TCS and Cloud Computing

TCS and Cloud Computing

Is Cloud Computing the Next Big Thing? This paper on Cloud Computing explains why it may well be so. It traces the context of Cloud Computing, a paradigm shift in IT. Exploring industry definitions of this phenomenon, this paper offers TCS perspectives on various aspects of Cloud Computing: Types of Cloud delivery models, “Public” Cloud Computing for Enterprise business and its challenges, Public-Private & Federated Clouds, Next Generation Computing Services and Benefits of the Cloud. It articulates TCS Taxonomy on Cloud Computing.

TCS believes that Cloud Computing will prove very attractive to the Enterprise IT world and specifically to IT service providers, primarily due the infinite opportunities around innovative business models. While the technology foundations of Cloud Computing can be considered as a gradual evolution, TCS firmly believes that the business models will prove to be otentially disruptive.

Cloud could be a disruptive change for some enterprises, or it could be an evolution beyond virtualization and utility computing for others. Many challenges remain in leveraging Cloud Computing – but it will become an increasingly viable
option for enterprise IT.

This is the first in a series of TCS White Papers on Cloud Computing.

Introduction - A New Paradigm

The first six decades of Information Technology (IT) have witnessed startling evolution across several dimensions like:

o Infrastructure paradigms like centralized computing, personal computing, client-server computing, the Internet and mobile computing.
o Technology abstractions like operating systems, database and transaction processing, application components and service oriented architectures.
o Application domains like personal productivity and collaboration, industry-specific platforms and enterprise applications.
o Service models like infrastructure services, application management services, systems integration and consulting services.

So what is the next big thing in IT? Cloud Computing is a good candidate, and could impact all of these dimensions.

The early adopters of Cloud Computing already exist in the ‘C’ or consumer world. As individual consumers in the Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 world, we are accustomed to the illusion of infinitely scalable, always available and very simply consumable services typically delivered over the Internet, and now increasingly over the mobile phone and other ubiquitous channels.

The ‘E’ or Enterprise world is now kicking the tires of the same car, and debating whether this is an evolution or a revolution, or is it even a potential disruptor. Hype, fear, uncertainty and doubt are rife. The soothsayers predict billions of dollars to be made or lost in the next few years. Economics seems to be driving more attention to the world of Enterprise Clouds faster than expected. The ‘C’ world cost benchmarks are growing attractive to ‘E’ world managements. Cloud Computing could be a disruptive change for some enterprises, or it could be just an evolution beyond virtualization and utility computing for others. What matters is that Businesses will continue to demand agility, will store and process massive amounts of data and will need easily available, highly stable and secure platforms. All this needs to be done efficiently and at the lowest cost.

Lessons can be drawn from the experience of other ‘Utilities’ such as Electricity, Telephone, Oil and Gas, and Water. They have all mastered the techniques of centralized production and distributed consumption and most, if not all, have experimented with multiple models before they reached this state. We must understand that though technology is important, success is determined more by the business models used. The Utility Industry is in a continuous state of ‘Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo’ as far as business models are concerned.

Cloud Computing could impact the software and services business models in a manner similar to the impact that foundries have had on the hardware industry. The initial model of end-to-end integrated electronic chip players (for example, designers owned the entire value chain, including capital intensive semiconductor fabrication facilities) has evolved into different business models. For example, today, only a few major designers, with very high chip volumes (for example, Intel and Samsung) can justify owning and operating their own fabrication lines. This has motivated the rise of semiconductor foundries that build chips for others, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Foundries enable “fab-less” semiconductor chip companies whose value is in innovative chip design. A company such as nVidia can now be successful in the chip business without the capital, the operational expenses, and the risks associated with owning a state-of-the-art fabrication line. Conversely, companies with fabrication lines can time-multiplex their use among the products of many fab-less companies to lower the risk of not having enough successful products to amortise operational costs. Does this hint at the shades of ‘Public Clouds’ and ‘Private Clouds’? More later!

TCS believes that Cloud Computing will be very attractive to the Enterprise IT world and specifically to IT service providers, primarily due the infinite opportunities around such business models. While the technology foundations of Cloud Computing can be considered as a gradual evolution, TCS firmly believes that the business models will prove to be potentially disruptive.

The TCS taxonomy for Cloud Computing is based on four abstraction layers – starting with the Infrastructure, the Platforms, the Software and finally the Cloud-specific Services. TCS believes that delivering a credible set of Cloud Computing Offerings to enterprises will require collaborative innovation across multiple players such as public Cloud providers, software and service providers, product vendors, and application vendors.

TCS believes that it is uniquely positioned to play a major role in Cloud Computing with its Co-innovation Network TM (TCS COIN ), built on a strong internal foundation of TCS Innovation Labs, anchor clients and strong strategic alliances with a range of innovative companies and academia. The TCS Cloud Computing initiative has built a credible set of offerings across advisory, implementation and support functions.

In this white paper, we will set the context for Cloud Computing and present TCS’ definitions and insights into this area.

This will be the first in a series of white papers to be published. A subsequent paper will define TCS strategies for Cloud Computing. Later papers will cover the TCS offerings around Cloud Computing, and lessons and best practices for Cloud Computing specific to industry verticals.

Download

Download full seminar papers At
http://www.enjineer.com/forum