Tag Archives: model
Cloud Computing Shifts the TCO Discussion
The cloud computing model can help companies conserve cash and focus limited resources on the business, instead of reacting to IT infrastructure-related fire drills. In the cloud computing model, vendors provide Web-based access to applications as a service, through a subscription pricing model. This eliminates the need for customers to buy, deploy and manage IT infrastructure and solutions. Vendors take responsibility for everything: the servers, storage, operating system, database, business software, updates, migration, power and cooling, data center space, and support services. As a result, cloud computing shifts the IT burden from the customer to the cloud computing application vendor.
Cloud computing vendors can provide these benefits because they’ve built their solutions as Web-based services from the ground up. Instead of building their solutions to run in-house, as a separate, individual instances for each customer, they architect their solutions for a one-to-many, or multi-tenant model. This means that they can run thousands of customers on a single instance of the database and application software. By optimising their business solutions for this shared environment, they can achieve efficiencies throughout the solution lifecycle that would be difficult for on-premise vendors to achieve.
Lean and mean IT
Headquartered in Slovakia, the U.S. division of this security software firm has grown from 1 to 135 employees over the past 10 years. The division had began by using multiple brands of packaged software for accounting, contact management and reporting functions. But as it grew, the organisation wanted tighter integration across functions, better reporting, and an easier way to provide access to an increasing number of remote employees. It also wanted to keep upfront capital and ongoing support costs low. “The fact that there was little or no infrastructure or internal support required drove us to a software-as-service solution,” according the firm’s Business Systems Director. Since deploying NetSuite in 2006, the company has kept IT “lean and mean”, and “the single system, real-time view of customers helps our sales and support teams to offer better service to customers”.
Why does TCO matter?
In the IT industry, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is used to calculate the total cost of purchasing (or in the case of cloud computing, subscribing to), and of operating a technology solution over its useful life. TCO provides a realistic and holistic measure of the long-term costs required to acquire and operate technology solutions. Return on investment (ROI) is another method to evaluate and prioritise technology investments in a company. This measure is typically used to compare investments that uncover new top line revenue and growth opportunities. However, ROI tends to be more subjective in nature than TCO, because ROI looks at business benefits, which often cannot be measured as objectively as costs.
Hurwitz & Associates views TCO as a preferred method to compare technology investments when two solutions provide roughly equivalent benefits over the solution lifecycle, but have different types of costs associated with acquisition, maintenance and operation. For these reasons, a TCO comparison offers a more tangible assessment of the total costs involved in deploying cloud-based SaaS and on-premise business solutions.
Cloud Computing Shifts the TCO Discussion
The cloud computing model can help companies conserve cash and focus limited resources on the business, instead of reacting to IT infrastructure-related fire drills. In the cloud computing model, vendors provide Web-based access to applications as a service, through a subscription pricing model. This eliminates the need for customers to buy, deploy and manage IT infrastructure and solutions. Vendors take responsibility for everything: the servers, storage, operating system, database, business software, updates, migration, power and cooling, data center space, and support services. As a result, cloud computing shifts the IT burden from the customer to the cloud computing application vendor.
Cloud computing vendors can provide these benefits because they’ve built their solutions as Web-based services from the ground up. Instead of building their solutions to run in-house, as a separate, individual instances for each customer, they architect their solutions for a one-to-many, or multi-tenant model. This means that they can run thousands of customers on a single instance of the database and application software. By optimising their business solutions for this shared environment, they can achieve efficiencies throughout the solution lifecycle that would be difficult for on-premise vendors to achieve.
Lean and mean IT
Headquartered in Slovakia, the U.S. division of this security software firm has grown from 1 to 135 employees over the past 10 years. The division had began by using multiple brands of packaged software for accounting, contact management and reporting functions. But as it grew, the organisation wanted tighter integration across functions, better reporting, and an easier way to provide access to an increasing number of remote employees. It also wanted to keep upfront capital and ongoing support costs low. “The fact that there was little or no infrastructure or internal support required drove us to a software-as-service solution,” according the firm’s Business Systems Director. Since deploying NetSuite in 2006, the company has kept IT “lean and mean”, and “the single system, real-time view of customers helps our sales and support teams to offer better service to customers”.
Why does TCO matter?
In the IT industry, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is used to calculate the total cost of purchasing (or in the case of cloud computing, subscribing to), and of operating a technology solution over its useful life. TCO provides a realistic and holistic measure of the long-term costs required to acquire and operate technology solutions. Return on investment (ROI) is another method to evaluate and prioritise technology investments in a company. This measure is typically used to compare investments that uncover new top line revenue and growth opportunities. However, ROI tends to be more subjective in nature than TCO, because ROI looks at business benefits, which often cannot be measured as objectively as costs.
Hurwitz & Associates views TCO as a preferred method to compare technology investments when two solutions provide roughly equivalent benefits over the solution lifecycle, but have different types of costs associated with acquisition, maintenance and operation. For these reasons, a TCO comparison offers a more tangible assessment of the total costs involved in deploying cloud-based SaaS and on-premise business solutions.
General Concepts about Object-Oriented Programming
The programming style that we usually call object-oriented programming (OOP) has appeared relatively recently in the history of programming languages. This is a particular and very convenient style for many situations. It was designed to overcome the limits of structured programming based mainly on the widespread use of procedures, functions, pointers or other more or less developed data types.
Although structured programming is very practical for small software systems or reduced non-graphic applications, it should be avoided when dealing with large applications that use graphic elements where object-oriented programming is recommended. Object orientation means organizing software resources as a collection of distinct and discrete objects, which includes both data structures and their processing functions. This organization is an extension of structured programming in which the data structures and processing functions are only loosely connected. All items have their own identity and are perfectly distinct.
An object is defined as an abstract concept, a specific and useful element for any application. Objects serve two specific purposes:
– they provide a better understanding of the problem to be solved;
– they provide a base design for implementation.
A class of objects encapsulates a certain number of objects with similar properties. This similarity refers to both the description (data and attributes) and the behavior (functions or methods). Attributes are unique features within an object class. Each attribute receives a certain value which can be modified during the objects life cycle. Two or more objects can have the same or different values for the same attribute.
Methods or operations are processing functions applied to objects of a certain class. All objects within a class admit the same set of methods, methods which in return may receive any number of additional parameters. In order to apply various methods to an object, it has to be created (defined). Defining an object is called instantiation. Once an object has fulfilled its mission it is removed.
Abstraction is a fundamental human trait that allows us to build models and thus cope with complexity. In every field of human activity, project approach is based on building a model for a better understanding of the problem to solve. Software engineering makes no exception. Through abstraction the essential key aspects are isolated from the non-essential ones. Therefore, each problem might have several adequate models.
In the software engineering industry, structured programming has made a big step forward defining three perspectives needed in order to properly address any application. These perspectives, also known as models, are: the static model, the dynamic model and the functional model.
There are currently several object-oriented methodologies used for analysis, design and implementation of software resources. One of these modeling methodology is the OMT (Object Modeling Technique) methodology. This method of modeling involves the planning of the various development stages and a graphical representation of objects and their relationships.