The distinction between Virtualization and Cloud Computing is crucial and necessary for business. For many companies and professionals both are the same. Although Cloud computing uses virtualization, virtualization and cloud computing are not the same thing. They treat IT challenges in various sizes and operated at different scopes with different levels of impact on a business.

Some quick comparisons between virtualization and cloud computing solutions:

Virtualization is technical, Cloud Computing is business
Virtualization is for technical IT, Cloud Computing is for all
Virtualization is not governed, Cloud Computing is governed

Virtualization

Virtualization isolates computing resources, thus offering an opportunity to change and consolidate the isolated resources to better use and greater efficiency.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the ability to make resources available on demand. Cloud computing is “service” and “service” is about the availability and responsiveness to market opportunities that are relevant.

Cloud Computing consists of the following:

Self-Service on Demand : If someone wants to access your cloud resources, they must be available, no matter what that means. The client company must be able to access (and change the access to) resources in the cloud without interacting with anyone.

Extensive Network Access : Above all, the most vital feature of cloud computing is the fact What is network based and accessible from anywhere, from any standardized platform (ie, desktop computers, mobile devices, etc..).

Public Cloud: Various customers may be using the same set of resources, at the same time.

Quick Elasticity : The purpose of sharing resources is to avoid the capital expenditure required for the creation of the network and computing infrastructure. The reason why these costs are so high is because companies must respond to peaks in demand for their services. By outsourcing to a cloud, the demand becomes “damped” by the size of the cloud provider and computing capability. The risk of failures and service interruptions is significantly reduced.

Service Measured : The cloud provider should essentially act as an electric utility, measuring the amount of service provided and reacting accordingly (both in terms of customer billing, and upgrading hardware and software, as appropriate).

When we hear the term “Cloud Computing” we make an immediate association with the concept of public cloud-based IaaS. Of course it is still a market that is not mature and could not be, because it is still very young, but this maturation process is accelerating fast. Consolidation goes up more when companies like ESDS also launched its cloud, which is called eNlight.

Let’s remember that a cloud is basically the combination of virtualization + standardization + automation, which allows portals to offer self-service access to users. IaaS model provides virtual servers and their operating systems. From there the responsibility of content, such as middleware and applications continues with the company that hires the cloud. It is the responsibility of the provider. Therefore, IaaS is a service that is quite different from PaaS and SaaS. They cannot and should not be considered as similar services. Ie, a cloud is not equal to another cloud …

Use of public cloud gradually become common, but still found some fears and even misinformation circulating in the market. Many people think that a public cloud is to be used only for middle peripheral things like web sites and applications that are not critical to businesses. But now we see many businesses based entirely on public clouds. And there are businesses that depend on IT to function. Demonstrate in practice that a public cloud is reliable. Small to midsize naturally tend to put their data centers into public clouds, not only for cost reasons, but for their own business need. Why spend scarce resources such as time and money maintaining servers indoors if there is another better option?

In fact, a public cloud can provide a level of security and availability that is much greater than that is offered in many of today’s data centers for small and medium businesses.

What begins to change? Adopting a public cloud IaaS is no longer a technical discussion to be a strategic decision for businesses. But to climb the ranks of decisions, the choice of cloud provider becomes something more complex. Moreover, the company’s IT governance remains with the company. Not completely outsourced!

IaaS model tends to gradually become commoditized, because the offerings, with the maturing of the market, tend to become quite similar in terms of security, availability, performance and support. A simplistic analogy is with the PC market, where we see virtually no significant differences between the various PCs AVAILABLE market.

But today, with the market still maturing, there are offers from several providers that are different and therefore the choice of cloud provider cannot be made lightly.

What to check when reviewing providers? First, if you are putting your business in the cloud, it is important that the provider has one or more data centers that are suitable to your requirements security, availability, performance and support. At first glance all offer, but when looking more deeply, we see that the location of a data center provider may not be the most appropriate in terms of ensuring safety and access at critical moments. Also the question of the support. Requires a good support crew which is trained and efficient. It costs money to maintain. Furthermore, the cloud has to have technology tools that ensure the excellence in the automation of the operation. And, of course, to support the growth of its customer base, without affecting the existing ones need to be able to scalability. Again come into play the expertise and capital requirements.

Well, let’s list some requirements that must be considered when analyzing potential providers of public clouds:

Availability and SLA (Service Level Agreement): What level of availability offered? When we analyze it in more detail, the application portfolio of a company, it is observed that most of them are not strategic or critical, with a profile of data that is not sensitive in terms of security. We also observed that most of these applications can operate in an environment of less than 95% availability. However, these applications can be moved to the public cloud without major scares. But what if the applications need 99.9% uptime? The provider offers this level of availability?

Statement of Prices: The cost of computing time tends to be much cheaper, but look carefully at the costs of storage and communications. See also the level of flexibility of pricing policy. Per hour? Per day? Monthly contracts? Check the additional capacity that you initially requested.

In a IaaS public cloud, you are still responsible for the governance of their IT, but look what the provider can offer in terms of additional services such as backup, performance monitoring tools, capacity planning, etc.. Are these tools available for you to analyze the performance of your virtual servers?

What are the security features implemented by the provider? For example, do they have defense against attacks like DoS (Denial of Service)? Is the provider compliant with certifications such as PCI, SAS 70, SSAE 16, ISO 27001 and FISMA, just to name the most common?

Is the data center located within India? If not, which laws will it be subject to? In case of any audit and forensic investigation, do you have access to your data?

What is the background of the provider in dealing with corporate clients? The market-oriented end-user and corporate are having quite different demands in support and preparation of the technical team. A provider who does not have strong roots in serving the corporate market may find it very difficult to meet the specific demands of its customers.

Support: How is the support? 24 x7? Via email, phone or chat? What is the pricing for different levels of support?

Billing: Is the invoice easy to understand and not comprehensive enough to generate questions?

Contract: What are the contractual guarantees? How is the termination? Are there facilities for you to migrate to another provider? What and how much they cost? Is there any guarantee that the data is erased after closing the contract? Also note that in most companies the audit requires a contract, unlike a cloud for personal use where with a simple credit card you open an account and get virtual servers.

Is the provider is financially stable? Is able to afford to invest and monitor the market and cloud technology? Is able to expand its capacity?

What is the strategy of the cloud provider? How important is it for business?

There is an ecosystem around provider, offering applications, education and advice that can help you make better use of cloud computing?

As we see there are several requirements that must be analyzed. Talk to sales representatives of the provider, visit the data center, connect to other clients and see the degree of satisfaction. And do not forget that IT governance is still with you. So, review the software licenses you have and validate them with respect to its use in the cloud. Keep a team that interacts with your ISP to troubleshoot and maintain SLA that suits your needs. And focus on your business, leaving the task of managing servers and their operating systems.

Welcome to the clouds!

The decision on where to store files, photos, music and videos is always personal. This may seem an obvious statement (and also a decision), but it is not.

Having everything on hand, as well as on a hard drive? Play all services in the “cloud computing“ ? You cannot say that one way is better than another (even because, in the end, everything will be on a HD, right? Whether your or third parties). How can we point out the differences between each model?

Let’s start by physical storage, “at home”. It has a price. The investment to be made depends on how many people will need the space, if more than one user, or how much space you need to store your digital files. An external hard drive with good capacity may be sufficient, but you may need a server or a NAS. And the value of each of these devices is quite different.

Physical storage can be the choice for those who do not have “100% confidence” in third party services or afraid to let their information be administered by others. The responsibility is entirely on the data user, as well as maintaining backup and recovery systems of such data. It is also good to remember to keep the hard drives out of the sun light or excessive heat, do not get it wet, do not drop it on the floor and care about other basic manipulation.

Advantages of guaranteed privacy (especially if you keep it in a safe place and adopt tools protection such as passwords and encryption, for example) and speed in accessing data, both for download as upload, thanks to the USB interface.

Another positive thing is – if an external disk is enough – it can be taken with your files and you can access them at meetings, travel and dinners at the homes of friends without using the internet or anyone typing your password in a browser obviously. Or without the risk of losing USB sticks along the way.

Storage in the cloud is usually much cheaper, but not free. Some of the services simplify – a lot of – the lives of users of certain products, such as iCloud, Apple, just to name one example.

It is much easier to share files with others or access data from anywhere in the world that has a high-speed connection with Internet, regardless of operating system used. The cloud works 24 × 7. But you will totally depend on this connection.

If it is slow, or is saturated with users, you will not be able to load a simple picture, hear a song or tinker with an important presentation (plain text files are not usually the problem).

Interruptions in global networks, problems with satellites, solar flares and other factors can also interrupt Internet availability – and with it, access to your stuff.

At places, like here in India, where there is discrepancy between the download and upload speeds, may account for a few hours of your time to post a video in high definition or send it to someone.

Additional advantages of the cloud, requires no purchase or installation of equipment, or even care about the environment; comes with its own systems, backup and recovery, and the user need not think about it, the upgrade of software services is automatic and transparent to the user, in most cases.

Generally, your data is being well looked after by provider of cloud services. You just need to be aware of the movements of the market and the company, to find out, at what time you need to migrate your files to another service (as it happened with Flickr users, for example).

If you search advice about which model to adopt, the answer must come from yourself. What are your needs? If you ask someone who adopts the motto “safe than sorry”, his answer would probably be: adopt a hybrid model. A little local storage and a bit of cloud storage does not hurt anyone – and always worth remembering that no matter how “cloud service” is used.

Crawling five years ago, Cloud Computing is one of the most discussed topics in IT today. The number of articles concerning cloud are enough to encourage and start-ups that branch.

With so many service providers and terminologies, we see infinity of possibilities, which is true.

But there are some things that Cloud Computing can do for you:

Correct Applications That Were Poorly Designed

Some people believe that with the portability of the application to the cloud will automatically correct the deficiencies in the application design, which is 50% correct, since the capacity of the platforms in the cloud have to mask the inefficiency of the application and improve and increasing its performance if it is required, but it also increases the revenue of service provider, as there will be an excess consumption of resources because of this.

Eliminating Data Storage

The IT organizations that always try to break the storage of data, processes and services may find that using cloud computing services can move them in the opposite direction.

When we use cloud services, we create storage of data, processes and services to be integrated into the legacy system. If you do proper planning before hiring a provider, it does not become a problem.

Reducing The Number Of Employees

The move to cloud computing will not reduce the number of human resources, since it is a system. We need people to maintain it and monitor it during production.

Now, with the application in the cloud you want to “kill” their legacy system, you will no doubt reduce its human resources as well as walk in the opposite direction, after all, the trend is that with the endless possibilities, you can create new systems to integrate with the cloud and thereby increase its human resources. Not decrease.

These are just a few points to be addressed when thinking about Cloud Computing. But, of course, is not a hindrance for you to forget or delay its implementation.

Professionals who have not paid attention to the concept should develop strategies for lost time.

Many IT professionals are well prepared for the continuous advancement of systems and infrastructures based on the concept of cloud computing. Although it is understandable that during the year 2011-2012 this ignorance can be a limiting factor for the career.

Many of these professionals still view cloud computing as a term of fashion and have not given much attention. For some time the concept was really fashionable, but cloud computing has entered into another level. The companies already see the model as potential leverage infrastructure and business environment to reduce costs. In addition, many have gone on virtualization, considered a key step before implementing the cloud.

For professionals who want to recover lost time, here are some suggestions for using cloud computing services to leverage the career.

1 – Focus On Education

In that case, you should start from the basics, how to understand the differences in terms of cloud infrastructure, platform and software as well as how and when to use.

2 – Create A Cloud Computing Strategy

Create a personal strategy that takes the work ahead for updates and be proactive about the next technological steps from your employer. How to create a strategy? Including studies and plans on cloud computing in every aspect of technology resources, including the thinking of business cases, road maps and budgets. It’s good to not to forget, however, political issues involving resources: the strategy must include participation from other areas of the company to reduce political risks.

3 – Encourage Experimentation

One of the most effective ways to stimulate the use of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) or platform as a service (PaaS) is to create prototypes that everyone understands the value that technology can (or cannot) bring. Extract the maximum information from these experiments to review the planning for cloud.

Storing files in the cloud is already a common practice among web users. Google, for example, allows you to save documents, pictures and other data from anywhere with an internet connection. So, start editing a Word document at home and bring it to work has become more simple: just send to a server and access it without having to walk in the company with pen drives from one side to the other.

In January, when the Megaupload was closed by U.S. authorities, many users felt hurt. Not because of the fact that copyrighted files were taken from the network, but because the service was also used to store information of legal users, much like the Google. Of a sudden, millions of documents and photos were lost when access to Megaupload was interrupted, and thus a cloud storage option was lost.

This event raised a question: how safe are the files that are stored in the cloud? Is there any guarantee that they will not be lost or if the cloud service is taken offline, as users can do to recover the holding?

For more sites and servers that can be closed, the cloud is hardly impaired. The cloud computing, as the internet, there is a system dependent on a single connection. The scenario that every cloud will disappear is practically impossible.

A single server can fail, but, according to the experts, the great cloud computing companies have plans for possible disasters. Large corporations have backup plans and disaster recovery plans in case of floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Thus, if more than one server is damaged, the files are stored on some other server as well, thus preventing users from losing their data.

Another concern is regarding the safety of the cloud. Not everyone feels confident when leaving important files with personal information stored in a place that they do not know exactly where it is, despite knowing how to access them easily. The biggest risk is not confidential data, but the possibility of losing data. If you rely on a single provider, you need evidence that they are keeping your data offline.

My recommendation is to make a second copy of your files elsewhere. It’s a good idea to save the data on your own computer, for example, to avoid losing important data.

The topic cloud computing, still demands a lot of debate and conflicting opinions, it is already becoming reality. Every day we see the ecosystem built around cloud computing and to consolidate, more and more success stories are published.

I will not quote statistics and forecasts that always come from industry analysts, who provide these stats and estimates agree with each other in numbers.

The three layers of cloud, IaaS, PaaS and SaaS can be viewed as a hierarchy, where the lower layer has IaaS, above it we have the top SaaS and PaaS. The upper layers are built upon the layers below. The benefits obtained are directly related to the layer. That is, the higher the layer, the greater the potential benefits. IaaS can be considered as the commoditized layer, as it basically provides a virtual infrastructure, the users are abstracting the physical equipment. But offers no content. SaaS, in turn, enables a higher level of abstraction, because the User sees only the features of the software without needing to know what technology it uses and need not even bother with version upgrades.

The most emblematic example is the force.com that lets you create applications that extend the functionality of the salesforce. We will see later PaaS is consolidating itself, with its own technologies, separate from SaaS vendors. This will happen with maturity in the use of cloud services, when companies use the SaaS PaaS coupled to identify who will be imprisoned on these platforms.

But it is indisputable that we are still learning to exploit the potential of cloud computing and we will learn much more in the coming years. The first projects have been exploratory, which is natural. What we will see this year? Clouds filled with typical workloads to be outsourced via SaaS and on-premise applications transferred to IaaS clouds. But, although limited in their impact, are paving the way for the full adoption of the model. In fact, the cycles of technological change takes take several years to mature in 2020 and probably cloud computing is commonplace. But if this will happen in 2020, the first steps should be taken now in 2012. Cloud computing is a reality now and should already be on the radar of the IT managers of all firms.

Important aspects need to be included into cloud computing strategy are diversification and Redundancy. As while transferring data on the net, it is required to extend both data and applications along with different providers. This is because in case of small business, all applications can be disturbed if any vendor locks out all these. So as a preventive measure it’s always essential to select different vendors for different data and applications, which is known as “diversification”.

As we know that to be positioned up, building redundancy is very essential for any business. Provision of a nice backup facility in any business, helps in achieving redundancy.

A domain name is always required.

As per the requirement of a domain name for branding, smart strategy includes DNS provider as an intermediary between the domain registrar and hosting provider. Such a service where DNS can be made easy, helps to cope with the DNS as well as makes a proper DNS ready in case of a failure. Thus, the DNS of a business domain can be controlled entirely by means of such a deal.

In case of locking out, either the strategy of failing over of DNS can be managed or DNS server can be changed manually. Also here, the business owner could receive emails constantly and easily by shifting the MX records to a new provider by means of a smaller TTL value of MX records and main website record, simply by ensuring a broadcasting of DNS records within very less time.

NOTE:

In the Domain Name System, a resource record specifying a mail server is called A mail exchanger record (MX record) which handles email messages on behalf of a recipient’s domain.

Routing of email by means of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is specified by the set of MX records of a domain name only.

Storage is definitely the most complicated and costly to manage for all businesses and it is clear that a cloud approach and use of sustainable infrastructure is essential to prepare for future developments and the exponential growth of data, while remaining flexible and avoiding high costs for infrastructure.

Small and medium enterprises trust again the new technologies and cloud services, but this is rapidly changing and employers must be educated about the benefits of cloud computing and security guarantee provided by these services . The false fears derived from this innovation should not preclude the possibility of saving, making your company more competitive.

From the perspective of the end user of online storage services, it is increasingly necessary to manage documents while on the move, this is evident if we think about the success of companies worldwide, with a simple application that stores data on eMagic, which has definitely revolutionized the use of cloud storage and increased the volume of private data that today can handle everything online.

Even in India, you can take advantage of cloud computing services that are very advanced, without the need to send data over the ocean, with very low cost and high reliability, missing only the confidence and awareness in the marketplace. I am thinking above all developers and small IT companies that could easily take advantage of a technical infrastructure on the cloud that can easily let it grow without too much investment in hardware, which is likely to be changed in every 2-3 years if purchased through common channels.

From photo sharing to streaming, from social networking to create applications for smartphones, there are now dozens of possible services that are being able to take advantage of a flexible storage, low-cost, high performance.

Many Indian ISPs have already prepared or are preparing to offer cloud computing services like this and it’s up to them now to offer cloud storage with more efficient and competitive services so as to remove barriers in culture which have limited use so far.

The concept of cloud computing services is growing between the departments of information technology. According to a survey, 98% of respondents said that the cloud is no longer seen as a passing fad and that the concept is here to stay. In Asia, India is an example of this growth, according to this study, the country tops the list with 20% of medium and large sized companies that already have some application in the cloud. For small, the scenario is still a little different.

According to projections, the number of adherents to the cloud applications are expected to grow between 30% and 35% in the next two years. Being a simple solution to online backup services or outsourcing, the use of cloud computing is an unavoidable reality, especially for small and medium enterprises, which may use it according to demand and pay for what they use, all with security, reduce costs and without worrying about infrastructure, web applications, web professionals and maintenance.

Thinking about it, company that specializes in cloud computing and outsourcing, has the seven main reasons for small and medium businesses that adopt cloud computing.

Possibility to hire “rent” the hardware and services:

Purchase of equipment and maintenance support teams are the expenses that small businesses cannot always maintain, despite a growing demand for hardware. By hiring this type of input as a service, these companies have a world-class infrastructure, charged according to use. This reduces the company’s fixed cost, obviates the need for constant updating of equipment with newer technology and faster access to more effective solutions.

Management globalized way from the main communication tool used by companies: e-Mail

The e-Mail is a major communication tools of any organization, and by increasing the amount of information, the tendency is to look for spaces on the Internet that offer security and availability. This option makes it easy to manage via the web, making it global, transversal, collaborative and focused on its customers and partners without the need to pay software and licenses.

Access to storage and backup technologies that previously only large companies could afford

Like e-mail, the volume and sophistication in data format, such as texts, videos and photos, the guard of the information has become a major challenge, especially for small companies. Today, there are backup services security, continuity of service e-mails and uninterrupted access to data even during periods of inactivity, assisting in security and information management, even for those who have not budged for a multinational.

To enlarge agility’s infrastructure :

The purchase of equipment can be a lengthy process, which can slow the growth of a company. Moreover, with the speed that the business grows, it is difficult to predict the demand for technology equipment while idle for several months. With the hardware as a service, organizations can have access to workstations (fixed or mobile), Switch, Router, Firewall, VPN, UTM without having to invest in the acquisition of hardware for users or local network infrastructure. The technology upgrade of equipment, such as installation and configuration of the same, and support the local microcomputer with pre-defined SLA and telephone support through tools called via the Service Desk are advantages for companies that definitely do not need to worry about the functioning of these equipment.

Access to technologies that bring intelligence and increase competitiveness:

For a small company, have access to an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP Hosting) as well as complementary solutions Management Vertical (different markets with different processes and controls) is just a wish. With the possibility of purchasing the service, they can also integrate all data and processes and bring intelligence to customer information, which improves the ability to compete with larger players.

Tax compliance, which is increasingly linked to technology to gain competitiveness:

With the creation of obligation and the issue of electronic invoices, there is a need to formalize and scan some of these processes that ensure a business environment without many frauds, more organized and much more competitive. There are solutions that enable integration with the systems of accounting, tax and budget, without any investment in technology infrastructure.

Security Guarantee:

All data generated in the cloud must have a virus protection, but the virus that circulate in our personal computers are not the same system used in cloud computing. Small and medium businesses can rely on a system that ensures the security of information stored in the cloud, beyond the low cost of deployment, the system integrates multiple scan engines and monitoring to provide comprehensive protection, increasing server performance of companies.

The small businesses have access to technologies that were previously available only to large players, provides improved ability to compete more evenly. This new scenario will allow an acceleration in technological development of the country.