weB services ANd widGets For liBrArY iNFormAtioN sYstems | HAN 87oN tHe clouds: A New wAY oF comPutiNG | HAN 87
shape cloud computing. For exam-
ple, Sun’s well-known slogan “the
network is the computer” was estab-
lished in late 1980s. Salesforce.com
has been providing on-demand
Software as a Service (SaaS) for cus-
tomers since 1999. IBM and Microsoft
started to deliver Web services in
the early 2000s. Microsoft’s Azure
service provides an operating sys-
tem and a set of developer tools and
services. Google’s popular Google
Docs software provides Web-based
word-processing, spreadsheet, and
presentation applications. Google
App Engine allows system devel-
opers to run their Python/Java
applications on Google’s infrastruc-
ture. Sun provides $1 per CPU hour.
Amazon is well-known for provid-
ing Web services such as EC2 and
S3. Yahoo! announced that it would
use the Apache Hadoop frame-
work to allow users to work with
thousands of nodes and petabytes
(1 million gigabytes) of data. These
examples demonstrate that cloud
computing providers are offer-
ing services on every level, from
hardware (e.g., Amazon and Sun),
to operating systems (e.g., Google
and Microsoft), to software and ser-
vice (e.g., Google, Microsoft, and
Yahoo!). Cloud-computing provid-
ers target a variety of end users,
from software developers to the
general public. For additional infor-
mation regarding cloud computing
models, the University of California
(UC) Berkeley’s report provides a
good comparison of these models by
Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
4
As cloud computing providers
lower prices and IT advancements
remove technology barriers—such
as virtualization and network band-
width—cloud computing has moved
into the mainstream.
5
Gartner stated,
“Organizations are switching from
factors related to cloud computing:
infinite computing resources avail-
able on demand, removing the need
to plan ahead; the removal of an
up-front costly investment, allowing
companies to start small and increase
resources when needed; and a system
that is pay-for-use on a short-term
basis and releases customers when
needed (e.g., CPU by hour, storage by
day).
2
National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) currently
defines cloud computing as “a model
for enabling convenient, on-demand
network access to a shared pool of
configurable computing resources
(e.g. network, servers, storage, appli-
cations, and services) that can be
rapidly provisioned and released
with minimal management effort or
service provider interaction.”
3
As there are several definitions
for “utility computing” and “cloud
computing,” the author does not
intend to suggest a better definition,
but rather to list the characteristics of
cloud computing. The term “cloud
computing” means that
customers do not own network
resources, such as hardware,
software, systems, or services;
network resources are provided
through remote data centers on a
subscription basis; and
network resources are delivered
as services over the Web.
This article discusses using cloud
computing on an IT-infrastructure
level, including building virtual server
nodes and running a library’s essen-
tial computer systems in remote data
centers by paying a fee instead of run-
ning them on-site. The article reviews
current cloud computing services,
presents the author’s experience, and
discusses advantages and disadvan-
tages of using the new approach.
All kinds of clouds
Major IT companies have spent bil-
lions of dollars since the 1990s to
On the Clouds:
A New Way of
Computing
This article introduces cloud computing
and discusses the author’s experience “on
the clouds.” The author reviews cloud
computing services and providers, then
presents his experience of running mul-
tiple systems (e.g., integrated library sys-
tems, content management systems, and
repository software). He evaluates costs,
discusses advantages, and addresses some
issues about cloud computing. Cloud com-
puting fundamentally changes the ways
institutions and companies manage their
computing needs. Libraries can take advan-
tage of cloud computing to start an IT
project with low cost, to manage computing
resources cost-effectively, and to explore
new computing possibilities.
S
cholarly communication and
new ways of teaching provide
an opportunity for academic
institutions to collaborate on pro-
viding access to scholarly materials
and research data. There is a grow-
ing need to handle large amounts
of data using computer algorithms
that presents challenges to libraries
with limited experience in handling
nontextual materials. Because of
the current economic crisis, aca-
demic institutions need to find ways
to acquire and manage computing
resources in a cost-effective manner.
One of the hottest topics in IT is
cloud computing. Cloud computing
is not new to many of us because we
have been using some of its services,
such as Google Docs, for years. In his
latest book, The Big Switch: Rewiring
the World, from Edison to Google, Carr
argues that computing will go the
way of electricity: purchase when
needed, which he calls “utility
computing.” His examples include
Amazon’s EC2 (Elastic Computing
Cloud), and S3 (Simple Storage)
services.
1
Amazon’s chief technol-
ogy officer proposed the following
Yan HanTutorial
Yan Han (hany@u.library.arizona.edu) is
Associate Librarian, University of Arizona
Libraries, Tucson.