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Cloud Computing Delivery and Delivery Models: Opportunity and Challenges

Article  in  Advanced Science Letters · June 2018

DOI: 10.1166/asl.2018.11537

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Q. Alajmi Ali Safa Sadiq

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Cloud Computing Delivery and Delivery Models: Opportunity and Challenges

𝑄𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑚  𝐴𝑙𝑎𝑗𝑚𝑖 *,, ,𝐴𝑙𝑖  𝑆𝑎𝑓𝑎  𝑆𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑞, , 𝑀𝑜ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑  𝐴. 𝐴𝑙 − 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑖 , ,

1. Faculty of Computer Science & MIS, Oman College of Management & Technology,
Oman
[email protected]

2. Faculty of Computer Systems & Software Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang

Kuantan, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, 26300, Gambang, Pahang(Malaysia)
[email protected]

Abstract

The advent and the growth in the field of cloud computing are creating a platform for the
future of computing. Due to several advantages of cloud-based computing, computing
infrastructure is increasingly aligning itself with the cloud-based architecture. With the
increased growth of technology and other aspects, e-commerce, the internet platform, is
rapidly emerging as a favorable field for transactions and data access. The rapid growth
of internet and computing field results in several technological advantages. On the other
hand, security challenges that emerge along with the growth complicate the aspects of
cloud based computing. Security is by now one of the most pressing concerns in internet
business where cloud computing lies in. Cloud-based services are evolving each day
introducing new business trends. Since cloud computing entails storage of information in
remote servers, unauthorized access to such sensitive information becomes a looming
concern. The advantages offered by cloud computing, without robust security measures
and flexibility, lose its credibility. This paper reviews various aspects of cloud
computing and issues inherent within its contexts. This paper has identified the gap
within the topic of study through the creation of the conceptual framework, which was
designed as the way of attempting to connect the different concepts. The intention of the
theoretical framework was to determine the potential gaps in the research and link the
gaps by the present study and its results. The delivery of both the cloud computing as
well as its models is a relatively new phenomenon within the academic libraries where
the study is at the stages of nascent. The conceptual framework could not be
comprehensive. Instead, it was a progressive work. Thus, this new topic could be added
to form the branch within the theoretical framework.

This article tries to look at different concepts of cloud computing as well as the issues,
which are inherent within its contexts. It analyzes this part due to the advent and growth
in the sector of cloud computing, which is developing the platform for the computing in
the future. It is based on the idea of the various benefits provided by the cloud-based
computing that makes the majority of the infrastructure that aligns itself with the
architecture based on the cloud computing. The level of technology together with other
concepts such as e-commerce has continuously increased and resulted in the emergence
of internet podium as the best field that can be used for the transaction purposes and
access of the data. Fast development on the web as well as the computing sector has led
to various advantages of the technology.

Keywords— Cloud computing, computer network, cloud security, distributed computing,

virtualization.
1.   Introduction

The developments in the cloud have significantly altered how computing is done. The
use and storage of information have brought several advantages to customers as well as
developed new challenges in the field of computing. In a cloud computing context, the
storage resources are located in a remote location and are therefore retrieved through the
cloud by the users [1]. As a result, there must be means of communication between the
two ends to enhance the sending and retrieval of such information. Computer networks
provide communication between the remote servers and the client premises [1]. Most
cloud service providers handle information from multiple clients raising the concerns
about the integrity of the systems [2]. The concept of cloud computing creates three
sensitive scenarios, the transfer of client’s data from their end to the remote servers, the
retrieval of such information from the server end to the client’s end and the actual
storage of the information in the remote servers not owned by the clients. It is clear that
all the three scenarios are prone to attacks. This makes security the core of safe
computing practices [3]. Since the three scenarios are inherent in any blend of cloud
services, the robustness of computing infrastructure is of great essence and is, therefore,
a mandatory practice [2]. There are several challenges facing the implementation of
cloud based computing. Of all the challenges as indicated in figure 1 below, the two
major challenges are cloud security and privacy. Moreover, the paper looks at the issues
related to the security problems, which have emerged with the constant growth that
complicates the ideas of cloud computing. The security has been identified as the
pushing concern within the business of internet whereby there is cloud computing. The
services based on cloud computing are evolving in every day, and they are coming up
with the trends in the business sector. The cloud computing involves the storage of
information on remote servers, and it becomes looming issue for the unauthorized access
to such vital information. Thus, it calls for robust security measures so that the vast
flexibility and the benefits that the cloud computing offers may not lose the credibility.
Thus, it calls for the need of this article to analyze different aspects of the cloud
computing as well as the concerns, which are inherent within its contexts.

Figure 1: Challenges in cloud computing [13]

2.   Objectives
1.   To identify the opportunities of cloud computing for organizations and the
inherent challenges in implementing cloud computing system
2.   To find out methods and techniques of overcoming the challenges cloud
computing in the present business scenario
3.   Methodology
The study is of secondary in nature and the contents of the study are the outcomes of
elaborate review of available secondary sources, drawn from journals, magazines, books,
and relevant websites. The aim of the study was to review different aspects of the cloud
computing as well as the concerns that are inherent within its contexts. The study
surveyed the existing literature using the principles as well as the systematic methods. As
the current research was aimed towards the examination of the concepts of the cloud
computing among the business infrastructures, the method of surveying the literature was
identified as suitable. Various articles related to the cloud computing were used and
librarianship was also picked from different databases, which include the science web, J-
Stor, and even the Google Scholars. It involved the application of the combination of
various keywords such as cloud computing as well as the libraries. In some extents, it
can be described that the review of the literature was narrow since the study included the
results that were gotten through the keywords.
The analysis of the survey was based on the conceptual framework for the convenience
in the interpretation as well as the discussion. The conceptual framework was sectioned
into different sections. The theoretical framework was designed as the way of attempting
to connect the different concepts, which appears in the related literature. The intention of
the conceptual framework was to link the present study with the topic so that the
researcher could determine the potential gaps in the research, which demanded the
attention in the study. The delivery of both the cloud computing as well as its models is a
relatively new phenomenon within the academic libraries where the study is at the stages
of nascent, and the conceptual framework could not be comprehensive but instead, a
progressive work. Thus, this new topic could be added to form the branch within the
theoretical framework.
The method of conceptual framework extracted the concept that underlies within the
available literature of the cloud computing by applying various steps of the delivery of
cloud computing and its model in the academic archives. In that case, the connected
benefits, challenges of the cloud computing in the libraries, the case studies, focus on
services of the library in the cloud are deliberated as the first level of cloud computing
delivery, which examines the suitability of the cloud computing and its models within
the libraries. The specialized frameworks, the use cases, and even the SWOT analysis
had been taken into consideration as the part of the delivery strategy of cloud computing
and its models to the services of libraries. The proposed measures of security as well as
the protocols form part of the architecture of the cloud. Various groups are also
indicative of the relationship of dependency among those groups.
4.   Cloud computing

The concept of cloud computing has a generalized meaning and evolved from the aspects
of the grid and distributed computing [4]. Cloud computing describes a system in which
the total computing system is done using third party infrastructure which includes
hardware and software [8]. In this scenario, the ownership of the software and hardware
is with external parties. The nature of these computing resources gives rise to the term
“cloud” and essentially occurs in the form of distributed computing [4]. Cloud
computing is, therefore, a service based architecture that incorporates decreased end-user
information technology overhead, increased flexibility and reduced cost of ownership.
The main application of cloud computing can be traced back to 2007 when IBM
introduced a ready to use cloud platform [5]. Cloud computing embraces several aspects
of cyber infrastructure and therefore builds on research works over a long period of time
in the field of networking, grid computing, utility computing, software and virtualization
[5].

Cloud computing is a service-oriented architecture in which clients request or subscribe

to for a single or an integrated pool of IT services. Cloud computing thus creates the
flexibility in which consumers can obtain a wide range of services over internet. Service
based IT-assisted solutions are the way forward towards business excellence since
virtually every organization incorporates IT in its operations [6]. One distinguishing
aspect of cloud computing is that it separates the complex underlying architecture,
therefore, providing its users a single easy interface to use [6]. Cloud computing,
therefore, represents the future of computing. The concept of virtualization has been
there from the 1960s in IBM’s mainframe computers. Virtualization has evolved since
then to apply in most aspects of computing from software, networks, processors and
much more. Virtualization in cloud computing entails the isolation of low-level
capabilities and hardware. Much of the tasks are handled behind the screens, therefore,
abstracting them from the complex infrastructure [7]. Virtualization brings about the
economy of scale enabling incorporation of complex IT services at a rational cost.
Virtualization enables the creation of virtual environment by utilizing virtual machines.
Sharing of the available resources is possible through such machines which individually
store unique information. Virtualization, therefore, creates a pool of resources which can
be easily accessed by end users.

5.   Cloud computing service delivery models

There are three elementary cloud service delivery models which are denoted as SPI
MODEL. The term SPI is an acronym that stands for Software, Platform and
Infrastructure [9].

5.1.   Software as a Service (SaaS)

In the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, the client can access the provider’s
infrastructure through an interface. Most commonly used interfaces are web browsers. In
this model a single instance on the service provider’s end supports multiple access
instants on the client’s side. One main advantage of this model is that the consumer does
not incur software licensing cost [10]. However, on the service end, licensing costs are
greatly reduced since only a single instance of an application is required to support
multiple clients’ access. In this model, customers do not have the privileges to manage
the cloud infrastructure. Besides providing efficiency, the model raises concerns since
the customers cannot view how data are flowing and stored in the cloud. The security
tasks are left to the service provider to ensure the security and privacy of client data
considering that they serve multiple clients. The most common security concerns with
this delivery model are data security. Clients’ data are stored outside their premises
under the protection of third party service providers, therefore, raising concerns. Service
providers ensure this through a complex scheme of data encryption such that they cannot
gain access to the data themselves. However, malicious criminals can decrypt the
complex encryption to gain access or destroy the stored data. Network security poses
another security risk since the data flow occurs over the network vulnerabilities that can
be easily exploited leading to a data breach. Security as the client retrieves and stores the
data needs to be ensured. Hackers take advantage of such vulnerabilities to attack [12]

5.2.   Platform as a Service (PaaS)

In the platform as a service (PaaS), a development platform is offered as a service. The

platform enables clients to build their applications that run on the service provider’s
infrastructure [10]. The platform supports programming languages such as Python, Net
and Java among other support tools that enable the clients to create custom applications.
Although the customer has no control over the fundamental infrastructure like storage
and other hardware, they have control over the kind of end user application deployed to
them. The ability of the clients to develop an application on the platform means that they
share some security responsibilities. Therefore, there are two parties involved, the
service provider and the client. This raises more security concerns as the vulnerabilities
increase with the use of the web applications [12].

5.3.   Infrastructure as a Service model (IaaS)

For the Infrastructure as a service model (IaaS), the service provider provides basic
computing abilities to the clients. The client gains control of the storage, networks, and
other computing capabilities by renting the services from the provider. Though the
customer has control over the storage system and operating system, they do not control
the overall cloud infrastructure. Understanding how the three models relate is essential
[9]. IaaS forms the foundation of all the models with PaaS following onto which SaaS
builds itself on. Fig 1 below indicates how the delivery models relate and the subscriber
as well as service provider functions in the different models. IaaS offers the client with
more security controls. The vulnerability in this model occurs in the virtualization
techniques. Virtualization security is, therefore, essential while working with IaaS [12].
 Figure 1: Cloud computing delivery models [10]

6. Data Collection

The data were gathered in four different areas, which included the business domain at the
organizational level such as the firm as well as the strategy of the IT. Data were also
collected from the information services of the business and the information from the IT
application that involved the infrastructure of the IT. Other sources of the data were the
information services provided by the suppliers and the costs. The data were used to
measure the IT application value of the enterprise. The paper concentrated on the matters
related to the model of service delivery. It describes that the design involved deployment
of the software in which the provider provides the license on the application to the clients
from the utilization as the demand for the service. The paper also describes different
issues of the security of cloud computing since it has the functions of the delivery
models.

The model can assist the client in accessing the infrastructure of the provider via the
interface such as the web browsers. The model also provides the single instance on the
vendor's service at the end support to various instant accesses on the side of the client.
The strength of the model is that consumer needs not to incur the costs for the licensing
of the software. The licensing expenses are also reduced on the service end because the
single instant of the application supports multiple accesses for the client. Thus, the
models offer the best solution that ensures the security of the stored information through
the encryption approach. The models provide the security system, which includes the
protection of the user, the recovery of the data, the encryption of the data, and the
authentication.
7. Solution to Security Challenges

Encryption is the best solution for ensuring the security of stored information.
Encryption is done before data are stored. A complete data security system should
include user protection, data recovery, data encryption and authentication. SaaS also
ensures that there are clear boundaries between different users on the application as well
as physical level [13]. To ensure data integrity, RSA signature and identity-based
cryptography can be used. Authorization ensures that only the allowed users can access
data. This can be ensured by using credential access that requires users to provide some
security information before being allowed to access [14]. In addition, encryption makes
user data completely useless to other parties as they cannot access the contents [7].
Secure networking reduces illegal access of user data on customer premises. Use of
network intrusion and firewalls can detect and block any illegal access attempts.

8. Significant Contribution

The conceptual framework was designed as the way of attempting to connect different
concepts, which appears in the related literature. The intention of the theoretical
framework was to link the present study on the topic so that the researcher could
determine the potential gaps in the research, which demanded the attention in the study.
The delivery of both the cloud computing as well as its models is a relatively new
phenomenon within the academic libraries where the study is at the stages of nascent,
and the conceptual framework could not be comprehensive but instead, a progressive
work. Thus, this new topic could be added to form the branch within the theoretical
framework.

As a result, this article contributes to the theory and practice by looking at different
concepts of cloud computing as well as the issues, which are inherent within its contexts.
It analyzes this part due to the advent and growth in the sector of cloud computing,
which is developing the platform for the computing in the future. It also contributes to
the theory by assessing various benefits provided by the cloud-based computing that
makes the majority of the infrastructure that aligns itself with the architecture based on
cloud computing.

The paper also contributes to the theory and the practice in the topic by looking at the
issues resulting to the problems of security, which have emerged with the constant
growth that complicates the ideas of cloud computing. The security has been identified
as the pushing concern within the business of internet whereby there is cloud computing.
The services based on cloud computing are evolving in every day, and they are coming
up with the trends in the business sector. The cloud computing involves the storage of
the information on the remote servers, and it becomes looming issue for the unauthorized
access to such vital information. Thus, it calls for robust security measures so that the
vast flexibility and the benefits that cloud computing offers may not lose the credibility.
Thus, it calls for the need of this article to analyze different aspects of cloud computing
as well as the concerns, which are inherent within its contexts.
9. Conclusion

Cloud computing has transformed the computing world by assisting companies and
organizations to leverage multiple business attributes such as reliability, maintainability
and cost. This paper describes outline of cloud computing, its major components, and the
application models. Among other clients’ advantages, cloud computing provides cost-
effective means to acquire premium services. In most cases the customer has no control
over the infrastructure; much workload is transferred to the service provider with the
customer having to pay a subscription fee to the provider. Cloud computing offers more
flexibility through virtualization which in turn enables interconnection and information
sharing among multiple virtual machines. Cloud computing is gaining more and more
grounds with organizations embracing it day by day. It, therefore, presents the future of
the computing world.

10. Suggestions for Further Research

This study has looked at various concepts of cloud computing as well as the issues,
which are inherent within its contexts. It has analyzed the delivery models of the cloud
computing such as the Software as the Service, which makes the clients access the
infrastructure provided by the provider through the user interface. It has also looked at
the infrastructure as the delivery model whereby the provider of the service offers basic
abilities of computing to clients. The last delivery model assessed by the paper is the
delivery model of the platform as the service in which the platform development is given
as the service. Additionally, the paper has analyzed the security issue as another
concerning concept.

In that case, the suggestion for the further study is that more research should be carried
out on the way forward that can be used to deploy and implement these models to
various IT application infrastructures of business organizations. Moreover, it would be
suggested that additional study should be carried out in the way of testing for the security
issues to ensure validity and credibility of the information stored through cloud
computing. Lastly, this paper has scholarly content that may be very significant for the
individuals who require information on this area of research. Thus, it would be suggested
that it could be used as a source of information for further studies.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My sincere appreciation goes to my supervisor without whom this work would not have
been successful. Special thanks are conveyed for his contributions and intellectual
support.
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