Tutorial 4: Cloud Computing

As we learned in one of the last lectures about virtualization, which is the abstraction of computer resources, this tutorial blog is about Cloud Computing, which is an emerging IT concept related to virtualization. 

But what is Cloud Computing about? Cloud Computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. It is a new supplement, consumption and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, where Cloud Computing service provider provide IT solutions to enterprises. The user (enterprise) effectively rents time on virtual machines to run their own applications. The user does not own any computing resources and may not uses any service provider applications. It is similar to a situation whether to buy a car vs. to use a taxi.

Cloud Computing technology typically involves virtualized resources. While virtualization is about the technology used, Cloud Computing is a business model that emerged out of virtualization technology. Most Cloud Computing solutions use nowadays virtualization to optimize resource efficiency, flexibility. and scalability. Nevertheless a cloud solution can also be implemented without virtualization, but then it will not be as efficient as using virtualized resources.

Here is a small video, explaining Cloud Computing quite good:

As we know, virtualization brings a lot of benefits, like using better your capacities (e.g. server), reducing energy costs and reducing storage costs of physical machines. So, what are the advantages for enterprises  of using Cloud Computing? And what are the disadvantages? Especially for small or medium sized companies, Cloud Computing can provide a competitive advantage. By “outsourcing” your IT needs to a cloud, enterprises can save a lot of money on their capital investments for IT. Since nterprises use kind  of  a monthly service, flexibility with clouds is high, because you can discontinue like you do with a newspaper Cloud computing is a highly automated process and no resources must be spend on IT personnel. Also, enterprises do not have to care about software or hardware updates or data security issues. Companies can focus more its core business! On the other side, high dependence on the cloud vendors and security issues, based on the vendors’ practices, might trouble firms. Also compatibility issues can arise.

As a conclusion, virtualization is a so powerful technology that even new IT business models emerge out that technology. Cloud computing presents a persuasive opportunity for consumers of information technology and producers of information services. And it is so easy to try!

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/ebizq_forum/2010/01/how-different-is-cloud-computing-from-virtualization-and-how-similar-are-they.php

http://www.vmware.com/virtualization/

http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means-031

Video & Pictures:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_DKNwK_ms&feature=related

http://www.eci.com/blog/images/06-17-10_cloud-computing_image.jpg

Secure Email Project

To get this project started, I first had to download and install Mozilla Thunderbird, which is an email client integrated in the Mozilla Suite.  I am already a user of Microsoft’s Outlook 2010, the email client combined in Microsoft Office Suite. Comparing both email clients I really have to admit that Thunderbird 3.1 is much easier to configure and also more clearer in structure than Outlook 2010. Nevertheless Outlook has much more features, e.g. a calendar.

But what are the advantages of using an email client? What I especially like about email clients is the possibility to integrate all your different email domains within one program by creating numerous accounts. Another feature, I never used so far, is that of securing emails, either by digitally signing or by encrypting emails. Unencrypted emails are like postcards that can be read by everyone who intercept it. Since privacy is getting more and more important nowadays, email encryption is of crucial matter. In the next paragraph, I will not elaborate on how to digitally sign or encrypt an email, but instead I will focus on the consequences and implications of using encryption in an enterprise.

In his paper “The strategic importance of email encryption”, the author explained risks associated with email traffic and presents ways to solve those risks. He states that encryption is increasingly recognized as the business standard for enterprise data protection, since it is the only way to protect the data itself. In today’s society, emails are a crucial business tool. Since many emails contain critical and sensitive data, data security is more and more to the fore. Not only customer specific data (e.g. bank account details), but in times of globalization and outsourcing, even firm-specific data is at risk. The author speaks not only about reputational risk, but also about regulatory pressures, operating risk associated with data breaches and costs that might arise if you fail in securing your data. The author provides suggestions about how to implement email encryption procedures. Furthermore, the author highlights additional points that are of interest, like the vendor relationship. The author concludes that IT security like email encryption is no longer just of operational importance, but of strategic. Hence, executive management is responsible for implementing security policies and procedures, and setting priorities.

Sources:

http://download.pgp.com/pdfs/Bloor-Research_Email-Encryption-Brief_071100_F.pdf

http://image.wareseeker.com/software/wii/hot/details_4d49e31b2b-mozilla-thunderbird.jpeg