Innovation of Cloud Technology for Businesses
Discuss about the Cloud Computing Advantages And Security Challenges.
The innovation in the cloud technology helps the business groups in sharing their data among their group members. The increasing popularity of the cloud computing involves the innovation in the cloud storage system for managing the large data set of the business to manage supply and demand of the information between the team members. The cloud storage system is equipped with various risks. The loss of confidential information and data leakages are some of the major risks which are associated with the cloud storage system (Rajan, 2015). The adoption of the cloud computing technology with millions of organization has completely transforms the traditional working environment of the firm. The value of the organization can be improved with the association of cloud technology with it. The productivity of the firm can be improved by providing information on demand which helps in managing the flow of product lifecycle program. The working culture of the enterprise is migrated to the cloud environment because of the flexibility, reliability, scalability, accuracy, agility, minimizing cost, and increasing efficiency provided by the cloud storage system. The concern of security is the major issue with the cloud environment due to the failure in the efficient handling of the confidential data and data leakages. The analysis of the cloud storage system helps in identifying the strength and weaknesses of the cloud environment. The computing need of the project owners can be fulfilled by efficient utilization of outsourcing resources on the cloud (Zheng, 2013). The application resource can be effectively distributed among the coordinated units. It is a cost effective technology for minimizing and balancing the distribution of the resources and data among the participating units. The public, private, and hybrid cloud are the three models for the installation of the cloud environment. The integrity, reliability, and availability of the data are the quick approaches for the management of the cloud environment.
The general architecture of the cloud storage system is described in the diagram below:
The blocks and file management system are used for storing the data on the cloud environment. Any type of data audio, video, text, images, graphics, and etc. can be stored on the cloud storage system (Chang, 2017). The internet connection should be laid down for fetching of data between the participating units. The scalability of the cloud network can be increased with the addition of more nodes to the network. The different service providers are responsible for managing the data in the cloud storage. Traditionally, the data of the business activity was handled by the disk storage system (Sriram, 2010). The magnetic tape and disks are expensive than the cloud storage system because it requires only cost investment for the laying down of the cloud architecture. The capacity of the traditional system was very limited therefore, the need of big data storage arises with the increased level of business data which results into the invention of the cloud storage system. The handling of the disk storage system requires manual assistance so the problem of accuracy also exists with it. The management of the backup tapes is very time consuming process (Rahul, 2013). The problem of the traditional system can be resolved with the laying down of the cloud storage system. Security is the main limitation of the cloud storage system which was an advantage in the traditional working environment (Puican, 2014). The following graph shows the difference in the features of traditional working environment and cloud based storage system environment.
Risks Associated with Cloud Storage System
The aim of the research is to focus on the advantages and disadvantages of the cloud storage system. The analysis of the cloud storage system helps in identifying the strength and weaknesses of the cloud environment. The objective of the research is to focus on the pros and cons of the cloud storage system, cloud architecture for storage of data, increasing connectivity of the network, and providing services to the client.
The capacity of the traditional system was very limited therefore; the need of big data storage arises with the increased level of business data which results into the invention of the cloud storage system.
The research methodology which is undertaken to complete the research study on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the cloud storage system is based on the qualitative analysis such as literature review, interview, and questionnaire.
The literature review helps in providing the details of fetching the data from the virtual resources on demand. The cost of managing the resources among the participating units can be lowered down by distributing the same resources among them (Sullivan, 2017). The deployment of the cloud in the working curriculum of the organization is characterised with various characteristics:
- The services and the resources among the participant group over the network helps in managing the resources automatically.
- The request of the customers can be effectively managed by the self-service provisioning system (Viswanath, 2012)
- The storage capacity of the cloud system can be efficiently increased
- The application programming interface should be developed for managing the communication between the different resources to develop the standard interface (Non-profit technology collaboration, 2010).
- The customer has to paid only for the space used by them for storing the data over the cloud
The cloud storage system depends on three layers such as infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service (Apostu, 2010). Storage area network and network access storage are used for storing the data and resources over the cloud.
The interviews and questionnaire was arranged with the IT professionals of the company who had worked on the cloud environment effectively. During the course of interview and questionnaire helps in gathering information related to the advantages and disadvantages of the cloud storage system. The professionals helps in focusing the area of concern of the cloud system i.e. security because most of the professional faces the problem of data leakages.
The security is the main concern which is raised by many professionals. The data can be retrieved by the third party who does not have the access of the data and resources available on the cloud. The use of encryption technology on the data can create the problem of decrypting it at the user end. It is necessary to have a decrypting key at the receiver end otherwise he will not be able to convert the cipher text into meaningful information. Security is the main limitation of the cloud storage system which was an advantage in the traditional working environment.
Transforming Traditional Working Environment of Firms
The deployment of the cloud storage system in the working curriculum of the business is beneficial for the following reason:
- It is the cost effective technique because the owner of the company has to pay only for the storage space which is used for storing the data of the organization over the cloud. The capital expenses
- The Accessibility and reliability of the data can be increased
- The location of the data can be easily fetched of the multi-storage system
- The protection should be provided to the occurrence of the disaster. The backup of the data manages the availability of the data after the occurrence of the disaster.
- The redundancy of the data at different cloud location helps in providing accurate information according to the demand of the user. The carbon copies of the data helps in managing the data in case of hardware failure also (Almrot, 2013).
- The cloud storage helps in balancing of the workload of the organization among the team members.
- The storage capabilities of the system can be increased with the deployment of virtual memory management system over the network (Xue, 2016).
- The participants are provided with the view of unique system.
It is observed that there are some security issues exist with the cloud based storage environment which are highlighted in the table below:
Negtive consequences of cloud computing |
Description |
Authorization |
The participants on the cloud can access the data placed over the cloud. There is no authorization provided that only the authenticated person will be able to fetch the information. It results into loss of confidential data and the chance of data leakages can occur (Catalina, 2014). |
No security rule |
The cloud providers do not provide any security solution to the users who are participating in the cloud communication environment for the sharing of information. The data can be retrieved by the third party who does not have the access of the data and resources available on the cloud (Ahmad, 2012). |
Data location |
The resources over the cloud can be fetched globally from the cloud environment (Kondapalli, 2013). |
Data segregation |
The use of same hard disk by different participating groups. This can result in the data leakages |
Disaster recovery |
The loss of data can be recovered by the single mechanism of data recovery protocol. |
The cloud storage system is divided into three types for increasing the storage capacity of the cloud which are classified as object storage for increasing the flexibility by increasing the number of nodes on the system, file storage system is used for managing the sharing of files among the working participants of the cloud network, and the block storage is used for managing the requires and response associated with the query of the databases. The security and the reliability concept of the cloud storage system can be improved with the deployment of these three storage system which are named as object storage, block storage, and file storage. The data can be easily accessed through the content distribution system.
The security and the negative consequences of the cloud storage system can be minimized by indulging the security architecture into the working environment of the business.
Solution to resolve the negative issues of the cloud storage system are described in the table below:
Solution |
Description |
Authentication |
The authorised and authenticated user should have a right to access the information placed by the correspondent member over the cloud. Strong password should be used for providing authority to the user. |
Encryption procedure |
The encrypted data should be posted on the cloud environment so that it cannot be understand by the third party or the hackers. The decryption key should be provided to the receiver end only to convert the cipher text into the meaningful information. |
Data replication |
The backup copies of the data should be stored at the organization to manage the situation of disaster |
Issuing of tokens |
The third party should generate tokens for storing the data over the cloud. It helps in analysing the data is corrupted data or not. |
Back up files |
The backup copies of the data should be stored at the organization to manage the situation of disaster` |
Immaturity of the system |
Incompatibility with the availability of the data online. |
The analysis of the cloud storage helps in managing the machine generated data. The scalability helps in increasing the computer nodes on the cloud network. The proactive management of the cloud services helps in managing the resources effectively on the system.
Conclusion:
It is concluded that the growth of cloud technology is helpful for managing the innovation and trends in the deployment of the latest technology in the working curriculum of the enterprise. The cost of managing the resources among the participating units can be lowered down by distributing the same resources among them. The participants on the cloud can access the data placed over the cloud. The security is the main concern which is raised by many professionals. The working culture of the enterprise is migrated to the cloud environment because of the flexibility, reliability, scalability, accuracy, agility, minimizing cost, and increasing efficiency provided by the cloud storage system.
References
Ahmad, S. (2012). Trust model: cloud providers and cloud users. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://www.sersc.org/journals/IJAST/vol44/7.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Almrot, E. (2013). A study of the advantages and disadvantages of mobile cloud computing versus native environment. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:833516/FULLTEXT01.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Apostu, A. (2010). Study on advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing- The advantages of telemetry applications in the cloud. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/da62/49af5e0df8ed36334b34c2f1010ed19c53f4.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Catalina, I. (2014). Cloud computing: Impact on buisness. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://projekter.aau.dk/projekter/files/207512928/4.4_Cloud_Computing.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Chang, V. (2017). Cloud storage in a private cloud deployment: lesson for data intensive research. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.471.4420&rep=rep1&type=pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Kondapalli, S. (2013). Adoption of cloud computing and services: An objective analysis . 1st ed. [ebook]. https://www.fujitsu.com/us/Images/Adoption%20of%20Cloud%20Computing%20and%20Services_whitepaper.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Non-profit technology collaboration. (2010). Cloud storage. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://www.baylor.edu/business/mis/nonprofits/doc.php/197132.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Puican, F. (2014). New classes of applications in the cloud: Evaluating advantages and disadvantaess. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://www.dbjournal.ro/archive/15/15_1.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Rahul, S. (2013). Cloud computing advantages and security challenges. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://www.ripublication.com/irph/ijict_spl/06_ijictv3n8spl.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Rajan, A. (2015). Evolution of cloud storage as cloud computing infrastructure service. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1308/1308.1303.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Sriram, I. (2010). Research agenda in cloud technologies. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1001/1001.3259.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Sullivan, D. (2017). The risks and benefit with the cloud storage. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://www.cloudwards.net/the-risks-and-benefits-of-cloud-storage/ [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Viswanath, K. (2012). Cloud computing issues and benefits modern education. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://globaljournals.org/GJCST_Volume12/3-Cloud-Computing-Issues-and-Benefits-Modern.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Xue, C. (2016). Benefits and challenges of the adoption of cloud computing in business. 1st ed. [ebook https://aircconline.com/ijccsa/V6N6/6616ijccsa01.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].
Zheng, W. (2013). Research on cloud storage architecture and key technologies. 1st ed. [ebook]. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a6b4/590259a4007046911a2087760f00a800cbbd.pdf [Accessed 24 Mar. 2018].