The Gruman reading and the YouTube video this week explain cloud computing. The best description for me was in the Gruman article: cloud computing is "basically virtual servers available over the Internet." The YouTube video was helpful in explaining SaaS, HaaS, and the ways in which cloud computing is flexible, reliable, and inexpensive. What I like about it is that you can connect to your materials using any computer or device. What I wonder about is privacy--I imagine the things I'm storing in the cloud are potentially accessible by anyone, right?
I realize now that I've been using "cloud computing" for a year or so at my job, with Amazon's Jungle Web storage system. And Google Docs. How 'bout that--I'm trendy!
I can see where cloud computing will become even more popular as technology forces us to find ways to increase our storage needs and "utility" capabilities. It'll be interesting to see how these services give Microsoft a run for its money in the future, too.
I very much enjoyed reading the Frey article about "the future of libraries." This kind of brings the whole term full circle for me. The bottom line is: Technology is always changing, and search technology will become more complicated; thus, we'll need librarians around to help people find their way through it all. Frey's summation that libraries need to "embrace new information technologies" is nothing new. But I liked some of his suggestions: a technology advisory board; technology discussion panels and guest lecture series. All of these things would be quite useful in any library setting.
I agree that it was fun to find out that I was trendy and actually used a form of cloud computing such as Google Docs. I also agree that it will become more popular with its low cost and its ability to increase our storage needs.
ReplyDeleteHi Maggie,
ReplyDeleteI think you make a good point in that librarians will always be a necessity in order to guide users through the 21st century. As technology evolves, the market for experts will evolve as well. Since Information Science has become a vital part of librarianship the evolution of technology will only increase the market for qualified librarians.
Adam
The idea of accessing software/resources as an "utility service" is really intriguing - we'll see what "utility" companies will offer the best deals. On the other hand,just like the utilities, when the water line breaks, there is no water for the entire neighborhood (did he use the word "centralized" somewhere?).
ReplyDeleteThe below comment is from an article entitled: On-demand computing on a cloud by Dr. Vinod Chachra, President & CEO, VTLS Inc and published in VTLS Newsletter. It outlines cloud computing and its advantages and disadvantages:
ReplyDeleteWhat is cloud computing?
Instead of creating and using your own IT resources, you buy this capacity and capability from the network (cloud computing providers), and you pay only for what you use, not for the idle capacity that sits unused. In other words, cloud computing is on-demand, as-needed, scalable IT resources that can be purchased over the Internet.
Broadly speaking, we consume five primary IT resources:
• Compute cycles (computer hardware)
• Storage (disk drives)
• Bandwidth (network capacity to receive and transmit data)
• Software (applications, operating systems, database systems, etc.)
• Services (reliability, redundancy, backup, recovery and failover)
Cloud computing allows you to purchase “on demand” any or all of these resources.
The IT resources I mentioned can be placed into three service groups: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). In cloud computing, users disengage from the technology infrastructure and deal only with the service component.
The benefits of cloud computing
Like electricity, computing has become ubiquitous, and computing networks have become very reliable. Already, VTLS provides ILS systems to customers who have their primary computing systems located in another country and their backup and failsafe systems in yet a third country across the Atlantic Ocean. This kind of architecture is possible due to the reliability of the Internet and the availability of required bandwidth.
Cloud computing would not be possible without the following elements:
• A reliable Internet with sufficient bandwidth.
• Virtualization of computer hardware to support a variety of operating environments.
• Large capacity and low cost disk storage.
• Mature standards that permit interoperability and transparency.
Cloud computing takes hosted services and ASP (Application Service Providers) to a new level, and while it offers several benefits, it also presents some challenges.
ReplyDeleteThe benefits of cloud computing include lower operating costs and greater reliability, even for the smallest users. It requires no capital investment and minimizes personnel requirements for running computer centers. Because no hardware is purchased, there is a built-in protection against rapid obsolescence from changing technology.
Cloud computing - some words of caution
The primary concern about cloud computing relates to privacy and trust. Most libraries carry personnel data and have information from which the reading habits of individuals can be derived. In putting the data on the cloud we have to trust the service provider to protect this information. It may be argued that the use of any Web service (such as Salesforce) already requires that suppliers deal with privacy and confidentially issues. However, a new wrinkle exists with cloud computing. In a cloud environment one cannot really tell where the data is stored. There are laws in the European Union that prohibit the transfer of personnel data to locations outside the European Union. Similar restrictions may exist in other countries. There may be licensing concerns, too. Third-party software providers may not allow your licensed software to be housed in the cloud. (A word of caution here: Before placing copyrighted software on the cloud, always check the licensing restrictions.)
Furthermore, with regard to clouds, the robustness of recovery processes and the time to recovery after a disaster are still unknowns. It’s important to verify that the particular cloud computing service supports logging and audit trails to ensure recovery and detect improper use. A final concern has to do with performance. When we have a whole machine at our disposal, we can predict performance and guarantee it. This may or may not be possible in the cloud environment.