云计算.docx

云计算.docx

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云计算

CloudComputing

WhatisCloudComputingandWhatDoesThisStupidBuzzwordMean?

Theotherdayareaderwroteinaskingifcloudcomputingcouldhelpsavehisharddrivespace,whichmademerealizethatit’stimetotalkaboutexactlywhatthismoronicbuzzwordreallymeans.

WhatisCloudComputing?

AccordingtotheNationalInstituteofStandardsandTechnology,thedefinitionfor“CloudComputing”isthisincomprehensiblepieceofnonsenseclearlywrittentobeasconfusingaspossible:

Cloudcomputingisamodelforenablingconvenient,on-demandnetworkaccesstoasharedpoolofconfigurablecomputingresources（e.g.,networks,servers,storage,applications,andservices）thatcanberapidlyprovisionedandreleasedwithminimalmanagementeffortorserviceproviderinteraction.

Sowhat’sadefinitionforrealpeople?

CloudComputing=WebApplicationsimage

That’sallthereistoit.Ifyou’reusingaweborinternet-basedapplicationfromamajorproviderlikeGoogleorMicrosoft,you’reusingcloudcomputing.Congrats!

Everywebapplicationthatyou’veeverused,likeGmail,GoogleCalendar,Hotmail,SalesForce,Dropbox,andGoogleDocs,arebasedon“cloudcomputing”,becausewhenyouconnecttooneoftheseservices,you’rereallyconnectingtoamassivepoolofserverssomewhereoutthereontheinternet.Theclientdoesn’tneedtobeawebbrowser,butthat’sthedirectioneverythingisheading.

Thinkthere’smoretoitthanthat?

Don’tbelieveme?

JustlistentoLarryEllison,theCEO&co-founderofOracle,talkabouthowmoronicthistermreallyis:

SoWhyCloudComputing?

We’vealreadyestablishedthatit’sapointlesstermthatsimplydescribeswebapplications,whichhavebeenaroundforaverylongtime—butinordertogetbusinessestostartswitchingtowebapplicationsinsteadofself-hostedservers,themarketingtypesinventedanewbuzzword.

Thereasonwhytheyusedtheword“cloud”inthebuzzwordissimple:

innetworkdiagrams,theinternetisusuallyrepresentedwithacloudinthemiddleofthedrawing.Thosemarketingdronesareinventive,aren’tthey?

Sobasicallythetermitselfisjustawayforconsultantsandcompaniestosellmoreservicesinashinynewpackage.Here’sagoodillustrationofhowthisworks:

ComicbyGeekandPoke

HowCanCloudComputingHelpMe?

Sincebusinesseseverywherearemovingtheirapplicationstothewebandcomingoutwithnewandinterestingfeaturesaccessiblethroughyourwebbrowser,you’llsoonbeabletoaccessvirtuallyanythingfromanybrowseronanyPC,andthelineswillblurbetweendesktopandtheinternet.

NowthatMicrosofthasfinallyreleasedthebetaforInternetExplorer9,whichsupportsnewwebstandardslikeHTML5anduseshardwareaccelerationtomakethewholeexperiencespeedy—everybrowserwillfinallybeonthesamefooting.WhenMicrosoftsaidthatIE9isgoingtochangetheweb,theyweren’tkidding—theyweretheonlyonesholdingthewebbackwiththeiranemicIE7andIE8browsers,nottomentiontheancientIE6.Andnowthenightmareisfinallyalmostover.

It’llgetevenmoreinterestingwheneverChromeOSisfinallyreleased,whichisbasicallyanentireoperatingsystembuiltaroundawebbrowserastheprimaryinterface,withallofyourapplicationsaswebapplicationsinsteadoflocal—hopefullyitwillsupportwebintegrationlikeIE9doeswiththeWindows7taskbar.

HowIsCloudComputingDifferentforBusinesses?

Ifyou’reintheITworldyou’reprobablyscratchingyourheadatthispointandthinkingthatI’moversimplifyingtheideabehindcloudcomputing,solet’sexplaintherealdifferencefromthemoretechnicalsideofthings.

Inthepast,everycompanywouldrunalloftheirapplicationsonalloftheirownservers,hostedattheirownlocationordatacenter.Thisobviouslyrequiresalotofmaintenanceandmoneytokeepeverythingrunning,upgraded,andsecure.

Fromabusinessperspective,businessescannowmovemuchoftheircomputingtocloudservices,whichprovidethesameapplicationsthatyouwouldinstallonyourownservers,butnowtheyareaccessibleovertheinternetforanyoftheircustomers.HaveyoureadaboutcompaniesswitchingtoGoogleDocs?

That’saperfectexampleofcompaniesswitchingfromhostingtheirownlocalserverstousingcloudcomputinginstead.

Butwhatifyourcompanyprovidesaservicetoothers?

Youcanalsotakeadvantageofcloudcomputingbycreatingapplicationsthatdon’trunonyourownservers,butactuallyutilizeserverresourcesprovidedbyoneofthebigproviders—GooglehasAppEngine,MicrosofthasWindowsAzure,andAmazonhastheirEC2framework.

Mostoftheseservicesoperateonapay-for-resourcesbasis—soyourapplicationonlygetschargedfortheamountofCPUandnetworkusethatitactuallyuses—whenyourapplicationissmallanddoesn’thavealotofusers,youdon’tgetchargedmuch,butthebenefitisthatitcanscaleupto10,000userswithoutanytrouble（thoughyou’llbepayingalotmorefortheaddedCPUusage）.

Stillneedmore?

Here’savideothatexplainsitwith…littlefluffyclouds.

WhyCloudComputingistheFutureofMobile?

Theterm"cloudcomputing"isbeingbandiedaboutalotthesedays,mainlyinthecontextofthe"futureoftheweb."Butcloudcomputing'spotentialdoesn'tbeginandendwiththepersonalcomputer'stransformationintoathinclient-themobileplatformisgoingtobeheavilyimpactedbythistechnologyaswell.Atleastthat'stheanalysisbeingputforthbyABIResearch.Theirrecentreport,MobileCloudComputing,theorizesthatthecloudwillsoonbecomeadisruptiveforceinthemobileworld,eventuallybecomingthedominantwayinwhichmobileapplicationsoperate.

Youmaybewondering:

whatdoestheterm"mobilecloudcomputing"reallymean?

Basically,itreferstoaninfrastructurewhereboththedatastorageandthedataprocessinghappenoutsideofthemobiledevice.Today,therearealreadysomegoodexamplesofmobilecloudcomputingapplicationsincludingmobileGmail,GoogleMaps,andsomenavigationapps.However,themajorityofapplicationstodaystilldomostofthedatastorageandprocessingonthemobiledevicesthemselvesandnotinthecloud.Inafewyears,thatcouldchange.

WhyMobileCloudComputing?

WithaWestern-centricviewoftheworld,itcansometimesbehardtorememberthatnoteveryoneownsasmartphone.Therearestillalargenumberofmarketsworldwidewherethedominantphoneisafeaturephone.Whileit'struethatsmartphoneswillgrowinpercentageandfeaturephoneswillbecomemoresophisticatedintime,theselower-endphonesarenotgoingawayanytimesoon.Andit'stheirveryexistencewhichwillhelpdrivethemobilecloudcomputingtrend.

Notonlyisthereabroaderaudienceusingfeaturephonesintheworld,therearealsomorewebdeveloperscapableofbuildingmobilewebapplicationsthantherearedevelopersforanyothertypeofmobiledevice.Thosefactors,combinedwiththefactthatfeaturephonesthemselvesarebecomingmorecapablewithsmarterbuilt-inwebbrowsers（andmorealternativebrowsersavailablefordownload）,willhaveanimpactonmobilecloudcomputing'sgrowth.

HowWillMobileCloudComputingBecomeaDisruptiveForce?

TherearetwoprimaryreasonswhyABIbelievescloudcomputingwillbecomeadisruptiveforceinthemobileworld.Thefirstissimplythenumberofusersthetechnologyhasthepowertoreach:

farmorethanthenumberofsmartphoneusersalone.Thesecondreasonhastodowithhowapplicationsaredistributedtoday.Currently,mobileapplicationsaretiedtoacarrier.IfyouwantaniPhoneapp,forexample,youhavetofirsthavearelationshipwiththemobileoperatorwhocarriestheiPhone.IfyouwantaBlackberryapp,thesameruleapplies.Butwithmobilecloudingcomputingapplications,aslongasyouhaveaccesstotheweb,youhaveaccesstothemobileapplication.

MovesbyPaaSPlayersCouldChangeEverything

WhenyouthinkofPlaform-as-a-Service（PaaS）,oneofthefirstcompaniesthatspringstomindisprobablySalesforce.WiththeirFplatform,businessapplicationscanbebuiltandrun"inthecloud."ButSalesforceisnottheonlymajorPaaSplayerouttheretoday-AmazonWebServices（AWS）andGoogle'sAppEnginearealsotwoplatformsthatcouldhaveamajorimpactonthistrend.

Currently,AWSisusedbyoverhalfamilliondevelopersandGoogle'sAppEnginehosts45,000applications.NowimagineifthosetwocompaniesalongwithFallofasuddenstartedaggressivelymarketingtheirmobilecapabilities.Today,neitherAWSnorGoogleoffersthis,andSalesforce'smobileofferingislimitedtosmartphones（WindowsMobile,Blackberry,andiPhone）.Butifthecompaniesdecidedtomakebuildingforthemobilewebaseasyasbuildingfortheweb,youcouldhaveamobilerevolutiononyourhands.

ButPeopleLikeApps!

Sayingthat"mobilecloudcomputing"isthefuturedoesn'tmeanphoneswillbefilledwithlinkstowebsitesthatworkinanybrowserinsteadofspecial,downloadableapplications,someofwhichyoucanevenpurchase.Instead,mobileapplicationswillexistinbothformats.Asforthedownloadableapplicationsthemselves,theywillstillappeartobeyourtypicalmobileapp-enduserswon'tevennoticeadifference.However,therewillbeadifference-itwilljustbeontheback-end.Mobileapplicationswillbegintostoreyourdatainthecloudasopposedtoonthemobiledevice,andtheapplicationswillbecomemorepowerfulasprocessingpowerisalsooffloadedtothecloud.

Thefirstmobileappspoweredbythecloudwilllikelybebusiness-focusedmobileproductivityapplicationswherecollaboration,datasharing,multitasking,andschedulingarekeyfactors.Forconsumers,though,navigationandmappingapplications