REALITIES

AND PERILS
OF MOBILE
CLOUD
COMPUTING

Authors:
Bheemappa.H
Gururaj.P

Secab.I.E.T
Bijapur,Karnataka
 REALITIES AND PERILS OF MOBILE CLOUD COMPUTING
Life before cloud computing:
Traditional business applications like
those from SAP, Microsoft, and Oracle have
always been too complicated and expensive.
They need a data center with office space,
power, cooling, bandwidth, networks,
servers, and storage. A complicated software
stack. And a team of experts to install,
configure, and run them. They need
development, testing, staging, production,
and failover environments.
When you multiply these headaches
across dozens or hundreds of apps, it’s easy
to see why the biggest companies with the
best IT departments aren’t getting the apps
they need. Small businesses don’t stand a
chance.
Cloud Computing:
“Cloud computing is a computing
paradigm, where a large pool of systems are
connected in private Cloud computing
platforms are growing in popularity, the
cloud computing infrastructure and its
impact on critically important areas to IT,
like security, infrastructure investments,
business application development, and
more”. Most IT departments are forced to
spend a significant portion of their time on
frustrating implementation, maintenance,
and upgrade projects that too often don’t add
significant value to the company’s bottom
line.
The fundamental cloud computing
infrastructure has won over the CIOs of
some of the world’s largest organizations—
these once-skeptical executives never looked
back after experiencing first-hand the host of
benefits delivered by cloud computing
technology.
Dept of Information Science
SECAB.I.E.T Bijapur, Karnataka
 Proven Web-services integration.
 World-class service delivery.
 No hardware or software to install:.
 Faster and lower-risk deployment
 Support for deep customizations.
Empowered business users. Automatic
upgrades that don’t impact IT
resources.
 Pre-built, pre-integrated apps for cloud
computing technology.
CLOUD COMPUTING MODELS
1. Software as a Service (SaaS):
In this model a complete application
is offered to the customer as a service on
demand. A single instance of the service
runs on the cloud & multiple end users
are serviced. On the customers side,
there is no need for upfront
investment in servers or software
licenses, while for the provider, the costs
are lowered, since only a single
application needs to be hosted &
maintained. Today SaaS is offered by
companies such as Google Sales force,
Microsoft, Zoho, etc
2. Platform as a Service (Paas):
Here, a layer of software or
development environment is
encapsulated & offered as a service,
upon which other higher levels of
service can be built. The customer has
the freedom to build his own
applications, which run on the provider’s
infrastructure. To meet manageability
and scalability requirements of the
applications, PaaS providers offer a
predefined combination of OS and
application servers, such as LAMP
platform (Linux, Apache, MySql and
PHP), restricted J2EE, Ruby etc.
Google’s App Engine, Force.com, etc
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 REALITIES AND PERILS OF MOBILE CLOUD COMPUTING
are some of the popular PaaS examples.
3. Infrastructure as a Service
(Iaas):
IaaS provides basic storage and
computing capabilities as standardized
services over the network. Servers,
storage systems, networking equipment,
data centre space etc. are pooled and
made available to handle workloads. The
customer would typically deploy his
own software on the infrastructure.
Some common examples are Amazon,
GoGrid, 3 Tera, etc
Figure : cloud computing models
MOBILE CLOUD COMPUTING
What is mobile computing?
Dept of Information Science
SECAB.I.E.T Bijapur, Karnataka
“It refers to an infrastructure where
both the data storage and the data
processing happen outside of the mobile
device. Today, there are already some good
examples of mobile cloud computing
applications including mobile Gmail,
Google Maps, and some navigation apps.
However, the majority of applications today
still do most of the data storage and
processing on the mobile devices themselves
and not in the cloud. In a few years, that
could change.”
There are two primary reasons why ABI
believes cloud computing will become a
disruptive force in the mobile world.
The first is simply the number of
users the technology has the power to reach:
far more than the number of Smartphone
user alone.
The second reason has to do with
how applications are distributed today.
Currently, mobile applications are tied to a
carrier. If you want an iPhone app, for
example, you have to first have a
relationship with the mobile operator who
carries the iPhone. If you want a Blackberry
app, the same rule applies. But with mobile
clouding computing applications, as long as
you have
Saying that "mobile cloud
computing" is the future doesn't mean
phones will be filled with links to websites
that work in any browser instead of special,
downloadable applications, some of which
you can even purchase. Instead, mobile
applications will exist in both formats. As
for the downloadable applications
themselves, they will still appear to be your
typical mobile app - end users won't even
notice a difference. However, there will be a
difference - it will just be on the back-end.
Mobile applications will begin to store your
data in the cloud as opposed to on the
mobile device, and the applications will
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 REALITIES AND PERILS OF MOBILE CLOUD COMPUTING
become more powerful as processing power
is also offloaded to the cloud.
The first mobile apps powered by the
cloud will likely be business-focused mobile
productivity applications where
collaboration, data sharing, multitasking,
and scheduling are key factors. For
consumers, though, navigation and mapping
applications will be the most obvious
examples of the trend. Plus, there are some
specialty applications today which already
function as mobile cloud apps - for example,
Schlage offers a remote keyless entry system
which lets you mobility control your home
from a distance. You can let someone into
your house; manage your lights, your
thermostat, your camera system, etc. There
are also a few applications in the iPhone app
store that let you remotely manage your PC
and your DVR, too.
Potential Problems:
Of course, there are some potential
issues that could be barriers to this shift in
mobile computing. The most notable
problem is the lack of speedy mobile
Internet access everywhere. Here in the US,
for example, 3G coverage is spotty outside
urban areas, leading to intermittent
connection issues and slow speeds.
Solutions:
New technologies like HTML5,
which does local caching, could help mobile
cloud apps get past those sorts of issues.
And there's even a chance that the browser
could one day be replaced - at least in some
markets - with another technology altogether
which provides a better way to access the
mobile web. ABI Research mentions
initiatives like OMA's Smartcard Web
Server, essentially a souped-up SIM card
that connects directly with the carrier to
Dept of Information Science
SECAB.I.E.T Bijapur, Karnataka
push applications to mobile phones. There's
also TokTok, a technology that allows
access to web services like Gmail and
Google Calendar by voice. With voice-
enabled search like this, mobile apps could
talk directly to the service itself which sits
on the edge of the network, as opposed to
needing the user to launch a web browser
and navigate through the mobile web.
When Will Mobile Cloud
Computing Really Take Off?
According to ABI, this change is
only a few years away. By 2010, we'll see
one or all of the major PaaS players
marketing their mobile capabilities, they
say. But first, API standards from open-
source mobile collaboration group BONDI
will go into effect. Later, in 2011, we'll see
more of HTML5, and the OneAPI standard
will come into play. (OneAPI involves
standardized apps for networks allowing
developers to consistently access parts of
network providers' capabilities, such as
location services). All these factors
combined will help drive the move to the
cloud.
The changes will occur with
differing speeds depending on the market.
Markets with higher Internet participation
will obviously lead the way, as will markets
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 REALITIES AND PERILS OF MOBILE CLOUD COMPUTING

with higher subscriber penetration. That

includes Western Europe, North America,
and parts of Asia. Other markets will then
follow. By 2014, mobile cloud computing
will become the predominant application
development strategy. By that time, our PCs
MOBILE COMPUTING
will be more like thin client devices than
they are today, and now it seems our phones
will too.

Mobile clouds to generate $20 Bn

revenue by 2014!

With the rapid advance of the mobile

phone industry, it was only a matter of time
before the two top trends in both the mobile
and internet technology fields converged –
smart phones and cloud computing.

According to a new study from ABI

Research, mobile cloud computing will
generate annual revenues of more than $20
billion by the end of 2014, making current
mobile operating The technology would
enable longer battery life and storage
capacity for phones, as application data will
be stored on the web instead of on the phone
itself.

In addition, the potential for

application development will grow because
developers will not need to create multiple
versions of the software for use in different
devices.

“Cloud computing will bring

unprecedented sophistication to mobile
applications,” said ABI Research senior
analyst Mark Beccue.
Cloud Computing Benefits:
1. Reduced Cost
There are a number of reasons to
attribute Cloud technology with lower
costs. The billing model is pay as per
usage; the infrastructure is not purchased
thus lowering maintenance. Initial
expense and recurring expenses are
much lower than traditional computing.

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SECAB.I.E.T Bijapur, Karnataka bheemhh@gmail.com
 REALITIES AND PERILS OF MOBILE CLOUD COMPUTING
2. Increased Storage
With the massive Infrastructure that is
offered by Cloud providers today, storage &
maintenance of large volumes of data is a
reality. Sudden workload spikes are also
managed effectively & efficiently, since the
cloud can scale dynamically.
3. Flexibility
This is an extremely important
characteristic. With enterprises having to
adapt, even more rapidly, to changing
business conditions, speed to deliver is
critical. Cloud computing stresses on getting
applications to market very quickly, by
using the most appropriate building blocks
necessary for deployment.
Cloud Computing Challenges:
1. Data Protection
Data Security is a crucial element that
warrants scrutiny. Enterprises are reluctant
to buy an assurance of business data security
from vendors. They fear losing data to
competition and the data confidentiality of
consumers. In the cloud model, Service
providers are responsible for maintaining
data security and enterprises would have to
rely on them.
2. Data Recovery and Availability
All business applications have Service
level agreements that are stringently
followed. In production environments,
operational teams support.
Appropriate clustering and Fail over
 Data Replication
 System monitoring (Transactions
monitoring, logs monitoring and others)
 Maintenance (Runtime Governance)
 Disaster recovery
 Capacity and performance management
Dept of Information Science
SECAB.I.E.T Bijapur, Karnataka
3. Management Capabilities
Despite there being multiple cloud
providers, the management of platform and
infrastructure is still in its infancy. Features
like “Auto-scaling‟ for example, are a
crucial requirement for many enterprises.
There is huge potential to improve on the
scalability and load balancing features
provided today.
4. Regulatory and Compliance
Restrictions
In some of the European countries,
Government regulations do not allow
customer's personal information and other
sensitive information to be physically
located outside the state or country. In order
to meet such requirements, cloud providers
need to setup a data center or a storage site
exclusively within the country to comply
with regulations. Having such an
infrastructure may not always be feasible
and is a big challenge for cloud providers.
With cloud computing, the action moves to
the interface — that is, to the interface
between service suppliers and multiple
groups of service consumers. Cloud services
will demand expertise in distributed
services, procurement, risk assessment and
service negotiation — areas that many
enterprises are only modestly equipped to
handle.
Conclusion:
 Mobile cloud computing is more flexible
for the changing business trends.
 Mobile computing is the important tool
which can be a data centre where they
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 REALITIES AND PERILS OF MOBILE CLOUD COMPUTING

store massive data and the potential for

application development will grow.
 The customer here has a Pay as Per
Usage (PAPU).
 Though this has data protection and data
recovery still it has become a disruptive
force in the mobile world.

References:

 http://www.teenchennai.com/studies/
?s=mobile-cloud-computing-pdf
 http://www.teenchennai.com/studies/
cloud-computing/cloud-computing-
doesnt-have-to-be-risky.html
 http://www.ideationcloud.com/2009/
08/05/mobile-clouds-to-generate-20-
bn-revenue-by-2014/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_c
omputing
 http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.org
/
 http://www.thecloudcomputing.org/2
010/

Dept of Information Science guru.patil010@gmail.com

SECAB.I.E.T Bijapur, Karnataka bheemhh@gmail.com