Cloud computing to enhance business efficiency

Applicability of cloud computing as a business tool for an enterprise:

An interview with Ranjith Fernando -Head of Corporate Solutions, Suntel Ltd.

Q: How would you define cloud computing?

A: I believe cloud computing is defined as a pool of abstracted, highly scalable, and managed computing infrastructure capable of running end customer applications and is billed or charged by consumption. It has five primary attributes:

1. Dynamic Computing Infrastructure that should include a standardized, scalable, secure, and highly available physical infrastructure and must be virtualised with server, storage, and network virtualisation.

2. Self-Service Based Usage Model - Interacting with the cloud requires a self-service oriented approach . The capabilities should include the ability to upload, build, deploy, schedule, manage, and report on the users business services, so they can manage the lifecycle of those services.

3. Minimally or Self Managed should have a technology platform that is self managed, such as with the following capabilities:- Deployment and recovery of business services and their computing resources (in the cloud). Self-service scheduling and reserving resource capacity, Configuration, management and reporting of resource capacity allocations, Access control and policies for usage of resources by users

4. Business Service Centric - cloud computing must be business service centric. This is in stark contrast to more traditional system- or server-centric models. In most cases, users of the cloud generally want to run some business service or application for a specific, timely purpose and would prefer to quickly and easily access a dedicated instance of an entire business service.

5. Consumption Based Charging or Billing - cloud computing is usage-driven. With consumers paying for only what resources they use . Cloud computing platforms must provide mechanisms to capture usage information that enables chargeback reporting and/or integration with billing systems.

Q: Are the advantages of cloud computing in your view most readily applicable to the large enterprise user, or to SMBs, or both?

A: There are compelling reasons for both large and medium-sized enterprises to be interested in cloud computing. For medium-sized companies, the top reason they are looking at cloud computing is that it is so much faster and cheaper to get started. Medium-sized companies may not have sophisticated. IT departments nor the money to invest in upfront capital expenses, so using a public cloud provider may be very attractive.

For larger companies, using an external cloud vendor may enable small teams or departments to get a new application or a development/test environment running in minutes instead of months, avoiding a long wait for IT departments to approve project requests, procure servers, find room for them in the data centre, install software and configured software.

Q: Do the current economic conditions bode well for this market, or hurt the chances for growth?

A: Clients are looking for technologies that help them save money in the long run, and cloud computing is certainly one model that would do just that.

Q: Describe the future of the cloud computing space.

A: Cloud computing has already had a huge impact in the Web 2.0 consumer space. In the coming years we will see businesses adopting cloud computing - not only to become more efficient, but also to take part in a growing global ecosystem of innovative new services that will link entire industries, like smart power grids and secure online medical record networks.

Q: How would the Sri Lankan companies benefit?

A: Today globally we are faced with a situation where operating margins are becoming thinner by the day. This calls for an organisation to be agile and to off load unnecessary non yield giving investments. In effect we find many Sri Lankan companies increasingly talking about hosting the infrastructure outside the company.

The concept of cloud computing where you do not invest on hardware and racks of servers and instead host your applications or draw resources from a cloud or Internet and is a pay as you earn model, suits the pressures of modern days specially in terms of finances. Cloud computing is here to stay and Sri Lanka not being very far in terms of telecommunication developments will follow suit very quickly. It is our responsibility as a telecommunication company servicing high end corporates to introduce these concepts to the corporate world.