Before going into detail about the IBM® SmartCloud® portfolio, we will touch upon the main characteristics of cloud computing. Although you would think that by now, since the term cloud computing dates back from 2008, we would all know characteristics an IT solutions should have to be considered cloud computing.
Unfortunately this is not the case, but this is not unique to cloud computing alone. Think of service oriented architecture (SOA) for instance, which was never really understood by the public at large.
Thankfully, standards for cloud computing are emerging, which most of the larger IT providers are adopting. So, get educated! Not with IT provided – marketing infused – collateral, but by using knowledge of well-renowned standardization bodies.
Tip
Good examples of standards and standardization bodies are the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at www.nist.gov/itl/cloud, the Open Group® at www.opengroup.org/subjectareas/cloudcomputing, Cloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC) at www.cloud-council.org, Cloud Computing Use Case Discussion Group at cloudusecases.org, OpenStack® at www.openstack.org, and OASIS® TOSCA at www.oasis-open.org/committees/tosca.
To get a common understanding on cloud computing, which you will need for the following chapters, let's start with the basics: the essential characteristics and service and deployment models. For this, we will use one of the standardization bodies described earlier, NIST to be more specific, as the NIST definition has become the de facto definition of cloud computing:
"Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction."
Note
Read about the NIST definition of cloud computing at csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf.
Although this widely-adopted description of what makes a cloud computing solution is very valuable, it is not very tangible or easy to understand. So let's dive a little deeper into cloud computing and why it's different than just visualization alone, which is commonly mistaken to be cloud computing as well.
The following image shows that cloud computing is composed of five essential characteristics, three deployment models, and four service models as shown in the following figure:
Let's look a bit closer at each of the characteristics, service models, and deployment models in the next sections.
The essential characteristics can be elaborated as follows:
On-demand self-service: Users are able to provision cloud computing resources without requiring human interaction, mostly done though a web-based self-service portal (management console).
Broad network access: Cloud computing resources are accessible over the network, supporting heterogeneous client platforms such as mobile devices and workstations.
Resource pooling: Service multiple customers from the same physical resources, by securely separating the resources on logical level.
Rapid elasticity: Resources are provisioned and released on-demand and/or automated based on triggers or parameters. This will make sure your application will have exactly the capacity it needs at any point of time.
Measured service: Resource usage are monitored, measured, and reported (billed) transparently based on utilization. In short, pay for use.
As we see, cloud computing is much more than just virtualization. It's really about utilizing technology "as a service". Users need little to no knowledge on the details of how a particular service is implemented, on which hardware, on how many CPU's, and so on. All that's important for a user is to have good understanding of what the service offers—and what it does not—and how to operate the self-service portal.
According to NIST there are three service models: infrastructure (IaaS), platform (PaaS), and software as-a-service (SaaS). To get a better understanding on what each of the service models comprises, refer to the following image that depicts the layers of which atypical IT solution consists:
An infrastructure as a service solution should include vendor-managed network, storage, servers, and virtualization layers for a client to run their application and data on. Next, platform as a service build on top of infrastructure as a service adding vendor-managed middleware such as web, application, and database software. Software as a service again builds on top of that, most of the time adding applications that implement specific user functionality such as email, CRM, or HRM.
Interestingly enough, IBM and other major IT and analyst firms have added a fourth service model, namely business process as a service (BPaaS). Business process as a service, as the word implies, offers an entire horizontal or vertical business process and builds on top of any of the previously depicted cloud service models. See more tangible examples of business process as a service in the IBM® SmartCloud® Solutions section in this chapter.
Now we know what cloud computing is and in which services we can consume it. Let's wrap up the basics with how cloud providers in turn can deploy cloud computing solutions to business and consumers.
Three main deployment models can be considered: private, public, and hybrid. Although this sounds pretty easy, these deployment models should be considered more as a spectrum of delivery options than a limited set of options:
Private: A single-tenant cloud solution utilizing hardware and software owned by the client, physically located inside the client firewall or even data center. Most of the time upfront investment is required, similar to traditional IT.
Public: A multi-tenant cloud solution delivered from shared hardware and software owned by the cloud service provider, physically located outside the clients' private network (mostly the Internet) and data centers. Most of the time these services are truly pay for use and do not require upfront investment.
Hybrid: An IT landscape comprised of both private and public cloud solutions. Hybrid is expected to be the most adopted deployment model because it delivers best of breed solutions for all needs. A client can, for example, implement a private cloud solution for applications containing highly sensitive data while utilizing public cloud solutions for all non-sensitive data.
As mentioned, the deployment models should be considered as a spectrum. Think of who owns the hardware, where the service is physically delivered from, who manages each of the IT layers of the service model, how network connectivity is arranged, how the payment model is constructed, and more of these variables.
Tip
To learn more on what cloud computing is and how to take advantage, download the e-book, Cloud Services for Dummies, free of charge at http://ow.ly/kYahH.