Cloud Computing is the 21st Century Electrification
As soon as I first mentioned in my blog about cloud computing (as I translate the term “cloud computing”), questions began to come to me, and what it is and how it differs from the already familiar concept of SaaS (software as a service). In my article “ SaaS - Death to Pirates, ” I promised to answer this question. It was the turn to fulfill its promise.
However, before starting, I just want to make one warning. If you live in Russia or in another CIS country and are convinced that all new business models born in permanently "rotting" America have no relation to the unique market of Russia (CIS), I advise you not to read further. All this has already been discussed and discussed in my blogs, for example, in a conversation around the last article on the subject of SaaS .
Perspective trend or new web bubble?
The concept of "computing in the clouds" appeared somewhere at the turn of 2006-2007, and at first, for example, in the interpretation of Dell, it had a slightly different meaning than the one that came in a year. As in the case of SaaS, which we owe to the formation of SalesForce with its CRM on a subscription (on-demand), so today's interpretation of cloud computing relies heavily on two real Amazon systems. These are Amazon EC2 services — subscription-leased equipment (a service that is called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud) and AmazonS3 — a hosted storage service. Below I will talk about these services in more detail, using them as examples.
Frankly, for a long time, following numerous publications on cloud computing, I thought that this new “buzzing” combination of words (buzzwords) was just another marketing move in order to replace the SaaS abbreviation with a more harmoniously sounding term. And only after a more detailed acquaintance with the specified services of Amazon, I realized that I was mistaken, like, generally speaking, many others. As always, practice turned out to be the criterion of truth.
')
And the point is not that SaaS is only one of the two main components of cloud computing. The second is HaaS (Hardware-as-a-Service). Amazon EC2 is just an example of “hardware in the clouds”. Here the customer can get at his disposal one of the network configuration options (grid), in parallel working computers.
And the point is not that in the framework of the “cloud” model the very concept of SaaS has undergone a serious transformation: it has expanded and deepened. Previously, these were subscription-only services for applications and systems (end-user-oriented applications) (be they an independent individual or an employee of a signatory company).
Now the programmer can also use the services of a remote software platform, and the IT department and not only it can use service software systems (utilities). We talked a lot about software (SaaS) platforms in the Revolution of Social Platforms series. An example of a "cloud" service system designed to store large amounts of data is AmazonS3.
With regard to software that runs in the local networks of enterprises and organizations, it can be said that if applied (we call it that) SaaS was replaced by programs traditionally running on client machines of these networks, then the “service” SaaS start to lead to the “clouds” programs.
If, in the case of an applied SaaS, a consumer may not even think about the hardware on which remote programs work, then for SaaS platforms and SaaS utilities without awareness of the “hardware” factor, in many cases, it will not do. Probably, that is why, in many sources, the generic concept PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) is often used, where platform is understood as a hardware (HaaS) or hardware-software (SaaS) platform and service SaaS core.
At the same time, even HaaS, in fact, is not a purely hardware platform. Here, around hardware, at least a minimal software shell is created, which serves for communication between internal hardware components, as well as provides interface with the customer's software.
Renting such remote platforms, customers install their application programs on them. And sometimes they expand the capabilities of the platforms themselves. In this case, if we are talking about SaaS-platforms, they are also used for instrumental purposes, facilitating the creation of application systems and resources.
PaaS software (regardless of who owns it) runs mainly on the remote servers of the service provider, but may also work in varying degrees in the customer’s local environment. In the latter case, we are dealing with what Microsoft calls Software + Service. As an example of the latter, we can call the “cloud” version of MS SharePoint, coupled with MS Office programs running on client machines.
However, the main thing is still in the other. Together with the “cloud” concept, a new business model of online services began to take shape.
This model is based on three basic principles: global outsourcing of IT services, which I have already spoken about a lot, virtualization (we will talk about this some other time) and the transition to paid services.
The essence of the latter principle - you have to pay for web services, but pay in such a way that it will be profitable both for service providers and consumers. Started with companies and platforms. I think that individual consumers and most applied services, including information services, are not far off.
The system of payment for "cloud" services is a kind of combination of schemes used by manufacturers of traditional software for entrepreneurs (Enterprise Software) and tenants of industrial equipment. From the first, the payment scheme for each user is taken, from the second - per unit of rental time (year, months, days, and even hours).
Electrical and financial networks as analogues
Some in this connection again started talking about Web3.0. However, let's leave this game with numbers for fans. Personally, I liked the other analogy more. The coming universal transition to cloud computing in the 21st century is compared with mass electrification of the early 20th century. But if a century ago it was necessary to build power plants and create global electrical networks, then the Internet web (Network) already exists. It remains to create and connect to it only the "station" - they are "clouds".
If we continue the analogy with electrification, then local computers that are on the Web turn into smart sockets, as it were, through which information and other services come to us from the “clouds” (stations). Of course, this raises the problem of the reliability of the Internet stations and the Network as a whole. Here, for example, recently AmazonS3 “hung” for some time, providing services to a number of well-known social resources, including Twitter.
Continuation of this note with all the necessary links, read my iTech Bridge-blog .
However, before starting, I just want to make one warning. If you live in Russia or in another CIS country and are convinced that all new business models born in permanently "rotting" America have no relation to the unique market of Russia (CIS), I advise you not to read further. All this has already been discussed and discussed in my blogs, for example, in a conversation around the last article on the subject of SaaS .
Perspective trend or new web bubble?
The concept of "computing in the clouds" appeared somewhere at the turn of 2006-2007, and at first, for example, in the interpretation of Dell, it had a slightly different meaning than the one that came in a year. As in the case of SaaS, which we owe to the formation of SalesForce with its CRM on a subscription (on-demand), so today's interpretation of cloud computing relies heavily on two real Amazon systems. These are Amazon EC2 services — subscription-leased equipment (a service that is called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud) and AmazonS3 — a hosted storage service. Below I will talk about these services in more detail, using them as examples.
Frankly, for a long time, following numerous publications on cloud computing, I thought that this new “buzzing” combination of words (buzzwords) was just another marketing move in order to replace the SaaS abbreviation with a more harmoniously sounding term. And only after a more detailed acquaintance with the specified services of Amazon, I realized that I was mistaken, like, generally speaking, many others. As always, practice turned out to be the criterion of truth.
')
And the point is not that SaaS is only one of the two main components of cloud computing. The second is HaaS (Hardware-as-a-Service). Amazon EC2 is just an example of “hardware in the clouds”. Here the customer can get at his disposal one of the network configuration options (grid), in parallel working computers.
And the point is not that in the framework of the “cloud” model the very concept of SaaS has undergone a serious transformation: it has expanded and deepened. Previously, these were subscription-only services for applications and systems (end-user-oriented applications) (be they an independent individual or an employee of a signatory company).
Now the programmer can also use the services of a remote software platform, and the IT department and not only it can use service software systems (utilities). We talked a lot about software (SaaS) platforms in the Revolution of Social Platforms series. An example of a "cloud" service system designed to store large amounts of data is AmazonS3.
With regard to software that runs in the local networks of enterprises and organizations, it can be said that if applied (we call it that) SaaS was replaced by programs traditionally running on client machines of these networks, then the “service” SaaS start to lead to the “clouds” programs.
If, in the case of an applied SaaS, a consumer may not even think about the hardware on which remote programs work, then for SaaS platforms and SaaS utilities without awareness of the “hardware” factor, in many cases, it will not do. Probably, that is why, in many sources, the generic concept PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) is often used, where platform is understood as a hardware (HaaS) or hardware-software (SaaS) platform and service SaaS core.
At the same time, even HaaS, in fact, is not a purely hardware platform. Here, around hardware, at least a minimal software shell is created, which serves for communication between internal hardware components, as well as provides interface with the customer's software.
Renting such remote platforms, customers install their application programs on them. And sometimes they expand the capabilities of the platforms themselves. In this case, if we are talking about SaaS-platforms, they are also used for instrumental purposes, facilitating the creation of application systems and resources.
PaaS software (regardless of who owns it) runs mainly on the remote servers of the service provider, but may also work in varying degrees in the customer’s local environment. In the latter case, we are dealing with what Microsoft calls Software + Service. As an example of the latter, we can call the “cloud” version of MS SharePoint, coupled with MS Office programs running on client machines.
However, the main thing is still in the other. Together with the “cloud” concept, a new business model of online services began to take shape.
This model is based on three basic principles: global outsourcing of IT services, which I have already spoken about a lot, virtualization (we will talk about this some other time) and the transition to paid services.
The essence of the latter principle - you have to pay for web services, but pay in such a way that it will be profitable both for service providers and consumers. Started with companies and platforms. I think that individual consumers and most applied services, including information services, are not far off.
The system of payment for "cloud" services is a kind of combination of schemes used by manufacturers of traditional software for entrepreneurs (Enterprise Software) and tenants of industrial equipment. From the first, the payment scheme for each user is taken, from the second - per unit of rental time (year, months, days, and even hours).
Electrical and financial networks as analogues
Some in this connection again started talking about Web3.0. However, let's leave this game with numbers for fans. Personally, I liked the other analogy more. The coming universal transition to cloud computing in the 21st century is compared with mass electrification of the early 20th century. But if a century ago it was necessary to build power plants and create global electrical networks, then the Internet web (Network) already exists. It remains to create and connect to it only the "station" - they are "clouds".
If we continue the analogy with electrification, then local computers that are on the Web turn into smart sockets, as it were, through which information and other services come to us from the “clouds” (stations). Of course, this raises the problem of the reliability of the Internet stations and the Network as a whole. Here, for example, recently AmazonS3 “hung” for some time, providing services to a number of well-known social resources, including Twitter.
Continuation of this note with all the necessary links, read my iTech Bridge-blog .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/30363/
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