Cloud Computing Opportunities and Challenges

Question: Discuss about the Cloud Computing for Opportunities and Challenges. Answer: Introduction There are different types of cloud services that are present now. There are mainly two types of service providers- Locally Hosted Servers and Cloud Hosted Servers. Many companies are opting for this cloud services in order to get their work done and work more effectively. Among the cloud services, it is further divided into three types that are PaaS, SaaS and IaaS (Arora, Parashar Transforming, 2013). These three services are totally different from each other and their functions are also different and used for different purposes in an organization. The following report discusses about the cloud services and different types cloud services that are used by different organizations for different purposes. Difference between Locally Hosted Servers and Cloud Hosted Servers Cloud Hosting Servers are referred to the servers which are hosted by some third partys infrastructure often in aNOC whereas on the other hand Locally Hosted Servers are often referred where the digital signage server is hosted on the local area network. Among these two, there are certain differences. First is the Security and for this Locally Hosted Servers are considered the best as with this, the data remains safe within the infrastructure only and also the company can view who can see these data whereas on the Cloud Hosted Servers, it is managed by some third party infrastructure so the data is not that safe as in this the company has got no level of control over the data that was present in Locally hosted servers (Rittinghouse Ransome, 2016). Second is the For improved Accessibility services, Cloud Based servers are superior over the locally hosted servers as with Cloud based services, it helps in enhancing and also greatly improves the ability to reach out the data (Ryan, 2013). It is very much useful when it requires collaboration or situations which make it easy for the people to search for the data which is missing in locally based servers as it is compact within an organization (Kavis, 2014). Another big difference comes when it comes to Cost which is relatively less for the Cloud Based services rather than locally based services as with the Cloud Based Service, the company only need to contact the service providers rather than installing fully within the company which would cost even more (Sadiku, Musa Momoh, 2014). Another advantage is that with Cloud Based technology, no update is required on the part of the organization as everything is managed by the service providers whereas with locally based services, the company need to install the whole system within their infrastructure and need to revise the update whatever comes (Hashizume et al., 2013). Critical Issues and factors considered by SoftArc while moving to Web Infrastructure There are various factors that SoftArc should consider while choosing IaaS as their cloud service providers. The first and foremost thing that should be kept in consideration is Location as latency is an important factor when it comes to deal with customer satisfaction so it is very important for the company to choose a provider that a data center close to the customers so as to reduce the latency (Kavis, 2014). Another thing that should be kept in consideration is the API as choosing an infrastructure with strong API will help the company to treat the whole infrastructure as code that will allow the company to control every aspect of the cloud (Hashem et al., 2015). The next thing that should be kept in mind is the Auto-Scaling as with this the company sites will have less fluctuation in tariff. It also helps in maintaining the load balance. It should also analyze and monitor the system for any incoming traffic (Hashizume et al., 2013). And finally built-in systems should be defined where it can be possible to launch or remove additional servers. Another important aspect is the Architecture as this is very necessary as there will be communication among different servers and the traffic or packets that are travelling should be kept secure. Difference between SaaS, PaaS and IaaS IaaS is comprised of automated and scalable computer resources provided with cloud storage and network capability which can be self provisioned and is available on demand. IaaS providers offer these services via API with the help of associated resources. These clients have direct access to these servers and storage (Hashem et al., 2015). Users who are in touch with IaaS can build a separate virtual data center within the cloud. IaaS provides the most flexible cloud computing features which include the automated deployment of servers, processing power, storage and networking (Almorsy, Grundy Mller, 2016). The users have full control over the infrastructure which is not included in PaaS or SaaS. The main purpose of IaaS is that it is used for the actual deployment of PaaS, SaaS and web scale applications. SaaS is very similar to the old thin client model of software where the web browsers provide the access to the servers which are running on servers. SaaS is the most common form of cloud services that are available to the consumers (Erl, Cope Naserpour, 2015). It moves all the managing software and its deployment to some other third part services. SaaS is intended to reduce the cost of software by cutting all the technical staff that includes installation, managing and upgrading of the software also it reduces the cost of licensing software (Arora, Parashar Transforming, 2013). SaaS is mainly used for the Customer Relationship Management applications Google Apps, Dropbox and Box. Functioning of PaaS is quite less than SaaS and is mainly used for the software development and deployment. PaaS providers mainly deal with the server side and provide the clients an environment where OS and server software and the network infrastructure are taken into consideration. PaaS helps in virtualization technology and helps in scaling the demand as it grows (Dinh et al., 2013). Examples of PaaS are Heroki, Red Hats OpenShift and Google App Engine. Cloud Service used by SharePoint The most appropriate cloud services that can be used by SharePoint can be both SaaS and PaaS. SharePoint is itself a web based application and SaaS can give access to the web browsers that are running on servers. SaaS helps in managing the software and its deployment over the third party services (Erl, Cope Naserpour, 2015). SaaS also helps in reducing the cost of licensing any software. With the help of SaaS, web services can be managed easily and more securely as it is fully dedicated to make the web experience more smooth and easy to use (Almorsy, Grundy Mller, 2016). On the other hand PaaS could provide the flexibility that would allow the developers to develop applications on the SharePoint platforms which is not possible while using SaaS. Problems with the services and how to deal with them SaaS: SoftArc could face the possible problems while using SaaS. The first is that users need to get connected with the internet all the time. There is no option to work offline if the company is using SaaS. Getting internet connection is not a big deal nowadays but the companies need to be assured that the service providers from whom they are getting SaaS are providing the high speed internet in order to work (Arora, Parashar Transforming, 2013). The second come the Data Security as with cloud based technology; the data is visible to all and is not that safe as it used to be. This could mean a possible threat to the data and hackers could steal these data. To avoid this, it is better for the company to ask their service providers that they will keep their data safe (Almorsy, Grundy Mller, 2016). The third is the Data Control as many companies have got no idea how the service providers will keep their data safe. To avoid this from happening, companies should do a thorough research on these service providers. The last is the data collection which can help the company to choose their service providers where their customers are near and this will help the companies to stay close to their users and this will minimize the latency. PaaS: PaaS is very important for its ability to learn more quickly which helps the developers to develop any applications to test and run them before the final release. PaaS also ensures the businesses can leverage their data more accurately by providing them with a toolkit which helps them in creating their applications (Arora, Parashar Transforming, 2013). Conclusion From the above discussion it can concluded that cloud services have become an integral part of any organization as they help the organization to grow and work more effectively. 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