Whitepaper

Demystifying the Cloud

Cloud computing of late has become the new buzz

word joining the ranks of terms including; grid
computing, utility computing, virtualization,
clustering, etc. However the problem is that
everyone seems to have a different definition.

This paper on Demystifying the Cloud touches upon

the various attributes of Cloud Computing Services.
It also offers perspectives on various aspects of
Cloud Computing; types of services, the
deployment models, the essential ingredients for
success. It also makes an attempt to demystify the
common misconceptions associated with Cloud
Computing.
Whitepaper Demystifying the Cloud

About the Author

Venguswamy Ramaswamy
Venguswamy Ramaswamy, or “Swamy” as he is better known,
globally heads the TCS Small and Medium Business (SMB).
SMB is a strategic business unit of TCS and provides end to end
business solutions to SMB segment.

In his previous role, he was the Director of TCS' Global

Consulting Practice (GCP) and was instrumental in the
structural formation, development and positioning of TCS'
consulting offerings. Consulting Magazine has named him
amongst the top 25 consultants of the year 2007.

During his 16 year tenure at TCS, Swamy has held several

strategic positions including managing key customer
relationships, building and heading the Process Consulting
group, managing the Corporate Resource Management
function, leading numerous Centers of Excellence, as well as
launching TCS' first steps in geographies such as Hungary and China.
Swamy is a firm believer in the power of IT to create business
value and is known for his interest in Innovation & Quality and
expertise in Six Sigma. He is also recognized as a champion of
many digitization drives within TCS, including deploying
digital platforms for Six Sigma, creativity and talent acquisition.

Table of Contents
1. The Cloud Computing 3

2. Types of Cloud Computing Services 4

3. Cloud Deployment Models 4

4. Essential Ingredients for a Cloud’s Success 5

5. Common Misconceptions 6

6. TCS “IT-as-a-Service”- 7

A major milestone in Cloud Computing History

The Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing is defined as “a style of computing in which scalable and elastic IT-enabled capabilities are delivered
as a service to external customers using Internet technologies” . IT-enabled capabilities that are delivered as a service
include servers, storage, networks, software and applications. A cloud computing service exhibits the following five
attributes: (1) Scalable and Elastic (2) Shared (3) Metered-by-use (4) Service-based (5) Delivered over Internet.

Scalable and Elastic: The IT service scales up or down - as the consumer demands - automatically. To the consumer, the
available capacity appears to be infinite, and can be purchased or released in any quantity, at any time.

Shared: The underlying IT infrastructure, software and applications is shared among consumers of the service. This
shared pool of resources is used with maximum efficiency to build economies of scale, and to dramatically reduce
cost per consumer.

Metered-by-use: The IT service provider measures service usage per consumer. Payment for the service is then based
on usage, and not on the cost of IT equipment. Consumers thus save substantially on upfront costs. Service providers
offer different pricing plans such as per-minute plans, per-user-per-month plans, fixed plans and even free plans.
Consumers may choose the plan that suits them best.

Service-based: The service is well-defined and service levels such as availability and response time are clearly
articulated. A self-service interface enables a consumer to upgrade computing capabilities, as required, without any
interaction with the service provider. Advanced services may be offered based on a differentiated pricing plan.

Delivered-over-Internet: The service is delivered over Internet. Users can access the service from anywhere, and at
any time.

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Whitepaper Demystifying the Cloud

Types of Cloud Computing Services

Cloud Computing is the most appropriate model to deliver IT services to Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs). SMBs
are constrained on capital, have limited technical know-how and find IT talent expensive and volatile. Cloud
computing brings the same technology employed by large enterprises, to SMBs at affordable costs, in a centrally
supported, shared-service model.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

A consumer can rent processing power, storage space, network bandwidth, and other fundamental computing
resources. Any software including operating systems and proprietary applications can be deployed and run in this
rented infrastructure. The consumer has complete control over operating systems, storage, applications, and select
networking components (e.g., firewalls, load balancers) that have been provisioned for exclusive use.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

This service, used by software companies, provides a ready-to-use platform to directly deploy web-based applications.
Software developers use free tools to rapidly develop custom applications for such platforms. Applications are tested,
deployed and managed from within the development environment. Developers focus on functionality, while
benefiting from the cloud computing platform’s ability to scale the application, and to meter its usage.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Consumers use a web browser to directly access an application hosted by the provider on a cloud infrastructure. A
web-based email application is an example of Software-as-a-Service. To the limited extent made available by the
service provider, consumers can configure the application as per their needs.

Cloud Deployment Models

Private cloud
A private cloud infrastructure is owned or leased by a single organization and is operated solely for its business.

Community cloud
The community cloud is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns.
For example, small businesses operating in a cluster often serve the same market, and have similar compliance
requirements. A community cloud can effectively serve all such businesses in the cluster.

Public cloud
The public cloud is owned by a service provider organization that offers cloud services to the general public or to a
large industry group. Amazon Web Services and Rackspace’s services are aimed at individuals and workgroups.
Terremark and Verizon offer public cloud services for enterprises.

Hybrid cloud
The hybrid cloud is a composition of two or more clouds that remain independent but are bound together by standard
or proprietary technology that enables data and application exchange.

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Essential Ingredients for a Cloud’s Success
Cloud computing is being widely heralded as the next revolution in computing technology. For 2010 as well as 2011,
Gartner has identified Cloud Computing as the topmost technology in its annual list of top 10 strategic technologies.
Essential ingredients of a high-quality cloud computing service that accelerate its adoption are:

Reliability
The cloud infrastructure needs to scale to meet new demand, cyclic peaks and the occasional load bursts. This calls for
sound capacity planning, scalable data center design, and deep investments. A resilient infrastructure too is necessary
to deliver a highly available service.

Business Continuity
Enabling a business to continue its operations in face of a disaster is as important to an SMB as it is to any enterprise. An
ability to recover from a disaster calls for investments in redundant capacity at an alternate location. All affected SMBs
may then be served from such a backup facility. Economies of scale work in favor of cloud computing, to provide such
sophisticated service by default to SMBs.

Security
Data Security is of prime importance to any business. A cloud service provider needs to secure its infrastructure, its
applications, as well as the stored business data. Physically securing the data center facility, performing background
checks of all personnel, maintaining access logs, shielding the data center with firewalls, embedding systems to ward-
off hacking attempts, anti-virus software, and regular software patch updates, are some of the practices that secure the
infrastructure.

Controlling access through strong passwords, limiting access as per a user’s privileges, and secure programming
practices help make applications secure. Encryption and masking of sensitive information, segregation of each
customer’s data, automated off-site backups, and maintaining a history of changes to data, finally make the data
secure.

A vigilant service provider would get the service tested by experts (ethical hackers) to find vulnerability and pre-empt
attacks that compromise security. Clearly the service provider needs to be equipped with wide-ranging expertise to
adopt a multi-pronged approach for foolproof security.

High Performance
For the next few years, affordable broadband connectivity will remain unreliable in parts of urban India. In the interiors
of India, connectivity is sporadic. A cloud-based application used by Indian SMBs should be able to work on a
constrained network, while continuing to provide a fast response. Techniques such as network compression, local and
server-side caches, segregating heavy reporting loads from the transaction load are employed to deliver a
highperformance service.

Configurable
A shared cloud-based service often enforces identical application behavior for all users of this service. SMBs then have
little flexibility to configure the service as per their needs. It is important to recognize that every business is unique, and
to provide a configurable behavior while operating off a shared infrastructure. Configurability widens the addressable
market and improves adoption of a cloud-based service.

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Whitepaper Demystifying the Cloud

Transparent Pricing
With metered usage and published pricing plans, cloud service providers offer one of the most transparent pricing
structures in IT industry. SMBs can release capital expenditure blocked in expensive IT equipment, can accurately
budget their operational expenditure, can opt for a pricing plan that suits their budget, and finally pay for what they
actually use.

Common Misconceptions
Virtualization v/s Cloud Computing
Very often, Cloud Computing and Virtualization are mistaken to be the same. Virtualization is basically one physical
computer pretending to be many computing environments, while cloud computing refers to many different
computers pretending to be a single, scalable, computing environment. While servers that host the cloud computing
services may be virtualized to optimize use of resources, by no means are the two terms interchangeable.

Managed Hosting v/s Cloud Computing

Similarly, there is confusion about a managed hosting service and cloud computing. Managed hosting services are
designed to handle static and continuous IT loads like email and messaging, back-office systems, databases and
inhouse ERP/ CRM. Cloud computing services have the ability to handle dynamic and ‘bursty’ loads such as batch
processing, backups, test/ development/ QA environments, and business recovery in case of a disaster. A managed
hosting service manages applications and software licenses that are typically owned by the enterprise. Cloud-based
service components such as applications and operating systems are never owned by consumers. They can be accessed
for a usage fee.

Real Cost Savings

While the cost of purchasing raw hardware and renting it as a service may turn out to be the same, the savings come
from administrative costs and overheads. In commercial environments there is usually one administrator per forty
servers. On the other hand, a cloud service has one administrator for 1,000 identical servers. Also, what one buys with
cloud is not just raw hardware but a computing platform - the cost of software is thus offset. Energy savings from
moving power-guzzling, under-utilized servers to the cloud are significant. Changing all office desktops to thin
computing platforms that provide just-about enough hardware to access web-based applications, can further reduce
the energy bill. The real value proposition here is an elastic capacity that is available at commodity pricing.

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TCS “IT-as-a-Service” - A major milestone in Cloud Computing
History

The ICT market today lacks a credible cloud service provider who meets the end-to-end ICT needs of an SMB. Smaller
providers lack the ability to provide a sustained service to SMBs for years ahead. The large IT service providers continue
to target the enterprise market and Global 2000 companies. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an exception here. TCS
has conceptualized the “IT-as-a-Service” business model to leverage cloud computing and change the ICT
consumption pattern among SMBs.

TCS has pioneered the integration of all hardware, network, software and services in a path-breaking IT-as-a-Service.
The unique cloud based model proposes minimal upfront capital investment for complete IT adoption, with
subscription based payment for usage of its integrated solution suites. Based on a “build-as-you-grow, pay-as-youuse”
principle, the model provides options to rapidly scale IT solutions up or down based on customer’s business
requirements. The launch of IT-as-a-service promises to add an altogether new dimension to cloud-based IT industry.

1. Gartner Highlights Five Attributes of Cloud Computing

– Gartner Press Release dated 23-June-2009.

2. Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2010

– Gartner Press Release dated 20-Oct-2009.

3. Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2011

– Gartner Press Release dated 19-Oct-2010.

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About TCS SMB Solutions

Our global experience, domestic market reach, skills, know-how, alliances, and delivery capabilities to deploy
solutions, all come together in this powerful partnership. This in turn ensures that you reap significant benefits of
speed-to-market and cost control, amongst others. You stand to gain from the following:

! Single window for all IT requirements. Working with multiple vendors for IT solutions can often lead to poor
integration and lack of service levels across the stacks. We make your IT operations simple and easy by providing
solutions which cover the entire stack needed to run your daily operations.

! Minimal setup time. With TCS IT-as-a-Service, setting up the entire IT environment takes minimal time. Software
updates with newer features are also more frequent with zero business downtime. So, you can gain from state-
of-the-art IT quickly and efficiently.

! Minimal capital expenditure. Under the TCS IT-as-a-Service model, capital expenditure is minimal as you do not
have to buy the application or the infrastructure.

! Reduced operating expenditure. You only incur operating expenses, which are equivalent to the subscription
charges levied, as per the IT services needed. The model also frees you from maintaining skilled IT staff on your
payroll.

About Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization that delivers real results
to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated
TM
portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model , recognized as
the benchmark of excellence in software development.

A part of the Tata Group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 160,000 of the world's best trained IT
consultants in 42 countries. The Company generated consolidated revenues of over US $6.3 billion for fiscal year
ended 31 March 2010 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India.

For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com

Contact
To know more about TCS SMB IT-as-a-Service, contact Toll Free (India) -1800 209 6030 or Email - smb.ithelpdesk@tcs.com
TCS Design Services M 0211

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