Journal of Cloud Computing

Journal of CLoud Computing
http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com/content

International Journal of CLoud Computing
http://hipore.com/ijcc/contents.html

5 Principles for Cloud Computing Success

Cloud computing is really coming into its own. After several years of predictions, we’ve finally seen adoption of some cloud technologies at the consumer level. Cloud storage, for example, has taken the marketplace by storm as companies like Dropbox get into the public cloud provider routine.

Meanwhile, companies continue to explore just how cloud computing solutions can meet their needs. Just because something is billed as a cloud solution, however, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

Here are five principles your company needs to follow if it’s going to have successful cloud computing deployments:

1.    Start with the essentials. The very best of the cloud computing implementations are those that offer the most basic services. Those services are then turned into specific solutions. For example, a good API design can take a single cloud implementation and turn it into a truly robust solution. Offer a number of low-level API services to the users, and you’ll dramatically increase both the utility and the value of the cloud solution.

2.    Use centrally-controlled but distributed components. You want to configure your solution in many different ways, but there has to be a central hub that controls all of it. One of the most common mistakes companies make is to either have cloud solutions that are too tight in terms of distribution, or that lack central control. Striking the balance between the two is essential.

3.    Use tenant design principles. When you’re designing a cloud system, you’re not designing for users; you’re designing for tenants. You need to figure out how the system will be able to allocate and manage its resources; you’re not controlling access to applications and to data.

4.    Use virtualization as a tool, not a requirement. Virtualization is a technology that enables the cloud; it’s not a necessary component. Cloud solutions don’t always mean virtualization. Use virtualization when it makes sense for what you’re doing, not simply because you can.

5.    Build security and governance into your cloud system. These are issues that must be addressed in your cloud design, and whose capabilities have to be inherent from design through deployment.