ISMG: Chapter 10: Software in Flux: Partly Cloudy and Sometimes Free
Name 7 key variables to consider when making a decision for firm software needs:
1. competitive advantage 2. security 3. legal and compliance 4. skill, expertise, and available labor 5. cost 6. time 7. vendor issues
Name 5 reasons by firms choose open source products over commercial alternatives:
1. cost 2. reliability 3. security 4. scalability 5. agility and time to market
Name 6 vendor benefits form SaaS:
1. limiting development to a single platform 2. tighter feedback loop 3. instantly deploy bug fixes and product enhancements 4. lower distribution costs 5. accessibility 6. reduced risk of software piracy
Software as a Service or SaaS firms may offer their clients several benefits including what 7 things:
1. lower costs 2. financial risk mitigation 3. faster deployment times 4. variable operating expense 5. scalable systems 6. higher quality and service levels 7. remote access and availability
Name the 2 separate categories of cloud computing:
1. software as a service - SaaS 2. platform as a service or infrastructure as a service
Open source is a ___________________billion dollar industry but it has a disproportionate impact on the trilliondollar IT market. By lowering the cost of computing, open source efforts make more computing options accessible to smaller firms. More reliable, secure computing also lowers costs for all users. OSS also diverts funds that firms would otherwise spend on fixed costs, like operating systems and databases, so that these funds can be spent on innovation or other more competitive initiatives.
62
The costs of systems operated in this manner look more like a utility bill - you only pay for the amount of processing, storage, and telecommunications used. Tech research firm Gartner has estimated that _______ percent of corporate tech spending goes toward data center maintenance. Hardware-focused cloud computing provides a way for firms to chip away at these costs.
80
Virtualization software can increase data center utilization to _________percent or more.
80
Most legacy systems CAN or CANNOT be easily migrated to the cloud, meaning most efforts will be new efforts or those launched by younger firms.
CANNOT
this is an acronym stands for the Linux operating system, the Apache web server software, the MySQL database, and either Perl, Python, or PHP; it is a stack of open sources
LAMP
________________has been very successful on mobile devices and consumer electronics, as well as on high-end server class and above computers. But it has not been as successful on the desktop. The small user base for desktop Linux makes the platform less attractive for desktop software developers. Incompatibility with Windows applications, switching costs, and other network effects-related issues all suggest that Desktop Linux has an uphill climb in more mature markets.
Linux
The flagship OSS product is the ____________ operating system created by Linus Torvalds and is now available on all scales of computing devices from cell phones to supercomputers. It is on ________________% of the servers in corporate America and supporting most web servers.
Linux 30
____________________is the dominant open source database software product. Adoption of the SQL standard eases some issues with migrating from commercial products to MySQL. It stands for the structured query language, a standard method for organizing and accessing data
MySQL
Many firms are trying to use ______________________ markets to drive a wedge between competitors and their customers.
OSS
this is where a firm subscribes to a third-party software-replacing service that is delivered online
SaaS
_____________________ farms require plenty of cheap land, low cost power, ultrafast fiber-optic connections, and benefit from mild climates. Sun, Microsoft, IBM, and HP have all developed rapid-deployment server farm modules that are pre configured and packed inside shipping containers.
Server
True/False - A successful manager is able to see through industry hype and weigh the benefits of a technology against its weaknesses and limitations. And there are still several major concerns surrounding SaaS.
True
True/False - Amazon, EMC, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle/Sun, Rackspace, and Salesforce.com are among firms offering platforms to run custom software projects. Some offer additional tools and services, including additional support for cloud-based software development, hosting, application integration, and backup. the common theme in all of this is leveraging computing delivered over the internet to satisfy the computing needs of both users and organizations
True
True/False - Anyone can look at the source code, change it, and even redistribute it, provided the modified software continues to remain open and free. This openness is in stark contrast to the practice of conventional software firms, who treat their intellectual property as closely guarded secrets, and who almost never provide the source code for their commercial software products.
True
True/False - Cloud computing can accelerate innovation and therefore changes the desired skills mix and job outlook for IS workers. Tech skills in data center operations, support, and maintenance may shrink as a smaller number of vendors consolidate these functions.
True
True/False - Clouds may also lower the amount of capital a firm needs to launch a business, shifting power away from venture firms in those industries that had previously needed more VC money. Clouds can shift resources out of capital spending and into profitability and innovation.
True
True/False - Firms using SaaS products can dramatically lower several costs associated with the care and feeding of their information systems, including software licenses, server hardware, system maintenance, and IT staff. Most SaaS firms earn money via a usage-based pricing model akin to a monthly subscription. Others offer free services that are supported by advertising, while others promote the sale of upgraded or premium versions for additional fees.
True
True/False - If a company relies on unique processes, procedures, or technologies that create vital, differentiating, competitive advantages, the functions probably aren't a good candidate to outsource.
True
True/False - In the pre-Linux days, nearly every major hardware manufacturer made its own, incompatible version of the Unix operating system. These fractured, incompatible markets were each so small that they had difficulty attracting third-party vendors to write application software. Now, much to Microsoft's dismay, all major hardware firms run Linux. That means there's a large, unified market that attracts software developers who might otherwise write for Windows.
True
True/False - Just about every type of commercial product has an open source equivalent. Not all open source products are contenders. Less popular open source products are not likely to attract the community of users and contributors necessary to help these products improve over time (again we see network effects are a key to success—this time in determining the quality of an OSS effort).
True
True/False - New trends in the software industry, including open source software (OSS), hardware clouds, software as a service (SaaS), and virtualization are creating challenges and opportunity across tech markets. Understanding the impact of these developments can help a manager make better technology choices and investment decisions.
True
True/False - Now more than ever, IT managers must be deeply knowledgeable about business areas, broadly aware of new technologies, and able to bridge the tech and business worlds. Similarly, any manager looking to advance his or her organization has to regularly consider the impact of new technologies.
True
True/False - Sharing development expenses in OSS has been likened to going in on a pizza together. Everyone wants a pizza with the same ingredients. With OSS, hardware firms spend less money than they would in the brutal, head-to-head competition where each once offered a "me too" operating system that was incompatible with rivals but offered little differentiation. Hardware firms now find their technical talent can be deployed in other value-added services mentioned above: developing commercial software add-ons, offering consulting services, and enhancing hardware offerings.
True
True/False - Some firms may still find TCO and pricing economics favor buying over renting—scale sometimes suggests an organization is better off keeping efforts in-house.
True
True/False - The benefits and risks of SaaS and the utility computing-style efforts are very similar, but understanding the nuances of each effort can help you figure out if and when the cloud makes sense for your organization. The evolution of cloud computing also has huge implications across the industry: from the financial future of hardware and software firms, to cost structure and innovativeness of adopting organizations, to the skill sets likely to be most valued by employers.
True
True/False - The majority of persons who work on open source projects are paid by commercially motivated employers.
True
True/False - The market for expensive, high margin, sever hardware is threatened by companies moving applications to the cloud instead of investing in hardware.
True
True/False - The most sophisticated products also make it easy for organizations to scale computing requirements across several servers. Virtualization software can lower a firm's hardware needs, save energy, and boost scalability.
True
True/False - The software business is attractive due to near-zero marginal costs and a opportunity to establish a standard - creating the competitive advantages of network effects and switching costs.
True
True/False - There are thousands of open source products available, covering nearly every software category. Many have a sophistication that rivals commercial software products.
True
True/False - Those working in an organization's information systems group must be sure to conduct regular meetings with representative groups of employees across the firm to understand their pain points and assess their changing technology needs.
True
True/False - When folks talk about cloud computing they're really talking about replacing computing resources—either an organization's or an individual's hardware or software—with services provided over the Internet. The name actually comes from the popular industry convention of drawing the Internet or other computer network as a big cloud.
True
True/False - While open source alternatives are threatening to conventional software firms, some of the largest technology companies now support OSS initiatives and work to coordinate standards, production movements, and official releases.
True
True/False - While virtualization is used to make public cloud computing happen, it can also be used in-house to create a firm's own private cloud. A number of companies, including Microsoft and Dell, have entered the growing virtualization market.
True
True/False - the user interface of web based software is less sophisticated and lacks the richness of most desktop alternatives. SaaS offerings usually work well when the bulk of computing happens at the server end of a distributed system.
True
With SaaS, security issues cant be ignored. Any time a firm allows employees to access a corporation's systems and data asset is stored off site, there is a potential risk for ________________, _____________________, _______________________, and ______________________.
abuse infiltration security legal concerns
this reason to choose OSS can be vendors who use OSS as part of product offerings may be able to skip whole segments of the software development process, allowing new products to reach the market faster.
agility and time to market
What are the two other terms used to identify SaaS?
application service provider (ASP) hosted software vendor (HSV)
Cloud computing's impact across industries is proving to be broad and significant. Clouds can lower ________________ to entry in an industry, making it easier for start-ups to launch and smaller firms to leverage the backing power of powerful technology.
barriers
When a technology term becomes fashionable, the industry hype machine shifts into overdrive. The technology attracts press attention, customer interest, and vendor marketing teams scramble to label their products and services as part of that innovation. Recently, few tech trends have been more fashionable than _____________________________.
cloud computing
________________________ is making it more common for a firm to move software out of its own IS shop so that it is run on someone else's hardware.
cloud computing
used by managers and techies to describe computing services provided over a network; most often commercial services provided over the internet by a third party that can replace or offload tasks that would other wise run on a user or organization's existing hardware or software
cloud computing
in this, a firm's data center running at maximum capacity can seamlessly shift part of the workload to IBM's clouds with any spikes in system used metered, utility style; appealing because forecasting demand is difficult and can't account for the ultrarare, high impact events like black swans
cloudbursting
OSS also has several drawbacks and challenges that limit its appeal. These include __________________ of some products and a higher_____________________________________for some products, concern about the ability of a product's development community to provide support or product improvement, and legal and licensing concerns.
complexity TCO - total cost of ownership
SaaS systems are often accused of being less flexible than their installed software counterparts - they have limited ________________________, __________________________, and __________________________. And at times a lack of complexity can be a blessing—fewer choices can mean less training, faster start-up time, and lower costs associated with system use. But firms with unique needs may find SaaS restrictive.
configuration customization systems integration options
SaaS means a greater _________________________ of technology. Ease of adoption may lead to pockets of unauthorized IT being used throughout an organization.
consumerization
this reason to choose OSS is free alternatives to costly commercial code can be a tremendous motivator, particularly since conventional software often requires customers to pay for every copy used and to pay more for software that runs on increasingly powerful hardware
cost
_________________________________________ is at the heart of many so-called private clouds and scalable corporate data centers, as well as the sorts of public efforts described earlier. Virtualization also works on the desktop, allowing multiple operating systems (Mac OS X, Linux, Windows) to run simultaneously on the same platform.
data center virtualization software
The largest concerns involve the tremendous risk ____________________________ a firm develops with its SaaS vendor. If your SaaS vendor goes under, you're hosed. They've got all your data, and even if firms could get their data out, most organizations don't have the hardware, software, staff, or expertise to quickly absorb an abandoned function.
dependence
Potentially ________________________________ compared with installed packages software or systems developed in house
faster deployment times
_______________________________ since start-up costs are so low
financial risk mitigation
__________________________versions of OSS products often include systems that monitor the integrity of an OSS distribution, checking file size and other indicators to be sure that code has not been modified and redistributed by bad guys who have added a back door, malicious routines, or other vulnerabilities.
hardened
____________________ and _______________________ sales may drop as cloud use increases, while service revenues will increase.
hardware software
While the term utility computing was fashionable a few years back (and old timers claim it shares a lineage with terms like hosted computing or even time sharing), now most in the industry have begun referring to this as an aspect of cloud computing, often referred to as ___________________________________.
hardware clouds
While SaaS provides the software and hardware to replace an internal information system, sometimes a firm develops its own custom software but wants to pay someone else to run it for them. That's where _________________________, __________________________, and related technologies come in
hardware clouds utility computing
______________________________________through instantly available upgrades, vendor scale economies, and expertise gained across its entire client base
higher quality and service levels
__________________________ by eliminating or reducing software, hardware, maintenance and staff expenses
lower costs
The ____________, ____________, or _____________ decision may apply on a case-by-case basis that might be evaluated by firm, division, project or project component. Firm and industry dynamics may change in a way that causes firms to reassess earlier decisions, or to alter the direction of new initiatives.
make, buy, or rent
____________________________ and ___________________________ gaming present alternatives to conventional purchased video games. Firms leveraging these models potentially benefit from a host of SaaS advantages, including direct-to-consumer distribution, instant upgrades, continued revenue streams rather than one-time purchase payments, and a method for combating piracy.
microtransactions ad-supported
SaaS systems are also reliant on a _______________________________. If a firm's link to the Internet goes down, its link to its SaaS vendor is also severed. Relying on an Internet connection also means that data is transferred to and from a SaaS firm at Internet speeds, rather the potentially higher speeds of a firm's internal network.
network connection
this is often described as free; can be downloaded for free over the internet and the source code is openly shared.
open source software
__________________________ offerings—free alternatives where anyone can look at and potentially modify a program's code—pose a direct challenge to the assets and advantages cultivated by market leaders.
open source software - OSS
Another risk to SaaS is the concern about the long, term viability of ______________________________. Beware with whom you partner. Any hot technology is likely to attract a lot of start-ups, and most of these start-ups are unlikely to survive.
partner firms
these are models often referred to as utility computing
platform as a service or infrastructure as a service
Cloud (utility) computing doesn't work in situations where complex legacy systems have to be _________________, or where there may be regulatory compliance issues.
ported
Hardware cloud computing services replace hardware that a firm might other wise ___________________. Cloud computing is reshaping software, hardware, and service markets, and is impacting competitive dynamics across industries.
purchase
this reason to choose OSS is it has few bugs than commercial counterparts due to the large number of persons who have looked at the code; the more people who look at a program's code, the greater the likelihood that an error will be caught and corrected
reliability
______________________________________most SaaS offerings are accessed through any Web browser, and often even by phone or other mobile device
remote access and availability
this reason to choose OSS can be easily migrated to more powerful computers as circumstances dictate, and also can balance workload by distributing work over a number of machines; allows a firm to scale from start up to blue chip without having to significantly rewrite their code, potentially saving big on software development costs
scalability
____________________________ that make it easier for firms to ramp up during periods of unexpectedly high system use
scalable systems
this reason to choose OSS is argues that by allowing "many eyes" to examine the code, the security vulnerabilities of open source products come to light more quickly and can be addressed with greater speed and reliability
security
Demand continues to spike for business-savvy technologists. Tech managers will need even stronger business skills and will focus an increasing percentage of their time on strategic efforts. These latter jobs are tougher to _____________________, since they involve an intimate knowledge of the firm, its industry, and its operations.
tougher
Firms that buy and install packaged software usually have the option of sticking with the old stuff as long as it works, but organizations adopting SaaS may find they are forced into adopting new versions. This fact is important because any radical changes in a SaaS system's user interface or system functionality might result in unforeseen _________________________, increase the chance that a user might make an error, and shifts in ________________________________.
training costs operating procedures
True/False - Benefits and risks are similar to those discussed in SaaS efforts. Benefits include the use of the cloud for handling large batch jobs or limited-time tasks, offloading expensive computing tasks, and cloudbursting efforts that handle system overflow when an organization needs more capacity.
true
costs that are __________________________ rather than a large, fixed capital expense
variable operating expense
Factors must be evaluated over the lifetime of a project, not at a single point in time. Managers have numerous options available when determining how to satisfy the software needs of their companies: purchase packaged software from a __________, use _________, use ____________ or utility computing, outsourcing development, or developing all or part of the effort themselves.
vendor OSS SaaS
Perhaps the most important software tool in the cloud computing toolbox is ___________________________; it allows one computing device to function as many; kind of operating system for operating systems; a server running this software can create smaller compartments in memory that each behave as a separate computer with its own operating system and resources.
virtualization