Cloud Computing is a general concept that refers to leveraging services and custom applications on the Internet versus local computing resources (your own on-site server). The term Cloud is a reference to the network diagrams commonly drawn as clouds, see diagram below. The cloud itself is a server farm on which companies can run their applications. Now that you know this, how much more fun does cloud computing seem already? Just wait till we get started.

There are different types of services provided by the cloud that can be assembled into the end solution. Different vendors have taken different approaches to these types of services and depending on the solution. Fortunately for you, our team at Amadeus Consulting is experienced in everything cloud.

The different types of services can be broken into different layers of a solution stack. These layers range from the lowest level of infrastructure services up to application services. Each layer in the stack builds upon the layers below it. The concept of the Cloud stack is that if you leverage one layer of the stack, it handles the management of the layers below it.

Let’s take a peek at each of the layers of the Cloud:

SaaS - Software as a Service - this layer provides full application usage directly from the Internet. It provides accessibility to many users at a low cost. You may know it better than you think you do as Salesforce, Sugar™ or Google Apps (just a few examples).

Amadeus Consulting specializes in leveraging SaaS to benefit from the functionality and infrastructure (hosting and scalability) that otherwise would not be available in a completely customized environment. For instance, with S3 (Amazon Cloud Storage), our team is able to add server space with a click of a button.

Other Advantages Include:

• Focus budgets on competitive advantage rather than expensive infrastructure costs

• Pay-as-you go avoids restrictive contract arrangements and less upfront cost

• Scalability to increase as you need

• Easy-to-use and well-tested by many users

Web Services - These are general services that can be leveraged to develop a larger application. They can range from commerce services to integrations with other systems via standardized web methods. Like the SaaS, they offer accessibility to many users at a low up-front cost.

Having developed and integrated several large-scale web-services, these aspects of Cloud Development are a specialty in Amadeus Consulting’s’ Service Lines. We’re well-versed in VeriSign®, Google® and Yahoo Maps® and PayPal®, PayFloPro® and Auth.NET ™ among others.

Other Advantages Include:

• Highest quality tool add-ins that make your custom application powerful

• Low upfront cost

PaaS - Platform as a Service - this layer provides a development platform to build custom applications on top of. In general, these platforms leverage popular development environments (.NET/Java) to minimize the transition cost. Platforms also typically include several Services bundled together. While a new code base offers total customization but high up-front cost, this option is also customizable but more cost-effective and well tested.

The Amadeus Platform, our in-house platform, was developed and tested with the intent to give customers an incredibly reliable and cost effective code on which to base their projects. Additionally, the Amadeus Platform was developed to enhance performance, and can be fine-tuned to fit any customers’ needs.

• Semi-Customizable to include your specific needs

• Developed platform lowers initial cost that allows budget for customization

• Well tested and continually changeable

IaaS - Infrastructure as a Service - This layer provides simulated server resources. Very similar to a virtual machines, except they are hosted and provisioned by the provider. These are the raw building blocks to build applications on. Infrastructure as a service also includes managing the server, application development, and additional support of the server afterwards.

Amadeus Consulting most recently has handled several IaaS projects for our clients including Bcycle, a large scale enterprise management system for bike sharing that incorporated integrations with Kiosks, Bike Computers, Web Services and Administration Tool. The system was recently launched in the City of Denver to great success. Our team is currently handling the 24x7 Support of the operation post-launch and looks forward to future development and enhancements.

Other Advantages Include:

• Complete customization of structure and function

• Lessen the burden of infrastructure management

• Maintain control through a total solution provider

Since many of these services are priced on a usage model as an operational expense, users can avoid many of the large upfront costs as capital expenses. These services typically allow for scalability to grow or shrink as demand needs, thus paying only for the amount of service you need.