Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) takes cloud computing tips from amazon

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has developed a private cloud to support its application development process, using Amazon best practices. The project has enabled RBS to determine running costs of its IT infrastructure and provide service-based pricing. The self-service cloud, which is available through a portal, allows developers to provision Red Hat Linux, SQL Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 to deploy servers for their applications. The service is being used by more than 100 teams. Adoption within RBS is being spread by word of mouth.

Source: www.ComputerWeekly.com

Cloud Definitions

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) Special Publication
800-145, “The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing,” defines the cloud as having
five essential characteristics:
1- On-demand self-service
2 - Broad network access
3 - Resource pooling
4 - Rapid elasticity
5 - Measured service

The publication also specifies three service models:
1 - Software as a Service (SaaS)
2 - Platform as a Service (PaaS)
3 - Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

And the document defines four deployment models:
1 - Private cloud
2 - Community cloud
3 - Public cloud
4 - Hybrid cloud

The NIST standard is freely available for use and remains the best definition of
cloud computing today, in part due to its simplicity and brevity. NIST has published
other cloud standards that are primarily aimed at departments and agencies
of the US Government, as well as cloud architecture document Special Publication
500-292, “NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture.” Larger enterprises might
find this document useful when planning adoption of the cloud.

Organizations are no longer asking “if cloud,” they are asking “which cloud?” by Jose Ferreiro

The Ultimate Cloud Battle: Public Vs. Private Vs. Hybrid - White Paper (see document below)

Organizations are no longer asking “if cloud,” they are asking “which cloud?”
Determining which type of cloud solution is becoming increasingly difficult with the myriad of choices available today.  Selecting the right cloud solution requires thorough analysis regarding the level of security, control, customization and support your business requires.
This eBook will give you insight into which cloud delivery model is best suited for your needs whether that be public, private or hybrid cloud.

Organizations are no longer asking “if cloud,” they are asking “which cloud?”

View more presentations from José Ferreiro.

Setting up a private cloud for academic environment with Open Source Software - jose ferreiro

Take a look of this interesting presentation performed by Zoran Pantic at the IT university of Copenhagen where he explains how to set up a private cloud using Open Source Software (OSS).

More information here: https://blog.itu.dk/MCLC-F2012/

https://blog.itu.dk/MCLC-F2012/lectures/ (lecture 7 of week 5)

Additional Links which Zoran briefly mentioned in the lecture:
http://ken.pepple.info/openstack/2011/04/22/openstack-nova-architecture/
http://ken.pepple.info/openstack/2012/02/21/revisit-openstack-architecture-diablo/

View more presentations from José Ferreiro.

Cloud Computing - Why and How? (by Forrester Research, Inc.)

An overview of why and how the cloud will impact the future according to Forrester Research, Inc.

View more presentations from José Ferreiro.

Understanding the differences between public and private cloud computing

The future may yield a broader range of clouds, each providing different sets of assets and catering to more demanding user requirements. At the same time, it is important to remember that neither public nor private clouds will handle every computing need. Traditional data centers will continue well into the future—even as the clouds move in.

Read more