PLUG IT 4

Private Clouds

(also known as internal clouds or corporate clouds) IT infrastructures that can be accessed only by a single entity or by an exclusive group of related entities that share the same purpose and requirements, such as all of the business units within a single organization. Private clouds provide IT activities and applications as a service over an intranet within an enterprise. Enterprises adopt private clouds to ensure system and data security. For this reason these systems are implemented behind the corporate firewall.

4. Local Area Networks

(client/server computing). When personal computers are networked, individual productivity is substantially increased. For this reason, organizations began to connect personal computers into local area networks (LANs) and then connect these LANs to the mainframe, a type of processing known as client/server computing.

Cloud Computing Provides On-Demand Self- Service

A customer can access needed computing resources automatically.

Cloud Computing Often Occurs on Virtualized Servers

Cloud computing providers have placed hundreds or thousands of networked servers inside massive data centers called server farms. Server farms require massive amounts of electrical power, air-conditioning, backup generators, and security. They also need to be located fairly closely to fiber-optic communications links.

2. Mainframe & Dumb Terminals

Forcing users to go to wherever the mainframe was located was time consuming and inefficient. As a result, firms began placing so-called "dumb terminals"—essentially electronic typewriters with limited processing power—in user departments. This arrangement enabled users to input computer programs into the mainframe from their departments, a process called remote job entry.

Cloud Computing Encompasses the Characteristics of Grid Computing

Grid computing pools various hardware and soft ware components to create a single IT environment with shared resources. Grid computing shares the processing resources of many geographically dispersed computers across a network.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

HTML is a page-description language for specifying how text, graphics, video, and sound are placed on a Web page document.

5. Enterprise Computing

In the early 1990s, organizations began to use networking standards to integrate different kinds of networks throughout the firm, thereby creating enterprise computing. As the Internet became widespread after 1995, organizations began using the TCP/IP networking protocol to integrate different types of networks. All types of hardware were networked, from mainframes to personal computers to smartphones. Soft ware applications and data could now flow seamlessly throughout the enterprise and between organizations.

3. Stand-alone Personal Computers

In the late 1970s, the first personal computers appeared. The IBM PC's debut in 1981 legitimized the entire personal computer market. Users began bringing personal computers to the workplace to improve their productivity—for example, by using spreadsheet and word processing applications. These computers were not initially supported by the firm's MIS department. However, as the number of personal computers increased dramatically, organizations decided to support these devices, and they established policies as to which PCs and soft ware they would support.

Cloud Computing Encompasses the Characteristics of Utility Computing

In utility computing, a service provider makes computing resources and infrastructure management available to a customer as needed. The provider then charges the customer for its specific usage rather than a flat rate. Utility computing enables companies to efficiently meet fluctuating demands for computing power by lowering the costs of owning the hardware infrastructure.

1. Stand-alone Mainframes

Organizations initially used mainframe computers in their engineering and accounting departments. The mainframe was typically housed in a secure area, and only MIS personnel had access to it.

Cloud Computing Utilizes Broad Network Access

The cloud provider's computing resources are available over a network, accessed with a Web browser, and they are configured so that they can be used with any computing device.

Service-oriented Architecture

The collection of Web services used to build a firm's IT applications. Businesses accomplish their processes by executing a series of these services.

Cloud Computing Pools Computing Resources

The provider's computing resources are available to serve multiple customers. These resources are dynamically assigned and reassigned according to customer demand.

6. Cloud Computing and Mobile Computing

Today, organizations and individuals can use the power of cloud computing. As you will see in this Plug IT In, cloud computing provides access to a shared pool of computing resources, including computers, storage, applications, and services, over a network, typically the Internet.

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

a set of rules that define how messages can be exchanged among different network systems and applications through the use of XML. These rules essentially establish a common protocol that allows different Web services to interoperate.

Cloud Computing

a type of computing that delivers convenient, on-demand, pay-as-you-go access for multiple customers to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., servers, networks, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly and easily accessed over the Internet. Cloud computing allows customers to acquire resources at any time and then delete them the instant they are no longer needed.

Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)

allows MIS professionals to search for needed Web services by creating public or private searchable directories of these services.

Web Services

applications delivered over the Internet (the cloud) that MIS professionals can select and combine through almost any device, from personal computers to mobile phones. By using a set of shared standards, or protocols, these applications permit different systems to "talk" with one another.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

cloud computing providers offer remotely accessible servers, networks, and storage capacity. They supply these resources on demand from their large resource pools, which are located in their data centers.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

cloud computing vendors provide software that is specific to their customers' requirements. SaaS is the most widely utilized service model, and it provides a broad range of software applications. SaaS providers typically charge their customers a monthly or yearly subscription fee. SaaS applications reside in the cloud instead of on a user's hard drive or in a data center.

Vertical Clouds

cloud infrastructure and applications built for different businesses—the construction, finance, or insurance businesses, for example—thus building vertical clouds.

Hybrid Clouds

composed of public and private clouds that remain unique entities, but are nevertheless tightly integrated. This arrangement offers users the benefits of multiple deployment models. Hybrid clouds deliver services based on security requirements, the mission-critical nature of the applications, and other company-established policies.

Web Services Description Language (WSDL)

creates the XML document describing the tasks performed by the various Web services. Tools such as VisualStudio.Net automate the process of accessing the WSDL, reading it, and coding the application to reference the specific Web service.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

customers rent servers, operating systems, storage, a database, software development technologies such as Java and .NET, and network capacity over the Internet. The PaaS model allows the customer both to run existing applications and to develop and test new applications.

Hypertext Markup Language 5 (HTML5)

enables users to embed images, audio, and video directly into a document without the use of add-ons (Adobe Flash Player). HTML5 also makes it easier for Web pages to function across different display devices, including mobile devices and desktops.

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

is a computer language that makes it easier to exchange data among a variety of applications and to validate and interpret these data.

Public Clouds

shared, easily accessible, multi-customer IT infrastructures that are available nonexclusively to any entity in the general public (individuals, groups, and/or organizations). Public cloud vendors provide applications, storage, and other computing resources as services over the Internet.