Microsoft Office is up in the clouds

Microsoft has brought cloud computing into the office environment with the release of a cloud version of its popular Office suite. Also included in the Office suite will be its flagship collaboration tool SharePoint Online and email via Exchange Online.

Up until now most cloud applications have been based around Web 2.o applications such as social media applications, blogs, forums etc. With the launch of its Office 365 suite, Microsoft has brought cloud computing to the typical blue collar worker.

The release is currently named Office 365 (presumably as a reference to the fact that it is available 365 days of the year). It’s entirely possible though that the name will be changed to something else.

It’s aimed at small to medium enterprises (SMEs), with costs running between $6 and $27.50 per user per month. The specific cost will depend on the applications that are required, and the storage requirements.

With their office applications hosted via the Internet, users can therefore access their usual Office applications using any device that can access the Internet. This includes iPads, smartphones, as well as the usual PCs, netbooks and laptops. The devices need to support ActiveSync.

It is estimated that customers of Office 365 could save up to 10% over more traditional desktop versions of the applications. The Office 365 cloud computing solution is particularly suitable for companies with between 1 to 25 staff that are required to collaborate with external partners. This could include marketing initiatives, or product development.

For any SMEs wishing to look into reducing software costs, which typically runs at around 15% of total IT expenditure, it could be extremely beneficial to investigate the latest cloud computing offering from Microsoft.

Public Sector and Cloud Computing

Introduction
If you are not familiar with the concept of Cloud Computing, then please read my previous article entitled What the heck is cloud computing. In essence, Cloud Computing uses virtualisation technologies and the Internet as the platform for deploying applications. One of the key drivers for deploying applications to the Cloud is to make cost savings.

Private sector vs public sector
With the US and Japan already a part of the Cloud Computing public sector revolution, it was high time the UK followed suit. There is a lot of potential for long term change in the way in which public services are delivered in the UK, as well as relieving the financial burden on the tax payer.

Cloud Computing has already been widely adopted within the private sector, with many large and diverse enterprises taking advantage of the cost reductions and increased productivity that are on offer. Cloud Computing will usually involve renting a service on a pay-as-you-go basis. In comparison, procuring the service will involve having to purchase the necessary hardware, software licences and additional support, training and other operational costs. The application in its entirety will be deployed to a third party supplier, leaving the client to get on with their business. This model frees up the client from a heavy IT investment.

The story is different within the public sector, where the reputation of IT projects and their delivery has been less than outstanding. The long list of troubled IT projects includes such well known establishments as the DWP, MoD and the NHS. Even worse, is that the situation doesn't seem to be getting any better.

Cloud Computing could be a possible solution to these sorts of publicly funded IT projects, by introducing genuine transformation to the delivery of government services.

Possible incentives
The recent Digital Britain report has recommended that the UK should deploy what is known as the G-Cloud. This would allow local and central government to share centrally hosted applications. This would then lead to substantial cost savings in public spending by building a government wide Cloud Computing platform. Key savings would come from reducing the number of data centres, reducing overall IT spend (hardware, licences), and lower maintenance and security costs.

There would also be other positive side effects to such an endeavour. The creation of a single application platform would encourage the adoption of increased levels of sharing, as well as standardisation of IT services across multiple departments. It could also lead to better service delivery during periods of peaks and troughs of demand, which is critical for e-Government service delivery.

Putting the theory into practice
This theory is currently being put into practice. A role has been created within the Cabinet Office who will be responsible for formulating and managing the implementation of the G-Cloud. The Conservative Party has committed to reviewing, and possibly replacing the NHS National Programme for IT with a Cloud Computing based alternative, in the event they win the next election. If applied successfully to one such project there is no reason to suppose it could not be applied with equal success to other projects.

What the heck is Cloud Computing?

Introduction
The term 'Cloud Computing' takes its name from the fact that when representing the Internet on a computing diagram (such as a top level architectural diagram), it is represented as a cloud. The reason for this is to hide the technical details of the Internet from the diagram. As the Internet is really just a big network, containing servers, routers, virtual machines and so on, all of this detail is abstracted away behind a cloud for clarity and simplicity.

So the term 'Cloud' simply refers to the Internet.

So what is Cloud Computing?
There is no single, comprehensive definition of exactly what Cloud Computing is. In its most basic form, Cloud Computing is an architectural paradigm that relies on the Internet as its mode of delivery. It is a means of delivering services and applications through the Internet, independent of platform and hardware.

So rather than have applications installed locally, such as your word processor and spreadsheet, these applications would be delivered by the Internet. All your data files would be stored on the Internet too. All processing and computation would take place on a remote server.

All the local machine has to do is connect to the Internet.

This is not an entirely new concept. The idea of delivering applications and services via the Internet goes back to the early days of the Internet, circa the mid 1990s. However, there were too many technical problems for this to become a reality, such as the lack of available bandwidth. Whilst broadband may be common place now, a decade ago band width was nowhere near its current capacity.

In its simplest form, Cloud Computing has simply extended the concept of the thin client. The idea of the thin client is to free up the local machine by installing data and files on a remote server, typically on the same internal network. So a thin client is basically a client / server application, with all files and computation taking place on a remote server.

If you take this concept to its logical conclusion, the thin client becomes a dumb client, with the local machine holding no files or data whatsoever, and all applications and services are delivered by remote servers (the Cloud).

Application Virtualisation
Cloud Computing is dependant upon a technology called application virtualisation. This is a technology that allows applications and infrastructure to become independent of the underlying platform or operating system.

A fully virtualised application can run on any platform.

Virtualising an application means ensuring the application is completely self sufficient, and contains everything it needs to run. This self contained, virtualised application can then be deployed and run anywhere. If it can run anywhere, then it can be deployed to the Cloud.

Benefits
One major benefit of Cloud Computing is not having to worry about the servers, hardware and infrastructure that is required to deliver the application or service. This runs in the Cloud, and is therefore someone else's problem to worry about.

There is now no longer a requirement to have to devote time and effort to developing and maintaining applications we are not expert in. As Cloud Computing applications run in virtual application environments, which are completely self contained, this is now no longer an issue.

Drawbacks
The one size fits all approach typical of Cloud Computing applications, does not always work for large enterprises with complex requirements. They are general purpose applications for solving general purpose problems. For enterprises with specific problems, Cloud Computing may not be the answer.

For many enterprises and organisations, having data outside the firewall may pose a security threat. Remember, everything runs in the Cloud, and as we know all too well, communicating with the Cloud is not without its risks.

One of the major criticisms that has been aimed at Cloud Computing is the loss of control of data once it is in the Cloud. If the service provider is having technical problems, there may be delays in accessing your data. In the worst case scenario, you may not be able to access you data at all.

Many libertarians have stressed that Cloud Computing forces organisations and individuals to sacrifice their privacy and personal data to a third party. This is a particular issue for users of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

Summary
Cloud Computing as a paradigm, has been built on top of more traditional models such as thin client computing, and simply taken this to its logical conclusion. One of the key underlying technologies used by Cloud Computing is application virtualisation, whereby an application is encapsulated so it is self contained, and can therefore be deployed on any platform, including the Cloud. While it has several benefits, the loss of privacy and personal data to a third party is a fundamental criticism that needs to be addressed if Cloud Computing is ever going to seriously compete with more traditional models of deployment.