Basic Principles to Website Design and Hosting

Web design and web hosting are two basic principles for a successful Internet business. Certain design criteria may need to be addressed in order to assure an adequate traffic flow for the online company. Other critical factors for a business may include web hosting and the current trend for cloud computing.

WEB DESIGN AND MODERN MARKETING STRATEGY

Currently there are several distinct criteria that are used for any successful Internet business. The website design is critical in order to assure that the right amount of traffic and the interested visitor arrive at the website. SEO strategies are used for traffic generation. These strategies include the following:

1. On page SEO factors are used to affect certain search engine website rankings. The website that is at the top of any search engine results page is better positioned for a successful amount of traffic for that particular search criteria.

2. The development and design of the website allows the search engine to find certain information and rank the website closer to the top of a search engine listing. Good content on a webpage is important for this type of ranking. Content that is linkable is important.

3. The Title tag for a website will allow the search engine to find the site information. The URL description is important for the site to be recognized and found. Images on the web pages generally need to be described in text wording for the search engines to recognize this information as relevant.

MODERN CLOUD COMPUTING SINGAPORE

Web hosting may mean the use of a type of cloud computing Singapore. This style of hosting is the current application for many of the websites and their services. Cloud computing means that the information is a part of a complex infrastructure. This type of hosting is done remotely, and the user's data is stored in remote locations.

The business model for this type of hosting may involve infrastructure and platform services. Software and storage applications may be a part of this type of computing. The use of cloud hosting allows an online business to possibly reduce its IT costs by outsourcing a significant business expense. This type of outsourcing may include several of the following benefits:

1. Outsourcing allows for the costs of hardware or software to be minimized. Support is provided to the online business for the use of the cloud infrastructure or platform services.

2. A business may reallocate its IT operations. This reallocation may allow the online business to focus on other company issues. Other goals may be realized.

3. The user of a type of public cloud computing service is storing the company data on the cloud provider's server. This allocation of company information may need to be cleared with any security issues for the business.

Creating a website is often an integral part of any business. Finding the right style of design is critical. Hosting options may lend themselves to cost containment for the business. The security issues may need to be researched for any type of public computing.

There Are Many Cloud Computing Services

These days, IT industry is implementing new technologies in their organizations to enhance the business requirements. There are many IT organizations, which are developing new and innovative applications, technologies, software programs and many more. Cloud technology is the one, which offers the business services and solutions online. Cloud computing Singapore is the latest trend in the IT industry that offers the computing services to meet the entire organizational needs. Many organizations are implementing this technology to enhance the storage space. This computing also helps in increasing the processing power to deliver faster service. It can meet entire industrial needs to develop new business strategies. Cloud is not a device; it is just a computing service to maintain your organizational data online.

Cloud computing has many services to augment the organizational growth across all business aspects. These services can help the enterprises to increase their efficiency, reliability, scalability and other aspects within the time and budget. These cloud computing services are of three types; these are infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS). 

Software as a service (SaaS) provides single application through the browser. Basically, it delivers software applications through internet to thousands of customers to avail many business benefits. These services can run on multiple computers and provide access to the several users, who are connected in cloud computing. Most of the IT enterprises are implementing this service to get more software applications online.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is the most useful service for all kinds of organizations. IaaS can provide computer resources such as networking, storage, servers, data center and many more to enhance the data storage in an organization. These services are cost effective. This type of service can maintain the large amount of data online and also protect the data from several internet threats. IaaS can augment the industrial performance with several hardware resources by providing them online. 

Platform as a service (PaaS) is another variation for SaaS computing. It can provide the computing environment to endorse management lifecycle services and cloud application deployment. It can provide the platform services to develop web based applications for many organizations. You can develop your own applications with this platform services. 

In short, these are highly innovative and new trendy technologies to enhance the business requirements and efficiency. Most of the organizations are using this technology as it is cost effective and meet all the business needs.

Cloud Based Contract Management - What To Look For

Cloud systems are fast becoming popular with businesses across the world because of their cost and time cutting services. Cloud vendors (Google, Amazon etc) upload a host of applications onto their clouds and when users connect to the service remotely, these applications are available for instant use - saving the user the time and money it would usually cost to install such applications on their own device.

This article explains the advantages of using cloud systems, how you can use cloud systems when it comes to contract management and finally, what to look out for in terms of risk.

What to look out for
By uploading files to the cloud, the cloud provider inevitably has access to those files. It's basically a trust issue - if you read the terms and conditions of your cloud provider, they should state what they can and cannot do with your files. Encrypting these particular documents may help.
Note: The majority of cloud providers do not have a hidden agenda to read your documents, they're simply running a genuine service and want to uphold a solid reputation.

If your cloud provider goes down for whatever reason, then your saved files are inaccessible. The age-old point made earlier about backing your files up to disc is the best solution to this problem.
The firewalls installed on your machine(s) are no longer relevant. Again, this is a trust issue. If a cloud provider does not have sufficient protection then your work could be vulnerable to attack from hackers.

Some vendors offer different service packages or a pay-as-you go service. Analyse which is the best for you. When taking up the pay-as-you go option be careful to not leave your cloud account open as you work on other programmes throughout the day, as you could be charged by the hour. Log on and off religiously - this also protects your account from being accessed by someone else when you go on your dinner break!

Five ways in which the tools aid contract management
Alongside the things to look out for with cloud-based contract management, there are also tools that go to show how effective this form of management is. Five big ones include:
• Lower sale cycles - with the paper trail eliminated, turnaround time increases.

• Increase customer loyalty - faster service = happier customer.

• Cut work time - no need for writing contracts, faxing them out and signing.

• More information - easier for everyone to see the contract and what it means.

• Proper ROI - rapid, effective and legal.

Seeking for cloud computing Singapore, call Alenu IT Today! at (65) 6884 5030

Key Characteristics and Benefits From the Cloud

Cloud computing is today's approach to effective IT computing systems, databases, and networks. Instead of acquiring and maintaining all the computing assets required for the typical business' technology infrastructure, those assets reside in a highly-secure, highly-available data center and are accessed remotely. As an example, an online storefront and enterprise customer management system are usually run on servers within an onsite IT department or data center. Through the combination of Cloud Computing and Virtualization services a specialized IT firm enables the same - often better - infrastructure. Customers experience the same online store, but a highly-skilled IT company maintains the infrastructure - from storage to servers, networking, and applications - and everything in between.

The key benefit in this scheme is transforming technology implementations from a risky capital investment and lengthy implementation phase into a turnkey, "always on" subscription service. The specialized, dedicated IT firm makes the capital investments, eliminating the risks inherent in a do it yourself approach. The firm employs virtualization and highly secure, energy-efficient facilities to lower operating costs. The specialized firm is then responsible for running, maintaining, upgrading, protecting, and backing up the IT infrastructure, all while the client simply pays for the services used.

Painless Technology Implementations
An IT system then becomes just like a utility: only the services rendered are paid for while the utility provider handles all the operations and maintenance. The wheel does not have to be reinvented every time a company needs to add or upgrade computing systems. Virtualization services - such as virtual machines and virtualized applications - are offered on the utility provider's servers and databases.
The client accesses these services through portal standard, secure Internet connection; all the operations are performed by the cloud computing firm including data storage, server optimization, and data backup and recovery. The end result is available to the client without the need for special computing devices or staff training. The entire process is streamlined, making it simple for the client.

Technology Cost Savings
Virtualization and cloud computing preclude the need for capital investment in order to utilize technology solutions. This allows for a more dynamic application of corporate assets, particularly investment capital, in order to meet business needs. With cloud computing, installation is eliminated and scalability is built in, enabling immediate response to scale the services up or down as well as significant cost savings. Overall, the cost for the equipment, installation, staffing, and training is eliminated.

In most cases, when equipment is rented or a service is provided, the daily operational costs are higher than an in-house alternative. In cloud computing, that is not necessarily the case. The computing assets in use are dynamic and are instantly scaled to current demand, allowing efficient operation without overages or waste. In addition, the service provider utilizes their resources 24x7 worldwide, so operating costs are shared between traditional 9 to 5 clients, 24x7 operations, and overseas operations. These cost savings are then passed to the clients.

Another major benefit of cloud computing and virtualization is energy efficiency. Virtualization and cloud computing service providers have the capital resources and specialized expertise to build highly secure, efficient data centers. Since energy cost is among the highest of data center operational expense, virtualization and cloud computing service providers continually strive to minimize those costs - often time inventing new technologies or applying existing technologies in new ways. The resulting savings in energy costs are then passed to the clients.

In many cases, the savings gained in money, time, and daily costs are far beyond what most companies can compete with. Unless a business is heavily reliant on technology, making a full in-house IT department a mandatory component, virtualization services are the most economical choice for most businesses. Paying for IT infrastructure and technology services on a per-use basis is the perfect combination of usability and economy.

Highly Effective Systems
IT equipment and methods are in a constant state of change. New technologies and capabilities are being added at a quick pace, obsolescing systems within a matter of years. Most companies cannot afford to stay at the leading edge of technology, but nearly every company can profit from those advances.

Cloud computing and virtualization offer access to technologies that would be prohibitive under most circumstances. For a company that focuses on its online storefront, there is no opportunity to pursue the day's latest breakthroughs. Dedicated virtualization services firms, however, have both the knowledge and resources to keep up with each advance and pass those benefits to their clients. Just as savings are realized against capital expense, so are they seen in upgrades, updates, and maintenance.
By having, in essence, a dedicated IT team behind the services offered, companies can also reap the benefits as if there were an in-house IT department. The latest security features and methods are seamlessly introduced to keep sensitive data safe. Data back up and decentralization is employed as the best defense against a physical loss of data, such as a natural disaster that would damage an office. Simply put, all of the support and customer service of onsite IT personnel are available through this solution.

In the end, cloud computing encompasses the turnkey implementation of technological systems at a great cost savings with automatic updates and upgrades to the latest computing equipment, storage capacity, networking capabilities, and security.

Seeking for cloud computing Singapore, call Alenu IT Now! at (65) 6884 5030

Putting Your Information in the Cloud is Like Putting Your Money in the Bank, Do You Trust Banks?

Cloud computing seems to be the wave of the future, and I just hope that the cloud is not made of CO2, because it would cause us to choke to death. And speaking of death, what happens if you have all of your personal data, important family photos, and all your information stored in some data center, or cloud somewhere and the data center has a cyber attack and they lose everything for you? Personally, not just for privacy reasons, but also for safety reasons, I would rather back up everything I have on a DVD, or several of those and put them into a safe, for safekeeping somewhere.

As our virtual lives and real lives merge into one, we are going to want to protect all of that data so that it doesn't get destroyed, or hacked into, or perhaps someday used against us. And when I say used against us, I also mean some corporation rummaging through our data with a super computer algorithm to identify us as a particular buyer of their products and services. I'd just as soon keep my privacy as long as possible, although I'm coming to the realization that in the future that will be indeed impossible.

An interesting article to read might be one which appeared in the Wall Street Journal on June 6, 2011 titled "The Cloud Drifts Closer to the Consumer" by Ian Sherr that discussed the issues with users storing their music, videos, pictures, etc, in the cloud and not on their own computers or within the hard drives of their devices. Still, I'd ask why? If you have a personal device which is able to store the information and it hardly costs much money for many Gigabytes of data storage, why do you need the cloud at all?

Now then, let's compare this to money. We put our money in banks, but right now they don't give us any interest for it, because interest rates are so low. Then they charge us to use our own money at the ATM, and they charge us to have a bank account, which is either free if we leave lots of money in, or a monthly fee for the privilege of them holding our money, and making it more difficult for us to use. That doesn't seem like such a great idea.

Likewise, why should we pay someone a fee for using their cloud data center, when we can merely buy a 50 GB iPad, laptop, or other personal tech device. The people who are promoting cloud computing seem to think they are offering something to the public that we need, but personally I don't really need it, and I don't understand why I would allow my data to be stored on someone else's computers, cloud, or in their data center.

Most small businesses agree and that information about their business is private, it's not for anyone else to see including the IRS which could easily subpoena that data from the cloud computing vendor, who else will want to go snooping? Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Sourcing for cloud computing Singapore, contact Alenu IT Today! at (65) 6884 5030

7 Business Advantages of Using 'Cloud' Computing You Maybe Are Missing Out on!

Open a business periodical today, and there's a good chance you will come across some discussions of "cloud computing". Like many technology shifts, such as mobile computing and open source, there is no singular meaning to this concept. Instead, the cloud refers to services which are hosted remotely across a variety of servers accessible worldwide, which allows the services to scale with high levels of efficiency. Rather than operating independent silos or relying upon locally installed software, cloud services such as Google Docs and Amazon eZ2 provide consumers and developers alike with access to shared resources that open up new doors for business.

Access with improvement in broadband speeds
High speed internet bandwidth is nearly universally accessible. As a result, the costs of local computing have gone down while the productivity of working online has increased significantly. No matter how you access the Internet, you can use these services on your mobile device, laptop, desktop or even from a shared business computer.

Collaboration
Even if you're travelling across the world, your work files are just a single login away. As a result, it's easy for collaborators to work together on projects from remote locations. Talent is global today, and now you can leverage the best people to bring your ideas to life.

Distribution
Rather than relying upon localised installations in order to update software, IT services and software makers can now centralise distribution and updates of software. As a result, programmers can reduce piracy while users can benefit from ease of access.

Reliability
Previously, a single mission critical server or data centre was necessary to run large scale operations. With cloud computing, the inevitable shut down of servers doesn't have to take down an entire network. With a cloud setup, networks can continue to operate by routing traffic more efficiently.

Rich Media
With the transition to IP-based media, rich content such as video requires more bandwidth and rapid data transmission on services such as the Amazon EZS3 private video servers. Cloud computing makes this vision of Internet-based media a reality with fast transfer rates.

Efficiency
Remote access with mobile and laptop devices makes it more efficient to work wherever you are. As a result you can pack a lighter mobile device and feel confident you have access to all of the required resources.

Freedom
The Internet was built upon freedom of expression. With distributed computing, individuals and organisations are free to express their ideas without fear of censorship. In an era where independent publications thrive, cloud computing is powering a new generation of voices.

Seeking for cloud computing Singapore, contact Alenu Group Today! at (65) 6884 5030

Information Technology As-A-Service (ITaaS) With VMware Private Cloud

Information Technology as-a-Service (ITaaS) is an architectural strategy companies have started to adopt as a way to align IT resources to better meet business needs. A full ITaaS architecture provides a customer centric on-demand approach to supplying IT services. The attributes of an effective ITaaS architecture include simplicity, pay-for-use, agility, user-centric, efficient, elastic, responsive and control. ITaaS design is to solve the challenges with current-state architectural approach to providing IT resources in a business friendly way.

Current-state architecture challenges include; infrastructure is added on an ad-hoc basis, IT assets are tied to project expenses, applications are tightly coupled with their hardware and over 70% of the budget goes to maintaining the status quo. A company with the current-state architecture will not be able to meet the ITaaS objectives and not realize the benefits of simplicity, pay-for-use, agility, user-centric, efficient, elastic, responsive and control. Current-state IT architecture is not agile enough to provide IT resources as a service.

Companies that define ITaaS as the target-state objective are looking for a roadmap to realize the benefits of ITaaS architecture. One of the enterprise architecture designs that deliver the foundation for ITaaS is Private Cloud. The infrastructure provided by cloud provided the framework for building ITaaS target-state architectures. Benefits of a private cloud include; web based user centric interfaces, designed for the Non-IT users, support for multiple organizations, application isolation and ability to migrate workloads. Private Cloud allows for control of user resource usage through roles/rights, quotas, leases and allows for data collection for billing on resource allocation. Private Cloud provides the ability to scale to meet the business requirements without impacting system users. End users have a certain amount of autonomy over their resources and are not dependent on an administrator.

Getting from current-state architecture to target-state ITaaS requires transformational initiatives. Customers have asked for a prescriptive road map to get to the end goal of ITaaS. VMware, a leader in private cloud and virtualization, created the domain model approach to help customers with their prescriptive roadmap with a near term objective of cloud and future goal of ITaaS.

The VMware domain model identifies the components and relationships between them required for a successful private cloud implementation. The domain model targets 5 Strategic areas of an IT ecosystem; Business IT/Alignment, Architecture, Infrastructure, Process and Organizational & Governance. Using the domain model as a benchmark a company is measured based on their maturity in the domain areas. From the model a prescriptive plan can be created to help get the IT organization to their target-state goal of ITaaS.

Realizing ITaaS Architecture can become a reality when built upon Private Cloud architecture. To have a successful Private Cloud architecture it is important to address not only the technical concerns but to address the stakeholders and their relationship in the enterprise though the VMware domain model.

Seeking for cloud computing Singapore, contact Alenu Today! at (65) 6884 5030

Cloud Computing Information

Cloud computing is Internet based computing where shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand. Cloud computing describes a new delivery model for IT services based on the Internet. The word cloud is a metaphor that is used to describe the Internet and is derived from the cloud drawing that has been used in the past to represent the telephone. Typically speaking, cloud service providers provide business applications which are then accessed from another web service and the data is stored on servers.

In most cases, cloud customers do not own the physical infrastructure, thus avoiding capital expenditure because the usage is being rented from a third party. The resources consumed are done so as a service and customers only pay for the resources that they use. Some cloud computing companies provide their services as a subscription based service, while others use the utility computing model. The utility computing model is similar to how utility services, such as electricity, are used.

Cloud service gets many of its characteristics from many things but should not be confused with them. Examples include autonomic computing, which is computer systems that are capable of self management, client-server, which refers to any distributed application that differentiates between servers and clients and mainframe, which are computers that are mostly used by large organizations for important applications, such as consumer statistics and financial transaction processing.

A cloud client consists of computer hardware/software that relies on cloud computing to deliver their applications or has been purposefully designed to deliver cloud services. Some examples include certain computers, phones, operating systems and browsers. Cloud application services, also known as Software as a Service (SaaS), deliver software as a service via the Internet and therefore the need to install applications is avoided. Eliminating the need to install and run software is useful because it simplifies the support and maintenance.

The security of cloud services may be delaying the adoption of its more widespread usage. The Cloud Security Alliance is a nonprofit organization that promotes the best practices of providing security assurance for Cloud computing. While there have been no published studies to confirm the assumption, cloud computing has been referred to as a form of green computing. The lack of need for software installation is a great highlight for cloud computing clients. One less thing to own is one less thing to worry about.

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A Few Things About Cloud Computing

There are many things in the world that are quite hard to understand. Technology is really advancing nowadays, and with new technology comes more complex technology. Technology can really be quite had to understand for most people, and that is why people do not really take advantage of it the way they should. This is why a little research should be done to better understand the technology that is available for your use today. 

Cloud computing Singapore is an advancing technology that has many great benefits.

Basically, cloud computing uses the Internet and other central remote serves in order to better maintain applications as well as data. This kind of computing will then allow businesses and consumers to use all different kinds of applications without installing anything. This means that as long as a computer has Internet access you will be able to use the application on that computer. This can be very beneficial because then you won't have to be at a certain computer to get something done. Any computer with Internet access will have access to the application.

The customers of a cloud infrastructure do not actually own the infrastructure. They basically rent the infrastructure from a provider. The customer will pay the provider for the service, but they will only pay for what they use. This is very efficient for the customer since you do not have any wasteful spending going towards things that you are not even using. Do not forget, you do not have to spend any money buying hardware or software to start with either. The economic part of this is very favorable to the customers.

One might wonder where cloud computing came from. The history of cloud computing actually goes back farther than you may think. It started with John McCarthy in about 1960. He stated that one day computation may be organized as something like a public utility. He had the idea in his head before it ever started. The company Amazon played a vital role in the cloud computing development. Amazon made their data centers more modernized. Amazon found that cloud computing would be a much more efficient. Amazon was then followed by other large companies such as IBM and Google. These companies all realized the great benefits that cloud computing have.

What is Cloud Computing? 10 Defining Points

This seems like an odd question to ask since you probably already have some concept of "the cloud.

" However, given some of the conversations I have been having recently, I think there's a good deal of cloudy thinking about cloud computing Singapore.

So here is the gist of what the cloud is (imho) summed up for you in a set of bullet points:

1. "Cloud Computing" is currently a marketing term. And that's why I'm writing this; to divorce the use of Cloud Computing, the marketing term, from the use of Cloud Computing as an architectural idea. Marketing terms don't have to conform to precise definition. They get used, then abused, then severely exploited and finally, as their bandwagon grinds to a halt, they get pitched onto the sorry stack of broken buzz words. That's what happened to "eBusiness", "Web Services", "On Demand" and so on. Until the recession began in earnest Cloud Computing was a reasonably sane marketing term. That's now changing because, in the minds of the IT audience, the cost of cloud computing is lower. That makes cloud the hype-word du jour.
2. Cloud Computing is NOT SaaS (Software As A Service). I'm making this point because some commentators have been equating these two ideas as if they were identical. SaaS is healthy terminology. SaaS is out-hosted software that you can access directly. Although you might not think of it as such, your electronic banking capability is SaaS - you just don't pay for it directly. As such electronic banking is no different to Zoho or Google Apps. However, electronic banking is definitely not Cloud Computing, no matter how much you stretch the definition.
3. Cloud Computing Is Not About Emulating Google It looks suspiciously like the initial enthusiasm for cloud computing as a technology strategy was prompted by Google envy. Google was doing something unprecedented in building huge data centers to support its business. It was clearly a fact that Google's operation was highly efficient and some CIOs mused about whether they could emulate Google. Actually there was no chance, because Google's business was defined by just two uncommon transactions: searching the web and placing adverts. Google designed a huge massively parallel operation using computer servers and switches they built themselves within an architecture that was optimized for precisely that workload. You can't emulate that unless, like some social networking sites, you have a small variety but very large numbers of transactions. As you might expect, some social networking sites have emulated Google.
4. Cloud Computing Is About Technology Stacks Cloud computing is about technology stacks in the same way that the ISP business is about technology stacks. In general ISP deliver a consistent service to the myriads of web sites they host by employing a standard technology stack, most commonly, the LAMP (Linux Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack. This means that management effort is minimal because everyone is running the same application (a web site) with the same technology (LAMP) and, where customers do have problems, they will normally be the same issues cropping up time and again.
5. Cloud Computing Is About Economies of Scale The only thing that everyone seems to agree upon about Cloud Computing is that it is constructed for scale and that it is hosted on a set of resources that are distinct from the typical IT network. In other words within "the cloud" there is an architectural attempt to build for scale. Most cloud offerings are going to be based upon scalability. The truth is that if you plan to have a very large data center and you organize its use so that most of the workloads are very similar, or better, identical, then you will achieve significant economies of scale. You will then be able to offer the service at prices that undercut the customer's costs of running the application in-house. The more customers you achieve the better the cost advantage.
6. Cloud Computing Is Not Outsourcing The typical corporate data center is not a cloud and will never become one. Its workloads are mixed the platforms they run on are mixed - the whole technology stack is mixed. That means you cannot transform the whole data center into a cloud operation. However, you can outsource it.
7. Are There Any Clouds Computing Standards? Not really, or perhaps better to say "not yet." In general cloud computing infrastructure is built on servers that employ virtualization technology to deliver efficient resource utilization and typically, abide by open standards and, for the sake of economy, use open source software extensively. There is an organization formed by a group of universities, called the Open Cloud Consortium (OCC), which is promoting open frameworks that will let clouds operated by different organizations work together seamlessly.
8. Is there Such A Thing As An Internal Cloud? Again, not really, or perhaps better said "not yet." There is sense in organizations creating "domains" within their own networks that are built on cloud-type architectures, especially if they have applications that may need to scale over time. If cloud standards existed then such domains could be thought of as Internal Clouds. They would become staging areas for possibly moving internal applications into the cloud, or if the organization has its own software that it intends to offer as a service, then such a domain could become the platform for providing that service.
9. Is Cloud Computing Anything To Do With Web 2.0? No nothing at all. But you can make the connection if you want to. Many web sites that are said to be Web 2.0, primarily because they are social networking sites, have had to scale up dramatically when their user population shot into the millions. Because of that they have had to adopt highly scalable architectures (or die). Because they have such architectures they may be in a good position to offer some services to users in the manner of cloud computing.
10. Do Clouds Offer Guaranteed Service Levels? The answer to this is "yes" or at least it should be, and in the future it surely will be. We have to exclude free services, like Yahoo Mail and many of Google's services, which can be described as Cloud Computing from most perspectives, because a free service is never going to offer guarantees (even if it makes an excellent living from adverts.) But Cloud Computing will ultimately be defined, from the user's perspective, by service levels and the nature of the service itself. If Cloud Computing Services are well defined in that way, then it becomes possible to compare such services with the cost of providing a similar capability from your own data center - as long as the Cloud Computing provider is transparent in providing details of the technology that it deploys.

Cloud Computing: The Ins and Outs

Cloud computing has gained significant popularity over the past few years because of its self service capacity, flexibility, affordability, scalability and its pay as you go service model. You may have also heard cloud computing referred to as the cloud, cloud hosting, cloud server hosting and etc. These terms have been thrown around so much and most do not even know exactly what it means. So what is cloud computing Singapore?

Cloud computing is unlike traditional hosting alternatives that use a single dedicated server, as cloud computing uses virtualization technology to pool or share resources from an underlying network of physical servers. In other words, a group of physical servers acts like one big server to bring you the resources that you need on demand. Cloud computing delivers shared computing resources, data or software through the Internet; which is the most common way of accessing the cloud. However, intranets and dedicated networks are also used too. Resources provided by the cloud include: networks, servers, storage, platforms, applications and other services. And these resources are shared between people and organizations, and accessed by applications or users.

The Five Main Characteristic of Cloud Computing

In cloud computing, there are five fundamental characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting alternatives, including rapid elasticity, broad network access, on-demand self-service, resource pooling, and measured service.

· On-Demand Self-Service

With cloud computing's on demand self service, you are able to access email, applications, network or server services without human interaction. Simply set up an account with the seller, create billing and security credentials, and select the cloud computing resources that you will need. Generally this is all done by utilizing a user friendly and easily accessible web-based self-service portal.

· Broad Network Access

Cloud computing services are available over a network, either over a dedicated network, the Internet or the Intranet. These services can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, anytime on any device or workstation, with the right credentials of course.

· Resource Pooling

Cloud computing provides multiple customers the same physical resources, however, with a a separate environment for each client. And the resources from these physical servers can be pooled from various servers, in various data centers, in various locations. And if a server in your network goes offline, then your virtual server will pool resources from another server in your physical network. Even if an entire data center in your network is down, then your resources are pooled from various data centers in various locations. This structure allows for decreased risk in the instance of failure.

· Rapid Elasticity

Perhaps one of the essential benefits of cloud computing is the flexibility that it provides to users, as cloud resources can be rapidly and elastically supplied to quickly scale out and in to meet demand. In other words, you get the resources that you need when you need them.

· Measured Service

Cloud computing leverages metering capabilities to measure your usage of resources, allowing you to only pay for what you are using. In other words, just like a utility bill you will only be charged for what you use, nothing more nothing less.

The 3 Main Cloud Computing Service Models

In cloud computing, there are three main service models. They are Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS).

· Software as a Service (SaaS) is the most extensively used cloud computing service model. SaaS allows developers and organizations to utilize business specific applications developed by third parties. In a SaaS model the vendor hosts both the application and the data, and the end user is free to use the services from anywhere. SaaS is not your average on premise software, as it is deployed over a network, generally the web, accessible via browser or program interface. Services can be anything from email to inventory control to database processing. Some examples include: Salesforce.com, Zoho, and Netsuite. The service level coverage provided includes: application uptime and performance.

· Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a type of cloud computing that provides users with software development tools that are hosted on a cloud provider's infrastructure. In a PaaS environment, developers can leverage the resources of a cloud provider to create and host applications on their platforms over the Internet. The greatest benefit derived from PaaS is that users can run existing or develop new applications without being concerned about the maintenance of server hardware, operating systems, load balancing or computing capacity. In other words, you can unload the responsibility of owning, managing, and operating systems software and hardware to your service provider. The types of services provided can be anything from RunTime scenario, cloud storage, integration and etc. Some examples of PaaS are Google App Engine, Windows Azure and Force.com. The service level coverage provided includes: environment availability, environment performance and no application coverage.

· Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a form of cloud computing that provides users with networks, storage, virtualized servers and systems software that give you all the functionalities of an entire data center. In other words, you are able to use computers that your service provider owns, manages and operates. Resources should encompass servers, storage, vendor managed network and virtualization layers so that your network architect is able to run your application and data. All the while, you will have control over operating systems and deployed applications. Types of services provided: cloud storage and virtual server. Some examples: Amazon Web Services, RackSpace Cloud and Go Grid. The service level coverage provided includes: virtual server availability, time to provision and no platform or application coverage.

The Three Major Cloud Solutions

There are many types of cloud strategies to employ. There are three main types of cloud solutions, including: public, private and hybrid cloud solutions.

· Public Cloud

When people think of the term cloud, more often than not they are referring to the public cloud. A public cloud solution is shared by thousands of customers worldwide and is available to anyone on the Internet. This is the easiest and most cost effective cloud strategy to employ. However, because you share the cloud with the public, you do not want to keep sensitive information here.

· Private Cloud

When your organization has sensitive data, privacy fears are a leading issue. This is where a private cloud will come into use. A private cloud is either a proprietary network or a data center that provides hosted services to just a single customer. In a private cloud setup, you must either lease or supply the hardware that will be used. Not to mention you can either manage some or all of your IT resources in-house or managed externally. For businesses that are in highly regulated industries where security is paramount, a private cloud solution is the only alternative. The benefits of a private cloud solution include: no restrictions of network bandwidth, security vulnerabilities, and legal concerns that utilizing a public cloud might encompass. It can also have improved security, accountability, and resiliency than a public cloud because use can be contained and managed. Some disadvantages are that a large capital investment is required, time to market can average 6-36 months to establish and the learning curve is great.

· Hybrid Cloud

A hybrid cloud is a combination of a public and a private cloud and is considered to be the best of both worlds. A hybrid cloud solution allows you to keep all of your secure data in a private cloud setting, while getting high usability of mobile and web based access to corporate applications. In most cases, a hybrid cloud solution that combines the advantages of both private and public clouds works rather well for a bulk of businesses. Some advantages of a hybrid cloud solution include: no vendor lock in, minimizes the risk of data loss and/or downtime, save the extra cost of purchasing exclusive server hardware and get fairly reliable connectivity, even in case of outages. One major disadvantage is that a hybrid cloud solution is very expensive.

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Cloud Computing - Is It Safe?

There are essentially two kinds of computing environments:

On-premises computing is the traditional form of computing in which you or your company own and manage your own systems. All the applications you use, as well as your data files, are in your own computers on your own premises either on individual PCs or on an in-house local area network.

In cloud computing Singapore, by contrast, your applications and files are held remotely on the Internet (in cyberspace) in a network of servers which is operated by a third party. You access applications and work on your files from your PC simply by logging on to the network.

Cloud services are provided by cloud-hosting providers, companies such as Google, Amazon, Oracle Cloud, Rackspace, Microsoft Azure, and so on.

There is nothing fundamentally new about the concept of cloud services. If you are using Gmail, Hotmail or yahoo for your emails, you are using cloud services and probably have been for years.

What is relatively new is the types of services that are being offered in a cloud-environment. These now go far beyond email to cover all the IT services that an on-premises computing environment would deliver, such as accounting, marketing, human resources and so on.

Advantages of cloud computing

Cloud computing has several advantages over on-premises computing:

1) You can run an application or access your files from anywhere in the world using any computer.

2) Cloud computing is cheaper.

3) You need less technical knowledge.

4) Cloud computing delivers a better performance.

5) Cloud computing is eminently scalable. Increasing the number of applications you use or the amount of data you store does not require a heavy investment; you only need to advise the cloud-hosting adviser.

Given these advantages it no surprise that over the last few years there has been a widespread rapid adoption of cloud computing. Analysts estimate that the growth rate of all spending on cloud IT will soon be at least four times faster than the growth rate of all spending on on-premises computing.

Indeed, analysts are expecting the annual growth rate of spending on cloud computing to average 23.5% compound from now until 2017. In addition, by that year spending on cloud services will probably account for one-sixth of all spending on IT products, such as applications, system infrastructure software, and basic storage.

Given the rapid growth in cloud computing, the big question, of course, is whether cloud computing is safe. Is it more or less safe than on-premises computing?

The short answer is that cloud computing is not less safe than on-premises computing. However, the threats are somewhat different in nature, though they are converging.

Threats

Generally speaking, there are six major threats to computer security. These are:

Malware - is malicious software such as viruses, trojans, worms, spyware and zombies. Malware is installed on either a PC in your home-office or a cloud-computing server. Where malware gives control of a network of computers to a malicious group (eg, to send spam) it is called a botnet.

Web app attack - is an attack in which web-based applications are targeted. It is one of the most common forms of attack on the Internet.

Brute force attack - works by trying all possible combinations of letters or numbers in order to discover a cipher or secret key. For example, you could crack a password by repeatedly trying to guess it. Modern computing power and speed makes brute force a viable form of attack.

Recon - is reconnaissance activity that is used to choose victims that are both vulnerable and valuable.

Vulnerability scan - is an exploit using a special program to access weaknesses in computers, systems, networks or applications in order to generate information for planning an attack.

App attack - is an attack against an application or service that is not running on the web, ie the program will be on a computer somewhere.

Honeypots

A honeypot is a decoy website, network, system or application that has been intentionally designed to be vulnerable to attack. Its purpose is to gather information about attackers and how they work.

Honeypots allow researchers to:

• collect data on new and emerging malware and determine trends in threats
• identify the sources of attacks including details of their IP addresses
• determine how attacks takes place and how best to counteract them
• determine attack signatures (pieces of code that are unique to particular pieces of malware) so that anti-virus software can recognise them
• develop defences against particular threats

Honeypots have proved to be invaluable in erecting defences against hackers.

The Spring 2014 Cloud Security Report

Alert Logic provides security services for both on-premises and cloud computer systems. The company began issuing cloud security reports in 2012. Its Spring 2014 Cloud Security Report covers the year ending 30th September 2013.

This report is based on a combination of real-world security incidents experienced by Alert Logic's customers and data gathered from a series of honeypots the company set up around the world.

The report throws some interesting light of the security of on-premises and cloud computing relating to the company's customers. Here are some of the highlights:

[1] Computing is shifting more and more from on-premises to cloud-based computing and the kinds of attacks that target on-premises systems are now targeting cloud environments. This is probably due to the increasing value of potential victims in the cloud.

[2] Although attacks on cloud environments are increasing in frequency, the cloud is not inherently less secure than traditional on-premises computing.

[3] The frequency of attacks in both on-premises and cloud computing has increased for most types of threats, though for a few types of threats it has fallen. Here are the main points of comparison between both computing environments:

The most prevalent types of attacks against on-premises customers were malware attacks (including botnets) at 56% during the six months ending 30th September. At only 11%, these attacks were much less frequent among cloud customers. However the number of cloud customers experiencing these attacks is rising quickly, more than doubling in one year.

Attacks using brute force increased from 30% to 44% of cloud customers but remained stable in on-premises environments at a high 49%. Vulnerability scans jumped dramatically in both environments. Brute force attacks and vulnerability scans are now occurring at almost the same rates in on-premises and cloud environments.

Web app attacks are more likely among cloud customers. However these attacks are down year-on-year in both cloud and on-premises computing, as are recons. App attacks increased slightly in both categories of customers.

The most prevalent types of attacks vary between on-premises and cloud environments. In on-premises computing the top three were malware (56% of customers), brute force (49%) and vulnerability scans (40%), while in the cloud the most common incidents were brute force, vulnerability scans and web app attacks, each of which affected 44% of customers.

[4] The incidents involving Alert Logic's cloud-based honeypots varied in different parts of the world. Those hosted in Europe attracted twice as many attacks as honeypots in Asia and four times more than honeypots in the USA. This may be due to malware 'factories' operating in Eastern Europe and Russia testing their efforts locally before deploying them throughout the world.

[5] Chillingly, 14% of the malware collected by honeypots was not detectable by 51% of the world's top antivirus vendors. Even more frightening: this was not because these were brand-new malware; much of the malware that was missed was repackaged variations of older malware and thus should have been detected.

The report concluded with a statement that security in the cloud is a shared responsibility. This is something that individual entrepreneurs as well as small and medium sized enterprises tend to forget.

In cloud computing, the service provider is responsible for the basics, for protecting the computing environment. But the customer is 100% responsible for what happens within that environment and, to ensure security, he or she needs to have some technical knowledge.

Conclusion

Advertisements by cloud service providers seem to imply that cloud computing is safer than an on-premises computing. This is simply not true. Both environments seem to be equally safe or unsafe viz-a-viz hackers and their malicious programs.

Attacks in the cloud are increasing as potential targets are becoming more 'theft-worthy'. Thus, the security in the cloud needs to be just as robust as security in on-premises environments. However, you cannot rely solely on antivirus software vendors to detect all attacks.

Your best bet is therefore to enter an annual maintenance contract with an online computer maintenance firm that can periodically access your computer(s) from a remote location and ensure that it is protected as well as possible. This should not cost more than €120 to €150 a year depending on the number of computers you have.

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7 Great Tips For Cloud Computing And Other Outsourced Services

Running a business is no longer as costly as it used to be. Aside from the ability to reduce management responsibilities by outsourcing back-office tasks to a BPO company, you can also reduce maintenance and purchase costs for operations done within your office. For example, cloud computing is the most popular solution to equipping all your employees with the appropriate tools without needing to purchase all the expensive software. However, due diligence should be exercised so that your business will only outsource the services that you actually need. Why? Because most cloud service providers bundle up their services into complete packages and offer these to their target market. These complete packages are seldom customizable, which means those who purchase the package have to pay for all the services when they don't even need them. You can safely avoid this costly set-up by doing the following:

1. Shop around the internet for available options - there are plenty of cloud computing service providers available on the internet. Use the internet to search and make a list of the most reliable cloud computing service providers who offer the tools that you need.

2. Compare prices - cost-reduction is the main reason why you are choosing to avail of cloud computing, so you have to narrow down your list to only the companies that you can afford.

3. Consider your hardware - just because you're looking to use the cloud for your operations doesn't mean that you shouldn't pay attention to your existing hardware. It is actually very important that the cloud computing services match up with the capabilities of your hardware, or else it will be a waste of time and resources. You may want to look for a company that offers hardware equipment that complements their cloud computing services.

4. Look for customizability - to make sure that you don't pay for tools that you don't need, look for customizable packages from the list of companies that you have researched. And when you have found a suitable candidate...

5. Read the contract carefully - go through the whole contract to make sure that all the services offered to you are written down. No matter how reputable the company may be, you always have to look out for the best interest of your own business.

6. Ask about maintenance - when a service that you have purchased begins showing issues, you need to have someone accountable. Usually this is the service provider, so you have to make sure that all parties are clear on that.

7. Intellectual property - this is very important. It should be clearly stated in the contract who owns the data generated from using the cloud computing services. For example, if you plan to purchase a CRM package, the contact information of all your business leads should remain your sole property and cannot be sold to other businesses.

Cloud computing Singapore will be a big help for small and medium sized companies who are just starting out. Aside from cloud computing, other services can be outsourced to save on expenses, such as b2b lead generation, appointment setting, client profiling and of course, telemarketing. The main point of this article is that whatever service you choose to entrust to a third party, you have to make sure that they are: reputable, dependable, accountable, affordable and customizable.

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Some Research About Cloud Computing

Numerous universities, private institutes and government group are making its way to increase our knowledge in cloud computing. Google and IBM publicize the multi-academic investigation planned to advance our awareness of cloud. A different study carried out on 2008 by HP, Yahoo and Intel Corporation. 

"Every discovery is a product of a product of so-called investigation and research". As the way computing develop it still undergo some investigation now and then to criticize or improve it service offered too many people. A lot of universities, private institutes and government group are doing a research roughly about it. 

In October 2007, Google and IBM announced the multi-academic research intended to improve apprentice scientific understanding to deal with some argument of cloud computing especially some advantages and disadvantages in gives. This is a combined government, academic and vendor joint study project. And then in April 2009, the National Science Foundation joined the 2007 research and these results to numerous awards from 14 academic institutions.

Another study conducted on July 2008 by HP, Yahoo and Intel Corporation. The three major corporations announced the creation of a worldwide, multi-data-enter, open-source examination bed, called Open Cirrus. This is intended to support study into all phase or aspects of computing. This research is also a partnership of the Malaysian Institute for Microelectronic Systems(MIMOS), the Infocom Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the Institute for System Programming at the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISPRAS), the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in Korea and the University of Illinois (UIUC).

The Best result of many research made to happen in 2010, wherein HP Company officially release and open its Cloud Institute research located in Bristol, England. The facility presents a high-protection, extremely elastic cloud computing support on academic resources build up at HP research laboratory. The endeavor of this new advancement is to minimize qualms and worries about the protection of the cloud. This facility in Bristol is the HP's second-great essential investigate site and presently is accountable for investigating it.

Today, research about cloud computing continues to exist. Thanks to many concerned people. Improvement and advancement of cloud is more possible in the future. 
Cloud computing Singapore has been very popular lately and because of this popularity many people log in or access could servers. Servers may choke due to the number of people accessing them but because of cloud hosting people may access the web site by using different servers linked to the website they want to access. Basically cloud hosting gives people the computing power when they need it. 

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Cloud Computing: Changing The Business.

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Cloud computing technologies are ubiquitous. While not exactly new technologies, the speed with which they’re transforming business models and efficiencies seem to have accelerated over the past few years. The reason for the transformation depends on how the business operates and its specific needs, but there are some major trends that have emerged.

Here are few ways the cloud has changed the way business is done:

1. Push Prices Down

At its core, the cloud is a cost-saving technology: it enables data to be more easily shared, which in turn allows resources to be allocated more efficiently (companies like AirBnb or GetAround are examples of services that use cloud technologies to push prices down and improve allocation of assets). Most notably, a study conducted by the London School of Economics concluded that cloud computing makes it easier and cheaper to innovate. Cost reduction enables many other transformations, such as…

2. Greater Entrepreneurship

Just as clouds have enabled businesses to dramatically lower their cost of operations, they have by extension lowered the cost of starting a business — and thus spurred entrepreneurship. And thanks to cloud technologies and the degree of data sharing they enable, independent businesses can share their collective infrastructure costs via the cloud. Rackspace, is using our cloud technology to promote entrepreneurship via their Startup Program.

3. Small Business Partnerships

Of course, the cloud doesn’t just dramatically reduce the costs of starting a business — it also reduces the cost and difficulty of partnering with other businesses by making it easier to use APIs of other applications. Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr, has said that APIs enable a new form of business development for small businesses that makes meaningful collaboration more possible for all organizations, big and small.

4. Build a Modular Organization

Running parallel to the idea that cloud technologies facilitate small business partnerships is that they enable larger companies to create a modular organization. Prabhakar Gopalan notes that this is a manifestation of Conway’s Law, in that modular communication systems built on cloud technologies will ultimately yield modular organizations as well. Basically, cloud technology enables better participation across small teams — which in turn enables organizations to be less hierarchical and more modular, which reduces the organization’s risk against collapse of any single department of its unit.

5. Reduce Technical Barriers

Consistent with the basic theme that cloud technologies enable sharing is that they also, by extension, enable collaboration and specialization. As such, cloud technologies enable non-technical individuals to participate in and lead information systems.

Another way that cloud computing has changed business models is in the way that you interact with customers.  It gives you the flexibility to immediately react to customer needs as soon as the customer wants you to. Customers no longer wait for business hours to shop for products or get the services that they need. They expect it 24/7. Plus, they want a more robust experience that often means websites with videos, tools and interactive presentations. Most medium to small businesses don’t have the internal bandwidth to host these interactive files.

Outsourcing your interactive data to a cloud vendor ensures that you have enough capacity to not only store these files, but guarantee that customers can download or view the files at higher speeds from a secure cloud computing platform.

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