Cloud Computing and the IT Industry

Cloud Computing and the IT Industry

• Prior to Cloud computing, every company maintained their own data center.
  • This involved high setup and maintenance costs.
  • Companies needed to hire specialized engineers to manage the data center.
  • These costs diverted resources from core business activities.
• Cloud computing offers several advantages:
  • Eliminates the need to maintain a data center.
  • Allows companies to pay only for the resources they utilize.
  • Enables focus on core business functions.
• Cloud Computing provides flexible capacity allocation:
  • It allows companies to scale their IT needs based on demand
  • Companies can reduce over-provisioning and "waste" of resources.
  • Companies can reduce "under-supply" of resources and allocate them more efficiently.
  • Cloud enables a reduction of initial IT investments.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

• Cloud computing offers several benefits for businesses:
  • Business Agility: Cloud enables faster time-to-market for new products and services, fosters innovation, and allows companies to adapt quickly to changing business requirements.
  • Customer Experience: Cloud provides always-available services, catering to customers from various locations and regions.
  • Cost: Cloud enables a "Pay-as-you-Go" model, transforming capital expenditures to operational expenditures. This reduces overall costs significantly.
• Cloud computing allows companies to focus on their core business and frees them from the burden of managing complex IT infrastructures.

NIST Definition of Cloud Computing

• NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) defines Cloud Computing as a model that allows delivery of various services over the internet.
• Key features of Cloud computing according to NIST:
  • Provides users with the ability to quickly deploy, manage, and scale resources.
  • Allows users to access resources remotely from any location.
• NIST envisions a system where users consume resources without needing to understand the complex underlying infrastructure

Comparing Traditional IT to Cloud Computing

• Traditional IT involves a lengthy process with multiple stages:
  • Decision making, vendor selection, and contract negotiations.
  • Procurement, hardware implementation (including shipment, data center preparation, cabling, and installation).
  • Software implementation (including licensing, testing, and deployment).
  • This entire process can take 6 to 12 months to complete.
• Cloud Computing offers a streamlined approach:
  • Efficiency: It effectively addresses inefficiencies in traditional IT by allowing companies to scale resources based on actual needs rather than fixed costs.
  • Flexibility: Cloud computing offers a more flexible and efficient way of managing IT resources, enabling greater agility and responsiveness.
  • Cloud services are built on a "pay-as-you-go" model:
    • Provision environments such as servers and networks.
    • Pay for what you utilize.
    • Easily add and remove computing capacity as needed.
    • Stop paying for services that are no longer required.

Explore how cloud computing revolutionizes the IT industry by reducing the need for extensive data centers and lowering costs. This quiz covers the advantages of cloud computing, including flexible resource allocation and increased business agility. Understand how these benefits enable companies to focus on their core functions.