Cloud computing jargon buster

Cloud computing has changed the way businesses work. It has opened the doors to increased collaboration and the ability to access information from anywhere and at any time.

It has made the software that businesses use more flexible and cost-effective – you only pay for what you use rather than buying software off the shelf in a big initial investment. It has made scaling a business and its IT infrastructure a lot easier. But it is a little confusing.

There are still many people out there who despite using cloud services every day, don’t fully grasp the terminology involved. It’s understandable, the jargon that comes with the cloud is all very new to us.

With that in mind here is a mini cloud-computing jargon buster:

Cloud computing

This is basically getting your computing services over the internet rather than on your computer or local server.

It can refer to storage, applications, memory etc. It means you no longer have to download things onto your computer, you simply log onto the internet and your services are hosted there by a third party.

Utility computing

This refers to the pay as you go system used in cloud computing where you don’t install and maintain the service. It makes paying and using business services similar to other utilities like your water or gas.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

There are different level of using the cloud. IaaS means that you use the cloud for services such as storage, and processing. It means you don’t have to use up all the memory in your own IT infrastructure.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

This is a level of usage which generally only refers to developers. It is the use of the cloud as a platform on which to build and launch applications.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

This refers to the use of the cloud for applications and other software that you use for business. Anyone who uses things like Facebook, Google Docs, LinkedIn, Salesforce.com, Microsoft 365 etc. are using SaaS – which is most of us.

Public cloud

Designed for use by multiple parties at the same time, these provide services across many geographies and offer the best value for money. They often work on a pay as you go model. Users can access their own information in a public cloud but not the information of other users.

Private cloud

This is a cloud service designed to serve only one company. It means that colleagues can work in real-time and share projects but it is not using the same cloud as users from outside the company. It suits companies to who want the benefits of the cloud but still want complete control.

Hybrid cloud

A combination of using the public and private cloud for a business’s IT needs. It’s good for businesses which are reticent to move all services into the cloud.

Cloud washing

This is the marketing technique of rebranding an old service using the cloud terminology in order to get more buzz around it.

ENVI Geoservices and ArcGIS® Online – A New Paradigm for Image Analytics

The development and release of ArcGIS® Online by Esri® ushered in a new era of GIS access and availability. ArcGIS Online allows organizations and individuals to manage and display their map data on the internet via an easy-to-use interface. This has been useful for GIS professionals who have been overloaded with small requests for geographic information by allowing their users to self-serve data and maps that have been developed and published by the GIS analyst. It also allows users in the field to display ground truth information that may be collected as a series of GPS points or geographic notes. According to Esri, “In addition, non-GIS professionals, such as knowledge workers who have a need for GIS, now have a way to quickly create maps from the unstructured information they work with in spreadsheets and text files and share these maps with others who can access them on any device. This type of on-demand and self-serve mapping frees up GIS professionals from having to respond to constant requests for maps and instead concentrate on making and publishing authoritative information products.” (Esri, June, 2012)

Along with map and display capabilities, ArcGIS Online comes equipped with the ability to conduct geo-processing tasks, or geoservices. Esri currently provides geocoding and network analysis geoservices, among others. Users with an ArcGIS for Server instance can also publish their own geoservices and models from the Esri software suite and consume them via ArcGIS Online. This means that customized workflows can be distributed via ArcGIS Online for consumption by non-technical users in the field. These services can be also be integrated into custom interfaces developed using the ArcGIS Web Mapping API’sor the ArcGIS Mobile Runtime SDK.

An ENVI Change Detection Geoservice in ArcGIS Online

Exelis Visual Information Solutions has worked very closely with Esri for years to develop interoperable solutions to leverage advanced image analytics from ENVI from within the ArcGIS ecosystem. Along with both desktop and server side interoperability, ENVI is now able to take advantage of the ArcGIS Online platform to expose ENVI geoservices in the cloud. Implemented using the ENVI Services Engine and the ArcGIS API for JavaScript, the app queries and consumes Landsat image services to run a number of different analysis tasks. Results are delivered back to the thin client as a visual representation, with links to download the processed datasets available if needed. Not only can this type of implementation run analysis and deliver results on remote data, the time-aware nature of the Landsat Image Service allows for time aware analysis to be conducted such as change detection, or in this case, NDVI analysis over time.

Displaying an NDVI Result from an Image Service in a Thin Client

This example of ENVI image analysis being run on image service data from the ArcGIS online environment is a snapshot of the future. In the same way that the storing and viewing of map products has migrated to the internet, so too will the analysis of large data be executed on large servers in remote locations and consumed via thin clients and mobile apps. What do you think? Are thin clients such as ArcGIS Online that consuming remote data and analysis functionality the future of GIS? Do you see a need in your organization for web-deployed analytics?
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What is ArcGIS Online?

ArcGIS Online is a complete, cloud-based, collaborative content management system that lets organizations manage their geographic information in a secure and configurable environment. The platform provides an on-demand infrastructure for creating web maps, web-enabling your data, sharing your map, data, and applications, and managing content and multiple users from your organization. It includes basemaps, data for your maps, applications, configurable templates, and GIS tools and APIs for developers. Organizations purchase a subscription which allows them to configure and manage their own ArcGIS Online site and set of resources. A subscription includes organizational accounts for members of the organization. Personal accounts are available for individuals who want to access content shared by Esri and GIS users and create, store, and share maps, apps, and data.

What can you do with ArcGIS Online?

A subscription to ArcGIS Online allows organizations to manage their geospatial content in a secure environment, publish maps and data in Esri's secure cloud, configure their own ArcGIS Online website, and create maps and apps from APIs, templates, and tools. It also gives them resources to share and collaborate with its members and beyond the organization. Organizations can share their geospatial content and provide access to critical information while staying in control of their data.

Manage your organization's geospatial content in a secure environment

Through a subscription, you get flexible data storage capabilities and administrative controls for managing user roles and access levels. Administrators of the subscription can invite specific users or groups of users with already established logins used in the organization and monitor usage through an intuitive dashboard. You can share content through groups with members of your organization, keep it private, or make it public. You stay in control of your data, lower your infrastructure costs, and empower your users and customers with easy-to-use, web-enabled content.

Publish maps and data as hosted services in Esri's secure cloud

Organizations can publish their maps and data as web services on ArcGIS Online. Esri takes care of hosting the services and scaling to meet demand. Web, desktop, and mobile applications can access the hosted services from anywhere on the Internet if the publisher chooses to allow it. The services can be published directly from ArcGIS for Desktop or the ArcGIS.com website.

Source arcgis.com

What is ArcGIS Server on Amazon Web Services?

ArcGIS Server on Amazon Web Services allows you to deploy ArcGIS Server on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). ArcGIS Server runs on Amazon's hardware and is administered through web services.

Advantages of deploying your server on Amazon EC2 include the following:

• No installation required—You don't have to install ArcGIS Server yourself. Instead, you use a downloadable utility, ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services, to create your ArcGIS Server site on Amazon EC2. Once you create your site, you can immediately connect to it and begin publishing services from ArcMap.
• Scalable on demand—You can configure your site so that additional GIS servers are added in response to certain triggers, such as CPU usage. New servers can be created in a matter of minutes, allowing your site to gracefully respond to abrupt spikes in traffic. When you no longer need the instances, you can destroy them and incur no further charges for them.
• No hardware infrastructure to maintain—Deploying ArcGIS Server on Amazon Web Services requires no special hardware; you just have to be able to connect to the Internet. After creating your site, you can gain fine-grained management of your server through the AWS Management Console, a web application provided by Amazon. You can log in to your server through Windows Remote Desktop Connection to fine-tune your data, services, and applications.
  Deploying your server in a cloud environment allows you to use as many or as few computing resources as necessary without committing to a long-term purchase of hardware or other IT infrastructure.

About this help

This help system focuses on how to deploy ArcGIS Server and use enterprise geodatabases on Amazon EC2. It also includes special topics about maintaining and scaling your deployment on EC2.

If you need general information about ArcGIS Server or enterprise geodatabases, you should visit the ArcGIS Help. The ArcGIS Help describes how to publish services, configure security users and roles, create web applications, build geodatabases, and so on.

Links to the ArcGIS Help are provided throughout this help system where appropriate.

Why Use Cloud GIS?

When you run GIS software and use GIS services in the cloud, you, or more likely your organization and your customers, may realize many of the same benefits other software and services users discover when they start their work in cloud. 

Common benefits include

No more software updates

In the cloud, the end-user is most likely using the latest, greatest version of the software or service. They don’t have to worry about installing or configuring software updates and can take advantage of new features right away, as they become available.

Convenient access to services

The organization is able to make its online services available to customers 24/7 (always on). This means that the business of the organization continues beyond the regular work day - letting customers use the software and services when they need it, at any time, from anywhere in the world.

Pay only for what you use

Using cloud services means that both the customer and the organization can take advantage of more flexible business models, which make it easier to budget for services rendered and, in the long term, may lower the overall cost of ownership. The cloud also makes computing extremely scalable, allowing you to quickly increase capacity during peaks of high demand and then scale back down when demand returns to normal levels.

Cloud GIS includes all of these benefits, in addition to making it easier to test and deploy GIS applications, which can improve your organization’s responsiveness and competitiveness. You may also find that Cloud GIS provides you with a more collaborative environment, particularly for your mobile workers and customers or if you have multiple offices located in different cities around the world.

Topics in Cloud GIS

Imagine that all the GIS tools, imagery, basemaps, and databases you need to do your work are organized for you somewhere out there on the web. You can access those resources at any time, from your desk at work, from home, while you’re traveling; your data storage capacity increases automatically as you need it; and you can share your work instantly with colleagues or customers across the globe.

This is idea behind Cloud GIS – seamless access to GIS capabilities from anywhere.

What Is Cloud GIS?

Cloud GIS is the combination of running GIS software and services on cloud infrastructure and accessing GIS capabilities using the web.

Cloud computing offers an alternative to traditional methods of delivering and consuming GIS software and services to your customers.

Instead of running GIS on your own compute systems and operations, with Cloud GIS, your software and services reside on infrastructure – commonly (but not always) maintained off premises by a third party vendor – and made available through web technologies.

For a more detailed definition of cloud computing, see The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). 

What ist Cloud Computing? qu'est ce qu'un Cloud computing? what is cloud computing?

Cloud Computing: What Is It?

Cloud computing is no longer just hype or a buzzword for the times. It is reshaping the IT marketplace as we know it, and it's here to stay.

The media love stories about the cloud. "The cloud" and "cloud computing" have become ubiquitous in business and technology news stories. It's popping up in consumer ads and quickly making its way into the high-level discussions of policymakers all over the world.

Early cloud adopters in both the private and public sectors are yesterday's news story. They have paved the way for the rapidly expanding early majority. And to that end, IDC industry analysts expect that worldwide IT spending on cloud services will reach $42 billion next year - in large part because the cloud computing model "offers a much cheaper way for businesses to acquire and use IT." And these days, who isn't cost cutting?

So, if cloud computing is such a big deal, why does the concept itself still leave many scratching their heads? What is cloud computing, exactly?

Well, the term has been used many ways lately. According to the Business Software Alliance, "The key features of the cloud are the ability to scale and provide, as needed, data storage and computing power dynamically in a cost efficient way, without the user having to manage the underlying complexity of the technology. Cloud computing offers tremendous potential for efficiency, cost savings and innovations to government, businesses and individuals alike. These benefits will improve government services and citizen access; transform businesses; provide new innovations to consumers; improve important services such as health care and government-provided services; and create energy savings."

As the new decade unfolds, we can expect to see more businesses, consumers - and even lawmakers - rushing to educate themselves about cloud technology and the implications that it holds for the way they work, live and play. And, they will be asking lots of questions. How will it alter the landscape of traditional IT offerings? How will it drive down costs? How will it dovetail with traditional IT architecture? Will it give rise to new policy debates?

BSA, the voice of the world's software industry on a range of business and policy affairs (and for whom I once worked), has produced a solid educational video "to help speed this transition, especially for policy-makers." The video provides the fundamentals of cloud computing - including what defines it and how it is being used, touches on its many benefits (increased efficiencies, scalability, enhanced functionality, cost savings, etc.), and then outlines key policy considerations for lawmakers.

Benefits:

Cloud services free businesses and consumers from having to invest in hardware or install software on their devices. They reduce maintenance and hardware upgrading needs; because the solutions are all Web-based, even older computers can be used to access cloud services.

For mobile users especially, cloud computing provides incredible flexibility with which professionals can work from any computing device, as long as they have access to the Web. It also makes collaboration easier, since distributed teams (or a combination of mobile workers and in-office staff) can work on shared information stored centrally in the cloud via, for example, online group ware applications.

Working in the Cloud:    

There are some obstacles to cloud computing. An Internet connection is obviously necessary to take full advantage of a cloud service. When you’re offline–or if there are any disruptions with the cloud service itself–the data may not be accessible at all. (Some cloud apps, like Gmail, have offline capability; others, like Mint, require an Internet connection. The notetaking application, Evernote, offers a good in-between or hybrid solution, with both desktop/phone software and an online service that syncs your notes to the cloud.)

But generally, in my opinion, For now cloud computing’s greatest beneficiaries may be remote workers, as Web-based apps empower us to be truly mobile and still accomplish our work.plus going to make accessing, using and managing IT easier for small businesses than ever before.

Le Cloud Computing est devenu depuis quelques années bien connu. Le cloud computing est (presque) l’avenir de l’informatique. Tous les grand acteurs IT ou bien les TIC misent leurs revenus futurs sur le cloud computing (Google, IBM, Microsoft, Adobe …). Le cloud computing pourrait conduire à des milliards de dollars d’économies d’énergie et pourrait aider à recycler les mainframes ou super-ordinateurs. Le cloud computing est le nirvana pour les freelance itinérants du net, comme Jean de Webmarketing Junkie qui explique comment il a organisé sonbureau virtuel, lui qui voyage de pays en pays tel un touareg des Temps Modernes, et également pour tous les autres travailleurs de l’information en ligne.

Le cloud, une révolution en marche forcée!

L’offre en matière de cloud computing a évolué rapidement au cours des 5 dernières années et est maintenant disponible en plusieurs offres, et, pour la plupart, elles restent évidemment centrées sur l’esprit de sécurité (public, privé, mixte, ouvert …). La migration du système de messagerie au Cloud est généralement la première étape d’un long processus de transformation et d’un nouveau paradigme informatique.

Dans mon travail quotidien j’ai eu l’occasion d’entendre de nombreux responsables informatiques me disant «Maintenant que le système de messagerie de l’entreprise est hébergé par X, je réalise l’énergie / l’argent que j’ai perdu » .

La vérité est que, pour la plupart des entreprises, les infrastructures IT ne sont pas un avantage décisif, mais plutôt un fardeau. Héberger votre propre réseau informatique implique d’acheter du nouveau matériel et des logiciels + mises à jour régulièrement, le recrutement et la formation du personnel dédié et le former aux mutations incessantes dans le domaine informatique.

Bien sûr, les grandes entreprises ont des problèmes liés à la haute confidentialité de leurs données, mais qu’en est il des plus petites / plus jeunes?
Pour les entreprises de service, ce n’est pas sorcier : si je devais faire évoluer mon installation informatique, je ne réfléchirais pas à deux fois pour me convertir au Cloud Computing. Pour les autres types d’entreprises, elles peuvent obtenir un avantage concurrentiel fort en n’investissant pas le montant initial dans l’infrastructure IT et l’investir ailleurs, dans des zones plus critiques/utiles.
Ne vous méprenez pas : je ne dis pas que le cloud computing permet de réduire votre budget informatique, il est seulement beaucoup mieux réparti dans le temps. En prime,
ce n’est pas vous le responsable en cas de problème et le dépannage informatique afin de remettre tout en ordre sera à la charge de la SSII.

Donc, cela nous ramène à la question initiale : Peut-on considérer une entreprise sans ses propres installations IT? Oui, je crois fermement que cette option est la meilleure dans une économie où la flexibilité et la collaboration sont les clés du match.

Externaliser votre informatique chez des fournisseurs de Cloud signifie optimiser les dépenses informatiques, avoir des logiciels toujours à jour, des données en lieu sûr et une flexibilité extrême . Les nouveaux fournisseurs, comme Salesforce, Zoho, Google ou 37Signalsfournissent des solutions qui pourraient facilement couvrir 90% de vos besoins. Les 10% restant pourraient être facilement adaptés à vos contraintes avec un développement spécifique.

Se concentrer sur l’essentiel

Je suppose que l’idée de ne pas héberger / posséder votre informatique peut faire peur, mais l’ancienne solution ne signifie pas nécessairement un service meilleur ou plus fiable et implique d’immobiliser un certain montant de cash($$$$$$…) qui pourrait vous aider à vous développer plus rapidement dans votre cœur de métier. Oui, je me réfère à votre cœur de métier, celui pour lequel vos clients payent, non pas une activité annexe.

Et ce sera mon dernier argument : Une fois que vous réalisez que c’est une activité parallèle, une activité nécessaire mais pas principale, vous serez beaucoup plus disposés à investir dans des activités plus importantes comme le référencement des sites de vos clients par exemple!