“Cloud Computing: A Definition, Challenges and Opportunities”

PRESENTATION AGENDA

• INTRODUCTION• DEFINITION OF CLOUD• SERVICE MODELS• CLOUD DEPLOYMENT MODELS• OAU PRIVATE CLOUD• CHALLENGES• OPPORTUNITIES• CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION• Cloud computing is not a new concept.• The underlying concept dates back to the 1950s

when mainframe computers became available in academia and corporations and accessible to users via non intelligent terminals.

• The concept of ‘TIMESHARING’ was introduced to make more efficient use of costly mainframes.

• The era of PERSONAL COMPUTERS• COMPUTER NETWORKS• INTERNET• GRID COMPUTING• CLOUD - providing unlimited computing power as

against the finite computing power of the mainframe

INTRODUCTION

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““The Cloud”The Cloud”

What’s new?

Cloud computing is model for enabling network users’ on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and release to the client without direct service provider interaction

Acquisition Model: Based on purchasing of services

Business Model: Based on pay for use

Access Model: Over the Internet to ANY device

Technical Model: Scalable, elastic, dynamic, multi-tenant, & sharable

Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (United States) and the ITU Focus Group.

THE CLOUD• Cloud computing is the result of evolution and adoption of

existing technologies and paradigms (autonomic computing, Client–server model, Grid computing, Mainframe computer, Utility computing, Peer-to-peer, and Virtualization).

• Goal of Cloud Computing: To allow users to take maximum benefits from all of these technologies, without the need for deep knowledge about or expertise with each one of them.

• The Cloud aims to cut costs, and help the users focus on their core business instead of being impeded by IT obstacles

• four essential characteristics, five service models, and four deployment models.

CLOUD CLIENTS- Web browser, terminal, thin client, mobile app etc

SaaS CRM, E-mail, games, etc.

PaaS Execution runtime, database, development tools. etc.

IaaS Virtual machines, servers, storage, etc.

SERVICE MODELS

CaaS Audio/video collaborative services, unified communications e-mail, instant messaging, data sharing (web conference).

NaaS

managed Internet (guaranteed speed, availability, etc.), virtualized networks (VPNs)

flexible and on-demand bandwidth.

PROVIDERS

• SaaS: Google Apps, Microsoft Office 365, Onlive, GT Nexus, Marketo, Casengo, TradeCard etc.

• PaaS: Google App Engine, Salesforce.com, etc.• IaaS: Amazon EC 2, Google computer engine,

HP Cloud, iland, joyent, lease web, oracle infrastructure, Rackspace Open Cloud, Relia Cloud etc.

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4 CLOUD DEPLOYMENT MODELS

• Private cloud – enterprise owned or leased

• Community cloud– shared infrastructure for specific community

• Public cloud– Sold to the public, mega-scale infrastructure

• Hybrid cloud– composition of two or more clouds

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING BUILDING

• Software studio, Telepresence, Cloud Computing

OAU PRIVATE CLOUD (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)

OAUNET

INTERNET

Users on OAUNET

Users on INTERNET

OAU PRIVATE CLOUD (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)• For OAU Investment on IT resources too high

(bandwidth alone is N131m, need to move to the cloud environment and share these resources with the community and the public)

• Facilities – (cloud server 7.7TB for applications and OS, Cloud Storage 12T), fibre optic backbone(40Km?), 491 Mbps (Aggregates) (245.5 /245.5). For now Power backups ok( NEPA, 250KVA/50KVA generators + Inverters + Solar Panels) but for the future we need to plan.

OAU PRIVATE CLOUD (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)

• Iaas: file-based storage, • SaaS: Standard Application Software, In-house

software – ISIS, E-portal, Akowe, Interface for ilab

• PaaS: programming language execution environment, development tools, (12 developers, about 3,000 students for now)

• CaaS: web conference, video communication services, e-mail

• NaaS: flexible and on-demand bandwidth

OAU PRIVATE CLOUD DATA CENTRE

700 PCs Connected to the OAU Private Cloud

500 Thin Clients Connected to the OAU Private Cloud

500 Thin Clients Connected to the OAU Private Cloud

OAU SOFTWARE STUDIODevelopers using PaaS

OAU TELEPRESENCE STUDIO (2)FOR WEB CONFERENCE AND OTHERS

CHALLENGES1.Nigeria is yet to derive full benefits of cloud

computing services due to a number of challenges confronting the nation’s Information and Communication Technology industry [12]. Nigeria, like other developing countries, is still facing challenges in full adoption of cloud computing paradigm due specifically to the inefficient infrastructure, and cost of access to ICT products and services.

CHALLENGES2. Traditional

Lack of awareness and problem of control: Many organizations especially Small and Medium scale (SMEs) in Nigeria are not aware if cloud technology exists. For organization that are aware, data control is most critical. It is the belief of many organizations that storing and processing of data in remote location is a compromise in data control and that the world of data computing will end up in hands of massive distributed computing companies such as Google, Amazon, IBM etc,.

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CHALLENGES3. Legal

Most cloud computing vendors fail to provide a guaranteed level of data security and for the cloud ‘users’ this compromises a basic requirement they are obligated to fulfill under the Data Protection Act i.e. failure to ensure an appropriate level of security. Hence, many cloud users are of the opinion that there are a lot of risks if data is accidentally lost, damage or lost There are clouds within clouds and a cloud user may never be aware of their geographic location and knows whether data protection privacy law are being honor or not.

CHALLENGES4. Security Data security in the cloud is one of the major

challenges raised by prospective cloud users. Within the cloud data is vulnerable to threats during transmission, processing, storage and downloading stages. The lack of robust security mechanism within the cloud computing provides opportunities for cyber criminals. Secondly, the primary concern is the damage that a criminal can cause by planting a virus, from a normal desktop machine of an office using cloud services which could spread across the cloud and cause data damage. The inability of most organization to store critical data on the cloud as a result of lack of guarantee mechanism to ensure data security by cloud vendors will also increase the cost of IT resources within the organization.

CHALLENGES5. Technical The fundamental dependence of cloud computing on

the internet presents a set of technical challenges to the domain [13]. The first technical challenge is data outage due to interruption in Internet services. Vendor lock-in and lack of transition mechanism when cloud consumers intends to change their respective cloud vendors based on better offers provided by other vendor are other two major technical challenges.

If cloud computing intends to attain a status in computing domain similar to the ‘utility providers’ in the general world then they have to address the issues mentioned above.

OPPORTUNITIES• Among the specific benefits/opportunities of cloud computing in Nigeria, two in particular are

liable to make a significant contribution to reducing the digital divide, namely:– the ability to have immediate access to the latest innovations;

- the possibility for an organization to do away with heavy investment in infrastructure

Particularly where computation centres are concerned, given the unreliability of the electric power supply in Nigeria. According to the Minister of Communication Technology, the federal government intends to cut down its spending on Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) by embracing cloud computing services.

‘’Given our plans for e-Government and the increased use of ICT by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), this is an unsustainable practice that

must be managed. A Government cloud will provide some economic savings”.

In view of this, Galaxy Backbone is currently building a major cloud computing infrastructure with the aim of bringing significant cost savings to the running of the federal government. The government cloud, according to the Communication Technology Minister is expected to not only to improve cost savings but drive

efficiency and productivity across all its MDAs. The higher institutions in Nigeria will also benefits from this lovely concept. Job/wealth creation?

CONCLUSION• The essential value of this new way of using IT

resources known as cloud computing resides in the fact that IT services, from the storage and processing of data to software applications, are now available and accessible to everyone, instantly, without commitment and on request. It is my believe that the cloud computing model has already come to represent a solution to IT under-equipment problems in Nigeria, and the trends indicate that this model is set for major development provided most of the challenges raised are properly tackled.

• Management of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

• World Bank Step-B • Skye Bank Plc• Hicos Technology

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8. "The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing". National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 24 July 2011.

9. "Is a Private Cloud Really More Secure?". Dell.com. Retrieved 07-11-12.10. Metzler, Jim; Taylor, Steve. (2010-08-23) "Cloud computing: Reality vs. fiction," Network World.11. Rouse, Margaret. "Definition: Cloudbursting," May 2011. SearchCloudComputing.com.12. Angaye, C.O (2013). Nigeria yet to derive benefits of cloud computing –NITDA. National Mirror,

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