Cloud computing has been around almost since the dawn of the Internet, albeit in different guises. Today, SaaS (software as a service), IaaS (infrastructure as a service), CaaS (computing as a service) and PaaS (platform as a service) have come about as the Internet has evolved from a content and e-commerce platform into a rich and abundant high-speed network, capable of high-volume, multi-tenant, high-bandwidth, distributed applications.
This works very well for the countries at the top of the bandwidth availability curve, but with South Africa at number 40, according to 2010 statistics, it is not surprising that the country has not been able to ride the wave of cloud computing efficiency in the application space, like the rest of the world.
Countries like South Korea, China, Europe and America have some of the highest average bandwidth speeds in the world, and consumers can work with cloud-based applications like Google Docs with minimal interference or disruption.
In addition, cities are fitted with wireless networks so that users are always online. Given this infrastructure, a home PC no longer has to be a fully functional desktop machine. Users could do adequately well with a “thin client” that is mobile, as the reliance shifts to the Internet for the backend.
Unattainable
In South Africa, that is simply not possible. For this reason, South African development companies need to think about their cloud computing application development strategies and how they create, architect and deliver cloud-based software solutions. As always, “fit for purpose” is a statement that should always be evaluated when designing software solutions.
Ian Castleman, a senior network architect for one of South Africa's largest ISPs, recently noted that Internet connectivity and bandwidth coming into South Africa has grown exponentially in the last three years. Before 2009, there was a single monopoly-controlled cable system with maximum throughput of about 40Gbs, which had to cover not only Internet connectivity, but international Diginet and voice traffic.
When porting to the Web, the speed alone could cripple the user experience.
Craig Neill is chief technology officer at DVT.
With recent SAT3 upgrades and the addition of the Seacom, Eassy and Wacs cable systems, there is now a design capacity of approximately 8Tbs coming into South Africa, with three new cable systems over the next couple of years increasing this to 80Tbs. To put this in perspective, the current cable systems at full capacity could deliver more than 1 300 traditional CDs per second. Although high capacity is key, what has really changed the landscape is the commercial competition between cable systems and the open access approach taken by some.
While SA is definitely starting to emerge as a player in the cloud computing space from an application hosting perspective, developers need to be cognisant of the fact that they are building applications that could potentially still run over 56k-384k regular, Diginet and ADSL lines, and that only a few people in the country are connected at truly high speeds in excess of 4mb-10mb.
This immediately excludes several thousand South Africans from accessing cloud-based applications as their only Internet access is within their company infrastructure, which in itself could be limited.
Cloud computing can be separated into a variety of forms, the most popular appearing to be public and private cloud, or a hybrid thereof. In a public cloud, a developer must think of things like shared environments, security, database scalability and optimisation in terms of development, multi-threading, multi-layering and decoupling of interwoven business functions. This leads to optimal deployment and scalability, while also protecting sensitive client data.
Private clouds have similar considerations, but are largely dependent on where the cloud is hosted and how the connectivity is established.
Infamous apps
Several development platforms are notorious for their high bandwidth usage, their constant polling and massive view state. While there are many techniques to reduce page size, and in so doing increase the speed and throughput, some technologies are better suited to intranet or extranet-based applications, to be run on a network that is directly controlled by the company itself. When porting to the Web, the speed alone could cripple the user experience.
Business applications are beginning to move to the cloud as more and more companies are interlinked with truly high-speed interconnectivity. This allows companies to explore the possibility of deploying their applications to the cloud with highly reliable and fast usage.
Typically, most applications deployed to the cloud in SA are still Web-based, with detailed integration to the company's backend systems allowing easy access to company information and processes through mobility, tablets and laptops.
As SA becomes more connected, online access to hosted solutions will become more realistic for consumers, who will increase their uptake of subscription-based access to normal day-to-day products, and move away from purchasing applications for desktop machines. However, until then, the local access network is still a significant bottleneck, despite the increase in international bandwidth.
For more on this topic and to view a Vodcast, go to: http://youtu.be/FivuAfwE-No.
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