Photo by M.Christian

For Technology Start-ups and Established Businesses, the offering of cloud services from Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the few excellent solutions available for businesses that require and prefer to have a cloud infrastructure solution thus benefiting from its well-document cloud advantages.  It follows that AWS is a pay-per-use service, which allows an universal usage of great computing resources which sits well on business plans due to its readiness, flexibility and cost effectiveness.  Nevertheless, AWS are not easy for start-ups to configure well and efficiently, furthermore established businesses tend to spend too much time on optimizations with spiralling costs. Although there a few tools by third parties that help minimize the risk using data analysis from resources.

Below we present the best tips to know when using AWS (Amazong Web Services).

• Select the right size of instances, there are a variety of types and sizes however choosing the appropriate size will keep costs realistic to the tasks at hand.
• Select the correct number of instances for provision, in order to avoid large clusters which will reflect on load balancing issues. AWS permits for an on-demand flexibility planning, so that cluster nodes are not required to run initially in case peak loads occur. Nevertheless, nodes can be added either manually or automatically.
• Selection advantages for the different instance types that AWS offers,  such as general-purpose servers, CPU or memory intensive workloads, I/O performance, and size. In general, instances tend to be chosen on types are too big for the requirements thus increasing the cost.
• Leaving instances running idle. One amazing advantage of AWS is the ability to choose and provision instances based on the operational needs of your business. It’s simply a matter of adding a new server through a simple wizard. However, as a by-product of this flexibility, users easily lose track of their instances and forgot to turn them off, like leaving a room with the lights on. This results in confusion, wasted time trying to figure out the process, and spiraling costs.
• Swift de-selection process on stale resources. If follows that volumes should only be kept if there is a requirement for usage in a near future, subsquently keeping costs only within the necessary resources and not paying for stale resources which can increase considerably the total cost.
• Few EBS virtual copies which AWS allows to do quite easily, thus safeguarding data and recording backups.  On the other hand, if taking too many EBS volume snapshots,  will lead to considerable complexity in backups and generate higher than needed storage costs.
• Saving costs by freeing elastic IPs,  AWS charges for elastic IPs when they’re not in use.
• Use of multiple Availability Zones, these Zones distribute workload across multiple data centers within a given region, to minimize any possible outage.

Photo by Royalty-free image collection

With ChronoZoom anyone from their web browsers can explore the entirety of cosmic history. By clicking different epochs we can learn about events that have occurred throughout history and subsequently until today.  Curious about the formation of the earth? Jump into the “Earth and Solar System” section to watch historian David Christian insight.

This project was built using the new technology of Microsoft’s  Azure and HTML5, as a result it’s fast and sufficient adaptable for viewing using an iPad or Android device for convenient interaction and learn the vast library of past developments.

The ChronoZoom project is the brainchild of Professor Walter Alvarez and a former student of his named Roland Saekow.  Alvarez is perhaps best known for working with his father to put forth the theory that dinosaurs were eradicated 65 million years ago because of a massive asteroid strike, but his path crossed with Saekow’s while he was teaching a course called Big History at UC Berkeley.

ChronoZoom is an innovative tool which is still in beta.

Here is given a brief introduction to cloud computing, as it consists of delivering services via the world wide web. Business users are capable of accessing resources and services from a variety of providers. Businesses are able to have a dynamic resource allocation into their IT infrastructure on a usage capacity on-demand, as a result businesses do not have to prior invest in terms of in-house expertise, security or large financial commitments including the ongoing maintenance of their whole IT infrastructure.

Below are the main characteristics of Cloud Computing for Business:
• On-Demand Self-Service: Businesses can provision computing capabilities custom implemented to their requirements.

• Resource Pooling: IT infrastructure resources, such as storage, processing and memory, are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned according to demand.

• Rapid Elasticity: Consumer’s capabilites can be rapidly and elastically provisioned and purchased in any quantity at any time. As a result, IT Managers are less pressured to predict utilization, thereby reducing capital expenditure.

• Measured Service: Metering capability allows automatic control and optimization of resources through cloud computing. Resource usage is monitored, controlled and reported.

Migrating to the cloud can provide many benefits to businesses. It follows that it is imperative that an understanding of the different cloud configurations including service models, ownership and location of the hardware, and the degree of capacity reservation, are essential to help the overall understanding for any business strategies and implementations.

Implementation Models or Cloud Configurations:

• Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas), this configuration permits to deploy and run software by provisioning components such as processing, storage, networks and other fundamental computing resources. Businesses do not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure. The underlying service providers own the equipment and are thus responsible for their own maintenance. However, the businesses do have control over operating systems, storage and deployed applications. Examples include Amazon Web Services.

• Platform as a Service (Paas), this configuration permits the deployment onto the cloud infrastructure customised solutions including applications created using tools supported and hosted by the service provider.  However, businesses do not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure, such as the network, servers, operating systems or storage, but has control over the deployed applications. Examples include Google Apps Engine and Microsoft Azure.

• Software as a Service (Saas), businesses are capable to use the service provider applications running on a cloud infrastructure. Businesses do not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage or even individual application abilities. An example is web-based email.

Deployment:

• Private Cloud, In this model, the cloud infrastructure is self-owned by a business. It can be managed by the organization itself or a third-party provider, and it can exist on or off the organization’s premises. However, there are challenges of managing large initial investments, significant changes in internal IT operations and support, and time to achieve technology capability

• Public Cloud, the cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large industry group. The infrastructure is vendor-owned.

• Hybrid Cloud,  a combination of both private and public clouds, hybrid clouds are organized in such a way that a portion of the infrastructure is deployed in a private cloud and the rest is exposed on the public cloud. In this case, there is an increased need for a central cloud management solution to address challenges in both private and public configurations.

We have a free trial of Office365 for readers to try by going here.

A new show is being started by YODspica TV. The show will go live sometime in September or October, it will include speacial guests, reviews on latest technology, social media tools and business interviews with discussions about Wales as a place to do business. Furthermore, it will be a new way of promoting local talent and local entrepreneurs by providing them a cost effective way of reaching a larger audience.

As a result, Wales will have a new offering of promotion for the country as the show will also include introductions, opinions and local market expertise for all viewers either interested in visiting the country or investing via partnerships or opening doors.

The will show will be presented by UK Entrepreneur, Elio Assuncao.