1. CLOUD COMPUTING Trends to Watch for Libraries Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technology and Research Vanderbilt University Library Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides http://www.librarytechnology.org/ http://twitter.com/mbreeding Internet Librarian 2010 Oct 26, 2010

2. Summary  One of the major transitions in technology involves increased adoption of computing models that involve use of hardware and software outside the library. It’s a seminal technology change as important as the shift from mainframes to client/server architectures. We’re hearing more about application service providers, software-as-a-service, storage-as-a-service, and platform-as-a-service. How does OCLC’s global WorldCat platform fit into the mix? What is the difference between public and private clouds? What are the issues for libraries in the deployment of cloud computing in terms of cost, efficiency, privacy, control, and security? Marshall Breeding clarifies the concepts of cloud computing with examples of interest to libraries.

3. Continuum of Abstraction  Locally owned and installed servers  Co-located servers  Co-located virtual servers  Web hosting  Server hosting services  Application Service Provider  Software-as-a-service  Infrastructure-as-a-service  Platform-as-a-service The Advance of Computing From the Ground to the Cloud Computers in Libraries, December 2009 http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=14384

4. What is Cloud computing?  Wikipedia: “Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like the electricity grid.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

5. What is Cloud computing?  VMWare: “Cloud computing is a new approach that reduces IT complexity by leveraging the efficient pooling of on-demand, self-managed virtual infrastructure, consumed as a service” http://www.vmware.com/solutions/cloud-computing/

6. Cloud illustration http://soacloudcomputing.blogspot.com/2008/10/cloud-computing.html

7. Cloud computing as marketing term  Cloud computing used very freely, tagged to almost any virtualized environment  Any arrangement where the library relies on some kind of remote hosting environment for major automation components  Includes almost any vendor-hosted product offering

8. Cloud computing – characteristics  Highly abstracted computing model  Utility model  Provisioned on demand  Scaled according to variable needs  Discrete virtual machines  Compute cycles on demand  Storage on demand  Elastic – consumption of resources can contract and expand according to demand

9. Fundamental technology shift  Mainframe computing  Client/Server  Cloud Computing http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrick/61952845/ http://soacloudcomputing.blogspot.com/2008/10/cloud-computing.html http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-10-2001/jw-1019-jxta.html

10. Gartner Hype Cycle 2009

11. Gartner Hype Cycle 2010

12. Local Computing  Traditional model  Locally owned and managed  Shifting from departmental to enterprise  Departmental servers co-located in central IT data centers  Increasingly virtualized

13. Virtualization  The ability for multiple computing images to simultaneously exist on one physical server  Physical hardware partitioned into multiple instances using virtual machine management tools such as Vmware  Applicable to local, remote, and cloud models

14. Hosting Services  Web hosting  Web site only  Standard support for PHP, Perl, and other dynamic page generation  Dedicated Server  Appropriate for applications that have not been tested and deployed in virtual environments  Virtual server  Requires software that supports virtualization

15. Advantages  Increasing opportunities to eliminate local servers and tech support  Many libraries cannot support the cost of systems and network administrators which command higher salaries than professional librarians  Eliminate hardware replacement, operating systems upgrades, etc.

16. Application service provider  Business applications hosted by software vendor  Standalone application on discrete or virtualized hardware  Staff and public clients accessed via the Internet  Same user interfaces and functionality as if installed locally

17. ASP Library Automation  Entered library automation industry beginnig ~1997  Innovative (INN-Keeper)  Epixtech (Horizon ASP)

18. ASP vs SaaS From: THINKstrategies: CIO’s Guide to Software-as-a-Service

19. Software-as-a-Service  Complete software application, customized for customer use  Software delivered through cloud infrastructure, data stored on cloud  Eg: Salesforce.com—widely used business infrastructure

20. Salesforce.com

21. SirsiDynix  Salesforce.com  customer relationship management  Sales force automation  NetSuite OpenAir  Professional services automation  Project management  BigMachines  Management of quotations and software provisioning

22. Google Apps

23. Microsoft Office 365

24. Enterprise SaaS deployments  Many universities outsourcing mail  Retain institutional domain names  Google Apps Education Edition Gmail  Microsoft Live@Edu

25. Infrastructure-as-a-service  Provisioning of Equipment  Servers, storage  Virtual server provisioning  Examples:  Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)  Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)  Rackspace Cloud (http://www.rackspacecloud.com/)http://www.rackspacecloud.com/  EMC 2 Atmos (http://www.atmosonline.com/)

26. Amazon EC2  Machine Instances  Red Hat Enterprise Linux  Debian  Fedora  Ubuntu Linux  Open Solaris  Windows Server 2003/2008

27. Storage-as-a-Service  Provisioned, on-demand storage  Bundled to, or separate from other cloud services

28. Platform-as-a-Platform as a Service  Virtualized computing environment for deployment of software  Application engine, no specific server provisioning  Examples:  Google App Engine SDKs for Java, Python  Heroku: ruby platform  Amazon Web Service

29. Private vs Public cloud  Public – multi-tenant provisioning  Logically isolated computing environment  Theoretical security / competitive concerns  Private – cloud architecture, institutionally controlled  Enforces physical segregation  Leverages cost and scalability  Institutions may require private clouds from providers  Institutions may operate their own cloud infrastructure for internal clients

30. Library automation through SaaS  Almost all library automation products offered through hosted options  Saas or ASP?

31. ILS Products offered as SaaS  SirsiDynix Symphony  SirsiDynix Horizon  Innovative Interfaces Millennium  Ex Libris Aleph  EOS International EOS.Web  Evergreen – Equinox Software  Koha – LibLime, ByWater, many others internationally  …many other examples …

32. Discovery products offered through SaaS  Serials Solutions  Summon  360 Search, 360 Link, KnowledgeWorks  Ex Libris  Primo Total Care  Primo Central  … many other examples …

33. Repositories in the cloud  Dspace – institutional repository application  Fedora – generalized repository platform  DuraSpace – organization now over both Dspace and Fedora  DuraCloud – shared, hosted repository platform  Pilot since 2009, production in early 2011  http://www.duraspace.org/duracloud.php http://www.duraspace.org/duracloud.php

34. Vendor hosting behind-the-scenes  Libraries need to have confidence in the reliability and robustness of service  Different hosting scenarios  Vendor manages its own data center  Vendor leases server space in third party data center  Vendor relies on cloud-based infrastructure

35. Caveats and concerns with SaaS  Libraries must have adequate bandwidth to support access to remote applications without latency  Quality of service agreements that guarantee performance and reliability factors  Configurability and customizability limitations  Access to API’s  Ability to interoperate with 3 rd party applications  Eg: Connect SaaS ILS with discovery product from another vendor

36. OCLC Web-scale Management Service  "the first Web-scale, cooperative library management service”  New highly scaleable platform for WorldCat  Cataloging  Interlibrary loan  Discovery (WorldCat Local)  Circulation  Acquisitions  License Management  Early deployments underway now – UTC, Pepperdine, etc In Challenge to ILS Industry, OCLC Extends WorldCat Local To Launch New Library System Marshall Breeding, Library Journal 4/23/2009 http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6653619.html http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6653619.html

37. Library applications for IaaS or PaaS  Ability for libraries to use cloud resources for locally created applications  Inexpensive and quick means for development and prototyping  Platform for production services

38. Digital library collections in the cloud?  Ex: Amazon S3 for storage of digital objects?  Access – depending on cost No guarantees for data security  Preservation – only as one replicate of broader preservation architecture

39. Cost implications  Total cost of ownership  Do all cost components result in increased or decreased expense  Personnel costs – need less technical administration  Hardware – server hardware eliminated  Software costs: subscription, license, maintenance/support  Indirect costs: energy costs associated with power and cooling of servers in data center  IaaS: balance elimination of hardware investments for ongoing usage fees  Especially attractive for development and prototyping

40. Risks and concerns  Privacy of data  Policies, regulations, jurisdictions  Ownership of data  Avoid vendor lock-in  Integrity of Data  Backups and disaster recovery

41. Security issues  Most providers implement stronger safeguards beyond the capacity of local institutions  Virtual instances equally susceptible to poor security practices as local computing

42. Cloud computing trends for libraries  Increased migration away from local computing toward some form of remote / hosted / virtualized alternative  Cloud computing especially attractive to libraries with few technology support personnel  Adequate bandwidth will continue to be a limiting factor

43. Increased pressure  Library automation vendors promoting SaaS offerings  Some companies already exclusively SaaS  Software pricing increasingly favorable to SaaS

44. Caveat  technologies promoted by companies and organizations have a vested interest in their adoption  Critically assess viability of the technology and its appropriateness for your organization

45. Questions and Discussion