Cloud Computing
Cloud?
How do computers and mobile devices use clouds to compute? Clouds float in the skies, and computers live on land. How the hell does this work?
Many IT solutions today include the word “cloud” in their offering, and they say you can now use the cloud for your business. Perplexed? To understand, let us revisit the digital world and explore…
Applications, Databases, Servers, Clients, and the Internet
Trillions and Trillions of all kinds of information, now technically termed “DATA” in our global world, are digitally written by SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS and reliably stored in digital files called DATABASES.
There are other digital file storage formats, such as Excel, JPEG, PNG, Docs, etc., but the most valuable, powerful, and versatile of all is the DATABASE.
Databases live inside IT hardware devices called SERVERS or in SERVER FARMS, also called DATA CENTERS, which are qualitatively and solidly designed to withstand or recover from earthquakes, floods, typhoons, power failures, nuclear attacks, and all other possible calamities that may happen.
Data Centers are usually located in very reliable locations, use very reliable security software, and are run by very reliable technicians. After all, the first generation of data centers were the underutilized server farms of the US Defense Department and NASA’s Data Centers.
The new-generation server farms have become super reliable, much faster, and are mirrored and replicated all over the globe.
CLIENTS are the SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS in our workstation PC’s, tablets, smartphones, and millions of other digital devices connected to these databases/servers anywhere in the world. Clients push and pull data to/from database servers via networked infrastructure such as wired and wireless Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), and the globally connected INTERNET infrastructure.
The Internet
The INTERNET is one of the biggest game-changers of all time.
By laying out undersea cables that are globally connected, continent to continent, enabling satellites to transmit data, and inventing the global IP Protocol numbering system, the world’s digital information databases/servers from anywhere on the globe became accessible by their client devices in real time.
SMART PHONES, small PC clients in essence, are now staple human tools for working, playing, transacting, and communicating from anywhere and anytime, and their use has become a subconscious human routine.
Suddenly, we are all globally connected. The world is flat again.
Business Servers, Software Licenses, SAAS, Cloud, Hybrid Cloud
Let’s look at the business enterprise.
For years, the de facto practice of selling enterprise-class integrated business software, ERP Software, has been via an Application Software License with the necessary on-premises server Installation, Configuration, user implementation Training, and Annual Technical Support.
The PURCHASE OF THE PHYSICAL HARDWARE SERVER deployed and maintained in the premises of the business is a must. This is investing big in IT assets for the long run.
Customers must purchase the Application software license, the physical Server, and other Network appliances/devices. Technical Staff is necessary to maintain and support the active system.
The introduction of the INTERNET triggered an avalanche of software innovations and new business offerings that shook the now easily reachable global business world.
Leading software makers offered a new viable alternative – RENT the software instead.
Software as a Service (SAAS) became the official term for this type of offering. They built their own or leased huge tracks of SERVER FARMS and offered virtual server spaces for lease with their “new cloud-enabled, Internet-efficient” software applications to the world.
They can now house thousands of database instances, allowing them to be securely connected efficiently with minimal resources.
The SAAS provider’s overall logistical cost to deploy is lower than the software license offering, thus allowing them to offer a lower startup deployment cost with a minimal lock-in contract with the customer.
In this case, the use of the Application Software is billed and treated as a continued monthly rental expense instead.
Full adaptation to the software is usually required. The drawback is that you DO NOT get to own the application software License at all, and software customization is very limited and costly.
Still, many in the global business world embraced this arrangement, and some did not.
Those with central legacy applications/database servers on premise and those wary about the security in cloud data centers have not migrated to the cloud.
Some cost/benefit analysis is called for here because there are many factors to consider, and a good IT consultant’s guidance is advised.
What is the Cloud?
The term CLOUD became the buzzword for anything that runs on Server Farms or Data Centers and is accessible from anywhere via the Internet.
If you ask me where your server is, I will point to the clouds above and answer you, “Just up there,” where “connectivity, reliability, and access speed” are assured 99% of the time, as guaranteed by cloud providers themselves.
That’s how robust the cloud is today.
The Hybrid Cloud Option
You can also use the “CLOUD” in various ways, too, the hybrid way.
You can lease your own cloud server instance “space only” directly and do anything with it—install your own OS and apps, make it your backup file server and email server, and administer it yourself.
You can even deploy your cloud-enabled licensed software in the cloud server instance, administer it yourself if you are skilled enough, or outsource the server administration to a third party.
In essence, it is a high-end PC Server unit, physical or virtual, located securely somewhere that does not matter to the business anymore.
Software Application Architecture Factor
Data pushed and pulled across this unprecedented “client/cloud server/databases via the global Internet network platform” must always be efficiently done with a minimal bandwidth footprint, and this is realized through proper re-designing of software applications to be web-enabled or cloud-architected.
The original reliable Client/Server architecture of the 1990s allowed spoiled, excessive-bandwidth users within local area networks (LANs). Still, it crawls or freezes to a halt when forced to run over “low-bandwidth” Internet networks.
Everyone in the software industry had to rewrite and re-architect their software design and use new software tools and protocols to run acceptably fast in this new Internet-inspired Digital Cloud environment.
The Security Factor
The INTEGRITY of the whole new environment has to be protected and maintained to be sustainable.
The software design processes must always incorporate SECURITY AND DATA PROTECTION.
DATABASES must be “vacuum sealed” so that only authorized users can access them, write to them, edit them, view them, or even delete them.
The SERVER OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE must also be configured to restrict access to the server resources to the qualified server administrator only and must always be updated with the latest anti-virus and anti-malware software protection, including all connected client device operating system software.
The authorized SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS should be the only ones allowed to access the database via some built-in configurable User Login/ Authentication and User Access Rights Definition defined by the designated database administrator.
The NETWORK LOOP, where data traverses from application, to Internet-cloud, to server and vice versa, must be fully contained and always protected from external injection and diversion.
Best practices policies for securing the network, port management, regular data backup, failure prevention/data recovery plans, etc., must be in place.
Today, the future of security is still evolving, and it seems to be evolving towards the newly “perceived more secure” third ledger principle called CRYPTOCURRENCY or BITCOIN technologies.
Business Process Factor
Over the years, the continuous use of new software tools in the workplace has positively changed and improved how work (the business processes) is done.
The overall flow of work of a particular business process is either reduced or totally eliminated because a new software tool, such as business application software, takes over that human work when deployed.
The transformation results in less work, fewer people, shorter business processes, and a streamlined workplace, making businesses more stress-free, efficient, and competitive.
Plus, the important benefit of TRANSPARENT “SYSTEM GENERATED” INFORMATION—a new powerful decision-making tool for business management.
Managers can see what’s going on with the business in real time.
They are able to read, analyze, foresee, anticipate, and make more sound business decisions based on this “get it anytime” system-generated information.
Technically speaking, applications are written so that databases can communicate with each other to provide whatever business information is needed.
These systems have grown more intelligent over time.
Today, there are software tools that mine huge databases and other data sources to create easy-to-understand graphical views like DASHBOARDS, for example.
These tools are called BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE (BI TOOLS), a higher realm of analytical software discipline.
President Trump’s election team mined Facebook data to predict voter issues/preferences and designed their campaign messages around it to get more votes.
Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (AI & IoT)
New software applications have also become so good, sophisticated, and intelligent.
There are new application software tools that help huge databases remember all the previous queries, historical data, match with current data, do their own statistical probability analysis, select the next most probable query or answer, then DECIDE (give feedback) very fast on their own with no human intervention.
We are now in the dawn of this new age of AI – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
Applications like ALEXA, SIRI, GRAB, WAZE, QOURA, CHATGPT, and many others are the first wave of AI Application software. All these are in the cloud.
Today, many small gadgets, electronic devices, factory machines, equipment, and many more have also become SMART CLIENTS that run on AI-type software over faster 4G and the upcoming 5G INTERNET.
Billions are now being invested in building AI enabled SMART CITIES, the cities of the future.
Interestingly, so many small electronic devices and things are also getting quiet intelligent that there is now another new realm of technology called IoT—the Internet of Things and AI.
Welcome to the dawn of the 21st-century Digital Age. Are you living it?
MAJ
📩 Email: mike.jurado@primesoft.ph