Cloud Computing, the next wave in application use

You my have heard of Grid Computing, but have you heard of Cloud Computing? Unless you have been too busy tracking the ups and downs of your stock prices, you must have read about it.

Grid Computing is certainly different from Cloud Computing. Like the utility grid that brings electricity to our houses, the computers in a Grid make contributions to a joint computing effort by providing their unused computing resources, especially when they are idle. The result is an aggregate of computing power that can be used to work on extremely complex mathematical computations, for example.

The term Cloud Computing is derived from the way people usually depict the Internet in a diagram: The cloud picture is used to hide the complexity of the Internet. We generally have no control over how the cloud operates, much like we have no control over the clouds that hang over Jakarta.

Cloud Computing signifies the next step in how we use applications. In the early days, all the software resided on our individual PCs. It might have been stored on a floppy diskette, a hard disk, or a CD-ROM.

The next wave was the client-server configuration. While some of the software still resided on client computers, the rest was stored on a server somewhere in a Local Area Network (LAN) that was installed in our companies.

Then we had the Software as a Service (SaaS) model of computing. This was made possible by the huge improvements in network infrastructure -- especially the Internet -- and the security of connection.

In the SaaS model, software is accessed only when needed. So, unlike the old model that required us to pay for a piece of software, whether we used it or not, we just had to pay for the software usage (like taking a taxi; you only pay based on how many miles the cab takes you). Because no or very little upfront investment is needed, the cost savings the SaaS model offered was very attractive to small- and medium-sized businesses.

Later on, we began to use resources that existed somewhere on the Internet. For example, files in our hard disks could be backed up to a place on the Web. So, we were then able to upload all our work onto the Internet and when traveling overseas, for example, we could access it via a different computer.

In next to no time, other applications have emerged.

Today, the buzzword is Cloud Computing. International Data Corporation (IDC) defines it as "an emerging IT development, deployment, and delivery model, enabling real-time delivery of products, services, and solutions over the Internet".

IDC believes that Cloud Computing is gaining momentum. According to their press release dated Oct. 20, 2008; "in the next five years, *we expect* spending on IT cloud services to grow almost threefold, reaching US$42 billion by 2012."

Does Cloud Computing need a special operating system? Clearly, Microsoft thinks so. At the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference late last month, chief software architect Ray Ozzie unveiled Windows Azure, an extension of the Windows Vista and Windows Mobile for the Cloud.

Does this mean that Redmond is aiming to dominate Cloud Computing like it does with our desktops and notebook PCs? Most likely. However, other big players such as IBM, Amazon and Google are also competing for a space in the cloud.

At any rate, Cloud Computing is the next tier of computing where new opportunities present themselves. Everything is still a bit fuzzy, and the borders between Cloud Computing and SaaS are bound to remain blurry. However, an interesting aspect is the legal framework for offering services, products and solutions from the Cloud.

Indra Sosrodjojo, director of Andal Software -- one of the leading software developers in Indonesia -- said he believed in the new model of service delivery. Unfortunately, he added, our legal infrastructure was not ready for it.

"I am committed to the compliance with all the tax regulations, but our tax system does not support the model," Indra said.

Perhaps this is another example of how slow-changing regulatory framework proves to be an obstacle as the industry moves to the next wave. -- Zatni Arbi (jakarta post)