Principles of Project Planning

 The types of services and benefits of cloud computing  

Cloud computing refers to IT services and infrastructure, making them accessible remotely via the internet. Utilizing cloud storage can help companies get an edge compared to others. There are multiple different versions of cloud storage: 

. Public – these are used by a range of users including individuals in large corporations. However, you usually need to pay for a subscription to use public cloud services. It's usually hosted by a cloud vendor, e.g. AWS.  

. Private – these are usually hosted by a by an organization and can be hosted on site or remotely via virtualization. They are usually protected by a firewall. A private cloud also requires an organization to implement and maintain infrastructure to host it.  

. Community – designed to be used by a group of organizations working in a particular industry. By using this type of cloud system in the financial industry, it makes it easier for organizations to transfer money to other organizations in the industry and also international banks.  

. Hybrid – this is the best of both worlds and incorporates the best parts of the private and public cloud systems. For example, a company can use the benefits of the public cloud system but has a private one for transferring more sensitive information.  

Delivery models of cloud computing 

There are six commonly used cloud delivery models, these are: 

• Infrastructure as a service – provides the infrastructure this can include the network, servers, storage areas and operating systems. This means organizations can reduce the costs of physical hardware and its presence. One benefit is that the organization only pays for what they use.  
• Platform as a service – same features as above and builds on them and that also includes software development tools. This is usually used to test web-based software applications. The PaaS provides the infrastructure to develop it, but the organization is still responsible for deploying it.  
• Function as a service – allows organizations to create high quality functions that people can write for themselves. These are then created into a service that can be used. FaaS is places function on the cloud instance which means it can be accessed by a range of people and computers and doesn't rely on the user's hardware to work.  
• Software as a service. - this provides software applications that end users are able to get access to. As the software is provided by SaaS, it is not location dependent and can be accessed by a range of people that are in different locations. The software is accessed via subscription which can have limitations depending on what type of subscriptions you have, for example office 365.   
• Data as a service 
• Everything as a service – this relates to products that are products and tools that are bought as a service. Therefore, it relates to all the above. It's a method to create a resilient digital environment by delivering any services to the digital devices. The purchaser identifies their needs and purchases the most appropriate service.  

Each delivery model has a different purpose, and more than one delivery model can be used by an organization to provide complete cloud service.  

Benefits of cloud computing  

Cloud portability 

Cloud computing allows the quick and easy movement of services. The three areas of portability to consider is: 

• Data portability – the reuse of data components across different applications.  
• Application portability – the reuse of application components across cloud PaaS services and traditional computing platforms.  
• Platform portability – reuse of bundles containing applications and data with supporting platforms or the reuse of platform components across cloud IaaS services and non-cloud infrastructure.  

Cloud sourcing 

This is when organizations will outsource business processes to a third party. Subscribers will pay the service providers for services like FaaS, SaaS, and so on. It is easy to use as the organization only must contact the provider to talk about the fee or re-negotiate it if the demands are not being met. Also, the onus of the service is up to the provider to make sure that it is up to date and maintained, saving a lot more time and money for the company.  

Elastic cloud 

This is when orgaizations can increase or decrease the services offered by the cloud provider depending on what the business needs are. This could be more or less storage, more hardware, and so on. It's more cost-effective for the business as they only need to pay for what they need.  

Storage  

Generally, it is more affordable because the cloud service providers share the costs of their infrastructure and services across many businesses. The cloud storage provider oversees maintaining it, so it doesn't require the businesses employees don't need to spend time making sure that it is safe. The data is loaded into servers in a data center making it very secure and safe. Data stored on the cloud is able to be accessed anywhere and is not location dependent, the person only needs internet access. A big advantage of this is that it is easy for the business to increase the storage as they will only need to increase the subscription.  

Cost-effective  

Using cloud storage can save the business lots of money. It means that a business doesn't need to buy massive amounts of infrastructure to store data and things like maintenance are covered by the cloud service provider, saving them time and money. Businesses can also go with a pay-as-you-go model which means they only need to pay for what they need to use, again, saving them money.  

Test yourself  

1. A hybrid cloud is when a company uses both the public and private setup of cloud storage. So, for example they use the public one for basic storage and file transfer and the private one for storing more private and sensitive information.  
2. One difference between IaaS and PaaS is that with IaaS the company is in control of both the application and the infrastructure whereas with PaaS, the business is only in charge of the application and not the infrastructure. Another difference is that with IaaS, the scalability of it is dependent on the business implementing changes to infrastructure and requires user intervention for scaling, whereas PaaS automatically changes based on demand.  
3. Cloud portability is useful for a business as it allows quick and easy movement of services across different devices that have access to the cloud.  
4. One advantage of cloud computing to a business is how it is cost effective as the business needs to pay for what they need, and they don't have to worry about buying infrastructure and maintaining it, which is very expensive. Another advantage of it is enhanced security as the cloud systems are usually made with security at the forefront. Another advantage is the disaster recovery system as it usually ensures quick recovery in the event of a system failure or a cyber-attack.  
5. XaaS stands for Anything as a service and refers to the delivery of various services over the internet. These include hardware, software, and other tools that a business would need and can access on demand.