Cloud computing: What is it?

applications and services, as well as the infrastructure on which they operate.
By deploying IT infrastructure and services over the network, an organisation can purchase these resources on an as-needed basis and avoid the capital costs of software and hardware. With cloud computing, IT capacity can be adjusted quickly and easily to accommodate changes in demand.

While remotely hosted, managed services have long been a part of the IT landscape, a heightened interest in cloud computing is being fuelled by ubiquitous networks, maturing standards, the rise of hardware and software virtualisation, and the push to make IT costs manageable and transparent.
Why is it significant?
Cloud computing presents IT organisations with a fundamentally different model of operation, one that takes advantage of the maturity of web applications and networks and the rising interoperability of computing systems to provide IT services.

Cloud providers specialise in particular applications and services, and this expertise allows them to efficiently manage upgrades and maintenance, back-ups, disaster recovery, and fail over functions.

As a result, consumers of cloud services may see increased reliability, even as costs decline due to economies of scale and other production factors.
With cloud computing, organisations can monitor current needs and make on-the-fly adjustments to increase or decrease capacity, accommodating spikes in demand without paying for unused capacity during slower times.

Aside from the potential to lower costs, colleges and universities gain the flexibility of being able to respond quickly to requests for new services by purchasing them from the cloud.

Cloud computing encourages IT organisations and service providers to increase standardisation of protocols and processes so that the many pieces of the cloud computing model can interoperate properly and efficiently.
Cloud computing’s scalability is another key benefit particularly to higher education systems, in particular for research projects that require vast amounts of storage or processing capacity for a limited time.

Some companies have built data centres near sources of renewable energy. Finally, cloud computing allows college and university IT providers to make IT costs transparent and thus match consumption of IT services to those who pay for such services.

How does it work?

In traditional enterprise computing, IT departments forecast demand for applications and capacity and invest time and money to develop those resources in-house or purchase them from others and operate them in-house.
With cloud computing, institutions procure IT services from remote providers, and campus constituents access these resources over the Internet. e-mail, for example, long considered a staple of an institution’s IT operations, can be obtained from a range of sources, and a growing number of campuses contract with outside suppliers for this function.

Software is hosted by the provider and does not need to be installed — or maintained — on individual computers. IT departments forecast demand for applications and capacity and invest time and money to develop those resources in-house or purchase them from others and operate them in-house.
With cloud computing, institutions procure IT services from remote providers, and campus constituents access these resources over the Internet.

Software is hosted by the provider and does not need to be installed — or maintained — on individual computers around campus. In some cases, a large a consortium might become a provider of cloud services.
The cloud can also meet storage and processing needs. Institutions pay only for the resources used, and users can access the applications and files they need from virtually any Internet connected computer.

In a mature cloud computing environment, institutions would be able to add new IT services or respond to changes in capacity on the fly, saving capital costs that can be redirected to programs of strategic value to the institution.

Where is it going?

The emergence of cloud computing as a viable option for a growing number of IT services speaks to a level of Internet penetration and infrastructure maturity that did not exist in our country today but need to be adopted.
Although the benefits of cloud computing are becoming more tangible, significant policy and technology issues must still be sorted out for it to reach its potential.

Even as “public” clouds are being developed, a new class of “private” clouds is taking shape. Whereas public cloud providers offer relatively undifferentiated services, private clouds pursue similar economies of scale but do so while preserving the ability to customise applications and services for consumers.
Large organisations, such as statewide offices for higher education, for instance, might invest in cloud services for all the institutions in the system.

Hausen Zimbowa is the head of marketing for Mooks Marketing (Pvt) Ltd and the organiser of the Premier ICT Convention 2012 to be held on June 20-21 at the Harare International Conference Centre. Feedback and comment; Email [email protected] or call 0772 619 280.