BA325 - Chapter 12

utility computing

A form of cloud computing where a firm develops its own software, and then runs it over the Internet on a service provider's computers.

software as a service (SaaS)

A form of cloud computing where a firm subscribes to a third-party software and receives a service that is delivered online.

server farm

A massive network of computer servers running software to coordinate their collective use. Server farms provide the infrastructure backbone to SaaS and hardware cloud efforts, as well as many large-scale Internet services.

service level agreement (SLA)

A negotiated agreement between the customer and the vendor. The SLA may specify the levels of availability, serviceability, performance, operation, or other commitment requirements.

virtualization

A type of software that allows a single computer (or cluster of connected computers) to function as if it were several different computers, each running its own operating system and software. Virtualization software underpins most cloud computing efforts, and can make computing more efficient, cost-effective, and scalable

scalability

Ability to either handle increasing workloads or to be easily expanded to manage workload increases. In a software context, systems that aren't scalable often require significant rewrites or the purchase or development of entirely new systems.

total cost of ownership (TCO)

All of the costs associated with the design, development, testing, implementation, documentation, training and maintenance of a software system.

security-focused

Also known as "hardened." Term used to describe technology products that contain particularly strong security features.

LAMP

An acronym standing for (L)inux, the (A)pache Web server software, the (M)ySQL database, and any of several programming languages that start with (P) (e.g., Perl, Python, or PHP).

linux

An open source software operating system.

Which of the following is true about cloud computing?

Cloud firms are often located in warehouse-style buildings designed for computers, not people.

Employees, at their own initiative, can go to SocialText or Google Sites and set up a wiki, WordPress to start blogging, or subscribe to a SaaS offering like SalesForce.com, all without corporate oversight and approval. This _____ of technology is one of the challenges associated with the adoption of SaaS models.

Consumerization

cloudbursting

Describes the use of cloud computing to provide excess capacity during periods of spiking demand. Cloudbursting is a scalability solution that is usually provided as an overflow service, kicking in as needed.

Which of the following was considered a contributor to vulnerabilities in the OpenSSL security product, known as the Heartbleed bug:

Few developers were working on the project, so the ideal that "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" wasn't met with OpenSSL.

Technology products with particularly strong security features are said to be:

Hardened

Which of the following is true of software as a service (SaaS)?

It refers to software that is made available by a third-party online.

The _____ of open source products is used to power many of the Internet's most popular Web sites.

LAMP stack

Which of the following sets of software represents the constituents of the LAMP stack?

Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl

Which of the following is one of the benefits enjoyed by SaaS vendors?

Lower distribution costs

Which of the following was an outdated notion regarding open source software and has been shown to be inaccurate?

Open source is fueled on the contributions of loners tooling away for the glory of contributing to better code.

_____ refers to software that is free and that anyone can look at and potentially modify the code.

Open source software

Cloud vendors that host hardware, operating system, database, and other software, which clients can then use to build their own applications, are said to be providing:

Platform as a service

Which of the following refers to a variant of utility computing where vendors provide the operating system and supporting software like database management systems but where client firms write their own code?

Platform as a service

private clouds

Pools of computing resources that reside inside an organization and that can be served up for specific tasks as need arrives.

cloud computing

Replacing computing resources—either an organization's or individual's hardware or software—with services provided over the Internet

_____ is a language used to create and manipulate databases.

SQL

Which of the following is one of the sources of revenue for open source vendors?

Selling support and consulting services

_____ refers to a form of cloud computing where a firm subscribes to third-party software and receives a service that is delivered online.

Software as a service

open source software (OSS)

Software that is free and where anyone can look at and potentially modify the code.

vertical niches

Sometimes referred to as vertical markets. Products and services designed to target a specific industry (e.g., pharmaceutical, legal, apparel retail).

Which of the following statements relating to open source software is true?

The flagship OSS product is the Linux operating system, now available on all scales of computing devices.

All of the costs associated with the design, development, testing, implementation, documentation, training and maintenance of a software system are collectively termed as:

Total cost ownership

black swans

Unpredicted, but highly impactful events. Scalable computing resources can help a firm deal with spiking impact from Black Swan events. The phrase entered the managerial lexicon from the 2007 book of the same name by Nassim Taleb.

Products and services designed to target a specific industry are known as _____.

Vertical niches

virtual desktop

When a firm runs an instance of a PC's software on another machine and simply delivers the image of what's executing to the remote device. Using virtualization, a single server can run dozens of PCs, simplifying backup, upgrade, security, and administration.

infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

Where cloud providers offer services that include running the remote hardware and networking (i.e., the infrastructure), but client firms can choose software used (which may include operating systems, programming languages, databases, and other software packages).

platform as a service (PaaS)

Where cloud providers offer services that include the hardware, operating system, tools, and hosting (i.e., the platform) that its customers use to build their own applications on the provider's infrastructure. In this scenario the cloud firm usually manages the platform (hosting, hardware, and supporting software), while the client has control over the creation and deployment of their application.

n00b

Written with two zeros, pronounced "newb." Geek-slang (leet speak) derogatory term for an uninformed or unskilled person.

The scalability of a software product is defined as the:

ability to be easily expanded to manage workload increases.

_____ is a term used to describe unpredictable, but highly impactful events.

black swans

One of the risks associated with SaaS is the:

dependence on a single vendor.

Consumerization of corporate technology stifles employee creativity.

false

Firms that adopt software as a service actually buy a system's software and hardware, so these systems become a fixed operating expense.

false

For large enterprises, the cost to license, install, and configure products like ERP and CRM systems are usually a one-time fee running into approximately one million dollars.

false

For organizations with high-volume, low-maintenance systems, it makes sense to rent hardware clouds rather than buying their own systems.

false

Hardware clouds are pools of computing resources that reside inside an organization and that can be served up for specific tasks as need arises.

false

Linux is one of the most used operating systems in desktop computers, but can be found only in a tiny fraction of mobile phones, and consumer electronics.

false

Migrating from a commercial product to MySQL's open source alternative is relatively complex, as most commercial database products are based on diverse standards and the switching costs are rather high.

false

One area where open source software contributions have been virtually non-existent is in tools to support the massive file systems used in so-called Big Data projects.

false

One of the drawbacks of open source software is that it cannot be easily migrated to more powerful computers as circumstances dictate.

false

SaaS and the utility computing style efforts differ widely in terms of the benefits and risks they offer.

false

SaaS offerings usually work well when the bulk of computing happens at the client end of a distributed system.

false

With the advent of cloud computing and SaaS, smaller firms no longer have access to the kinds of sophisticated computing power they had access to in the past.

false

_____ is a cloud computing model in which a service provider makes computing resources such as hardware and storage, along with infrastructure management, available to a customer on an as-needed basis.

hardware cloud

Open source software products often have fewer bugs than their commercial counterparts because of the:

large number of people who have looked at the code.

_____ is the flagship open source product.

linux

The cost of producing an additional unit of a product is known as its:

marginal cost

Less popular open source products are not likely to attract the community of users and contributors necessary to help improve these products over time. This situation reiterates the belief that _____ are a key to success.

network effects

Installing a complex set of an organization's legacy systems on third-party hardware can be a brutal challenge. For that reason we can expect most cloud computing efforts to focus on:

new software development projects.

_____ refer to pools of computing resources that reside inside an organization and that can be served up for specific tasks as need arrives.

private clouds

Cloud computing refers to:

replacing computing resources with services provided over the Internet.

Which of the following is one of the characteristics of using software as a service model?

scalable systems

Vendors frequently sign _____ with their customers to ensure a guaranteed uptime and define their ability to meet demand spikes.

service level agreements

marginal cost

the cost of producing one more unit of a good

The software business is extremely profitable compared to the hardware business because:

the marginal cost to produce an additional copy of a software product is effectively zero.

Migrating from commercial database products to MySQL's open source alternative is relatively easy because:

they are based on the same standard.

Vendors who use open source as part of their product offerings can expect to bring new products to the market faster because:

they can skip whole segments of the software development process.

The LAMP stack of open source products is used:

to power many of the Internet's most popular Web sites.

Conventional software firms treat their intellectual property as closely guarded secrets and almost never provide the source code for their commercial software products.

true

Firms pay for the otherwise free MySQL software for the right to incorporate MySQL's code into their own products.

true

Firms using SaaS products can dramatically lower several costs associated with the care and feeding of their information systems.

true

Just about every type of commercial product has an open source equivalent.

true

Many SaaS vendors have improved system customization options and integration with standard software packages.

true

Scalability allows a firm to scale from start-up to blue chip without having to significantly rewrite its code.

true

Some of the SaaS firms are backed by leading enterprise software executives such as founders of Oracle and Peoplesoft.

true

Some of the largest technology companies now support open source software initiatives.

true

The marginal cost to produce an additional copy of a software product is effectively zero.

true

While large groups of individuals work on key OSS projects, such as the Linux operating system, some widely used efforts have had fewer developers, creating concerns over quality and security.

true

Oracle, a firm that sells commercial ERP and database products, provides Linux for free, selling high-margin Linux support contracts for as much as five hundred thousand dollars. Oracle's motivation for this lies in:

using open source software to wean customers away from competitors.

Cloud computing is not suited for situations:

where complex legacy systems have to be ported.