Cloud Providers and Challenges
Various Cloud Computing platforms are available today. The following table contains the popular Cloud Computing platforms:
| SN | Platform Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Salesforce.com
This is a Force.com development platform. This provides a simple user interface and lets users log in, build an app, and push it in the cloud. |
| 2 | Appistry
The Appistry’s CloudIQ platform is efficient in delivering a runtime application. This platform is very useful to create scalable and service oriented applications. |
| 3 | AppScale
The AppScale is an open source platform for App Engine of Google applications. |
| 4 | AT&T
The AT&T allows access to virtual servers and manages the virtualization infrastructure. This virtualization infrastructure includes network, server and storage. |
| 5 | Engine Yard
The Engine Yard is a rails application on cloud computing platform. |
| 6 | Enomaly
Enomaly provides the Infrastructure-as-a-Service platform. |
| 7 | FlexiScale
The FlexiScale offers a cloud computing platform that allows flexible, scalable and automated cloud infrastructure. |
| 8 | GCloud3
The GCloud3 offers private cloud solution in its platform. |
| 9 | Gizmox
The Gizmox Visual WebGUI platform is best suited for developing new web apps and modernize the legacy apps based on ASP.net, DHTML, etc. |
| 10 | GoGrid
The GoGrid platform allows the users to deploy web and database cloud services. |
| 11 | Google
The Google’s App Engine lets the users build, run and maintain their applications on Google infrastructure. |
| 12 | LongJump
The LongJump offers a business application platform, a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). |
| 13 | Microsoft
The Microsoft Windows Azure is a cloud computing platform offering an environment to create cloud apps and services. |
| 14 | OrangeScape
OrangeScape offers a Platform-as-a-Service (Paas) for non-programmers. Building an app is as easy as spreadsheet. |
| 15 | RackSpace
The RackSpace provides servers-on-demand via a cloud-driven platform of virtualized servers. |
| 16 | Amazon EC2
The Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) lets the users configure and control computing resources while running them on Amazon environment. |
Cloud computing, an emergent technology, has placed many challenges in different aspects of data and information handling. Some of these are shown in the following diagram:
Security and Privacy
Security and Privacy of information is the biggest challenge to cloud computing. Security and privacy issues can be overcome by employing encryption, security hardware and security applications.
Portability
This is another challenge to cloud computing that applications should easily be migrated from one cloud provider to another. There must not be vendor lock-in. However, it is not yet made possible because each of the cloud provider uses different standard languages for their platforms.
Interoperability
It means the application on one platform should be able to incorporate services from the other platforms. It is made possible via web services, but developing such web services is very complex.
Computing Performance
Data intensive applications on cloud requires high network bandwidth, which results in high cost. Low bandwidth does not meet the desired computing performance of cloud application.
Reliability and Availability
It is necessary for cloud systems to be reliable and robust because most of the businesses are now becoming dependent on services provided by third-party.