Discussion
MetaSoft is an Australian company which provides services across Australia and New Zealand. Recently the company is thinking to transfer and renovate the data and way of storing data respectively. N order to do this they are adopting the cloud implementation (Kavis,2014). This paper will discuss the various aspects of the cloud implementation of the offline storage. The paper is focused about the way of implementation of cloud for the storage purpose and the techniques used by the MetaSoft for storing the data in cloud.
MetaSoft is an Australian company currently having 100 software engineers and the staffs who are working on the various projects across Australia and New Zealand. The main objective of changing the way of storing data at the organization is to provide the centralized data sharing and communication. With the implementation of the cloud storage the staffs and the employees in the office can access emails and data needed for the compilation of different projects from different sites and locations. The organization is concerned about the cost effective way for implementation of cloud storage at organization (Alhawari, Jarrah & Hadi, 2018). Apart from that the company is also thinking to bring the changes in the process of working in the office. The organization is going to adopt the automation in the office processes.
Initially there are four approaches in the office automation. In this context two approaches can be discussed which are Ad-hoc and Structured approach.
Ad-hoc is specific to events. The development of this approach is much customized and task specific. In case, if the organization discovers that the existing system is not fulfilling the demands of the market and the consumers, the company can adopt the decision of changing the processing of the works and functions in the office (Avram, 2014). In this case, Ad-hoc approach can be helpful in this situation. In this approach a group of investigation team will evaluate if the changes in the office process like office automation is helpful for the organization. After the investigation the main decision is taken by an expert or a group of experts regarding the proposed changes in the organization.
Another approach is the structured approach regarding the changes in the functions of the processes in the office. The structured approach is also known as the structured development of the system. This is an analytical and quantitative approach towards making the decisions (Jo et al.,2015). In this case, the approach follows all the life cycles of the project management planning. The initial planning starts with the gathering of the information and requirements (Pathak, Wankhede & Chandwani, 2018). Te requirements are evaluated under certain conditions. The developer then code the program to gain the outcome (Yang & Chen,2014). However, the main challenge of this approach is that this approach needs experts to handle the whole process.
Difference between IaaS, PaaS, SaaS
The MetaSoft organization is also thinking to adopt the cloud architecture to implement the whole storage system in a modified way. Initially there are three types of cloud deployment techniques- software-as-service, platform-as-service and infrastructure-as-service.
In this case, the organization can adopt infrastructure-as-service (IaaS). In IaaS the third party cloud provider will provide all the equipments and the platform to the organization. The organization can avail all the advantages of data processing and data storage through online (Almorsy, Grundy & Müller,2016). This will save the cost overhead of the company as the company will not have to maintain the physical infrastructure for storing and processing of the data.
The organization can also use software-as-service for running different software for the workings of the company. The software-as-service will provide the company online access of the software IDE needed for the developing online processes of the office (Ali, Khan & Vasilakos, 2015). This infrastructure will help the company to achieve the flexibility in the system as any software can be used from any system.
After discussion different alternatives regarding the automation at office and implementation of the cloud computing it can be said the adopting Ad-hoc approach will be helpful for the office automation and the implementation of IaaS will be helpful for cloud infrastructure.
The data centers at Sydney operate over WAN and the network is maintained by Telco and the replication of the data among the data centers is done on the daily basis. Sydney data centers use RHEL 6 servers. Currently MetaSoft is thinking to transfer its data to public cloud. In this case, the IaaS or PaaS can be chosen for the implementation public cloud. The selection can be done on the basis of certain factors.
Public cloud service using PaaS are Google App Engine, Facebook platform whereas IaaS public cloud services are Amazon Web Services, Sun. PaaS will provide the company to develop the system which is customized or develop the own software using the online platform service. On the other hand the public cloud using IaaS will provide the infrastructure for managing the data in proper way (Gai et al.,2016). It can be said critically, the PaaS will not help the organization to manage the large amount of data, however it will provide a platform to perform certain task (Djemame et al.,2017). This will help to reduce the overhead cost of the company however, will not be able to serve the actual functioning for the organization. The organization is currently concerned about the improvisation of the data storage which may not be possible with PaaS platform. The best option for the implementation of the public cloud infrastructure for the organization is IaaS.
Conclusion
The organization has implemented the office automation in a partial way. Recently the company is using MS-SharePoint for the office automation (Tao, 2016). Some of the information regarding the office automation and the implementation of cloud infrastructure can be useful in the selection of the right implementation plan.
|
IaaS |
PaaS |
SaaS |
|
Infrastructure-as-service |
Platform-as-service |
Software-as-service |
|
This is used by the system managers. |
This is used by developers and deplorers. |
This is used by business users. |
|
Used as virtual machine, storage, backup services |
Used for the service and the application test, development and deployment. |
Used in office automation, website testing and virtual desktop. |
|
Used for creating the service and development of application test. |
Uses for creating services and applications for the users. |
Used for the compilation of the business task. |
|
The hardware resources are abstracted. |
Hardware and software application services are abstracted. |
It has complete abstraction. |
|
Example: EC2, GoGrid |
Example: Azure Service platform |
Example: paypal |
|
The degree of control along with the flexibility is minimal. |
Degree of control and flexibility is good. |
It has highest degree of control and flexibility. |
|
The operational cost is highest in this case. |
The operational cost is lower compared to the other services. |
The operational cost is minimal |
|
This system can be portable. |
It has lower portability. |
It has minimal portability. |
|
The risk regarding vendor interlock is lowest in this case. |
The risk regarding vendor interlock is medium in this case. |
The risk regarding the vendor interlock is highest in this case. |
|
The physical security servers and virtual security server are needed to be maintained in a proper way. |
Additional security is needed to be maintained so that the vulnerabilities in the software are not exploited. |
The service provider needed to maintain the transparent security policies for maintaining the security and confidentiality of the data. |
The model which would be appropriate for the service of using the MS-SharePoint is SaaS (Software –as-Service). The main advantage of this cloud architecture is that it allows office automation and has low up front coasts (Freet et al.,2015). It also allows streamline maintenance and immediate update of the system. Apart from that it allows the remote access of the information and data in cloud. The main objective of the implementation of cloud and office automation is to enhance the flexibility of the working process in the organization. In this improvised system the employees can access data from mobile and desktop from remote areas. In this case using SaaS would be helpful.
There are some of the problems regarding the usage of SaaS for accessing MS-SharePoint and other office automation facility. One of the main problem is the cost of the implementation and usage of SaaS. The cost is bit higher than the conventional system. Another problem regarding the usage of SaaS is that the processing of the update is needed to be done by the clients.
In order to resolve the problems certain recommendations can be made. The cost of using SaaS service cannot be reduced. However, the cost for the implementation of SaaS can be seen as the long term investments as it will deliver the flexibility in the system which will eventually reduce the overhead cost.
On the other hand the choosing of the client for the cloud architecture is needed to be done in proper way. This can mitigate the difficulties of update. The negotiations can be made between the company and the cloud providing vendor regarding the update of the system.
Conclusion
It can be said from the above discussion that the decisions made by the MetaSoft is a progressive one as it allows the office automation and implementation of the cloud architecture at the organization. The selection of the cloud architecture has been done on the basis of the comparisons of different attributes of different cloud deployment services. The office automation will be done using MS-SharePoint and SaaS is selected as the appropriate service for the organization.
References
Alhawari, S., Jarrah, M. A. A., & Hadi, W. E. (2018). Implementing Risk Management Processes into a Cloud Computing Environment. In Global Business Expansion: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 951-963). IGI Global.
Ali, M., Khan, S. U., & Vasilakos, A. V. (2015). Security in cloud computing: Opportunities and challenges. Information sciences, 305, 357-383.
Almorsy, M., Grundy, J., & Müller, I. (2016). An analysis of the cloud computing security problem. arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.01107.
Avram, M. G. (2014). Advantages and challenges of adopting cloud computing from an enterprise perspective. Procedia Technology, 12, 529-534.
Djemame, K., Bosch, R., Kavanagh, R., Alvarez, P., Ejarque, J., Guitart, J., & Blasi, L. (2017). PaaS-IaaS Inter-Layer Adaptation in an Energy-Aware Cloud Environment. IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing, 2(2), 127-139.
Freet, D., Agrawal, R., John, S., & Walker, J. J. (2015, October). Cloud forensics challenges from a service model standpoint: IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Management of computational and collective intElligence in Digital EcoSystems (pp. 148-155). ACM.
Gai, K., Qiu, M., Zhao, H., Tao, L., & Zong, Z. (2016). Dynamic energy-aware cloudlet-based mobile cloud computing model for green computing. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 59, 46-54.
Jo, M., Maksymyuk, T., Strykhalyuk, B., & Cho, C. H. (2015). Device-to-device-based heterogeneous radio access network architecture for mobile cloud computing. IEEE Wireless Communications, 22(3), 50-58.
Kavis, M. (2014). Architecting the cloud: design decisions for cloud computing service models (SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS). Hoboken: Wiley.
Pathak, M. V., Wankhede, M. S., & Chandwani, K. S. (2018). Office automation system.
Tao, L. (2016). Architecture design of automation system based on MFC Technology. Automation & Instrumentation, 8, 122.
Yang, Y., & Chen, H. (2014). Framework Structure on Enterprise Office Automation System. Applied Mechanics & Materials.
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