PACNET INFORMATION SERIES: Cloud Computing

Welcome to the Cloud

The 2010 Pacnet Broadband Barometer survey indicates a clear and increasing trend towards cloud computing and virtualisation.
Despite the fact that most businesses have already adopted some form of hosted application, the idea of cloud computing is still
steeped in mystery for many business decision makers. With the current intense industry and media focus, the challenge is to sift
through the volumes of marketing information being generated on the topic to obtain a pragmatic view of cloud computing in a small
to medium business context.

This is the first in Pacnet’s series of papers on cloud computing which explores the application of cloud technology, presenting both
technical and business end user perspectives within real business scenarios. We will begin with an overview of which was presented
at Pacnet’s recent cloud computing and virtualisation forum.

The cloud computing era has arrived with much hype and excitement about the benefits that it delivers. Cost, flexibility
and scalability are just some of the many advantages attracting the interest of businesses.

Whilst all very compelling, it is important to be aware that ‘cloud computing’ is a very broad concept with many
variations, each offering different sets of opportunities and challenges for the business end user.

In this first series of the Pacnet Cloud Computing Whitepaper, we will provide an overview of cloud computing,
focusing on three core concepts.

• Deployment models
• Cloud computing service models and architecture
• Virtualisation

Virtualisation and the array of deployment and service model variations underpin the power and great flexibility of cloud
computing. Maximising the benefits requires an appreciation of the various manifestations and finding the best fit with
your strategic objectives, internal processes and existing resources.

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DEPLOYMENT MODELS
There are four fundamental deployment
models for cloud computing and the
differences relate to who accesses the Public Cloud
services, how it is made available, who
controls the infrastructure and where the Public
infrastructure is located. These different The cloud infrastructure
characteristics have an impact on the is made available to the
opportunities and risks associated with general public or a large industry.
each deployment model. Examples are Facebook, Yahoo Mail, ITunes, GoogleApps

The primary benefit of a public cloud

deployment is cost efficiency for the user in
terms of capital expenditure and management
Private Cloud
overheads. Disadvantages include risks
associated with data security, privacy, Private
performance, latency, location and
The cloud infrastructure is
ownership of data.
operated solely fora single organisation
Private cloud deployment based either on An example is where all of a company’s
internal or third party resources offers applications resides on a server in a data
centre and are accessed through terminal services
greater control over your business information
and therefore addresses many of the
abovementioned risks. The trade-offs however
are higher costs for procuring or renting sites Community Cloud
and managing infrastructure that enables
cloud.
Community
Community and Hybrid are variants of
private and public cloud models, offering a The cloud infrastructure is
shared by several organisations
mix of the benefits and challenges inherent and supports a specific community that has shared.
to public and private clouds, with
An example may be a number of university research
interoperability and migration additional
teams located in different countries.
potential issues for these models.

Which deployment model offers the best

solution for a business will depend on many
factors including compliance and regulatory
requirements, the level of security and
flexibility required, type and volume of data,
the application to be transitioned, existing
IT infrastructure and resources and budget.
A detailed analysis of your business data,
your applications and processes, and careful
evaluation of the risks and opportunities for
each deployment type is essential for
success.
Disaster Recover/
Private Cloud Backup Site
Hybrid
The cloud infrastructure is a
composition of two or more clouds.
An example is where an enterprise runs their business
applications in a private cloud and also utilises a second
private cloud for backup and disaster recovery.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (2009)

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CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICE MODELS AND ARCHITECTURE

There are three primary service types delivered in the various deployment environments.

Cloud Cloud Cloud Cloud

SaaS Software as a Service (SaaS) SaaS SaaS SaaS
On Demand applications delivered over the internet PaaS PaaS
e.g. Salesfore.com IaaS Software as a Service

Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) Cloud Cloud

Enterprise developed applications, involving a
PaaS PaaS PaaS
managed hardware and software stack
e.g. Force.com, Microsoft Azure, Intuit IaaS Platform as a Service

Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Cloud

Managed hardware only
IaaS e.g. data storage, network capacity, IaaS
other computing resources Infrastructure as a Service

It is important to note that whilst basic definitions are often For example, one SaaS provider may choose to take control
useful when describing new or unfamiliar concepts, in over the underlying platform (PaaS) and infrastructure (IaaS)
relation to cloud computing, they do not adequately reflect to deliver its service offering, whilst another may leave it up to
the complex and wide variations within these service a third party to deliver the platform and infrastructure. The
models. architecture will vary from provider to provider, impacting
costs and service characteristics such as contention,
Whilst the three models may neatly distinguish three
resiliency and redundancy. Not all SaaS offerings are the
basic service types, cloud computing is not simply a
same and great care and attention should be paid to
product available in three standard flavours. There are
evaluating the full extent of the solution including the
numerous ways that these service models can be
underlying platform and infrastructure.
coupled together in any cloud service offering. The
underlying architecture of the service must also be
closely analysed to assess whether the offering satisfies
the business need.

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VIRTUALISATION
Lying at the core of the cloud computing concept is virtualisation. This is what drives the immense power and
flexibility for customisation to deliver your business requirement. What it means is that elastic, virtual machines can be
scaled to meet demand as required, and grow and shrink as needed.

Server virtualisation creates a logical view of computing resources allowing:

(a) An operating system to treat a group of servers as a pool of computing resources; and

(b) The partitioning of a single server into multiple logical computers, allowing the consolidation of multiple physical
servers onto a single server.

Virtualisation Model The ability to separate the operating system and

application from hardware makes virtualisation an
essential part of cloud computing. In addition to
Internet savings in cost, space and energy consumption,
virtualisation delivers efficiencies by sharing the load
across multiple physical machines. Resiliency and
Firewall redundancy can be built in allowing seamless and
automated migration of virtual machines. Virtualisation
also allows the networking of resources such as a load
VPS VPS VPS VPS VPS VPS
balancers, high-availability shared firewalls, intrusion
detection systems and many others.
Virtualisation (Hypervisor) With the resulting reduction in the total cost of
ownership, improved agility and optimisation of IT
Physical Physical Physical Physical environments, the business case for virtualisation is
Servera Servera Servera Servera strong. This is validated by our research which has
revealed that from just 1% of SMEs who currently use
hosted virtualisation, adoption of this technology is set
SAN Storage
to grow significantly with over 40% of SMEs planning
to implement hosted virtualisation in 2011.

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CLOUD COMPUTING FOR SMALL TO MEDIUM BUSINESSES

With a multitude of possible solutions based on various
combinations of deployment and service architecture
models, in conjunction with the power and flexibility of
virtualisation, cloud computing is a highly sophisticated
service offering great benefits.
gaining access to computing power and infrastructure
previously only feasible for large enterprise due to the
high upfront investment required. This makes cloud
computing a highly attractive technology solution for
SMEs.

There is much optimism and excitement with the promise
and opportunities that cloud computing brings, which are
particularly relevant to Australian SMEs in this current
period of economic recovery. Businesses are again
looking at investment, including upgrading IT systems to
position themselves to succeed in a stronger economy.
Cloud computing offers the opportunity to minimise
capital expenditure, shifting costs into operations, while
This Cloud Computing series of whitepapers follows the
release of Pacnet’s Broadband Barometer, a comprehensive
study of the adoption and usage of internet technologies
by SMEs across Asia-Pacific. Pacnet is committed to the
servicing the interests small and medium-sized
businesses. Feel free to contact us if you would like to
make a comment, have questions or specific issues that
you would like us to explore.

ABOUT PACNET
Pacnet is a leading independent telecommunications service provider. Pacnet can help you with efficiency and productivity
through superior communications and information sharing, enabled using our range of IP-related tools and services

In Australia, Pacnet’s core network and premium telecommunications solutions are backed by a range of infrastructure
options which can be customised to your specific needs. We specialise in multi-site connections and enable hosted or
‘in-the-cloud’ solutions with a dedicated local team to connect, manage and support business communication
requirements.

Internationally, key to enabling our leading-edge communication services is our ownership of EAC-C2C, Asia's largest
privately-owned submarine cable infrastructure, and EAC Pacific our new Trans-Pacific cable system that directly
connects the United States and Japan.

1300 PACNET
enlighten@pacnet.com

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