Analysis of core cloud computing technologies Mini Book Three-business model of cloud computing

This book is almost re-printed. Thank you for your support. The online purchase channel is Dangdang.
And China-Pub
.

In terms of the business model of cloud computing, the most mainstream is the "Power Plant" model mentioned at the beginning of this book. In addition to this model, the "Supermarket" model is also highly praised by some people in the industry. The following two models will be thoroughly analyzed and compared, which will involve their user experience, costs, and challenges. At the end of this section, we will discuss with you the future of cloud computing in terms of business models.

12.2.1 "Supermarket" Mode

When we enter the supermarket, there are a wide variety of products available for us to choose, whether it is self-made, or from third-party suppliers, we can easily gather together the necessities of life. At the same time
The supermarket operation scale is generally large, and it has advantages in product prices and operation costs. The supermarket is not the only one. If you are not satisfied with the products and services of this store, you can choose another one.
Points and so on are difficult to transfer or supermarkets have the special products we need. At the same time, when we need safer, more trustworthy food or other more customized products, we can plant, produce, or
They trust the supermarket to buy.

Simply put, the "Supermarket" model is a platform concept. Cloud computing vendors mainly provide a cloud platform that provides rich information services for users to choose from. Whether it's from platform vendors or
All third-party information services can be purchased as needed, and the price is generally higher than that of user-created services. If we are not satisfied with the services provided by this cloud supplier, we can select other cloud suppliers, but the entire migration process will
Complex. Although the "Supermarket" model is mainly embodied in the public cloud, when users are extremely concerned about security, need customization, or want to completely control data, users can also cooperate with cloud computing vendors.
To replicate or partially migrate the cloud platform to the user's data center for private or hybrid cloud.

Many IT vendors now provide cloud platforms similar to the "Supermarket" model, such as Amazon's AWS, Microsoft's Windows azure platform, and IBM's blue

Cloud, etc. Although these cloud platforms are still in the growth stage, we can foresee that these cloud platforms will be able to provide rich services like supermarkets in the future. Cost and challenges for using the "Supermarket" Mode User Experience
The war can be summarized as follows.

1. User Experience

• Personal user perspective. Without a client, services can be accessed directly through a browser, but it is difficult to convert services and migrate data.
• Company perspective. It services can be migrated to the cloud in part or as a whole to facilitate the use of IT services. However, when it is locked by the supplier, this may happen from time to time.
• From the perspective of application developers. The introduction of virtual devices and other formats reduces the complexity of application development, release, and maintenance. However, different formats supported by cloud providers may cause some potential problems.
• Cloud vendor perspective. The scale of the industry has been expanded.

2. Cost

• Personal user perspective. This eliminates upfront investment and can be used as needed.
• Company perspective. It reduces the initial investment cost and the maintenance cost in the later stage. However, if it is used for a long time, it is not necessarily cheaper than self-built systems.
• From the perspective of application developers. Reduces application development, maintenance, and sales costs.
• Cloud vendor perspective. As its operation scale continues to grow, the "Supermarket" model is more economical, but its profit is low.

3. Challenges

What are the challenges to achieve the "Supermarket" model?

In terms of security, it mainly includes the following six points.

1. Security of network communication.
2. Security of virtual facilities.
3. Access control.
4. Data ownership.
5. Data Privacy.
6. Data isolation.

In terms of service quality, there are mainly the following two points.

1. SLA (Service Quality Agreement) is an agreement signed between service providers and customers. It is also a condition for normal service operation. The most common include response time and throughput.
2. High availability. Not only must the downtime be as short as possible, but also the ability to recover from the fault as soon as possible. This issue involves a wide range of communication facilities, including the cloud, the client, and the two.

In terms of trust, because the data stored in the cloud and the supported services are critical to users, users must fully trust cloud providers, even if the security measures are complete.

There are two main restrictions on law and politics.

1. In terms of law, various countries have introduced a lot of solutions and procedures related to enterprise IT operations, such as SOx and hippa in the United States and the EU data protection law. Cloud services and data should also comply with these solutions.
2. Due to political and national security factors, it is difficult for cloud providers to operate in non-local regions.

In terms of operational efficiency, cloud providers need to take advantage of their scale to reduce operating costs, thereby lowering the threshold for using cloud computing and increasing their profits.

12.2.2 "Power Plant" Model

As described in the preface, Nicolas Karl described the development history of Electric Power in great transformation: At the beginning, due to the short distance of direct current power transmission, as a result, generators have become many enterprises that need power.
However, due to the continuous maturity of the AC technology capable of long-distance transmission, the idea about the power plant has become a reality, the price of electricity is also reduced, and
It is more convenient to use. Finally, the power plant model has become the mainstream. The development of IT technology is similar to that of power technology. Generators are like the current data center, and AC technology is like the current Interconnection
Power plants and cloud computing centers are more like a model.

In general, the "Power Plant" model is a concept of public utilities, that is, to concentrate all the major computing resources on the public cloud computing center, and comply with 220 V/V similar to power and 7
Public protocols for signaling, so that enterprises and individuals can easily use them. This mode has great advantages in scale, and its operation cost is very low. This mode is mainly used by large telecom enterprises.
And they can be fully trusted by users. In addition, only public clouds exist in the "Power Plant" mode.

Although the vision of the "Power Plant" model is very beautiful, enterprises and individuals can access information services at will as long as they access the network. At the same time, they have removed the burden of maintaining computing equipment and are inexpensive, extremely secure and
It will not be locked by suppliers, but the reality is that many aspects are just getting started, especially in terms of service heterogeneity. It is definitely not a matter of time to truly implement the "Power Plant" model. Power Plant Model
User Experience, usage costs, and challenges can be summarized as follows.

1. User Experience

• Personal user perspective. Because the "Power Plant" mode is based on public protocols, users can not only use services more securely and conveniently through tools (such as browsers), but also avoid being locked by suppliers.
• Company perspective. Migrating IT services to the public cloud will remove the burden of maintaining the entire IT service, so as to focus more on its main business, except for some enterprises with special needs and national security departments.
• From the perspective of application developers. Because of the popularity of Public protocols and the streamlining of suppliers, application development, deployment and maintenance are more convenient.
• Cloud vendor perspective. Because the "Power Plant" model is larger than the "Supermarket" model in terms of scale, there is more room for improvement in all aspects.

2. Cost

• Personal user perspective. Compared with the "Supermarket" model, information service prices are lower.
• Company perspective. The reduction of the IT department makes the company's cost structure more comprehensive and reasonable.
• From the perspective of application developers. Compared with the "Supermarket" model, the "Power Plant" model will further reduce the cost of application development, maintenance and sales.
• Cloud vendor perspective. The scale-up of the industry will reduce the operating costs, increase the operating profit, and the business is very stable.

3. Challenges

If we want to turn the "Power Plant" model into reality, what challenges will we face?

First, like the "Supermarket" model, the "Power Plant" model should also provide satisfactory answers in terms of security and service quality. However, in the "Power Plant" model, cloud suppliers are mainly domestic telecom enterprises, so there are natural advantages in trust and politics. At the same time, the large scale makes it more space to improve operational efficiency, but the corresponding price pressure is also greater.

Second, in addition to the above challenges, it also includes the following points.

Limitations of existing processes. Because cloud computing will subvert the existing IT processes of enterprises, if cloud computing is accepted by large and medium-sized companies, their IT processes will be greatly impacted, even the entire IT department will disappear. This is not only a technical issue, but also a political issue.

Service heterogeneity. Due to the heterogeneous nature, it is difficult for applications and data to be migrated between cloud providers. suppliers may be locked, which brings great risks to cloud computing users. In addition, the three layers of cloud computing are all heterogeneous.

1. SAAS layer: Selection of page technologies.
2. PAAs: The supported language range and database format.
3. IAAs layer: Application publishing format and management interface.

Support for legacy applications, such as COBOL applications on the mainframe. In many enterprises, legacy applications belong to their core applications. If the cloud lacks support, the promotion of the cloud in these enterprises will be blocked.

12.2.3 differences between the "Supermarket" mode and the "Power Plant" Mode

Next, we will summarize the differences between the "Supermarket" and "Power Plant" modes. For details, see table 12-2.

Table 12-2 main differences between the "Supermarket" and "Power Plant" Modes

 

	"Supermarket" Mode	Power Plant Model
Core concepts	Platform-based	Public utilities
User Experience	The service can be accessed through the network, but the service may be locked by the supplier.	The service can be used through the access network. Because the service is based on public protocols, the service will not be locked by the supplier, and it is more convenient and trustworthy.
Cost	Long-term use is close to self-built, but it is more flexible and eliminates the need for initial investment.	With the increasing scale and technology, the price and cost will be lower.
Impact on existing IT Models	Is an extension and optimization of existing models	Is a revolution to the existing Model
Challenges	Security, service quality, trust, legal and political, and operational efficiency	Security, service quality, operation efficiency, process restrictions, service heterogeneity, and support for legacy applications
Representation	Private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud	Public cloud
Similar Products	AWS, Windows Azure, and IBM Blue cloud	Not shown
Expected maturity date	Around 2015	2025 ~ 2030

12.2.4 supermarket or Power Plant

In fact, these two models are ideal, and there is no saying who is superior or inferior. Although the "Power Plant" model is more eye-catching and has been recognized by many people, the "Power Plant" model faces
More challenges than the "Supermarket" model. It is foreseeable that the "Supermarket" model will be more useful in the short term. However, in the long term, the "Power Plant" model has more potential advantages, especially in trust, politics, and
In terms of operational efficiency, the "Power Plant" model will gradually replace the "Supermarket" model. However, this process will be very long, and many conditions need to be met, including the improvement of operational efficiency and the transformation of the company's IT process.
And open protocols, so it is foreseeable that these two models will coexist for a long time.

The appearance of supermarkets has brought great convenience to people's lives, making "seven things open" no longer a headache. The emergence of power plants has changed the history process, as Nicolas Karl said: "When
When every household has cheap energy access, it is incredibly creative to use this cheap energy ." For cloud computing, both the "Supermarket" mode and the "Power Plant" mode will give people
Bring happiness and promote the development of the whole society.