i would still consider it primarily a first choice .NET environment.
• Amazon clearly is a much more flexible environment and can support a wide variety of applications. On the other if you have a Microsoft based platform/application Azure will be a strong consideration.

Deployment/Setup Complexity

• Setup for Amazon EC2 involves setting up an image and configuring a virtual instance of the instance to include the Operating System/Application. The setup and deployment activities is similar in nature to setup a virtualized environment. Amazon provides command line tools which would help support this.
• Windows Azure offers to variations in terms of Deployment. A hosted model similar to Amazon EC2 and an alternate Azure Platform Appliance which allows a local deployment of windows azure within a company premise on local servers to setup a local virtual cloud. Azure provides an integrated approach of deployment directly from Visual Studio which would directly allow you to deploy the solution on Azure.
• An integrated deployment options with Developer tools significantly reduces the deployment complexity for Azure based apps. In addition a lot of the configuration aspects of a VM needed to be setup on Amazon is not required on Azure.

Performance and Scalability

• Amazon EC2 is a mature platform and has been proven to provide significant scalability options for cloud applications. Apart from auto scaling options, custom configuration and options allows you to pretty much scale to any level. Also since EC2 deploys applications as Virtual Instances it provides an opportunity to completely control and scale your instance and application.
• Azure while not a traditional VM, provides a VM like environment for hosting applications. It provides auto scaling options and also ability to choose various configurations for the VMs based on the resource needs. SQL Azure functions as a Cloud Database in a shared environment as against Amazon RDS can be controlled per instance.
• EC2 clearly provides a more configurable environment to scale up and scale out your applications with much more granular control over your applications and environment.

Stay posted for a blog post coming up on a 3 way comparison/cheatsheet on how to make a choice between the 3 major players in PaaS Amazon EC2, App Engine, Azure.

Check our Blog Technology Trendz for more details.

Source by Kaushik

If you are planning to invest and introduce a new Recruitment Process Automation system, it is not uncommon for you to get hassled about comparing features, advantages, quality, benefits, and prices. Immaterial of selection, your new software will play a major role in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and your Return on Investment (ROI).

How would you decide on the best recruitment software solution for your organization? In this article we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of two renowned software deployment methods, which will assist you in taking the right decision on this critical subject.

Self-hosting Software Deployment:

Self-hosting deployment is also known as Enterprise software deployment. This method is the most traditional method of using a recruitment or staffing software within an organization. What does Enterprise deployment mean?

• You purchase the software as a licensed product
• Purchase and own all of the hardware
• Servers
• Power systems
• Back up systems
• Communications
• All other infrastructure, at your location

All maintenance of the hardware, software and infrastructure is totally your responsibility including the hiring of IT staff. You will also need to pay for software maintenance, support and services to your vendor. This amounts to about 20% of the software license cost, per year.
The advantages of the ownership of the software license lets you have complete control over your data and its management. Most importantly, the system is fully secure and you can be sure that they system will not be accessed by outsiders. The only disadvantage with Enterprise software deployment is the high costs, and the TCO for this application is higher than any other application.

Software as a Service (SaaS) Software Deployment:

Also called – as mentioned in the title, Remote Hosted or more commonly known as On-Demand software. This is a subscription based model; you need to subscribe to the recruiting software, which is on servers owned and operated by your vendor at their location, and not at yours. You use the software over an Internet connection using a Web Browser or Smart Client, and your vendor is responsible for all ongoing hardware and software maintenance.

The advantages are it has a low cost of entry and a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). There is also a vested vendor interest – in case of mismanagement in the application, the vendor will loose a client.

Our choice for a suitable software solution is eConn Resume Parser which is a Self-hosting or Enterprise Software deployment. It provides you with the facility to process online resumes by extracting the required data in an organized and logical manner. The added advantages are that it helps you get support on:

• Enterprise portals
• E-learning solutions
• Enterprise application integration tools
• SOA software
• Document management systems
• Project management software

The advantages with Resume Parser as a self-hosted software solution are far more useful and safer than all other software solutions, SaaS software deployments.

Although SaaS software solutions are growing to be very popular, its disadvantages are equally high as well. Some organizations find it difficult to delegate control or trust third parties to manage their applications and data. Records and reports show that many hackers have had access to important databases using SaaS software solutions.

Source by hr software

If you plan to deploy Microsoft Dynamics GP, formerly known as Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise as back office accounting and sales order processing system, you should make your homework in understanding your Great Plains ecommerce integration tools and options.  We are favoring so-called “Solutions” approach, where we offer ecommerce codes and scripts, plus our service in tuning these solutions to fit your unique business processes.  This approach is especially good, when you are not starting from the ground, when you already have ecommerce website in production, which is in time very loosely integrated with your Accounting system (typically email is sent to the GP AR clerk, or even paper printed Sales Order).  Let us give you several ecommerce scenarios:

1. SOP Order Connector.  This product is the set of SQL Stored Procedures, allowing you to feed Sales Order or Invoices to Great Plains Sales Order Processing tables.  This product doesn’t use eConnect encrypted stored procedures and you can get instant real time or large volume batch mode integration in a few seconds.  Order Connector works with Dynamics GP 10.0, 9.0, 8.0, 7.5 and earlier Great Plains Dynamics versions, assuming that you are on Microsoft SQL Server DB platform

2. Posting Server.  This product allows you to break through eConnect restrictions and post SOP, POP and batches of virtually all the natures in Dynamics GP directly from your ecommerce application (written in C#, VB.Net or any other programming language, allowing you to call SQL Stored Procedures)

3. eConnect scripts.  We also offer packages of eConnect samples to automate ecommerce to SOP and ecommerce to Receivables Management integrations.  We recommend you to take eConnect programming route if your Great Plains version is recent: 10.0 or 9.0.  If you are on legacy version of Dynamics GP Great Plains: 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0 or earlier, please review stored procedures or Order Connector route

4. Sales Order Transfer to Invoice.  It is common practice, when you are first creating Sales Order (especially when you are working in B2B model with some negotiation) and then from ecommerce web page your customer decides to turn Sales Order to Sales Invoice.  This functionality is realized in Alba Spectrum Posting Server, please read about it in Paragraph #2

5. Dynamics GP Integration Manager in eCommerce scenarios.  IM is intuitive and end user friendly tool, however you could raise integration complexity with VBA scripts: Before Document Commit is one of the most popular.  We offer help in guru level IM Sources, especially Advanced ODBC.  IM Integration could be called on demand by Great Plains user (preferred) or scheduled for execution by Windows macro (or third party Windows macro surrogates)

6. Direct SQL Insert or Inhouse Custom Stored Procedures.  We also respect this route, taken by your IT department, in this case we offer short orientation training on Great Plains Tables Structure and data flow

7. Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Source by Andrew Karasev

To many, the cloud server is the “next big thing” in networking.The concept is simple, and now that there are hosting companies dedicated to cloud server hosting, the possibilities for the use of cloud servers for business and individuals alike, begins to really shine through.These technologies are truly innovative, as they give you the ability to “virtualize” a lot of the things you now do using only the resources of your computer, or you limited network. An incredibly attractive feature, making this the perfect networking and server solution for many, is the ability to add more resources to your cloud servers if the resources you currently have don’t cut it.

You can save money, overall, on the costs of your networking solutions through the subscription to a cloud hosting server. With the ability to handle advanced functionality and maintenance activities remotely, as well as the need for fewer hardware inputs, these services are often less expensive than competing alternatives on the marketplace. There are tons of different options for cloud servers in the UK, which gives you the freedom to find the solution that works best for you – even if you only own one computer!

Many businesses, for a long time, feared about the safety and security of cloud servers, but technology has advanced to a point where a cloud server host can truly offer you the same, or higher, level of security as any other type of server option. There are many benefit to cloud server technology such as the ability to handle, even automate, many of the applications and programs you must run on a daily basis, in a virtual environment, saving you valuable time. Taking the market by storm, cloud server technology is proving that the claims made by early proponents have come to light – now resulting in a safe and secure cloud that has an almost endless amount of resources at its disposal.

Without the need for tons of different hardware solutions, but the same, if not better, functionality and available add-ons to optimize your server to be tailored to your businesses specific needs, has started to draw many away from the dedicated server and begin the transition to the cloud server. Many who have switched to this simple technology – that doesn’t require advanced IT knowledge to operate – are sold by the cloud server solution and would never go back.

More and more places are starting to realize the benefits – both in terms of cost, and capabilities as well – of using virtual solutions for our server and networking needs.

The use of a cloud server, in the UK, or elsewhere, is a great way to save a bit on your hosting costs, and also be on the cutting edge of the technology that many say is the future of networking.With the ability to provide high quality, secure, and affordable service, cloud server hosting companies make a great alternative to traditional dedicated server hosting. Giving you the ability to stay ahead of the curve, and saving yourself a little money in the process, the cloud gives you access to all the features that made dedicated services so popular, without all the hassle.

Source by Dirik Hameed

Unless you’ve spent the last few months trapped in a cave you will undoubtedly have seen, read or heard that “cloud computing” is on its way and is likely to affect the way that many of us use our computers and interact with the internet over the coming years.  Much has been written elsewhere about the implications of cloud computing in general and whether it is indeed destined to transform the way we use the web but, at this juncture, I am particularly interested in exploring what the impact of cloud computing will be on mobile applications.

For the uninitiated, it is probably worth reiterating briefly the key characteristics of cloud computing. In layman’s terms, cloud computing simply refers to the use of powerful shared computing resources which are accessed remotely, typically via a web browser over the internet. Users don’t need to know (or care) where the servers are located or where the programs they are using are running – they just need access to a web browser to use the service from anywhere in the world. In practice, the term cloud computing has grown to refer to a number of related capabilities that can broadly be summarised under following categories:-

i) Infrastructure-as-service “IaaS”

– typically virtual servers (e.g. Amazon EC2, Rackspace Cloud Servers)

ii) Platform-as-a-service “PaaS”

– various services for software development and deployment (e.g. Google Checkout, Force.com>

iii) Software-as-a-service “SaaS”

– fully hosted applications accessed via a browser (e.g. Webmail, Facebook, Google Apps, Salesforce.com)

It is the last category, SaaS, that I wish to focus on because it represents the visible face of cloud computing that most people have already experienced. The advantages of web-based applications such as Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook are pretty obvious – there’s nothing to download to your PC, you can access them from anywhere, they’re constantly being enhanced and every time updates are made they become instantly available to any user when they next login.

For business applications like Saleforce.com’s online CRM tool there are further advantages – such services are highly configurable and scalable so they can accommodate many different types of client from very small to very large with either simple or highly complex requirements. Furthermore, the commercial model employed by most SaaS suppliers (i.e. monthly subscriptions) is attractive since the cost of entry is low (or zero) and the costs associated with acquiring and maintaining computing infrastructure to host the application are completely eliminated.

So, how will this all affect the use and spread of mobile applications?

Over the past couple of years, we’ve witnessed the unprecedented success of the iPhone and Apple’s App Store and this has clearly demonstrated beyond doubt that there is a voracious appetite for mobile applications. Apple has led the way, but we are now seeing a plethora of competing app stores being announced by other players. Notable examples include Google’s Android Marketplace, Nokia’s OVI Store, RIM’s Blackberry App World, Symbian’s Horizon, Microsoft’s Marketplace and the Samsung Application Store.

It seems highly unlikely to me that all these initiatives can succeed, but at the same time, it is a healthy sign that consumers will have more choice, and a wide range of applications will become available to users of many different types of mobile (i.e. not just the iPhone). However, in this new world, where users of all device types (from the humblest Pay-as-you-Go handset to the latest, feature-laden Smartphone) are able to access mobile applications I believe that downloading them from app stores is not the only way forwards.

The cloud computing model provides a highly attractive alternative which actually turns out to be ideal for supporting (relatively) low powered computing devices like mobile handsets. Whilst power-users with top-of-the-range Smartphones may be perfectly happy downloading apps, the “average” user with a basic handset is likely to find that using cloud based applications via a browser is both easier and far better suited to the limitations of their phone. Less computing horsepower and less storage is needed and, as mobile network operators continue to increase data speeds, performance can only get better and better. Already today there are some fine examples of cloud based mobile applications such as Gmail’s mobile portal which provides an excellent email experience entirely via a browser.

Another significant factor to consider is that as the mobile application market matures many commercial organisations will recognise the need to mobilise core business applications. Unlike the majority of “apps” that are being downloaded today, most business applications are more complex and sophisticated and they require proper integration with back-end systems. The SaaS model of delivery described above is therefore ideal for this category of application and will work equally well for mobile devices because of the “zero footprint” required on the handset coupled with the flexibility and scalability available when hosting the application in the cloud.

Over the next couple of years, we are also likely to see a number of technology enhancements which will continue to encourage the development of cloud based mobile applications. Open standards such as BONDI, OneAPI and HTML5 will all help, making it easier for developers to build cloud based applications that can be used across a wide range of mobile devices.

In summary therefore, I predict that cloud computing is highly relevant to the world of mobile applications, is particularly well suited to serving the large numbers of mobile users who do not possess a Smartphone and that it is likely to become a parallel medium for delivering mobile applications to rival the app store approach.  Welcome to the cloud!

Source by Peter Skinner

Cloud Computing, Next wave in Computing: Upcoming Trend in Industry

Cloud computing is Internet (cloud) based development and use of computer technology.

Cloud Computing is an emerging computing technology that uses the internet and central remote servers to maintain data and applications. Cloud computing allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. This technology allows for much more efficient computing by centralizing storage, memory, processing and bandwidth. Cloud computing is broken down into three segments: “applications,” “platforms,” and “infrastructure.” Each segment serves a different purpose and offers different products for businesses and individuals around the world.

Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT’s existing capabilities.

In June 2009, a study conducted by Version One found that 41% of senior IT professionals actually don’t know what cloud computing is and two-thirds of senior finance professionals are confused by the concept, highlighting the young nature of the technology. In Sept 2009, an Aberdeen Group study found that disciplined companies achieved on average an 18% reduction in their IT budget from cloud computing and a 16% reduction in data center power costs.

Depending on who you are talking to, you will see different perceptions about what Cloud Computing actually is, from the simplest web-hosted solutions right through to virtualized processing environments with Web-Service initiated provisioning and decommissioning.

The main challenges for Cloud Computing before it is likely to enjoy wide-spread adoption are the following:

• Persistence & Availability – The ability to continue working during outages or the ability to mitigate outages.
• Privacy and National Security Concerns – The hosting of information outside of your country’s borders does concern Public Sector organizations. The US Patriot Act for example is a concern for some countries in adopting cloud services. It is thought that Country-silted Clouds may be able to address this.
• Geo-Political Information Management Concerns – The Political risk a country takes on by housing information for another country.

Cloud Computing is all about:

1. SaaS (Software as a Service)

These type of cloud computing delivers a single application through the browser to thousands of customers using a multitenant architecture. On the customer side, it means no upfront investment in servers or software licensing; on the provider side, with just one app to maintain, costs are low compared to conventional hosting.

2. Utility computing

The idea is not new, but this form of cloud computing is getting new life from Amazon.com, Sun, IBM, and others who now offer storage and virtual servers that IT can access on demand. Early enterprise adopters mainly use utility computing for supplemental, non-mission-critical needs, but one day, they may replace parts of the datacenter. Other providers offer solutions that help IT create virtual datacenters from commodity servers, such as 3Tera’s AppLogic and Cohesive Flexible Technologies’ Elastic Server on Demand. Liquid Computing LiquidQ offers similar capabilities, enabling IT to stitch together memory, I/O, storage, and computational capacity as a virtualized resource pool available over the network.

3. Web services in the cloud

Closely related to SaaS, Web service providers offer APIs that enable developers to exploit functionality over the Internet, rather than delivering full-blown applications. They range from providers offering discrete business services to the full range of APIs and even conventional credit card processing services.

4. Platform as a service

Another SaaS variation, this form of cloud computing delivers development environments as a service. You build your own applications that run on the provider’s infrastructure and are delivered to your users via the Internet from the provider’s servers.

5. MSP (managed service providers)

One of the oldest forms of cloud computing, a managed service is basically an application exposed to IT rather than to end-users, such as a virus scanning service for e-mail or an application monitoring service (which Mercury, among others, provides). Managed security services delivered by Secure Works, IBM, and Verizon fall into this category, as do such cloud-based anti-spam services as Postini, recently acquired by Google. Other offerings include desktop management services, such as those offered by Center Beam or Ever dream.

6. Service commerce platforms

A hybrid of SaaS and MSP, this cloud computing service offers a service hub that users interact with. They’re most common in trading environments, such as expense management systems that allow users to order travel or secretarial services from a common platform that then coordinates the service delivery and pricing within the specifications set by the user. Think of it as an automated service bureau. Well-known examples include Rearden Commerce and Ariba.

7. Internet integration

The integration of cloud-based services is in its early days. OpSource, which mainly concerns itself with serving SaaS providers, recently introduced the OpSource Services Bus, which employs in-the-cloud integration technology from a little startup called Boomi. SaaS provider Workday recently acquired another player in this space, CapeClear, an ESB (enterprise service bus) provider that was edging toward b-to-b integration. Way ahead of its time, Grand Central — which wanted to be a universal “bus in the cloud” to connect SaaS providers and provide integrated solutions to customers — flamed out in 2005.

Citrix Cloud Center

C3 is designed to give cloud providers a complete set of service delivery infrastructure building blocks for hosting, managing and delivering cloud-based computing services. C3 includes a reference architecture that combines the individual capabilities of several Citrix product lines to offer a powerful, dynamic, secure and highly available service-based infrastructure ideally suited to large-scale, on-demand delivery of both IT infrastructure and application services. This architecture consists of four key components:

• Platform – Powered by Citrix XenServerTM Cloud Edition:  The new XenServer Cloud Edition is a powerful virtual infrastructure solution optimized for service provider environments. It combines the cloud-proven scalability of the Xen® hypervisor which powers most of the world’s largest clouds, with all the virtualization management and dynamic workload provisioning capabilities of the full Citrix XenServer product line ( see separate announcement on XenServer 5), enabling cloud providers to host and manage any combination of Windows® and Linux environments. XenServer Cloud Edition also features an innovative consumption based pricing model to meet the needs of service providers that charge their customers based on metered resource use.
• Delivery – Powered by Citrix® NetScaler’s®:  Through its rich policy-based AppExpert engine, Citrix NetScaler’s delivers cloud-based resources to users over the Web, continually optimizing user application performance and security by dynamically scaling the number of virtual machines (VMs) or servers available in response to changing workload demands and infrastructure availability. This allows cloud providers to balance workloads across large distributed cloud environments and transparently redirect traffic to alternate capacity on or off premise in the event of network failures or datacenter outages.  NetScaler’s can also dramatically reduce server requirements in large cloud centers by offloading protocol and transaction processing from backend server pools. NetScaler’s proven architecture is designed for highly scalable, multi-tenant Web applications and delivers Web services to an estimated 75 percent of all Internet users each day.
• Bridge – Powered by Citrix WANScaler:  As larger enterprises begin experimenting with cloud-based services for parts of their own infrastructure and application hosting strategy, cloud providers will also need reliable and secure ways to provide a seamless bridge between hosted cloud services and premise-based enterprise services. Over time, C3 will incorporate a set of open interfaces that allow customers to easily move virtual machines and application resources into a cloud-based datacenter and back again as needed. WANScaler technology will play a critical role in this enterprise bridge by accelerating and optimizing application traffic between the cloud and the enterprise datacenter, even over long distances.
• Orchestration – Powered by Citrix Workflow Studio TM: Tying it all together, Citrix Workflow Studio provides a powerful orchestration and workflow capability that allows the products in the C3 portfolio to be dynamically controlled and automated, and integrated with customer business and IT policy. Workflow Studio allows customers to control their infrastructure dynamically–integrating previously disconnected processes and products into a single powerful, orchestrated and cohesive system. This unique capability will make it easier for cloud providers to enable highly efficient burst able clouds that automatically scale resources up and down based on demand, shifting hardware resources to where they are most needed and powering them down for maximum power savings when not needed.

Today, with such cloud-based interconnection seldom in evidence, cloud computing might be more accurately described as “sky computing,” with many isolated clouds of services which IT customers must plug into individually. On the other hand, as virtualization and SOA permeate the enterprise, the idea of loosely coupled services running on an agile, scalable infrastructure should eventually make every enterprise a node in the cloud. It’s a long-running trend with a far-out horizon. But among big megatrends, cloud computing is the hardest one to argue with in the long term.

Source by vinoth

With private clouds, the IT providers can make elementary changes internally in how their IT infrastructure is deployed and run to get the benefits of cloud computing. An application hosted in a private cloud environment can allow you greater scalability and reach to bigger customer base.

There are some key steps businesses can take to reap the benefits of cloud computing before they go for cloud-based environment:  

• Do Your Homework –Before jumping to cloud computing wagon,understand your business needs and take decisions accordingly. Do you need agile, faster and secure application? And if yes, at what cost? Focus on how many applications can be adapted to cloud-based environment and keep note of the deployment time, cost, value, performance factors. A sound homework would save you from any future hassles.

• Choose a Trusted Service Provider – Choosing a trusted and capable cloud computing provider will solve your most concerns. Try to get as much information about your service provider prior to entering into a relationship. Select a company that has widespread expertise in running a standard, global enterprise infrastructure with hosted private cloud-based solutions. Ensure your cloud service provider can provide rock-solid private cloud services and will handle all facets of your cloud environment.

• Access Enterprise Features – Ensure that the cloud computing services you are paying for include enterprises features. This would not only ensure world-class service but also many standard components like static IP, persistent storage, and certain amount of free bandwidth etc. You can go with companies like NaviSite. NaviSite is a leading provider of cloud enabled enterprise hosting and application management services, offering a comprehensive suite of customized IT as Service solutions.  

• Build a Cloud Prototype – Don’t go for all out transformation for the entire IT set up. Start with a small prototype – a cloud of, say around, less than 50 machines. Choose applications which are supposed to get most benefit from cloud environment. Compare their past performance, cost, value etc. to the cloud-based results. And then move forward accordingly.   

• Evaluate Control Level – Evaluate how  much control you have on your applications as cloud is famous for providing you greater choices of how you want to run your applications and what you can apply from a service-level agreement standpoint to those applications. Go for the comprehensive documentation and evaluation of internal control that will be needed to support management’s assessment.  

• Commit to a short-term service contract – Initially avoid making a long-term contract. A short-term contract of six months or so will give your company more leverage over service quality and related issues, particularly as the renewal date approaches. This will help you judge the service provider in proper measures.  

Source by Saumya Aggarwal

Drake tax software is one of the most affordable and features rich tax return filing application available for tax planners. But most importantly drake tax software offers full financial management options with its vast number of add-ons, diverse forms and import/export features compatible with large number of accounting and CRM applications.

Many tax preparers have realized the benefits of having tax preparation software hosted in the cloud environment with benefits such as anytime anywhere data accessibility, collaboration and security of the data. Before going into the details of benefits of Drake tax software hosting here are the list of some Drake features that are very useful for the tax preparers.

• Diverse number of forms:  Drake tax software includes the most comprehensive list of tax forms and state specific forms to help tax preparers. Further the tax software offers comprehensive tax research features for tax planning for the clients.

• Easy Export and import of data: Of all the tax software, Drake tax application is the most comprehensive in terms of import and export of data from diverse application be it they accounting or  CRM application and in the process saving data entry time and costs. Not only excel import bust also scanned document data can be imported to the Drake tax application.

• Drake Add-ons: Drake provides a large number of Add-ons to make the tax practice both faster and to offer diverse range of services for their clients. The add-ons include drake tax planner, Drake document management systems, client write ups and payroll applications.

Drake Tax preparation in the cloud environment

The efficiency of tax return filing process and use of the other features of the Drake Tax program can be considerably enhanced if the Tax application is accessed through third party terminal servers or cloud servers. This means hosting the database on third party terminal servers and accessing the application as a local desktop interface instead of that on Local LAN. The benefits of Drake tax Application hosting are:

Cost Reduction: Application lifetime costs may involve software licenses, servers installations, occasional upgrades and technical support costs. With Drake accessed on a  terminal server there is no need to install local network, neither there is any requirement of dedicated technical support professional as IT help desk is provided by the service provider.

No IT obsoleteness: Since the local IT infrastructure needs are considerably reduced, Drake Tax software hosting also means that obsoleteness of the IT infrastructure is a thing of the past. With the application installed and run on the latest terminal server, users have the advantage of access to most advanced technology without any upfront costs involved.

Reacting to the market forces swiftly: Since the cloud hosting services are available on demand and the infrastructure bought at a short notice the tax preparers are able to cater well to the increased demand during the tax preparation season without any additional IT costs involved. Further they have to buy the services only when they need and hence further save IT costs for unutilized IT Infrastructure.

Collaboration and sharing with Drake Tax software hosting

A major handicap for the mobile tax professional is the inability to access the tax application beyond the LAN or the office premises. With Drake tax software hosting not only they can share and collaborate with other users in real time but also share, review and oversee what changes are made to the files by different users.

Collaboration feature allow the tax professional to:

• Have better clients interaction and available to troubleshoot clients issues  or share files with them from anywhere remotely not necessitating one to one physical interaction and thus saving both time and transportation costs.
• Use outsourced cheap labour for tax season and still being able to keep a tab on the quality of work done or the progress of the tax preparation process through real time collaboration.

Drake Tax application hosting and financial data security

Remote data backup is more secure than the local back up as:

• Data is stored in multiple locations automatically on a daily basis in case of remote backup which may not be possible in case of locally backed data due to unavailability of technical professionals.
• Monitoring of the local network for security threats may involve dedicated IT professionals and thus involving recurring costs which can be easily possible and in more comprehensive ways in a hosted environment.

Multiple Applications hosting in an integrated manner with Drake Tax software

Drake tax software not only comes with most comprehensive list of Add-ons bust is also easily integrated with many other applications in comprehensive manner for easy import and export of data to enable financial consultants to offer diverse solution to their clients and thereby increasing business profitability. Drake tax software can be integrated with accounting software such as QuickBooks and Peachtree as well as CRM software such as ACT! By sage.

Source by williamsmith