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Spatial Cloud Computing

Darko PolettoPresidentdpoletto@skeinc.com

Presentation to URISA ConferenceAthens Georgia, October 2012

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So, While You’re Digesting...• Why Talk About Cloud? – Corporate IT Challenges

• What is Cloud Computing? • Why is the cloud appealing? • Are there issues? • Is GIS cloud-appropriate? • Sign me up?

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Corporate IT Challenges1. Complexity

– Security, Architecture, Policy, Procedures, Servers, Data Centres, SANs, FW, Networks, Disaster Recovery, ...

2. Cost– Hundreds thousands to millions of $ to implement

business solutions– Require on-going maintenance and support– Specialized technologies and skills

3. Dealing with the Unreasonable Demands of the GIS Department.

Result => Huge $ and Effort Commitment

And then there was cloud....

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What is Cloud Computing• The provision of software, hardware

and networking solutions as a service over the web.

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What Makes it Appealing? • Scalable – right-size resources based on demand• Agile – deploy quickly• Accessible – web based (any time, anywhere)• Low Technical Risk - No installation required, no

servers, no specialized software, no additional staff, automatic updates,...– Technology someone else's responsibility/headache– Ability to leverage proven solutions based on industry best

practices.

• Overhead – less: staff, computers, energy, space..• Affordable – based on use / accounts.

– Economies of scale, because there are typically multiple different clients on the same infrastructure.

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How Does it Work?

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Cloud Service Models

• Software as a Service (SaaS)– End user app’s delivered as a service– Examples: • Google Apps, • Social media, • Virtual Desktops, • Salesforce.com

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Cloud Service Models

• Platform as a Service (PaaS)– Combination of SaaS and IaaS purposed

for development and deployment – Examples: Development and Testing

Tools, Database Management Systems, Directory Services.

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Cloud Service Models

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)– Computing resources: Virtual

Machines, VLAN’s, Virtual Storage, etc.

– Examples: Virtualized Computers, Storage Systems, Networking

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Cloud Deployment• Private Clouds

– Specific to an organization (usually internally hosted)

• Public Clouds– Available to anyone (Internet based)

• Community Clouds– Shared resources for a community/industry

• Hybrid Clouds– A mix of the above

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Cloud Issues• Security

– Where is your data?, who can see it?– How reliable/trustworthy is the provider?– Where is the provider and what are their IT practices?

• Physical premises • System security• SW upgrades and patching• SLA’s

• Responsibility is shared...

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Cloud Issues

• Security controls by service type...

• Disaster recovery• Absence of industry standards• Integration with existing systems• Dependant on Internet access speed and reliability.• Often less functionality than desktop.

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Amazon Outage• Amazon cloud went down in April, 2011

– Many high profile sites went down: Foursquare, Reddit, Quora, Hootsuite…

• Lessons Learned:– Plan for failure– Retain expertise to develop and implement Disaster

Recovery Plan– Security and disaster recovery is a joint responsibility– Create internal back-up options

• Can you get your data if your service provider goes down

– Distribute your risk across different sites/providers– Know your service provider and what they will/will not

do• SLA’s matter

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Go Daddy Outage• Go Daddy web sites and DNS servers go down

went down in September 2012. – A DNS (Domain Name Server)

is like a telephone exchange for the Internet. Directs traffic to appropriate site.

– Thousands of sites affected.

• We host our own cloud service in a secure facility, but we use the Go Daddy DNS.

• So, even though our services remained up and running just fine, for several hours, no one could “find” them.

• #$*@**@&^^@@!!

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Lessons Learned• Clients demand more from

service providers.

• Even the best laid plans...

• OWASP (IT security standards), isn’t necessarily the standard.

• Cloud is in constant change. (and, that doesn’t change.)

OWASP Logo

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Cloud Standards

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Cloud Adoption

• Public Sector: Slow, primarily becauseof security concerns– Non-sensitive data storage– Public web sites– Development and testing environments– Data disaster recovery sites– US Govt ahead of Canadian Govt

• Private Sector: High adoption rate– Social media Sites: Facebook, Twitter, ...– Google, MS, Amazon, SalesForce...

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Municipal Cloud• Rationalize IT infrastructure. • More easily enable growth and change. • Less dependency on internal expertise; e.g. security,

IT hardware, network administration. • Increased options for remote access and the

portable office. • Increase GIS deployment options.

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Cloud Companies

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Cloud GIS / Spatial Cloud Computing (SC2)

• Software as a Service: Highly suitable for basic to intermediate GIS functionality.– E.g. www.giscloud.com

• Platform as a Service: Highly suitable for basic to intermediate GIS functionality. – E.g. Google Aps; ArcGIS Online

• Infrastructure as a Service: High potential for replacing internal high-end GIS infrastructure.– E.g. Infrastructure Ontario.

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SC2 Introduces DaaS• New key component of cloud computing.• Spatial data essential to any GIS – and most

organizations don’t have it. • Also, significant money saving potential:

– According to ESRI 2012 almost 90% of data used by petroleum sector companies comes from external source.

– Massive potential if data provided as a service rather than handled locally.

– 100s of data sources– Interoperability still an issue.

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Compare Cloud GIS vs. Traditional Enterprise GIS

• Functionality (specific vs. general)• Infrastructure (lease vs. own)• Time and ease• Spatial content• Security• Business continuity• Client support• Cost

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SKE’s SC2 - GeoPortal• A hosted, cloud computing solution that uses

geography to integrate business information. • A common geo-base for an organization’s

information and data with Google maps and imagery.– maps; tabular data; and, documents / unstructured

content

• Clients subscribe… nothing to buy.• Secure and reliable: Audit approved. • Standards-based and integrates with dozens of

technologies, such as…

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Benefits of Ontario GeoPortal• Data: Spatial data and info. services provided.• Technology: Always available (HA). Scalable. SLA

guaranteed. • Applications: Comes with full suite of applications.

Enables business info. system integration.• Simple: Easy to learn and implement. No GIS specialty

required. • Cost Effective: Reduces our client’s IT operating costs

by app. 25%/annum ($250,000).Subscription costs well defined. • Subscription model: $1/day/user (1600 named users)• Resource utilization model: App. $2000/month

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How We Handle Security

a. Distributed Model – your data stay behind your firewall.

b. Data hosted in Toronto – which is important for some Canadian clients.

c. Security Model– Uses Windows Authentication– TRA-tested to meet rigid standards– Users only see the information to which they have been

granted access.

d. Multiple redundancy ensures your solution is always available.

Distributed Model

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Important Considerations

• Cloud implementation is:– optimal for collaboration – optimal for GIS implementation (eliminates

complexity, cost, skill requirements).

• Build / design for leverage. One-off projects are expensive; leveraged technology is much cheaper and easier to maintain.

• Geography brings new capacity for information access, sharing, and understanding.

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Thank you

Please join the Spatial Cloud Computing Group on LinkedIn.

Darko PolettoPresidentSKE Inc.416-221-4363dpoletto@skeinc.com