Derek Long LIS 631 Tech Literature Review: Cloud Computing

Introduction Cloud computing has become a new buzzword in the past few years. It is not unusual these days to hear someone say wait until we can just put it in the cloud, when referring to computer data. But, what does that mean exactly? Many people within the computer technology field are touting cloud computing as the new paradigm in computing, akin to the introduction of the PC and the Internet (Sanchati, 2011, 37). This paper will provide an overview of what cloud computing is, why it is the next big thing in computing, address its issues from the views of experts, and its current and future influence on libraries. Definition Cloud computing has yet to obtain a universally accepted definition. There are many parts that make up cloud computing, including infrastructure, platform, applications and service, making conciseness difficult and the reason for why there are varying definitions of cloud computing (Goldner, 2010, 5). One overview definition is that Cloud computing refers to both the applications delivered as services over the Internet and the hardware and systems software in the data centers that provide those services (Armbrust, 2010, 50). Simply put, for personal use, cloud computing allows the user to have every piece of needed data at their finger tips by the utilization of software applications, data 1

storing, access to computing power, or using platforms to build applications.

What makes Cloud Computing the next Big Thing? With cloud computing, hardware and functionality that were traditionally installed and ran within a local environment are now performed on a network, in the Internet cloud. This means that the Cloud becomes the development platform and the operating system to which programmers write reusable, constantly updated software components that are delivered over a network which can be embedded or loosely coupled with other Web applications (Goldner, 2010, 5). Cloud computing allows the user to avoid locally hosting multiple servers and equipment and constantly having to deal with hardware failure, software installs, upgrades and compatibility issues. For many organizations, cloud computing can simplify processes and save time and money (Goldner, 2010, 3). All of this means that if cloud computing becomes universally embraced, people will be able to access any of their information that has been put into the cloud from anywhere without having to have their own storage devices. It will change how computers will be made. Users will only need an interface to access information that is within the cloud. When describing the user services that define cloud computing, three service areas must be taken into account. Software as a Service (SaaS) Applications or software is delivered as a service to the customer who can access the program from any online device; some of these are subscription based. There is usually some customization or control available to the user with these applications. Subscribers benefit from low initial costs and have access to support services. Also,

hosting, installing, upgrading, or maintaining the software is taking care of by the provider of the cloud service. Platform as a Service (PaaS) PaaS is a computing platform provider that supplies tools and a development environment to help companies build, test, and deploy Web-based applications. With PaaS, businesses do not need to invest in the infrastructure required for building Web and mobile applications. They can rent the use of platforms such as Windows Azure, Google AppEngine, and Force.com. However, these applications that are built using these providers services are usually locked into that one platform. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) This type of cloud computing is also sometimes referred to Hardware as a Service (HaaS). It involves providing both storage services and computing power to the user. Amazons Web Services, one of the major IaaS providers, offers two main products including the Elastic Compute Cloud, which provides computing resources, and Simple Storage Service for data storage (Kroski, 2009). As of now, subscription based cloud use appears to be the most likely method of how services will be provided. When a cloud is made available in a pay-as-you-go manner to the general public, it is called a public cloud, and the service being sold is called utility computing (Armbrust, 2010, 51). Here are several beneficial aspects to users that are new in cloud computing.

There are basically infinite computing resources available on-demand that are quick enough to follow load surges, which eliminate the need for cloud computing users to plan far ahead for provisioning.

Cloud computing also eliminates an up-front commitment by cloud users, thereby allowing companies to start small and increase hardware resources only when there is an increase in their needs. This can save companies huge sums of money and can also make it easier for starting companies because they do not have to put up large sums of startup money for hardware. Instead of spending on the purchase and maintenance of servers, software, and infrastructure, they can be rented.

With the cloud, companies are able to scale instantly and on-demand, paying only for the processing power, bandwidth, or storage space they use.

And, cloud computing gives businesses the ability to pay for use of computing resources on a short-term basis as needed (ex. processors by the hour and storage by the day) and release them as needed, thus rewarding conservation by letting machines and storage go when they are no longer useful (Armbrust, 2010, 51).

Issues for Cloud Computing There are definite trust issues involved with working in the cloud. Data and systems that are live somewhere else beyond the safety of an organizations firewall is an uncomfortable prospect for some. This raises a major concern about the providers reliability. If the providers systems go down, so do all of the websites, data, and potentially business-critical applications they are hosting (Kroski, 2009). This causes

IT departments to be very wary of cloud computing because of the outsourcing to an outside provider. The companies data is not under the control of the organizations own staff, causing worries of not having control over designs and the platform being used by the cloud provider (Leavitt, 2009, 18). Cost is an issue as well. While companies can save money on equipment and software with cloud computing by not having to fork over large sums of money for housing technology, they could incur higher network bandwidth charges from their service providers (Leavitt, 2009, 18). Another big issue at this time for cloud computing is that there are no cloud computing standards for elements and processes such as APIs, the storage of server images for disaster recovery, and data import and export (Leavitt, 2009, 18). This will need to be addressed before cloud computing becomes universally used. Lastly, companies cannot pass audits of their capabilities by prospective clients if they cannot demonstrate who has access to their data and how they keep unauthorized personnel from retrieving information (Leavitt, 2009, 19). Clients want to be sure their information is kept safe. Without having data in-house they cannot personally assure the client because that information is out of their hands and in the cloud.

Cloud Computing for Libraries Cloud computing is not exactly a new thing for libraries. Libraries have been using some cloud computing services for more than a decade. Online Databases that libraries have utilized are accessed as cloud applications. Large union catalogs can also be defined as cloud applications (Goldner, 2010, 5). However, the extent of cloud computing 5

capabilities has drastically expanded and libraries can benefit greatly from cloud computing. The following are some advantageous possibilities cloud computing can provide libraries. Like the advantages of technology deployed and accessed as cloud solutions, data storage in the cloud can bring many benefits for libraries. Arguably the biggest and most significant one to recognize is that replicated data being stored over hundreds and thousands of times across multiple libraries can be shared, thus eliminated individual libraries workloads. When library systems are deployed as open cloud solutions, the library community itself can create extensions to their core services and more importantly share them throughout the community using cloud solutions. When this data is maintained in the cloud, maintenance and backup of this data is now done once, instead of multiple times at separate libraries. If a change is needed, only one library needs to perform the change and then they can share it to all of the other libraries. Libraries can agree to share pools of data for cooperative collection building, cooperative preservation or digitization, cooperative sharing of materials, etc. (Goldner, 2010, 8). This would be a huge shift for libraries. With this, they could concentrate their activities in other areas that are not concerned with data that is already available on the shared cloud. Overall this would allow for more data to be processed, therefore more data to be shared through the cloud because libraries would not have to process the same data another library has already put into the cloud. The advantages of an open service oriented architecture for libraries does end there. Many available cloud solutions offer this type of openness with published application program interfaces (APIs) that many programmers can take advantage of. Meaning, if a

new service or technology emerges, libraries will not always have to be dependent on a vendor or other third party to start taking advantage of services and technologies (Goldner, 2010, 7). They will be able to rely on the maintenance provided by the cloud, and the new technologies introduced and implemented by other libraries that are involved in the open access cloud. By establishing a pubic cloud among many university libraries, it not only can conserve library resources but also can improve its user satisfaction (Sanchati, 2011, 39). It is the duty of libraries to provide its constituents access to the information that they seek. Cloud computing conceivably would dramatically improve the amount of information that users could access and the ease to which they could access it. The potential of cloud computing would increase the amount of material the patrons of libraries could access, and therefore help libraries fulfill their main objective to their constituents. There are some issues with cloud computing that libraries will need to keep in mind, many of which pertain to the general issues that are listed above in the issues section. Libraries will want to consider what types of information and/or processes they want to trust to put into the cloud. Libraries have the responsibility of preserving information. One point that could be made is that if a library is outsourcing its preservation, it is in effect relinquishing that obligation of duty. If a particular library is no longer preserving anything and purely relying on the material in the cloud, than it is no longer performing one of the traditional jobs of libraries, which is to preserve information (Kroski, 2009).

Libraries will also need to consider practical problems such as the privacy of sensitive information, like their patron records. And, they should be concerned with records retention requirements. Without cloud computing yet being fully implemented, it is difficult to tell if there will be privacy issues when putting records in to the cloud. But, it does not need to be an all-or-nothing decision. Libraries can choose to continue to host some of their own systems while using the cloud for less sensitive processes such as hosting library websites, backing up media collections, or storing and accessing bibliographic data (Kroski, 2009). Libraries just need to be conscious and cautious of these issues as they move forward with what appears to be a very beneficial technology for them.

References Armbrust, Michael, et al. (April 2010). A View of cloud computing. Communications of the ACM. Vol. 53 Issue 4, 50-58. Goldner. Matt. (2010). Winds of change: Libraries and Cloud Computing. OCLC. Kroski, Ellyssa. (September 2009). Library Cloud Atlas: A Guide to Cloud Computing and Storage | Stacking the Tech The Library Journal. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6695772.html Leavitt, Neal. (2009). Is Cloud Computing really ready for the Prime Time. Computer 42. Sanchati, Ruseph, and Gaurav kulkarni. (July 2011). Cloud Computing in Digital and University Libraries. Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology Vol. 11 Issue. 12. Teregowda, P. and B. Urgaonkar, C.L. Giles. (July 2010). Cloud Computing: A digital librarys perspective. 2010 3rd International Conference on Advanced Computer Theory and Engineering, 115 122.