Front Cover


Book details:

Title: Cloud Computing Explained
Author: John Rhoton
Publisher: Recursive Press
Release date: 3 May 2010
Paperback: 508 pages
Edition: 2nd
Language English
ISBN-10: 0956355609
ISBN-13: 978-0956355607
Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.6 x 2.6 cm
Weight: 706 g
Back Cover

Cloud Computing Explained provides an overview of Cloud Computing in an enterprise environment. There is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm around cloud-based solutions and services as well as the cost-savings and flexibility that they can provide. It is imperative that all senior technologists have a solid understanding of the ramifications of cloud computing since its impact is likely to permeate the entire IT landscape. However, it is not trivial to introduce a fundamentally different service-delivery paradigm into an existing enterprise architecture.

This book describes the benefits and challenges of Cloud Computing and then leads the reader through the process of assessing the suitability of a cloud-based approach for a given situation, calculating and justifying the investment that is required to transform the process or application, and then developing a solid design that considers the implementation as well as the ongoing operations and governance required to maintain the solution in a partially outsourced delivery model.

Table of Contents

Preface     xvii

Acknowledgements   xxiii

Define      1
Chapter 1      What is a Cloud?    3
    Hype Cycle         3
    Implementation Gap     5
    Common Definition       7
    Metaphorical Interpretation     8
    Attributes          9
    Related terms    10
    History    12
    Innovation or Impact?    13
Chapter 2      Cloud Architecture 19
    Stack      19
    Management Layers      23
    Standards and Interoperability  25
    Private, Partner and Public Clouds      26
    Topology  30
    Ecosystem         33
Chapter 3      Infrastructure as a Service         37
    Infrastructure Stack      38
    Infrastructure Services   43
Chapter 4      Platform as a Service       55
    Web Application Frameworks   58
    Web Hosting Services    59
    Google App Engine        59
    Microsoft Windows Azure         63
    Force.com         68
Chapter 5      Software as a Service      73
    Customer Relationship Management   74
    Human Resources         78
    Financial 79
    Collaboration     81
    Backup and Recovery    85
    Industry Solutions         87

Assess       91
Chapter 6      Benefits and Challenges   93
    Benefits   93
    Challenges         97
    Recommendations        99
Chapter 7      Strategic Impact     101
    What is strategy?         102
    Strategic analysis         103
    External analysis 104
    Internal analysis 109
    Strategic realignment   112
Chapter 8      Risk Impact  117
    Notion of risk     117
    Risk Management         118
    Cloud Impact      121
    Enterprise wide risk management      126
Chapter 9      Financial Impact    129
    Return on Investment    129
    Cash flow 136
    Financial visibility        137
    Return on Assets 137

Design      139
Chapter 10     Requirements Analysis     141
    Strategic alignment      141
    Architecture Development Cycle         143
Chapter 11     Draft Architecture 149
    Business Process Modeling       149
    Architecture Modeling   154
    Preliminary Design       157

Select       161
Chapter 12     Application Inventory       163
    Options   163
    Stakeholders      164
    Business criteria 164
    Technical criteria         166
    Cloud Opportunities      168
    Analysis   169
    Net Benefit and Risk     170
    New Opportunities        172
Chapter 13     Service Components        173
    Service delivery model  173
    Potential providers       177
    Evaluation criteria and weight 177
Chapter 14     User Profiles          183
    Options   184
    Segmentation criteria   184
    Profile Classification     186
    Application map 187
    Identity Management    188
    Compliance        188

Integrate  189
Chapter 15     End-to-end Design  191
    Technical design 191
    Devices    192
    Connectivity      195
    Physical infrastructure   197
    Management      198
    Metering and Billing     200
Chapter 16     Connectivity 201
    Network connectivity    203
    Content delivery networks       210
    Application connectivity          212
    Information Connectivity         215
Chapter 17     Resilience    217
    Availability        217
    Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery        219
    Capacity Planning         222
Chapter 18     Security       225
    10 Security Domains     225
    Access Control    227
    Application Security      230
    Cryptography     231
    Physical (Environmental) Security       232
    Security Architecture and Design        234
    Telecommunications and Network Security    239

Implement        241
Chapter 19     Transition Management   243
    Transition Success Factors       243
    Project Plan       245
    Project Team     247
    Communications and Knowledge Transfer      248
Chapter 20     Migration     251
    Code migration  251
    Data migration   255
    Desktop migration        258
    Infrastructure     259
    Transition interoperability      259
Chapter 21     Employee Changes 261
    Impact    261
    Refocus   262
    Motivation and Incentives        264

Operate    267
Chapter 22     Service Management        269
    Service Strategy 270
    Service Design    271
    Service Transition        272
    Service Operation         272
    Continual Service Improvement          272
Chapter 23     Administration       273
    Administration Portal    273
    Service Request Fulfillment      275
    Change Management     275
    New Release Management       277
    Capacity Management   278
    Availability Management         279
    Access Management      280
Chapter 24     Monitoring   281
    IT Service Continuity Management      281
    IT operations management      283
    Incident Management    284
    Problem Management    285
    Event Management       286
Chapter 25     Support        287
    End-user support 288
    IT support          295

Control     297
Chapter 26     Compliance  299
    Data Privacy      302
    Electronic Discovery      304
    Incident response         305
Chapter 27     Risk   307
    Threats   308
    Recourse  310
    Risk monitoring and control     314
Chapter 28     Governance  317
    Conflicting interests     317
    Critical areas     318
    Cost/benefit analysis    319
    Provider Negotiation     319
    Service Contract 320
    Service Monitoring        322
    Audits     323

Adapt       325
Chapter 29     Systematic Refinement    327
    Improvement process    328
    Business landscape        329
    Technology Evolution    329
    Continual Service Improvement          330

Evolve      333
Chapter 30     Future Trends        335
    Economic 335
    Cultural   336
    Virtual and Physical Convergence       337
    Next-generation networking    337
    Peer-to-peer networking         339

Appendix: Cloud Vendors  341
3Tera   343
Amazon         345
Appian 347
Appistry         349
Apple   351
AppNexus       353
Apprenda       355
AT&T   357
Binary Tree   359
Boomi  361
Box.net          363
Bungee Labs   365
Cast Iron Systems     367
Cisco    369
Citrix   371
Cloudkick       373
CloudShare    375
CloudSwitch   377
CohesiveFT    379
Computer Associates         381
Cordys 383
CSC      385
Dell      387
ElasticHosts   389
Elastra 391
EMC     393
Enomaly        395
enStratus       397
Etelos   399
Flexiant         401
GoGrid 403
Google 405
Hosting.com   407
HP        409
Hyperic          411
IBM      413
Intuit    415
Joyent 417
Layered Tech 419
LongJump      421
Microsoft       423
Mozy    425
NetApp 427
NetSuite         429
Nirvanix         431
OpSource       433
ParaScale       435
PingIdentity    437
Rackspace Cloud      439
RightScale      441
rPath   443
Salesforce.com        445
Savvis   447
Skytap  449
SOASTA          451
SugarSync      453
Symplified     455
Taleo   457
Terremark     459
TriCipher       461
Unisys  463
VMware         465
Workday        467
Zmanda         469
Zoho    471

References       473

Index        479


About the Author:

John Rhoton is a Strategy Consultant with over 25 years experience advising Global 500 companies in defining and driving their technical strategy. Most recently he has led the adopton of several emerging technologies including cloud computing, mobility, next-generation-networking and virtualization.

More information about the author is available on LinkedIn.