The gold standard definition of Cloud Computing comes from NIST in the U.S. and is as follows: “Cloud Computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” The business value of cloud computing is growing rapidly—driving down costs and driving up convenience and flexibility. Also the ability to locate compute and storage resources wherever it makes best sense—cheaper power, easier cooling or even lower cost of maintenance manpower makes it a powerful idea for reducing cost. Cloud services need high bandwidth connections at local, national and international levels and will become a powerful stimulus to increase bandwidth at every layer. Indian IT applications, whether for revenue generation or internal platforms, can reap many benefits from this technology. Moreover our large software services industry will see major revenue opportunities. IT penetration and realization of benefits of IT in various walks of life in India—be it economic or social—can be accelerated by cloud computing, especially when it is combined with mobile, applications for educations, health, employment, finance and the like, and pervasive networks. In fact, domestic economy can hope to see measurable gains as a result of accelerated efficiencies realizable through rapid scaling, economics, and innovation at multiple levels. I hope that India becomes a leading innovator in the cloud technology—generating new ideas, building IP, hosting cloud platforms, and starting innovative companies. I wish CCICI every success in driving all aspects of Cloud Computing in our country. My dream is that India should lead the world in this new frontier!
Arogyaswami PaulrajProfessor - Emeritus, Stanford University
With the advent of computing, communication, and Internet, Cloud Computing is the natural way to move forward. Realizing this, C-DAC has taken a major initiative in development of Cloud Computing technologies for the benefit of society. CCICI is a unique effort happening in the rapidly emerging area of Cloud Computing. It aims to accelerate the innovation and adoption of Cloud Computing in India, thereby catapulting the country to a leadership position in this field. It aims to achieve this objective through a collaborative platform of visionaries from the government, R&D, academics, and industry. CCICI also aims to address the issues of security in the Cloud Computing Environment, along with interoperability of different Cloud solutions. In a developing country like India, the importance of Cloud Computing is obvious, what with the enormous levels of Economies of Scale that Cloud Computing offers. Organizations are serious to migrate from a traditional capital intensive Data Center IT infrastructure to a flexible infrastructure with Cloud Computing technology. Recognizing the advantages in offer, the government of India is taking efforts to ensure that several of the national level initiatives with Cloud Computing are being carried-out. It is heartening to see that CCICI is blossoming into a more vibrant structured initiative in our country to meet the present and future growth of Cloud Computing, which will lead to economic benefits in many of the state and central level programs.
Prof. Rajat MoonaDirector General, C-DAC
Cloud Computing promises to be the “next big thing” in IT infrastructure and is being considered as a next generation computing framework for the emerging markets. India is one such emerging market that is looking to transform the nation through cloud services. Speed of deploying and development, empowerment to the users to focus on applications rather than infrastructure, and economy by shifting from CAPEX to OPEX would make cloud the game changer by completely transforming how IT services are being delivered. CCICI will play a vital role to fuel the technological innovation across the cloud computing ecosystem in India, which will not only accelerate its adoption but also help India to become the market leaders in this technology. Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India, has already initiated the cloud-computing project “Meghraj”. This project will bring paradigm shift in the way government procures infrastructure and applications. CCICI can contribute to this by providing inputs on framing the standards and development of frameworks vital to the entire Cloud initiative.
Shri Rajiv GaubaAdditional Secretary - DeitY
“The continuing advances in computing capabilities and the proliferation of data in digital form are leading to a tipping point in our ability to tackle societal problems with the help of information technology. Cloud-computing is a crucial enabler as a convenient delivery model for solutions in areas such as healthcare, education, transportation, and smart governance. CCICI can play an important role in creating the necessary ecosystem for that next phase. I congratulate the team on the release of this white paper and encourage them to help implement some of their recommendations for India.”
Manish GuptaVP and Director - Xerox Research Center India
Cloud Computing is one of the first initiatives of the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) in India. The Cloud Computing Innovation Council for India (CCICI), which was formed more than a year ago, is a crucial initiative with a focus on development of a road map for cloud computing over the next 3-5 years focused on India. This initiative has been active from the day it started and is very successful in connecting various stakeholders in India. CCICI has provided a collaborative platform and has brought together thought leaders from the industry, government R&D labs and academia who have volunteered their time to come up with the White Paper. Cloud Computing is re-shaping the IT sector globally, in India Cloud Computing has the potential to transform how the services are delivered to citizens. The development of the road map and the white paper from CCICI will enable delivery of e-governance, e-health, and e-education to have a huge societal impact. I wish the CCICI all the success.
Harish MysoreDirector - IEEE