Optimization of Defence as an Enabler for Cloud Services and Applications - Research Paper Example

Cloud Computing

Section 1: Cloud Providers and Cost Savings Analysis

Scenario: XYZ Firm is diverse in its interests, with many different divisions. The chief information officer (CIO) is looking to you for assistance in lowering costs and providing new value-added services to the business. He wants to use the Widget division as a pilot for consuming cloud services. Throughout your 5-week contract with the firm, you will build a methodology that defines an approach for consuming cloud services.

In contemporary society, cloud computing is considered as a service for firms to keep applications, data, and other related services. This particular service utilizes the internet, instead of hard drives to store information and any other data that may require the adoption of local servers. Therefore, the use of cloud computing is just about passing data alongside other items through the internet so that it can be kept on the host server. Significantly, companies, such as XYZ, that desire to embrace this approach will be needed to pay to secure a cloud space they want, which implies that they will no longer require local servers within the workplace. Based on the characteristic of XYZ that entails diverse divisions and interests, there will be a necessity of selecting the two best cloud service providers.

Google and Microsoft will be useful for this company, following its economic value and effectiveness when it is functioning. Google Cloud Storage is considered as a restful web service that presents a well-established platform infrastructure that stores files online. This service mixes scalability and performance with advanced sharing and security abilities (Thumim et al., 2019). The aspect of scalability implies that companies can change the quantity of data at any time they want. Therefore, allocating more storage services means that XYZ has to buy more of Google Cloud Storage services. On the other hand, if this organization reduces its divisions, it will decrease its Google Cloud Storage space by buying less. Generally, the adoption of this service will help the firm attract various business opportunities due to a site that ensures data storage. On the other hand, Microsoft Azure is another high scalable and economical service. The use of cloud service from Microsoft ensures faster access to resources since it has mixed huge economy and scale with a higher functioning file system, thereby preventing time wastage.

Asset

Expenditure

One-Time Cost

Annual Expenses

Recurring Costs

Hardware

N/A

N/A

N/A

30000

Software License

N/A

6000

N/A

N/A

Hardware Maintenance

N/A

N/A

35000

N/A

Administrator Support

N/A

N/A

95000

N/A

Developer Support

N/A

N/A

10000

N/A

Facilities Costs

N/A

N/A

2500

N/A

System Upgrades

N/A

N/A

N/A

3000

Fig 1: Financial Requirements that XYZ Will Need to Selecting Public Cloud Service.

Type of cloud computing storage

Current price

$/core

Standard

0.104

High Memory

0.122

High CPU

0.0655

Micro

0.019

Small

0.54

Fig 2: Google Pricing of its cloud computing storage

HOT

COOL

ARCHIVE

First 50 terabyte (TB) / month

$0.0180 per GB

$0.01 per GB

$0.002 per GB

Over 450 TB / Month

$0.0179 per GB

$0.01 per GB

$0.002 per GB

Over 500 TB / Month

$0.0170 per GB

$0.01 per GB

$0.002 per GB

Fig 3: The pricing of Microsoft Cloud Storage

HOT

COOL

ARCHIVE

Write Operations (every 4MB, per 10,000)

$0.06

$0.10

$0.10

Read Operations (every 4MB, per 10,000)

$0.005

$0.01

$5

Fig 4: Transaction prices

The above figures give an overview of the financial requirements that XYZ will need to select public cloud service. Therefore, the use of cloud computing will make the company spend a higher amount of money. However, this practice will allow human resources to adopt cloud services and utilize applications from where they are, at any time. XYZ will benefit from investing in this form of technology as it has an easier opportunity to escalating the cloud usage space following an increase in its division.

Section 2: Software as a Service (SaaS)

Scenario: The presentation to the executive leadership went well, and the chief information officer (CIO) is looking to you again. He wants to start small and look at basic information technology (IT)services from a SaaS and IDaaS perspective.

Based on Software as a Service (SaaS), the seller has control over everything. This claim implies that with SaaS, the entire technical issues, such as storage, servers, middleware, and data, are managed by vendors enabling the company to restructure and organize its maintenance and support team (Kuppala et al., 2018). As a result, XYZ will not have to hire another technical team from outside to upgrade, manage, or install the Software. A better understanding of this claim will be achieved through the presentation of Software and applications that XYZ required. From the analysis, the management of this firm will recognize that there is no need for installing applications. Therefore, the salesman will be required to take part in the maintenance and updating of the Software and applications. Most importantly, project management, webmail, document sharing, and messaging are examples of these applications and services.

Google Cloud Platform Marketplace is dominated by a wider range of SaaS brands, which has led to simplified software processes to attract more customers. In this type of cloud computing market, there is more than three hundred SaaS software that has been listed from popular groups, thus giving the consumers the liberty to select the best option for their business (Kuppala et al., 2018). The procurement process at this place constitutes a well-developed payment procedure in which the prices of related products may be completed in the form of multi-year contracts and an annual or monthly basis. This information signals that Google Cloud Platform Marketplace serves as third party sellers (Katevas et al., 2019). Generally, XYZ will benefit highly by visiting this marketplace and coming across various applications that suit their business, thus acting as a source of its competitive advantage.

Additionally, the importance of helping the CIO realize that due to its different divisions, they have the chance to select from thirty diverse programs that can help complete their respective project management successfully. Apart from those relating to project management, Google Cloud Platform Marketplace is characterized by more than twenty different webmail applications and fifty for messaging (Martinez-Herraiz et al., 2018). Although this particular marketplace presents about ten results for document sharing, it has more than five hundred different applications that XYZ can adopt with SaaS. Therefore, this company can look for Google Cloud Platform Marketplace and locate a variety of vital applications. Essentially, XYZ can come up with its applications and vend on Google Cloud Platform Marketplace in which they will be published and made available to external users. In this case, the developed organization will have all the power to control its accessibility by using a specific authentication scheme.

Similarly, Microsoft has its SaaS-business related apps that emerge to be effective since they fulfill most of the consumers’ needs. Most importantly, Microsoft has developed Azure, which grants XYZ a chance of creating SaaS apps that offer flexible scalability, functional efficiency, and data security alongside escalating sources of revenues (Kuppala et al., 2018). Like Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft marketplace contains many apps that can be utilized to fulfill several business tasks. Concurrently, Microsoft marketplace is made up of over two hundred apps that sustain SaaS. They can be adopted by internal or external users to promote the business at hand.

Section 2a: Identity as a Service (IDaaS)

In cloud computing, Identity as a Service (IDaaS) is considered as a verification infrastructure hosted and managed by a third-party cloud seller to offer recognition and access management services. According to Pachala, Ch, and Sumalatha (2017), XYZ can embrace IDaaS to assist select the type of applications that human resources can access. In this case, each worker is allocated a username and password that will be used to access the system. During this time, the management can choose to develop the limits at which the system is accessed. The primary idea behind IDaaS is that there are some applications, which are irrelevant to some employees. When workers transfer or retire, their usernames and passwords can be eliminated from the system. Generally, IDaaS is perceived as an authentication system called Single Sign On (SSO) and is found in both Google and Microsoft. Mostly, these two firms can offer identification services.

Google Web Services are compatible with both IOS and android, which implies that many users can access them. In the end, they will benefit since cloud computing services do not have an upfront cost and are relatively cheaper. Importantly, Google Web Services are easier to use, which makes potential users to easily link with related databases, security, and servers for successful usage alongside having an opportunity of accessing them within a shorter time once complete set-up is in place Google Web Services ensures that their users are not disadvantaged by capacity limits, since they enjoy what they have purchased. Besides, the adoption of Google Web Services by XYZ will be important as they will offer cloud computing tools that will assist employees in decreasing the duration they spend on roles. Consequently, the company will be permitted by Google to manage its access and web applications. Also, the cybersecurity of the firm will be stronger as the use of Google Web Services offers safety to technological applications. According to Marinescu (2017), the web services of Google do not present prevalent computing challenges, such as backup protection, limited control, and downtime when users shift to the cloud.

Fig 4: IDaaS for single sign on of Google Web Services

Moreover, Microsoft gives faster access to its web services alongside granting quicker scalability, operations, and deployment, without encountering frequent downtime. Therefore, the use of Microsoft Azure ensures that XYZ will have greater business fragility (Cloud, 2019). Unlike when this company uses local servers, adoption of Microsoft Azure will ensure that it saves money since fewer data is consumed. This advantage is accompanied by stronger security against illegal access from cybercriminals. Also, in Microsoft Azure, the issue of multiple redundancies is assured, which assists in maintaining access to data alongside giving the user the liberty to utilize any tool, language, or framework (Cloud, 2019). Consequently, the use of Microsoft Web services will allow the XYZ to manage complicated and large applications using tools of preference, thereby emerging as an opportunity to establish a hybrid infrastructure.

The primary problem with the use of Microsoft Azure is that XYZ will be required to manage its services. This claim implies that Microsoft Azure does not help users manage their cloud-based data center, and therefore, XYZ will have to hire more skilled personnel to be in charge of such a role. Regretfully, there is the possibility that XYZ will face some challenges with speed, which slows down the effective fulfillment of various business tasks.

Fig 5. IDaaS for single sign on with Microsoft Azure

Section 3: Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Platform as a service is embedded within the web services that make users perform various operations using standard internet protocols. Therefore, PaaS conveys a platform to consumers that gives them the power to create, manage, and run business applications even when they have an ineffective infrastructure. Essentially, these services come with a strong, developed private, public, and hybrid infrastructure. However, PaaS charges what is being used in which its utilization constitutes of data storage.

The public and private cloud PaaS will allow XYZ to control software deployment and deliver an application within a firewall. On the other hand, hybrid cloud combines both elements of service and incorporates features to suit the business needs. As mentioned earlier, the importance of adopting PaaS is that users enjoy already developed infrastructure. Therefore, PaaS saves time based on its already installed database and server. The already established infrastructure reinforces faster production and distribution of applications to evaluate the usage of databases and operating systems alongside other technologies (Bahari et al., 2020). Google Web Services and Microsoft Azure are the two PaaS services that will apply to XYZ.

Section 3a: Platform as a Service (PaaS)

The benefit of Google Web Services is that it has a server configured in a way that saves time since it has robust customization. This statement implies that the infrastructure and configuration support PaaS services that are usually premade, which saves time. Also, Google Web Services are cost effective, making many companies save a lot of money that is later channeled into essential business practices. Among the disadvantages of Google Web Services is that it has unreliable deployment leading to stack upgrades and encourages old versions of applications to stay in the same database (Kisler, Reichel, & Schiel, 2017). Besides, Google Web Services is characterized by prevalent troubleshooting and does not support flexibility.

Similarly, Microsoft Azure has some advantages that entail having reliable latency when using its cloud-based services alongside being compatible with other database software. Such a condition means that even after implementing the anticipated cloud services, XYZ will still retain its original programs. Apart from these benefits, Microsoft Azure is expensive and slow.

Generally, I will recommend XYZ to select Google Web Services since they are economical and presents high exceptional features. Most importantly, this provider is beneficial since it grants the company customization power to manage its service.

Section 4: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a service that offers organizations and users with outsourced computing infrastructure. This claim signals that IaaS provides already developed storage, servers, load balancing, and network connections. Besides, it enables users to purchase or rent the required cloud-based services to complete various business tasks successfully.

Google Web Services has an IaaS service where it provides storage and backup alongside recovery from issues that tend to occur when using the associated cloud services. The price of this commodity depends on the selected services, which tend to have higher scalability, adequate controls, and extensive security capabilities (Gani et al., 2018). Microsoft Azure has a structure that allows users to manage, deploy, and build applications that are adopted with other operation tools and systems. These services are characterized by easier usage alongside being compatible with all operating systems. Microsoft Azure has three pricing strategies that are subscribed, either yearly or every month.

Section 5: Security, Risk Management, and Governance.

Scenario: The chief information officer (CIO) is very pleased with all of your efforts to adopt cloud-based services and wants to ensure the data is secure and that a strategy exists for maintaining the solution going forward. In the final section, cover the following: Security threats in cloud-based solutions with risk management strategies Governance principles for cloud-based solutions. Identify management opportunities in the cloud.

Cloud computing reinforces several threats that may serve as a challenge to XYZ. Some of them are as discussed below.

Cloud computing has established a variety of advantages and disadvantages. Technological advancement has positively transformed society and has also presented various vulnerabilities with each development. As a result, XYZ has to create reliable standards concerning cloud security to safeguard the new practice and offer best practice. A data breach is likely to emerge as a great concern to consumers upon execution of the above cloud computing solutions (Singh & Chatterjee, 2017). However, the company can alleviate this issue by maintaining the safety of consumers’ private information on a secure, which is safeguarded from external threats. Concurrently, there is a likelihood of encountering internal threats since some of the workers may try to attack XYZ from inside, thereby allowing them to access cloud-based information. This threat can be prevented by subjecting employees on suitable training to ensure that they are well conversant with computer safety. Although data loss is a minor problem in cloud computing, some workers may fail to follow the established procedures when uploading files leading to massive loss of data. In this case, there is the necessity of putting up policies governing cloud computing within XYZ to guarantee that they are careful when dealing with the related services (Deshpande, Nair, & Bihani, 2018). Employee error is another threat since human is prone to various faults within the organization due to inevitable occurrences. XYZ can limit this threat by training human resources properly on what they are needed to do when using the network to undertake their roles. During training sessions, workers may be reminded of the importance of having passwords on their computers alongside ensuring that they have fully locked the workstation to prevent authorized access.

Governance principles concerning cloud-based solutions

When looking at the governance principle to be used by XYZ, the following should be given attention.

• Obeying change management processes.
• Adherence to policies and standards.
• Execution of vitality processes to obtain long-lasting improvement.
• Business goals must promote a cloud approach.
• Focusing on collaborative relationships between the general population and the cloud context.

Identify management opportunities in the cloud

Various management opportunities will accompany the cloud ecosystem within XYZ. As a result of the faster development of cloud computing, there will be the requisite for the company to create more positions within the workplace. In this case, new positions will be developed in all the departments of XYZ to ensure smooth achievement of cloud-based aspects, thereby making some people escalate to management roles.