The Power of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is surrounded by a lot of hype, and it’s becoming increasingly important during recent years for organizations. The reason why is cloud computing is leading to a rethinking of the Internet’s capability. Cloud computing is propped to completely delocalize computing power and technology for developers, and other users of it.
From easily accessing files and other data to keeping networks and mobile devices in sync, there is a general consensus that cloud computing will become even more important in the future as it continues to gain traction. Recent trends show a steady increase in its interest.
To get a good basic understanding of the cloud, you must watch this cool video by Stephen Fry:
Scenario 1: Using the cloud to analyze 6-billion records per day of stock market data to create contingency plans.
Remember the famous flash crash of 2010? It was the crash of the U.S. stock market, and the biggest one-day point decline of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In less than seven minutes, the Dow Jones was down by roughly 1000 points. The reason for the crash was due to a technical glitch. Such technical glitches do no one any good, and certainly need immediate, reliable solutions.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission used Tradeworx, a financial technology company which builds infrastructures that allows the running of stock markets, to create an analytics platform. The idea was to collect during approximately five to six years of data, then analyze it and develop contingency plans for any similar future event. The size of the data that we are talking about here is close to one terabyte of data per day.
The situation called for playing with an incredibly large amount of data, applying several possible scenarios, and designing plans to help prevent any such havoc from happening again. As a result, the entire stock market had to be replicated, and Today, we are discussing in this post some real-life examples to get a better handle and a more focused view of cloud computing technology.
that is not a walk in the park. However, using the cloud, the market was virtualized, stored on the cloud, and analyzed (as simple as that sounds!). This had no effect on the actual stock market system.
Key Takeaways
- Higher availability
- Faster deployments
- Scalability came at much lower costs (typically 1/10th of the cost of a traditional method)
Scenario 2: Live streaming of events.
How many times have we wanted to sit back on the sofa at home to watch a live sporting event on an HD TV? Haven’t there been times when we wanted to get a live update of a natural event or any other mishaps?
ScribbleLive is one such content engagement platform that has a principal business use case enabling media companies, brands and sports organizations to use their digital assets to the fullest. It’s offered in 14 different languages worldwide and is used my media companies to broadcast breaking news. The number of users at any given time is not predictable and requires a readily scalable platform within seconds. The smart solution was to use the cloud, which in this case reduced the OPEX by 35%.
Key Takeaways
- Increased availability at peak times
- Reduced downtime
- Reduced server overhead
- Increased focus on innovation
Scenario 3: On-demand, scalable compute cluster search using the cloud.
Bioproximity, a contract research organization, specializes in protein analysis and informatics. Its first web application, Proteome Cluster, is an on-demand, scalable computer cluster that allows searches of tandem mass spectrometry data. The search algorithm and analysis processes use up several computing hours. Using the cloud makes it easier to spin up computing resources and large amounts of storage.
Key Takeaways
Some of the key features of the cloud that favor the Proteome Cluster are:.
- Flexibility
- Stability
- Reliability
- Security
Scenario 4: The cloud in space.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers are deployed for a robotic exploration of the planet Mars. The primary mission is searching for clues in regard to past water activity by characterizing rocks and soils. Large volumes of data are being generated that needs to be stored efficiently and reliably for appropriate analysis. The analysis of this scientific data requires large-scale ordered operations that run on multiple parallel machines. This calls for the need of reliable orchestration services that deal with complex workflows that can be easily provided by using the cloud.
Key Takeaways
Its use addressed:
- Mission-critical applications
- Centralized visibility of jobs
- Efficient backup of data
- Simplified data processing pipelines
Scenario 5: Obama for America Campaign 2012 used the cloud to reach out to thousands!
Typical of many campaigns, the Obama for America (OFA) campaign was about starting small, growing big, and falling small again. This, in turn, indicates the unpredictability of resources needed.
Whenever the President implemented a new idea (for example: allow calls from supporters and volunteers), there were thousands of people responding to the same when done. An opportunity for people to interact online was one of the primary focuses. In such a case, durability and election, the choice of using the cloud seemed wise. Using cloud services enabled the devops redundancy were the key features being sought. Given the short amount of time left before the team to fail the infrastructure in several possible ways, thereby comprehending possible scenarios and preparing for the same happenings. The cloud solution also saved millions of dollars by not using traditional infrastructures to implement the OFA campaign.
Key Takeaways
- Scalability (at insane heights)
- Reduced costs
- Collaboration on an enterprise scale
- Quicker deployments
- Flexibility
There’s extreme flexibility in the use of cloud-based computing. Many businesses are now making the shift over to the cloud. There are very clear advantages for organizations both small and large. Overall, business productivity can increase. Easily, cloud computing is the future of business.
Tell us your thoughts about cloud computing and how you are using it. Send us your feedback at info@flux7.com. Or, learn more now about Flux7 and the cloud for small business at www.flux7.com/cloud-for-smbs/ and for enterprises at www.flux7.com/cloud-for-enterprises/.