Code And Boom !!!: Cloud Computing Seminar - The Future of IT Generation

Hey.. I want to share my great experience about Cloud Computing Seminar that was held on Saturday, 01 October 2011, placed at Tenth of November Institute of Technology Surabaya (ITS Surabaya).The keynote speakers are Norman Sasono (Architect Advisor of Microsoft) and Joddy Hernady (EGM of Telkom's Multimedia Division). They are very inspiring people. They give a great understanding of Cloud Computing and its future in Indonesia. I will share with you all.. Enjoy it.. ^_^

Cloud Computing is the next generation of Information Technology (IT). Previously, if we want to build a business that using IT, we need a great amount of resources for the database, operating system, applications, technician, etc. IT has become an expensive thing to some business, especially for Mid or Low level Business. Now, that problem has been solved. There are some company that provide a services using the internet, to share resources for the other companies and maintain it so the companies that using it won't be confused because of the IT resources problem. That's the one of some reasons that make Cloud Computing will become a very important thing in the future.

So what is the Cloud Computing ? Cloud Computing is the next generation of IT that makes computing as a services, not a product, and is available through a network, in this case the internet.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_computing.svg

I will give you the comparison between the three Computing Generation (two generations that were previously used and the cloud computing).

- Application runs on-premis :

This is the traditional generation of computer that are still used by some companies. If we want to have an IT solution for our business, we must create our own Data Center, maintain it, and upgrading it when there are more needs. This is very inefficient solution. We must have a much fund at first. When there are more needs, we can't easily upgrading our resources and when there are less needs, we can't easily throw away our resources. It's like we buy a new car, maintain it and make sure it will ready everytime. We must It was really troublesome.

- Application runs at a hoster :

This is the better approach for computing generation that are still used by many companies. We rent some resources for a period of time on a hoster. But there are still some problems. We must define our needs before rent the resources. We rent it based on our needs at that period of time. If there were a massive access from our user, we can't increase our resources drastically and if there are only a little access from our user, we can't decrease our resources drastically so we must pay for a resource that we aren't need. It's like we rent a car for a week. We must pay it for a week, even we won't need it for a real one week (24 x 7 hours). It's really inefficient for us.

- Application runs using cloud platform :

This is the great solution that will be the most used in the future. We use a services from the internet to rent a resources and pay only for what we use.In Azure (Microsoft Solution for a Cloud Computing), we can drastically change the resources that we will use, and in that second, the resources space that we rent will be changed immediately. It's like we use a taxi. We really pay for what we used and it's very flexible. We also don't need to be worried about the security, high availability, maintenance and others aspect. The great Cloud Service Provider will give you a really trustworthy assurance. They have many data center around the world for high availability solution. They have many skilled technician for maintain our resources and they have a great security system. Azure is the example of a great Cloud Provider from Microsoft.. The others are Amazon, Google, etc.

By its privacy scope, There are two types of Cloud Computing solution :

- Private Cloud

This is the services that mostly used by a big companies, especially the Multi National Companies, that want a private resources. The Data Center is built at the main company and the subsidiary accessing it from a network (internet or private network).

- Public Cloud

This is a services that is provided by a Cloud Provider, such as Azure (Microsoft) and Amazon, and is available for the general public over the internet.

By its usability, there are three types of Cloud Computing :

- IAAS (Infrastructure as a Service)

It is the services for a company that want to outsources its IT infrastructure, such as storage, hardware, servers, and networking, to the Cloud Providers. We rent a resources space of their Data Center. The main advantage is, the company don't need to worry about their infrastructure because the Cloud Provider will maintain it with professional technician. The companies that provide IAAS are Microsoft, Amazon, and many more.

- PAAS (Platform as a Service)

It's the services for us to rent a computing resources (Virtual Computer) such as operating system, hardware and also networking capacity. We don't need to confused when any components of our platform need to be upgraded. We can easily change our setting to use the newer version of our components. The companies that provide PAAS are Microsoft, Google, Amazon and many more..

- SAAS (Software as a Service)

It's the services, especially for end user to use a software that is available through the internet. Unconsciously, we have used this for a long time. Gmail, Yahoo mail and hotmail is the example of SAAS. The others are salesforce.com, google docs, Office 365 (Microsoft) and many more..

source : http://cioresearchcenter.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/UnderstandingCloudComputing-e1291188677368.jpg

A Cloud Provider that provides Cloud Computing Solution, must apply five main characteristic of Cloud Generation. They are (based on http://www.zdnet.com/news/the-five-defining-characteristics-of-cloud-computing/287001) :

Dynamic Computer Infrastructure (Flexible)
IT service-centric approach
Self-service based usage model
Minimally or self-managed platform
Consumption-based billing (Pay what you used)

In the future, the data growth will increase massively.. There will be an explosion of data. Cloud Computing is the great solution for that problem. So, please welcome for the next generation of the Computing Style... The Cloud Computing... ^_^

Hopefully this post will give you a good understanding of Cloud Computing. If you have more question, please let me know.. Regardsss...!!! ^_^