Computing Meets the Physical World

 

Rapid changes in computing will continue for the foreseeable future.

The field of computing has always changed rapidly, and it is still doing so. The changes are driven, more than anything else, by Moore’s law. Many people think the pace of change is slowing, or even that because we already have the Internet and Google, there is not much left to do. I hope these papers will convince you that this view is entirely wrong.

For the last 50 years, new applications of computers have followed a pattern, as one manual activity after another has become automated. In the 1940s, it became possible to automate the calculation of ballistic trajectories and in the 1950s of payrolls and nuclear weapon simulations. By the 1970s, it was possible to create reasonably faithful representations of paper documents on computer screens. In the 1990s, we had the equivalent of a telephone system for data, in the form of the Internet. In the next two decades we will have embodied computers, machines that can interact with the physical world.

Hardware and Software
The factor that determines whether or not an activity can be automated is whether the hardware is up to it. According to Moore’s law, the cost performance of computers improves by a factor of 2 every 18 months, or a factor of 100 every 10 years; this applies to processing, storage, and communication. Moore’s law is not a law of physics, but it has held roughly true for several decades and seems likely to continue to hold true for at least another decade. Indeed, today some things are developing much faster than that. Storage capacity, for example, is doubling every 9 months, not every 18 months. Wide-area communication bandwidth is also improving faster than Moore’s law. Sometimes, with speech recognition and web search engines, for example, the cheaper cycles or bytes can be applied directly. Often, however, by spending more hardware resources, we can minimize programming effort; this is true for applications that use web browsers or database systems.

Hardware is the raw material of computing, but software gives it form. Our ability to write software is limited by complexity. People have been complaining about the “software crisis” at least since the early 1960s, and many people predicted in the 1960s and 1970s that software development would grind to a halt because of our inability to handle the increasing complexity of software. Needless to say, this has not happened. The software “crisis” will always be with us, however (so it isn’t really a crisis). There are three reasons for this:

As computing hardware becomes more powerful (at the rate of Moore’s law), new applications quickly become feasible, and they require new software. In other branches of engineering the pace of change is much slower.
Although it is difficult to handle complexity in software, it is much easier to handle it there than elsewhere in a system. Therefore, it is good engineering to move as much complexity as possible into software, and engineers are busily doing so.
External forces, such as physical laws, impose few limits on the application of computers. Usually the only limit is our inability to write programs. Because we have no theory of software complexity, the only way to find this limit is by trial and error, so we are bound to overreach fairly often.

A lot of software today is built from truly gigantic components: the operating system (Windows or Linux), the database (Oracle or DB2), and the browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer). These programs have 5 million to 40 million lines of code. By combining them with a little bit of new code, we can build complex applications very quickly. These new applications may use a hundred or a thousand times the hardware resources custom-built programs would use, but they can be available in three months instead of five years. Because we have plenty of hardware resources, this is a good way to use them. It is programmers and time to market that are in short supply, and customers care much more about flexibility and total cost of ownership than about the costs of raw hardware.

Another way to look at this is that today’s PC is about 10,000 times bigger and faster than the 1973 Xerox Alto, which it otherwise closely resembles (Thacker, 1988). A PC certainly doesn’t do 10,000 times as much, or do it 10,000 times faster. Where did these cycles go? Most of them went into delivering lots of features quickly, which means that first-class design had to be sacrificed. Software developers traded reductions in hardware resources for shorter time to market. A lot of cycles also went into integration (for example, universal character sets and typography, drag and drop functions, spreadsheets embedded in text documents) and compatibility with lots of different hardware and lots of old systems. Only a factor of 10 went into faster responses.

Applications
There have been three broad waves of applications for computers, about 25 years apart. Currently, the communication wave is in full flood, and the first signs of embodiment (relatively unrestrained interactions with the physical world) are starting to appear. Of course the earlier waves do not disappear, simulation continues to be an important class of applications.

Usually a computer application begins as a fairly close simulation of a manual function. After 10 or 20 years, people begin to explore how the computer can do the job in a radically different way. In business, this is called “business process reengineering.” The computer no longer does the same things as a bookkeeper; instead, it makes it possible to close a company’s books two days after a quarter ends. Boeing builds airplanes in a very different way because computers can model every mechanical detail.

The earliest computers in the 1950s were used for simulation. Simulations of nuclear weapons, astrophysics, protein folding, payrolls, project scheduling, games, and virtual realities all fall comfortably into this category.

The communication wave became apparent outside of research laboratories around 1980, and we are now in the middle of it. Today, we have e-mail, search engines, and the ability to buy airline tickets, books, movie tickets, and almost anything else online. TerraServer, gives us access to publicly available satellite telemetry of the world. The Library of Congress’ catalog is online, and you can buy any one of a million and a half books on Amazon.com. Conduct a search on Google today, and in half a second you can research a database of about 3 billion pages that is updated every two weeks – and will soon be updated in real time.

The next great wave, which is just beginning, is embodiment. Of course, computers have been used in process-control systems for a long time, but that is comparatively uninteresting (albeit of considerable economic importance). We are now seeing the first computer systems that can function effectively in the real world – computerized cars, robots, smart dust. They are still in their infancy, but the most interesting developments in computing in the next 30 years will be in this domain.

A Boston company called iRobot has just introduced what seems to be the first plausible domestic robot, a vacuum cleaner that crawls around a room in a vaguely spiral pattern, bouncing off of things (see it at www.roombavac.com). The price is 9. In fact, with only 14k bytes of ROM and 256 bytes (not kilobytes) of RAM, it’s barely a computer.

What’s Next?
In a recent paper, Jim Gray (2003) countered the widely held perception that most of the important developments in computing have already happened and that the future holds little more than refinements and cost reductions. Gray predicted that the next 50 years would be much more exciting than the last 50, both intellectually and in practical applications. Here are some of the challenges he raises.

Win the impersonation game. The classic Turing test asks whether a person sitting at a keyboard and display can distinguish between a conversation with a computer and a conversation with another person. To win, roughly speaking, a computer must able to read, write, think, and understand as well as a person. The computer will need some facility with natural language and a good deal of common sense. Anyone who has tried using natural language to interact with a computer knows that we still have a long way to go; and we don’t even know how far.

Hear, speak, and see as well as a person. Meeting this challenge will be much more difficult. Today’s best text-to-speech systems, given enough data, can do a pretty good job of simulating a person’s voice, although they still have trouble with intonation. In a quiet room, you can dictate to a computer a little faster than a person can type, at least if, like me, the person types fairly fast but makes a lot of errors. If there is any background noise, however, the computer does much worse than a person. To see as well as a person is even more difficult. People first learned to parse two-dimensional images on the retina and construct a model of a three-dimensional world so they could detect tigers in the jungle and swing from tree to tree. Today’s best systems do a fair job of recognizing buildings on a city street, but not in real time.

Answer questions about a text corpus as well as a human expert. Then add sounds and images. A computer can’t yet read and absorb Google’s 3 billion web pages and then answer questions about them in a sensible way. It can find documents where words occur or documents with a lot of other documents pointing to them, but it can’t understand content.

Be somewhere else as observer (tele-past), participant (tele-present).Videoconferencing represents the first feeble step in this direction. Can virtual presence equal real presence? We don’t really understand what makes real presence good, so this is an open question – one that has implications for medicine, transportation, education, and social relations. Remote surgery is just one valuable, but extremely demanding application.

Devise a system architecture that scales up by 106. Computer systems on the Internet often serve millions of users, sometimes hundreds of millions, and the demand can change rapidly. After September 11, for example, the main web news sites collapsed because traffic was 10 to 100 times higher than normal. In addition, the same architecture must be used across a wide range of systems to ensure compatibility and consistency. The Internet has met this challenge for transporting data, but storage, processing, and coordination over such a range of sizes are problems yet to be solved.

Given a specification, build a system that implements it. Do it better than a team of programmers. Writing an adequate specification is a daunting task, as anyone who has tried it knows. Automatically building a system to implement it means converting it into a form that can be executed reasonably efficiently. Most teams of programmers don’t do this terribly well, so if we can create a system that can do it at all, we have a good shot at doing it better than a team of programmers. Today, we can do it in very limited domains; the canonical examples are certain spreadsheet and database query applications, in which the specification and the program are almost indistinguishable.

Build a system used by millions that can be administered by half a person. The operating costs of most computer systems dwarf their hardware costs. Configuration, backup, repair, expansion, and updates require a lot of human attention. There is no reason in principle why this work can’t be done by machines, except for the small effort required to set policy (e.g., telling the system who the authorized users are and which tasks are most important).

Common Themes
Three themes common to these challenges are central to the way computing will develop in the next few years and decades: information, uncertainty, and ubiquity.

Information. Very soon it will be technically feasible to put everything we have online and remember it forever. But making the most of this capability will require that the information be meaningful to the machine in some sense. Even though today’s web is feeble by this standard, it has already had a tremendous impact on our lives. Machines that can answer questions about the information they store and relate different pieces of information to each other would be able to do much more for us.

Uncertainty. Interacting with the physical world necessarily involves dealing with uncertainty. The computer needs a good model of what can happen in the part of the world it is interacting with, and boundaries that tell it when the model no longer applies. This is often called common sense, and it is essential not only for sensors and robots, but also for natural user interfaces, such as speech, writing, and language. For each of these, the machine often has to guess meaning; it needs to guess well, and the user needs to know what to do when the guess is wrong.

Ubiquity. Computers are getting so cheap and so small that we can begin to think about having a computer on every fingernail, a computer inside every manufactured physical object. We could have guardian angels, for example, that monitor the state of our health and safety, call for help when it’s needed, and so forth. Every manufactured object in the world could respond to us and interact with its fellows. How can all of this be done reliably and conveniently? How can people tell all of these computers what to do?

These are just a few examples of the opportunities before us. The papers that follow focus on physical ways computers might interact with the world.

Applications for Computers

Category

Starting Date

Examples

Simulation

1960

Nuclear weapons, payroll, games, virtual reality technology

Communications
and storage

1985

E-mail, online airline tickets, books, movies

Embodiment

2010

Vision, speech, robots, smart dust

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5 Good Computing Habits

Slow, “out of shape” computers can hinder productivity and often cost users time and money spent on computer repairs. There are several good habits that computer owners can learn to follow to keep their computers working at optimal performance and lessen trips to computer repair centers.

1. If the computer will be connected to the internet, always have antivirus software running

Antivirus software offers several advantages to users who wish to keep their computers safe. First, antivirus software will alert people if they manage to make their way to a harmful website. Oftentimes, this simple alert will keep a computer from becoming ravished by a virus.

Second, antivirus software will automatically notify a computer’s owner as soon as the computer becomes inflicted with a virus. This notification will usually be accompanied by the antivirus software automatically quarantining the virus so that it cannot do any harm to the computer.

Third, antivirus software comes with a scan feature that, when ran, will find any viruses on a computer and try to remove them.

2. Run the computer’s disk defragmenter

Windows includes a disk defragmenter. This defragmenter can be found in system tools, and once ran, will often free up space on the computer and increase the computer’s speeds. If a computer is involved in a lot of downloading, it’s a good idea to run the disk defragmenter at least once a day. For people who do not do a lot of downloading of music and movies, then running the disk defragmenter once a week should be sufficient.

3. Never open email attachments from people you do not know

One of the main ways computer viruses are transmitted is through email attachments. It is a good idea to never open an email attachment from a recipient unfamiliar to the computer owner. Also, most antivirus software will allow a person to scan email attachments for viruses.

4. Cleaning up computer files will keep computers performing well

At least once a week, it is a good idea for people to go through their computer files and delete anything that is not being used or no longer needed. Without a file clean up schedule, computers can become cluttered, which can cause computers to decrease in performance.

5. Make sure all computer programs are up to date

Most computer programs have an update included in them. If the updater runs automatically, a computer owner should make sure that they immediately download updates once available. Other programs require the user to run the updater manually. It is a good idea to run a programs updater once a week, so that any updates will become apparent. Keeping programs updated will ensure that all security risks are closed and that computers are not at risk of facing attacks.

Following these five computer habits should keep computers running at tip top performance and remove the need to make frequent trips to the computer repair center.

3 Ways to Utilize Remote Computing

If you have never tried remote computing before, you will likely fall in love with it once you try it. Remote computing allows you to access your home computer from any location in the world. If you are not familiar with remote computing, you simply install a remote control software on your computer and you can then access that computer from any other computer that has an Internet connection. Although there are countless ways to utilize remote computing, this guideline will focus on the three of the most popular ways. If you are interested in purchasing a remote computing program, check out stores like GoToMyPC.

1. Video Surveillance

Do you ever ask your neighbors, friends or family members to keep an eye on your house when you go on vacation? With remote computing and the proper technology, you will no longer have to do that. Most computers these days are able to accept a video input from home video surveillance systems. As long as you leave your computer and video surveillance system on, you will be able to log into any computer and see what’s going on with your house. Video surveillance is also a great way to keep an eye on your children and pets when you are on vacation or away on a business trip.

2. File Access

File access is one of the most popular ways to utilize remote computing. Remote computing enables you to access any and all files on your computer from any other computer in the world. If you have an external hard drive connected to your computer, you will be able to access the files that are on there. Many telecommuters use remote computing to access their work computer, as well. With the right remote control software installed on your computer, you will be able to browse your home or work computer in the same fashion as if you were sitting in front of it. All of your files will be in the same exact location that you left them, and you can even save your work directly to your home or work computer once you are done.

3. File Server

If you have a computer that has a large hard drive, you can use that computer as a file server via remote computing. Simply install a remote control program on the computer and give the log-in information to your friends, family and/or business partners. Using a file server is a great way for students to complete group projects, as well. Those people will then be able to access the files on the computer at any time and save their work once they are finished. Of course, you can use web based servers to file share, as well, but with your own computer and remote computing there are no restrictions in regards to file size. You can even set permissions for which files can be accessed by others.

 

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Quantum Computing – yesterday, today, and tomorrow

Abstract

This paper digs into the fundamental issues of the slow but progressive breakthrough in embracing quantum computing and how its benefit and risk affects humanity. Drawing analysis from its probable practicality, while also exploring today’s available technology.

The aim of this idea is to observe the effectiveness of quantum computing and how it could impact on mankind tracing its history and looking into what awaits mankind in the future.

Approaching this ideal from two major perspectives that form the basis for this paper, which are where we are and where we are going consequent upon which this research of impeccable sources were predicated

The result invariably shows realistically the importance of quantum computing to all mankind when eventually fabricated in the future.

 

1. Introduction

Quantum computing may be coming closer to everyday use because of the discovery of a single electron’s spin in an ordinary transistor. The success, by researcher Hong Wen Jiangand colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, could lead to major advances in communications, cryptography and supercomputing. Jiang’s research reveals that an ordinary transistor, the kind used in a

Desktop PC or cell phone can be adapted for practical quantum computing. Quantum computing exploits the properties of subatomic particles and the laws of quantum mechanics. Today’s computers have bits in either a 1 or a 0 state. Qubits, however, can be in both states at the same time.

CISC is a CPU design that enables the processor to handle more complex instructions from the software at the expense of speed. All Intel processors for PCs are CISC processors. Complex instruction set computing is one of the two main types of processor design in use today. It is slowly losing popularity to RISC designs; currently all the fastest processors in the world are RISC. The most popular current CISC processor is the x86, but there are also still some 68xx, 65xx, and Z80s in use. CISC processor is designed to execute a relatively large number of different instructions, each taking a different amount of time to execute (depending on the complexity of the instruction). Contrast with RISC.

Complex Instruction-Set Computer has CPU designed with a thorough set of assembly calls, systems and smaller binaries but generally slower execution of each individual instruction.

2. CISC/RISC Speed and limitations

One important assumption in circuit design is that all circuit elements are ‘lumped’. This means that signal transmission time from one element to the other is insignificant. Meaning that the time it takes for the signal produced at one point on the circuit to transmit to the rest of the circuit is tiny compared to the times involved in circuit operation.

Electrical signals travel at the speed of light, suppose a processor works at 1GHz. that is one billion clock cycles per second, also meaning that one clock cycle goes one billionth of a second, or a nanosecond. Light travels about 30cm in a nanosecond. As a result, the size of circuitry involved at such clock speeds will be much less than 30cm, therefore, the most circuit size is 3cm. bearing in mind that the actual CPU core size is less than 1cm on a side, which is still okay, but this is just for 1 GHz.

Cases where the clock speed is increased to 100GHz, a cycle will be 0.01 nanoseconds, and signals will only transmit 3mm in this time. So, the CPU core will definitely need to be about 0.3mm in size. It will be very difficult to cram a CPU core into such a small space, which is still okay, but somewhere between 1 GHz and 100GHz, there will be a physical barrier. As smaller and smaller transistors are manufactured soon there may be physical limit as the numbers of electrons per transistors will become one and this will bring to a close to the rule of electron.

3. The benefits and capabilities of quantum computing in theory are:

Factor large integers in a time that is exponentially faster than any known classical algorithm.
Run simulations of quantum mechanics.
Break encrypted secret messages in seconds that classical computers cannot crack in a million years.
Create unbreakable encryption systems to shield national security systems, financial transactions, secure Internet transactions and other systems based on present day encryption schemes.
Advance cryptography to where messages can be sent and retrieved without encryption and without eavesdropping.
Explore large and unsorted databases that had previously been virtually impenetrable using classical computers.
Improve pharmaceutical research because a quantum computer can sift through many chemical substances and interactions in seconds.
Create fraud-proof digital signatures.
Predict weather patterns and identify causes of global warming.
Improve the precision of atomic clocks and precisely pinpoint the location of the 7,000-plus satellites floating above Earth each day.
Optimize spacecraft design.
Enhance space network communication scheduling.
Develop highly efficient algorithms for several related application domains such as scheduling, planning, pattern recognition and data compression.

4. Risks

And the risks are

Cripple national security, defences, the Internet, email systems and other systems based on encryption schemes.
Decode secret messages sent out by government employees in seconds versus the millions of years it would take a classical computer.
Break many of the cryptographic systems (e.g., RSA, DSS, LUC, Diffie-Helman) used to protect secure Web pages, encrypted mail and many other types of data.
Access bank accounts, credit card transactions, stock trades and classified information.
Break cryptographic systems such as public key ciphers or other systems used to protect secure Web pages and email on the Internet.

5.  History of Quantum Computing

The idea of quantum computing was first explored in the 1970′s and early 1980′s by physicists and computer scientists like Charles GH. Bennett of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center,  Paul A. Benioff of Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, David Deutsch of the University of Oxford, and the late Richard P. Feynman of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).  This idea emerged as scientists were debating the fundamental limits of computation.  They realized that if technology continued to go by Moore’s Law, the continually shrinking size of circuitry packed onto silicon chips will get to a point where individual elements would be no larger than a few atoms. Then there was disagreement over the atomic scale the physical laws that rule the behaviour and properties of the circuit are inherently quantum mechanical in nature, not classical. Then came the question of whether a new type of computer could be invented based on the principles of quantum physics.

Feynman was the first to provide an answer by producing an abstract model in 1982 that demonstrated how a quantum system could be used for computations. Besides he explained how such a machine could act as a simulator for quantum physics. Meaning that, a physicist may have the ability to conduct experiments in quantum physics in a quantum mechanical computer.

In 1985, Deutsch discovered that Feynman’s claim could lead to a general purpose quantum computer and published a crucial theoretical paper illustrating that any physical process, in principle, could be moulded perfectly by a quantum computer.  So, a quantum computer would have capabilities far beyond those of any traditional classical computer.  Immediately after Deutsch publication, the search began.

Unfortunately, all that could be found were a few rather contrived mathematical problems, until Shor circulated in 1994 a preprint of a paper in which he set out a method for using quantum computers to crack an important problem in number theory, namely factorization.  He showed how an ensemble of mathematical operations, designed specifically for a quantum computer, could be organized to enable a such a machine to factor huge numbers extremely rapidly, much faster than is possible on conventional computers.  With this breakthrough, quantum computing transformed from a mere academic curiosity directly into a national and world interest.

6. Conclusion & Future Outlook

Right now, quantum computers and quantum information technology is still in its pioneering stage, and obstacles are being overcome that will provide the knowledge needed to drive quantum computers up in becoming the fastest computational machines in existence. This has not been without  problems, but it’s nearing a stage now where researchers may have been equipped with tools required to assemble a computer robust enough to adequately withstand the effects of de-coherence.  With Quantum hardware, we are still full of hope though, except that progress so far suggest that it  will only be a matter time before the physical and practical breakthrough comes around to test Shor’s and other quantum algorithms.  This breakthrough will permanently stamp out today’s modern computer. Although Quantum computation has origin is in highly specialized fields of theoretical physics; however its future undoubtedly is in the profound effect it will bring to permanently shape and improve mankind.

 

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References:

1.  D. Deutsch, Proc. Roy. Soc. London, Ser. A 400, 97 (1985).

2.  R. P. Feynman, Int. J. Theor. Phys. 21, 467 (1982).

3.  J. Preskill, “Battling Decoherence:  The Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computer,” Physics Today, June (1999

4. R. Feynman, Int. J. Theor. Phys. 21, 467 (1982).

5. D. Deutsch, Proc. R. Soc. London A 400, 97 (1985).

6. P.W. Shor, in Proceedings of the 35th Annual Symposium on the Foundations of Computer Science, edited by S. Goldwasser (IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA), p. 124 (1994).

7. A. Barenco, D. Deutsch, A. Ekert and R. Jozsa, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 4083 (1995)

8. Article by Yasar Safkan, Ph.D., Sofware Engineer, Noktalar A.S., Istanbul, Turkey

Some hints for speeding Up your office computing hardware

You may have used the same office computer for some time now and noticed it slowing down over time, as well as experiencing problems loading numerous programs at once. Due to the nature of office work, computers will eventually become full of obsolete programs and un-needed documents.

As a result of this, even the most basic of requirements like simultaneously opening two programs will become difficult, as well as overworking the machine causing it to heat, which may lead to unfixable damage.

You can find very simple ways to avoid these scenarios with these straightforward guidelines that will require little expense or technical know-how. These are my top factors for getting the most out of your office computers:

1. External hard drives – It doesn’t matter what work the office does, it is of utmost importance to regularly backup documents and important data in case of drive malfunction. This can quickly achieve with the use of an external hard drive, the majority of which are cheap and offer ample amounts of space. These are a great way of ensuring that you always have your documents for future use, transferring between machines and keeping extra security.

2. Buy a second router. The majority of companies today utilise online services; whether they are writing online or trading, the world wide web is an integral part of a number of businesses. This can create a number of connections on a single piece of hardware, which leads to a decrease in speed. However, by using two routers, you can increase the reach of your wireless and speed the internet.

3. Remove/uninstall older files and de-fragment the drives – Workers are typically required to install a number of programs, some of which are only for one-time usage and then never needed again. Even when not used for some time, some programs will open themselves at start-up, which can sap memory and space, – it is easy, however, to prevent this and uninstall them completely Simply open the control panel and click on ‘uninstall’, or for disabling at start-up, run msconfig.exe, go to start up tab and un-tick unnecessary programs.

4. You may want to have a central network. In most cases, a computer will run slowly because it does not have enough memory, so it could be a good idea to have central computer and then connect this to the individual computers. This central computer would then have all the memory that you need and it would be powerful to run regular computer tasks. You may always want to look into a kiosk hire deal and use it as a way to display network information.

5. Keep desktop screen clear, imagine your desktop screen as your worktop. You will be able to work at a better pace and more easily if you keep it clear. Keep all folders well organised – for further organisation, separate the folders by date. Whilst doing this will not speed up the performance of the system, it does make retrieving and browsing documents a great deal easier.

6. Using the latest Operating Systems. Whilst this can often be an expensive option, there are a number of advantages to using the newest operating system. Software is upgraded frequently to work better with new operating systems, so ensure that you are running the latest versions.

There are a large amount of methods of increasing the processing speed of your computer – some of which are easier and cheaper to implement; however all are definitely worth using as they can help to simplify work and increase employee morale and productivity.

The Value Of Cloud Computing

Why is cloud computing the newest buzz term? What value does it bring to organizations? “It’s become the phrase du jour. The problem is that (as with Web 2.0) everyone seems to have a different definition. The “cloud” is obviously a metaphor for the internet but when you add in the term “computing” the whole phrase gets muddy.  However, when you think of the needs of an organizations IT structure it starts to become clearer. The concept of cloud computing is a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT’s existing capabilities. Cloud computing is location-independent computing, whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources. It is a by product and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet. This frequently takes the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser as if it were a program installed locally on their own computer. Most cloud computing infrastructures consist of services delivered through common centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for consumers’ computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers, and typically include service level agreements (SLAs). There’s a good chance you’ve already used some form of cloud computing. If you have an e-mail account with a Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, then you’ve had some experience with cloud computing. Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn’t exist on your computer — it’s on the service’s computer cloud. The applications of cloud computing are practically limitless. With the right middle-ware, a cloud computing system could execute all the programs a normal computer could run. Potentially, everything from generic word processing software to customized computer programs designed for a specific company could work on a cloud computing system. Why would anyone want to rely on another computer system to run programs and store data? Here are just a few reasons:

Clients would be able to access their applications and data from anywhere at any time. They could access the cloud computing system using any computer linked to the Internet. Data wouldn’t be confined to a hard drive on one user’s computer or even a corporation’s internal network.
It could bring hardware costs down. Cloud computing systems would reduce the need for advanced hardware on the client side. You wouldn’t need to buy the fastest computer with the most memory, because the cloud system would take care of those needs for you. Instead, you could buy an inexpensive computer terminal. The terminal could include a monitor, input devices like a keyboard and mouse and just enough processing power to run the middleware necessary to connect to the cloud system. You wouldn’t need a large hard drive because you’d store all your information on a remote computer.
Corporations that rely on computers have to make sure they have the right software in place to achieve goals. Cloud computing systems give these organizations company-wide access to computer applications. The companies don’t have to buy a set of software or software licenses for every employee. Instead, the company could pay a metered fee to a cloud computing company.
Servers and digital storage devices take up space. Some companies rent physical space to store servers and databases because they don’t have it available on site. Cloud computing gives these companies the option of storing data on someone else’s hardware, removing the need for physical space on the front end.
Corporations might save money on IT support. Streamlined hardware would, in theory, have fewer problems than a network of heterogeneous machines and operating systems.
If the cloud computing system’s back end is a grid computing system, then the client could take advantage of the entire network’s processing power. Often, scientists and researchers work with calculations so complex that it would take years for individual computers to complete them. On a grid computing system, the client could send the calculation to the cloud for processing. The cloud system would tap into the processing power of all available computers on the back end, significantly speeding up the calculation.

As you can see cloud computing is here to stay even with the current debate on security and intellectual property. There are so many tangible benefits to it . In a future post, I will discuss how we as software engineers can benefit from this.

Some Instructions for Ensuring You Get the Most Out Of Your Office Computing Hardware

A lot of office work has been using the same computer for a period of time and have started seeing a noticeable amount of slowdown, and the difficulty of loading multiple programs at once. Throughout the possession of a computer, the machine tends to be full of junk, unused programs and large documents.

Following this, even the most basic needs such as the simultaneous opening of both programs will be difficult, and force the computer to overheat to compensate for the lack of speed, which can lead to irreparable damage to the system.

These situations can be totally avoided with these simple tips that are easy to implement, requiring little computer knowledge. Here are my top 5 tips to ensure that your computer is at its best:

5. Delete old files and defragment your system – the users desktop will sometimes install programs that are intended for single use and never opened. Despite this inactivity, some programs may open on the computer start-up, which can often take a lot of RAM – it is easy, however, to prevent this and to completely uninstall just open the control panel and click “uninstall” programs or to stop opening on startup, press the Windows key and R, type msconfig, go to start tab and uncheck programs that are not necessary.

4. External hard drives – No matter what the work of the office of fact, it is extremely important to preserve all documents and sensitive data in case of failure of the driver. With an external hard drive, this is easily achievable because they are sold cheaply and offer more than enough space. They are a great way to ensure you always have your documents for future use, transfer between machines and the maintenance of additional security.

3. Buy another router. Most companies now use online services, either through research, writing or commerce, the Internet has become a vital part of many companies. This can also lead to significant accumulation in the office of the persons using the same equipment, possibly resulting slow. However, with the use of two routers, you have backup hardware for you

Some Instructions for Ensuring You Get the Most Out Of Your Office Computing Hardware

A lot of office work has been using the same machine for a period of time and have started seeing a noticeable amount of slowdown, and the difficulty of loading multiple programs at once. Throughout the possession of a computer, the machine tends to be full of junk, unused programs and large documents.

Following this, even the most basic needs such as opening two programs simultaneously will be difficult, and force the computer to overheat to compensate for the lack of speed, which can lead to irreparable damage to the system.

These situations can be totally avoided with these simple tips that are easy to implement, requiring little computer knowledge. Here are my top 5 tips to ensure that your computer is at its best:

5. Delete old files and defragment your system – users of desktop computers will sometimes install programs that are intended for single use only and never opened. Despite this inactivity, some programs may open on the computer start-up, which can often take a lot of RAM – it is easy, however, to avoid this and remove them completely just open the control panel and click “uninstall” or to stop the initiation of programs at startup, press the Windows key and R, type msconfig, go to the startup tab and uncheck the programs that are not necessary.

4. External Hard Drive – No matter what the work of the office because it is extremely important to preserve all documents and sensitive data in case of driver failure. With an external hard drive is easily achievable because they are sold at low prices and offer more than enough space. This is an excellent way to ensure you always have your documents for future use, transfer between machines and maintaining additional security.

3. Buy another router. Most companies now use online services, either through research, writing or commerce, the Internet has become a vital part of many companies. This can also lead to a significant accumulation in the office of persons using the same material, possibly leading to slow. However, with the use of two routers, you’ll have backup hardware so you can still connect.

2. Keep your desk clear, like a real desktop. You can be as productive as possible if you keep it well maintained and tidy. Keep all records well organized and if you’re feeling particularly ambitious, he does by date, with separate folders. Although this will not significantly increase the speed of your computer, it makes the retrieval and viewing of documents much easier.

1. Using the latest Operating Systems. This may seem an expensive, but you will see a big advantage to using the most current operating systems. Because the software is always being upgraded, it is essential to use an operating system updated. I had the experience of Addison cabin space in which computers run on Windows XP instead of Windows 7. However, with Windows 7, you will enjoy increased security and automatic updating.

There are a number of improvements to increase computer speed – some are easier and less costly to implement, but all are definitely worth using as they can help to simplify work and a positive influence on productivity….

Cloud Computing vs. Grid Computing

Two such solutions are Grid Computing and Cloud Computing. In order to make the most advantageous choice, it is important for a business to understand the differences between each type of computing solutions

The following outlines the differences between Grid Computing and Cloud Computing:

Grid Computing: Grid Computing is computing technology that includes a combination of computer resources that offers seamless access to computing power and data storage capacity distributed over the globe. Special software is used to separate and outsource parts of a program as one large system image to multiple computers. Users utilizing grid computing will not perform system administrator tasks as systems administrators are involved with installing, upgrading, and virtualizing servers and its applications. The technology has a failover component on one node to prevent a failure of one part of the software on a node to impact the entire system. Grid computing systems require a significant financial investment because hardware and other components have to be acquired. Users can provision computing resources to turn ‘on’ or ‘off’ so it can work as a work utility.

Cloud Computing: Developed from grid computing technology, cloud computing technology offers highly flexible on-demand provisioning of its resources. Over-provisioning is eliminated as Cloud computing has on-demand resource provisioning which helps enterprise significantly cut IT costs.  The customer does not own the platform, infrastructure, or software in the cloud. With cloud computing, users have the ability to scale up to larger capacities at a moment’s notice without having to purchase new computing infrastructure, hire more IT computing experts, and they do not have to license software. Cloud computing operates on a utility basis where users pay for only the resources they use which makes it a more economical computing choice. As well, the computing infrastructure involves connecting various computers across multiple servers making it a large virtual environment which allows users to harness the power and performance of the many resources available.

With cloud computing, enterprise can outsource their data infrastructure ensuring data remains safe and secure in the event of a disaster such as a power outage. Another benefit for business is companies can avoid the high costs of creating an internal data center that is secure. The cloud provider maintains the servers and networks and the sharing of resources among a large pool of users decreases infrastructure costs and peak load capacity. As long as users have access to a computer device and the internet, they can access the server from anywhere.

Although Cloud Computing and Grid Computing both offer high scalability, multitasking, and multitenancy, however the Cloud offers better storage solutions because with grid computing, it is not economically beneficial for storing very small data. The choice of computing technology for each business will depend on their particular business IT infrastructure needs and requirements

 

Cloud Computing Comparison

Cloud computing can be defined as a data service, software and storage service, where the end user is not aware of the physical location and system configuration that delivers the services.  Comparison to this concept can be made with electricity power grid where the consumer is mostly ignorant of the component devices that are needed to give this service.

Cloud computing has evolved from virtualization, autonomic utility computing as well as service oriented architecture.

Here are some clouds computing comparison, which have similar characteristics but should not be confused with the following:

1.Autonomic computing-This is can be defined as a self-capable management computer system.

2.Grid computing-This is a form of parallel computing that is distributed and connected to a main super computer. This super and virtual computer is networked to a cluster of loosely interconnected couple of computers working in unison to perform large tasks.

3.Client-server model-This kind of server computing is a general term that refers to any application that is distributed and is able to differentiate between service requesters (clients) and service providers (server).  

4.Mainframe computer-These are very powerful computers that are found mostly in large organizations that work with important applications, usually bulky data processing like census, statistics of both consumers and industry, financial transaction and resource planning.

5.Utility computing-This can be defined as packaging of computing resources that involves computation and storage. A good example is the metered service that draws similarities to public utility like electricity.

6.Peer to peer-here the distribution architecture is devoid or doesn’t require central coordination having the participants acting as both the suppliers and consumers of the resources unlike the client server model.

7.Service oriented computing-it models around computing techniques that revolve on software service. Cloud on the other hand relies on services that have a relation with computing.

One of the notable characteristic of cloud computing is that the processing and data is dynamic meaning that it is not found in a static place. The model is totally different from the ones which the processes take place in known specified servers and “not in the cloud” like cloud computing. In other words all the other concepts act as complementary or supplementary to this concept.

The cloud computing comparisons don’t end there. The system software architecture that is involved in delivery of cloud computing involves the following: Multiple cloud components that inter-communicates over interfaces application programming. This is achieved through web services on the 3 tier architecture. The principle follows that of UNIX where multiple programs work concurrently over universal interfaces.

Front end and back end are the two most significant components of cloud computing architecture. The computer user is able to see the front end which is the computer as well as the applications that are used to access cloud on web browser and other interface. The back end, on the other end, of the cloud architecture is the ‘cloud’ that comprises of data storage devices, servers and various computers.

Those are some of the cloud computing comparisons.