Utility Computing

Although computers have offered people an easy way to complete their tasks, the machines themselves can be challenging to maintain and repair and consequently, many companies are forced to spend millions of dollars on IT support in order to keep computers and applications running properly (Strickland, 2008). One potential solution in dealing with this kind of problems is utility computing. Utility computing is one of the many developing technologies and services emerging in the IT world and along with other technologies such as autonomic computing, grids and on-demand enterprise, utility computing gives IT management a new way of managing future workloads and applications (Murch, 2004).

“Utility computing is a usage model in which customers pay for computational resources through an established fee-per-time schedule, as if they were utilities. These fees can cover hardware, software, or storage usage, and fees for associated services rendered…Utility computing as a service has existed for many years, but with the increased demand for high-performance computing (HPC) resources, it is emerging as a World Wide trend” (Willard, Joseph & Lamy, 2007, p.1). Utility computing is based on the following principle: one company pays another company for computing services that may include hardware rental, use of specific computer applications, access to computer processing power, data storage space, etc., depending on what the client wants (Strickland, 2008). “The word utility is used to make an analogy to other services, such as electrical power, that seek to meet fluctuating customer needs, and charge for the resources based on usage rather than on a flat-rate basis. This approach, sometimes known as pay-per-use or metered services is becoming increasingly common in enterprise computing and is sometimes used for the consumer market as well, for Internet service, Website access, file sharing, and other applications” (SearchDataCenter.com, 2007, ¶2).

Utility computing consists of a virtualized pool of IT resources that can be provisioned to ensure that these resources are easily and continually reallocated in a way that addresses the organization’s service needs while also, these resources can be located anywhere and managed by anyone (Murch, 2004). “The vision behind utility computing is to have computing resources available on demand from virtual utilities around the globe-always on and highly available, secure, efficiently metered, priced on a pay-as-you-use basis, dynamically scaled, self-healing, and easy to manage” (Turban, Leidner, Mclean & Wetherbe, 2008, p.59).

As reported by the Saugatuck Technology Inc. (2004), utility computing can be separated into the following two kinds: (a) internal utility computing, where the IS organization acts as an information utility that delivers and charges on a pay as you go basis for the use of shared resources; and (b) external utility computing, where one or more Service Providers charge for the on-demand delivery of IT functionality on a pay as you go basis, using resources shared by multiple clients, each of which manages its own Information Utility. As stated by the Saugatuck Technology Inc., “In both cases, the delivered services are enabled by a combined platform of shared IT infrastructure, applications, and business processes” (p.3).

As Willard et al. (2007) noted, utility computing is coming to the fore due to the lowering of the utility computing price point and due to the increasing demand for computing power that cannot easily be fulfilled by capital expenditure alone. The goal of utility computing is to synchronize IT resources to match fluctuating service requirements in order to enable businesses to flexibly provide optimal service levels at a justifiable cost (Wagner, 2006). As Turban et al. (2008) supported, utility computing will change the way software is sold, delivered, and used while it is also estimated that all software will become a service and be sold as a utility one day.

It is the author’s belief and point of view that utility computing will be the dominating option for almost all companies, businesses, corporations, and institutions, including education due to many reasons that basically refer to the advantages of the utility computing model and the benefits it can offer to companies and institutions. Some of those advantages that can possibly contribute to making utility computing the dominate option for the future are next mentioned and discussed. Utility computing provides a cost-effective solution to companies and institutions. The use of utility computing can be less expensive compared to the cost of running computer operations in-house and in fact, most of the cost for maintenance becomes the responsibility of the provider and not the client (Strickland, 2008). With utility computing, companies can create cost-effective virtualized IT infrastructure for flexible workload consolidation while they can also offer hardware and software as a service (3PAR Inc., 2010). With the use of utility computing, clients only pay for the compute capacity they require while simultaneously, they gain access to the capacity of state-of-the-art supercomputers they may not be able to access otherwise (Willard et al., 2007).

As Barmijo (2005) supported, the cost-effectiveness of utility computing can also be explained from the following three aspects: (a) the infrastructure for the application can be defined easily online, one time, and then be reused again, reducing by this way the administration time spent in order to provision and configure servers, switches and volumes; (b) there is no need for spare resources to be retained for staging, testing, support or education because they can be deployed and used only while actually needed; and (c) the design of the applications can be done in such a way that takes advantage of the ability of the utility system to scale the resources they operate on and avoid over-provision.

An important advantage of utility computing involves convenience. In specific, the client does not have to buy all the software, hardware and licenses that are necessary for doing business since the client can rely on another party to provide these services and therefore, the client does not have to worry about and get involve with the burden of maintaining and administering the system since the utility computing company will take care of this and therefore, the client can concentrate on other tasks (Strickland, 2008). As Willard et al. (2007) supported, utility computing allows companies to focus on their core competencies and be more effective within their organization rather than dealing with IT issues.

Utility computing provides flexibility in implementation. As Murch (2004) stated, utility computing “provides total flexibility in implementation, from in-house and self-managed to fully outsourced, with everything in-between -including a hybrid deployment model in which in-house capacity can be supplemented by third-party resources to handle peak needs” (¶8). In addition, utility computing enables clients to be flexible and react to market changes rapidly while it can also avoid all the delays associated with acquiring and implementing the required IT infrastructure and therefore, it can cut the time to market of a new product dramatically (Willard et al., 2007).

Utility computing can reduce deployment time. In particular, utility computing has the ability to deploy resources faster, more effectively and efficiently than a user firm’s internal resources while also, flexible hardware, software and networking platform enable this type of adaptability in a more cost-effective way (Saugatuck Technology Inc., 2004). Furthermore, the utility computing model provides extensibility. It provides clients an extension of their IT infrastructure without the need to own, maintain, manage, and upgrade the technology (Willard et al., 2007).

Availability is also an important advantage of the utility computing model. In specific, the model is always available and hence, the customer can rely on the utility provider to deliver the required compute capacity in order to run business-critical compute-intensive workloads (Willard et al., 2007). Apart from these, compatibility constitutes an advantage of the utility computing model. Due to the fact that the files used by employees in one department of a company might be incompatible with the software used by employees in another department, utility computing offers companies the option to subscribe to a single service and use the same suite of software throughout the entire organization (Strickland, 2008). As reported by the Saugatuck Technology Inc. (2004), “Utility computing can deliver more efficient business operations, improve the responsiveness of IT to changing business needs, and reduce the complexities of managing IT, from sourcing to integration to upgrades and maintenance” (p.2).

As mentioned previously, the author supports the idea that utility computing will be the dominating option of the future. Utility computing will become the option of choice for almost all companies in various sectors of society. Consequently, utility computing will also become the dominate option in the education sector in the future that will also have the opportunity to gain the various benefits and advantages of utility computing that were mentioned and discussed above. In addition to these benefits and advantages, the field of education can gain and some other unique and important benefits from utility computing and some of these are next mentioned and discussed. According to McCrea (2009), “As technology proliferates…, a number of schools are looking beyond the traditional purchase and install software options and tapping the trend known as on-demand, software as a service (SaaS), hosted, or cloud computing” (¶1).

Cost-effectiveness is an advantage of utility computing that attracts not only companies and organizations but also the educational institutions. As Subramanian (2009) supported, every country can save millions by using utility computing in education while also, the model of utility computing can improve and increase the efficiency and productivity of teachers and students as well. Additionally, “SaaS enables all institutions-regardless of size-to purchase a software solution for a few dollars per student per year” (SchoolDude.com, 2010, ¶4).

Utility computing can greatly benefit schools in respect of software licensing. Schools do not want to spend more money on licenses but rather they need a simpler licensing model while they also want to invest minimal staff in managing their computer requirements, and hence, utility computing or SaaS can offer them an easy way to get over the clutches and problems associated with the traditional licensing models (Subramanian, 2009). As DeCoufle (2009) noted, utility computing offers schools a reduced and simplified expenditure on software licensing.

Furthermore, with utility computing, reliance on school-based IT staff is decreased. SaaS applications are delivered via the Internet and therefore, they do not require IT resources to configure, install, maintain, or monitor (SchoolDude.com, 2010). Also, with utility computing, fewer applications are hosted locally and therefore, the school-based technical staff has less to do while also, the particular skills and abilities of the staff are further reduced due to the provision of on-demand online help desks and remote access support (DeCoufle, 2009).

Another advantage of utility computing that attracts schools refers to faster implementation. In contrast with traditional purchase-and-install applications that might take months to install and implement, utility computing options can often be up and running within a few weeks or even sooner and as a result, schools can meet students’ needs much faster and therefore, they can focus more on educating students rather than running complex IT configurations and software programs (McCrea, 2009). As reported in SchoolDude.com (2010), “With SaaS, an educational institution can be up and running in days or weeks, not the 18-24 months that is typical with traditional client-server solutions” (¶10). Moreover, utility computing frees students from the boundaries of time and location and in fact, every student with access to a utility version of a database or web server will have the luxury of 24/7 availability of resources from any location with web access (Anderson, Wiles & Young, 2008). Also, utility computing provides teachers and students with greater ubiquity of access to their files, applications and social networks, anytime, anyplace, any device (DeCoufle, 2009).

Utility computing enables schools to experiment. In particular, under the traditional software system it is expensive and difficult for schools to experiment with different kinds of applications and platforms but on the contrary, utility computing offers schools greater flexibility to experiment with newer apps and platforms (Subramanian, 2009). Furthermore, an also important benefit that schools can gain from utility computing is that it will make the curriculum more agile. Due to the fact that with utility computing the current fixed cost is changed to a variable cost based on use it will be easy to add students to a class that requires server services while also, this will make teachers not to worry about reaching classes with infrastructure intensive hands-on components such as database and web development (Anderson et al., 2008). Moreover, utility computing reduces or even eliminates problems regarding software updates and therefore, schools do not have to worry about issues of software updates since they will happen automatically (DeCoufle, 2009). In addition to these, as Anderson et al. supported, utility computing offers students increased opportunities in providing instructional environments which would be impossible or extremely expensive otherwise.

On the other side of the coin, utility computing has disadvantages as well and some of these disadvantages are next mentioned and discussed. An important disadvantage of utility computing involves reliability. If a utility computing company faces financial problems or has frequent equipment problems, it is possible that clients could get cut off from the services for which they are paying (Strickland, 2008). Also, the use of utility computing raises issues of concern regarding security. Due to the fact that industries are extremely competitive, security of the data is priceless to the corporation concerned (Willard et al., 2007). Moreover, cost can be sometimes regarded as a disadvantage of utility computing. Although utility computing deals include declining costs per unit of usage over time, IT depreciation needs to be considered into the pricing and therefore, usage over time often increases as business needs increase and consequently, pricing contracts result in higher usage costs over time (Saugatuck Technology Inc., 2004).

Another disadvantage of utility computing refers to hackers. Utility computing can be an attractive target for hackers who might want to access services without paying for them or who may even want to investigate client files (Strickland, 2008). As Strickland noted, much of the responsibility of keeping the system safe falls to the provider, but some of it also relies on the client’s practices and therefore, if a company does not educate its workforce about proper access procedures, then it will not be hard for an intruder to find ways to invade the utility computing system of a company. Furthermore, there are instances where utility computing might not be an efficient model to use. In specific, “some workloads simply are not conducive to being run over the Internet. This can be due to bandwidth limitations or the amount of interactivity required. If the customer needs to continually evaluate results of many short runs with large data sets that need to be upload at each iteration, utility computing might not be an efficient model” (Willard et al., 2007, p.8).

Comparing the benefits and advantages of utility computing it can be denoted that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and therefore, the author’s belief and point of view supports that utility computing will be the dominating option of the future as it will also dominate in education in the future. Closing up, “Our consumer utilities such as gas, water, and electricity all arrive on demand and independent of the uses to which they are put. This makes for a relatively easy billing structure-consistent infrastructure (pipe, wire) whose capital costs and maintenance are embedded in the usage rate. Exchange is simple: product in via infrastructure, invoice and payment on separate channels. Computing can be bought the same way. This is the basic premise of utility computing, which promises processing power when you need it, where you need it, at the cost of how much you use” (Murch, 2004).

References

Anderson, J.E., Wiles, F.A. & Young, K.P. (2008) The Impact of Cloud Computing on IS/IT Academics. Retrieved January 8, 2010, from http://www.iacis.org/iis/2008_iis/pdf/S2008_1086.pdf

Barmijo (2005) How Does Utility Computing Reduce Cost? Retrieved January 9, 2010, from http://blog.3tera.com/computing/how-does-utility-computing-reduce-cost/

DeCoufle, B. (2009) The Impact of Cloud Computing on Schools. Retrieved January 9, 2010, from http://datacenterjournal.com/content/view/3032/40/

McCrea, B. (2009) IT on Demand: The Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing in Higher Education. Retrieved January 5, 2010, from http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/08/20/IT-on-Demand-The-Pros-and-Cons-of-Cloud-Computing-in-Higher-Education.aspx

Murch, R. (2004) Introduction to Utility Computing: How It Can Improve TCO. Retrieved January 7 2010, from http://www.ibmpressbooks.com/articles/article.asp?p=344241

Saugatuck Technology Inc. (2004) Utility Computing: The Current and Future Business Reality. Retrieved January 10, 2009, from http://www.saugatech.com/reports/UC-ACS%2001Oct04.pdf

SchoolDude.com (2010) Why SaaS for Education? Retrieved January 11, 2010, from http://www.schooldude.com/solutions/saas-for-education/

SearchDataCenter.com (2007) Utility Computing. Retrieved January 6, 2010, from http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid80_gci904539,00.html

Strickland, J. (2008) How Utility Computing Works. Retrieved January 6, 2010, from http://communication.howstuffworks.com/utility-computing.htm

Subramanian, K. (2009) How Cloud Computing Can Help School Education? Retrieved January 7, 2010, from http://www.cloudave.com/link/how-cloud-computing-can-help-school-education

Turban, E., Leidner, D., Mclean, E., & Wetherbe, J. (2008) Information technology for management: Transforming organizations in the digital economy (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Wagner, D. (2006) Delivering the Advantages of Utility Computing Today Through Proactive Resource Management. Retrieved January 7, 2010, from http://www.enterprisenetworksandservers.com/monthly/art.php?2082

Willard, C.G., Joseph, E. & Lamy, L. (2007) An Overview of Compute-Intensive Utility Computing. Retrieved January 10, 2010, from http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/resources/systems_deepcomputing_cod_pdf_idcutilitycomputingwhitepaper.pdf

3PAR Inc. (2010) Utility Computing. Retrieved January 5, 2010, from http://www.3par.com/solutions/utility_computing.html