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Cloud Computing: What and Why?

What? 

 

  1. What is cloud computing?

    1. Private cloud computing 

      1. Computing done on your own on-premise servers but web based with scalability, flexibility and charge back process 

      2. Computing done on your own on-premise cloud stack eg. Azure Stack including IaaS, PaaS, and Saas providing scalability, registration, etc. Of course it runs web based applications.

    2. Public cloud computing 

      1. Computing is done on off-premise servers in a remote data center such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, RackSpace, LiquidWeb, etc. 

        1. IaaS: shared servers or own dedicated servers. No software is installed 

        2. PaaS: shared or dedicated servers where Windows Servers, Linux, SQL, NoSQL, Sharepoint is already installed. Still need to be configured based on a customer's needs. Customer himself needs to install applications such as eg. Acumatica ERP,  a Warehouse Management System, a Shipping application, etc.  

          • If the servers are shared, backup and automatic fail over is taken care of by the cloud computing provider. This is a huge value for critical applications such as an ERP. 

          • If the servers are dedicated, some people also call it private cloud computing since the servers are fully used by only one customer. Backups have to be configured, scheduled and restored by the customer.

        3. SaaS: shared servers only 

          1. The application eg. MS Office 365, eg Acumatica ERP, is installed and operated by the application vendor. System configuration can not be done by customer. 

    3. Hybrid computing 

      • Combining private and public cloud computing 

        • Eg. Running MS Office 365 in the public cloud of Microsoft but running eg. an ERP or Sharepoint server and MS SQL in the private cloud on your own on-premise servers 

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Internet Customer Solutions provides a cloud computing set up and maintenance service that will help you with planning of the set up based on your needs, that will set it up for you , and that will maintain it for you.  

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New Cloud Computing Technologies 

 

Currently cloud computing technology companies have developed serverless containers/architectures for SaaS based cloud computing platforms.  It is basically seperating the processing of common features from the processing of application specific features. For instance, accessing (retrieving or updating) database information is common among all applications. Such database access will run on servers/VMs that are shared by most applications.  This provides a higher response performance. This comes also with the automatic backup service and the automatic fail over service. In addition micro services are provided that enable application developers to eg. create a notification (email, text message) when eg. a product shipment is late for a customer. 

Cloud computing providers such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure provide these new technologies and services. 

It becomes pretty obvious that implementing these new technologies on your premises becomes cost prohibitive. Therefore it makes a lot of sense to run critical applications such as an ERP in a public cloud computing environment on serverless containers with all the added services of automatic backup, automatic fail over, micro services, etc. 

More details. 

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...More 

Why Cloud Computing

Why? 

 

Benefits of Private Cloud Computing 

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  1. Assumption: all applications are web based, and running on virtualized servers, that may be clustered, and may have auto-fail over 

  2. Benefits 

    1. Access anytime, from anywhere from any device which saves labor time. No more phone tag. No more searching for paper records if everything is stored in the cloud. Less human records. Everybody can now access those records, which enables everyone to pick up a customer phone call, and answer it, and document the customer communication in the cloud. This alone can reduce labor time by 60%! Real-time collaboration is an enormous time saver. Now that saved time can be used for marketing and selling time, which generates more revenue by maybe 40%. 

      1. Anytime 

      2. From anywhere through a web browser 

        1. When applications are not web based, they may be accessed through Remote Desktop Services or Remote web, which has a lot of limitations such as: 

          1. SInce they are Windows Forms based, it is impossible to do the following: 

            1. Customization 

            2. Easy mobile access 

            3. Easy integration with other applications 

      3. From any device: mobile (smartphone, iPad, PC, ..) 

        1. Mobile applications are developed for mostly only web based applications 

    2. Very low hardware and software costs (parts and labor costs) 

      1. You need to buy and set up the servers and operating system software only once. Once set up, it is accessible to anyone in the world with the right permissions. No need to set it up at multiple branches and plants 

    3. Very low networking costs (parts and labor costs) 

      1. No need to set up servers for a web based application in branches or plants since branches and plants can access the web based application over the internet via a browser 

    4. Very low implementation costs (labor costs) 

      1. You need to set up and implement a web based application only once. Once set up, it is accessible to anyone in the world with the right permissions. No need to implement it  at multiple branches and plans. 

    5. Very low maintenance costs  

      1. For the same reasons as above 

      2. Backup of only one installation is needed.  

 

 

Benefits of public cloud computing

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  1. All the benefits of private cloud computing 

  2. Benefits specific to public cloud computing: 

    1. Assuming no SaaS 

      1. Even lower costs 

        1. No capital costs, only operating costs (hosting fees and licensing fees) 

        2. No purchase of servers and networking 

        3. Much less maintenance costs since servers and networking maintenance is done by the public computing provider.  

      2. Scalability: cloud offers the ability to deliver only as much storage and power as needed to avoid any overhauls or scarcity. 

      3. Affordability for midsize companies 

        1. Midsize companies and branches and plants of larger companies can now afford to have a public cloud computing application. For instance they can have their own cloud ERP or WMS application that integrates with the corporate ERP that may be a Windows Forms based ERP.  

    2. Assuming SaaS 

      1. All the benefits of the above scenario when there is no SaaS 

      2. Further lowering of costs: 

        1. No more installation, implementation and maintenance costs of application software since all this is done by the application software vendor 

        2. No more backup server costs (part and labor costs) 

      3. Limitations of a SaaS application 

        1. Certain customizations can not be done by the customer such as: 

          1. Changing system files and configuration files of an application 

        2. Integration of self developed application can not be done by the customer, but the integration has to be implemented by the application software vendor 

        3. Certain federal industry regulations require applications to be compliant to their regulations. Medical and financial industry regulations may not accept SaaS applications 

        4. ​

Benefits of Cloud Computing.jpg

The above slide can be seen in this youtube video.

Pricing

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Comparing pricing and features is pretty daunting. Also pricing and features are changing every quarter. Some videos below will illustrate that.

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