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According to Business Wire, the worldwide public cloud services market, including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, grew 26.0 percent in 2019, year after year (BusinessWire, 2020). Revenues for the cloud service market totaled $233.4 billion, according to the IDC Worldwide Semiannual Public Cloud Service Tracker (BusinessWire, 2020). Organizations are moving to a cloud service at exceptional rates, as proven by the cloud services market revenue figures over the last ten years. Cloud adoption statistics are also proving which cloud platforms have the highest installation rates. By the end of 2020, 67% of enterprise infrastructure will be cloud-based (Radoslav, 2020). Not surprisingly, in 2020, it is estimated that 81% of all enterprises have a plan for a multi-cloud strategy (Radoslav, 2020). Additionally, 82% of the workload will reside on one or more cloud platforms (Radoslav, 2020). In 2020, a staggering 40 zettabytes of data will flow through cloud servers and networks.

Company eBay is a high touch consumer-driven organization. eBay's platform and data model delivery are paramount to its success. Research statistics have shown that the average person uses 36 cloud-based services every single day. eBay's ecommerce web portal must be delivered via the cloud, with real-time processing and high-security levels. eBay must make the decision on which cloud vendor(s) to select, as well as which cloud platform best suits its ecommerce web portal needs.

There are five characteristics to a cloud computing model: On-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service (Mell & Grance, 2011, p.6).

On-demand self-service: Cloud systems give the end-user access to all system capabilities whenever needed, including access to software, hardware, and network storage.

Broad network access: Cloud capabilities are available through the network and accessed through client platforms. Examples are mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations (Mell & Grance, 2011, p.6).

Resource pooling: Resources are available to all users simultaneously. Resources are delivered according to user demand and are regardless of location (Mell & Grance, 2011, p.6). Examples of these resources include storage, processing, memory, and network bandwidth.

Rapid elasticity: Computing capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released. Elasticity can also be automatic, scaling rapidly outward and inward to accommodate demand (Mell & Grance, 2011, p.6).

Measured service: Depending on the type of service, cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use (Mell & Grance, 2011, p.6). Examples include storage, processing, bandwidth, and user accounts.

There are three basic service models for utilizing cloud computing, and they are differentiated by who controls the cloud platform. The service models are Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (Paas), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

Software as a Service (SaaS): The consumer uses the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure. These applications can be accessed through a web browser or a program interface. The principal distinguishing factor is that the consumer does not manage or control the cloud infrastructure. End-users are provided with a functioning product that is run and managed by the service provider. An example of a SaaS application is web-based email, "where you can send and receive email without having to manage feature additions to the email product or maintaining the servers and operating systems that the email program is running on" (Amazon Web Services, 2019).

Platform as a Service (PaaS): In a PaaS model, the end-user deploys their own applications onto a hosted cloud and is charged for usage on a pay-per-use or charge-per-use basis. The service user does not manage or control the cloud infrastructure. The network, servers, operating systems, and storage is maintained by the cloud service provider (CSP). PaaS platforms "remove the need for organizations to manage the underlying infrastructure (usually hardware and operating systems) and allow you to focus on the deployment and management of your applications" (Amazon Web Services, 2019).

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): IaaS allows for the highest level of flexibility and management control over IT resources and is the closest set-up to existing IT resources that many IT departments and developers are familiar with today (Amazon Web Services, 2019). The enterprise owns the processing, storage, networks, and computing resources, and the cloud provider owns the cloud infrastructure (Mell & Grance, 2011, p.2).

Cloud computing is undoubtedly becoming the most popular technology implementation, but all factors must be considered when making the decision to implement a cloud platform. The decision to implement a cloud solution depends on the IT organization's end goal. Cloud computing reduces technology cost, empower users, enable self-service, and relieves an organization of funding infrastructure (Salih & Edreis, 2016, pp. 195-199). The cloud automates management, distributes control, scales, empowers, and supersedes virtualization (Salih & Edreis, 2016, pp. 195-199). IT departments can eliminate a high percentage of the IT tasks associated with in-house equipment in the cloud. Cloud-based equipment resides offsite and is maintained by the cloud provider. Cloud service providers have spent years building out data centers with highly scalable hardware, so now the cloud can accommodate every size and function currently in use within in-house IT centers today (Salih & Edreis, 2016, pp. 195-199). With a cloud platform delivery, an organization gets infrastructure (through IaaS), development platforms (through PaaS), and applications (through SaaS) delivered as a service. The responsibility of maintaining these systems is no longer the organization's problem (Salih & Edreis, 2016, pp. 195-199).

Every organization and thereby, every end-user will get a different set of benefits from cloud computing. A widespread evaluation is necessary throughout the corporate level, subsidiary level, the divisional level, the department level, and ultimately, the end-user level. Evaluation for potential savings is one way to approach the evaluation. However, the intangible cost savings for improved productivity, more speed, lowered risk, flexible, and low-cost IT resources must also be considered. Cost savings with pay-as-you-go pricing is also a benefit very appealing to many companies who have fluctuating needs. With cloud computing, no costly upfront investments in hardware or software are required. The flexibility to use exactly the right type and size of computing resources needed when needed is very appealing. According to the head of IBM cloud services, cloud computing offers numerous benefits and can be categorized by its flexibility, efficiency, and strategic value (Sauerwalt, 2019).

Cloud platform computing can be deployed in four different ways, and the optimal deployment model is usually based upon security restrictions, cost, and in-house IT depth (Dlamini, Eloff & Eloff, 2016).

In a public cloud deployment, the cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large group. The infrastructure itself is owned by the organization delivering cloud services. Public cloud providers charge users on average enough to cover their costs. In addition, cloud service providers implement security mechanisms to control data access, meaning the data is not open to the public. The primary benefit of a public cloud is that its set-up is easy and inexpensive (The Open Group, n.d.).

In a private cloud deployment, the cloud infrastructure is only accessible to the individual enterprise and is not open to the public. The cloud platform may be managed by the enterprise, and the actual infrastructure can be either on-site or off-site. In cases where a third party operates and manages the cloud infrastructure, cloud delivery is referred to as a virtual private cloud (The Open Group, n.d.).

In a hybrid cloud deployment, the cloud infrastructure is comprised of two or more cloud deployment types. The cloud entities remain unique but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (The Open Group, n.d.).

When the cloud infrastructure is shared, this is referred to as a community cloud deployment model. The sharing can be between several enterprises. Usually, the community shares some sort of common ground that enables cloud sharing to work. Examples would be when multiple organizations share the same mission, security requirements, corporate policy, and compliance restrictions. Community cloud is like a private cloud in that it solves network bandwidth issues, security exposures, and external legal issues, and its use can be controlled and managed (The Open Group, n.d.). Community cloud can be like a public cloud as the set-up is easy, and there is a more efficient sharing of resources. (The Open Group, n.d.).

Platform as a Service (PaaS), often referred to as the "Cloud," has a set-up unlike that seen in the traditional environment. It has been streamlined to assist its users. With this approach, the organization is responsible for the applications and data, while the PaaS provider is responsible for everything else. This means that developers will not have to focus on maintaining the operating systems, virtualization, servers, storage solutions, and networking. PaaS's method of delivery is comparable to SaaS as they share the same features, but depending on the situation, PaaS would be a preferred method.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is often referred to as "the Cloud" and operates in a network set up, unlike what is seen in current traditional environments. What sets this environment apart is who is responsible for what, and in the PaaS environment, the Cloud Provider will be responsible for almost everything. "The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting environment" (Mell & Grance, 2011). This means that In the PaaS system, the audience is really one of two people, the application developer, or the host.

There are a few characteristics to be noted about PaaS technology to include:

· Being built in a virtual environment

· Contains services for the development, testing and, deployment of created applications

· Allows access to the created applications to its users (possibly at the same time)

· Incorporates web services and database for application use and delivery purposes

To form an idea of PaaS's characteristics, it is necessary also to know what companies or what PaaS services are available. Depending on what PaaS you choose will define how the created applications will work in the environment created for them. The following are examples of companies delivering PaaS cloud platforms.

· AWS Elastic Beanstalk

· Windows Azure

· Heroku

· Force.com,

· Google App Engine,

· Apache

· Stratos

· OpenShift

(Watts & Raza, 2019)

The following information on the advantages and challenges of PaaS use was obtained from CompTIA, the world's leading tech association (CompTIA, 2020).

· Time Savings: The consumer does not need to spend time setting up or maintaining the core stack (CompTIA, 2020).

· Speed to Market: The creation of applications is faster, allowing for faster speed to market (CompTIA, 2020).

· Future-Proof: All future releases and technology are assessable. The consumer has access to a state-of-the-art data center, hardware, and operating systems (CompTIA, 2020).

· Increase Security: PaaS providers invest heavily in security technology and expertise (CompTIA, 2020).

· Dynamically Scale: PaaS allows for rapidly added capacity in peak times and scales down as needed (CompTIA, 2020).

· Custom Solutions: PaaS has operational tools in place, so developers can create custom software (CompTIA, 2020).

· Flexibility: PaaS allows employees to log in and work on applications from anywhere (CompTIA, 2020).

· Vendor Dependency: Once purchased, a company is dependent on the vendor's capabilities, which may not allow the use of other vendor's services (CompTIA, 2020).

· Risk of Lock-in: Customers may be locked into resources with servers, hypervisors, and storage solutions (CompTIA, 2020).

· Compatibility: If PaaS is used in conjunction with existing development platforms, there may be difficulties (CompTIA, 2020).

· Secure Risks: While PaaS providers secure the infrastructure and platform, businesses are responsible for the security of the applications they build (CompTIA, 2020).

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides a business or entity with the hardware required to establish a network infrastructure as needed. Server and storage capacity can be rapidly deployed and adjusted on an as-used basis. The cloud service provider providing the IaaS package can monitor usage requirements as they ebb and flow with consumer use, allowing for an accurate, real-time adjustment of server capacity. Pursuing an IaaS solution through a cloud service provider can help reduce a business's overall costs through a more traditional, on-premise network solution. On-premise network solutions not only require the physical hardware and the building to house it, but the personnel to manage the network, security, and facilities housing the network infrastructure. Figure 1 below from Microsoft depicts the services available through IaaS (Microsoft, n.d.).

Figure 1: IaaS (Microsoft, n.d.).

The advantages of IaaS are multifaceted but center around providing the flexibility an organization needs to meet consumer demand by renting as opposed to owning a potentially large and sprawling network infrastructure. Cloud service providers often offer a pay for what is needed model that helps reduce costs by ensuring server capacity is available when needed but not forcing an organization to pay for server space it is not using. Redundancy is often built into any IaaS offering so that the fear of losing data via breach or hardware failure is drastically reduced. The backing of a large cloud service provider such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud means buying into an already heavily invested and massive server infrastructure. These organizations pride themselves on their ability to offer an almost 100% up-time throughout the year; this up-time and availability rate is provided to the customer and ensures they have near unlimited access to their platforms. Procuring an IaaS offering also allows an organization to provide rapid access to new applications if accessed via the cloud with a URL (Microsoft, n.d.).

As with any cloud service provider's offerings, there are inherent limitations of working within the service level agreements, terms, and conditions of use for another company. Any entity working with a cloud service provider must ensure they have plans to maintain and upgrade their network hardware and infrastructure so that no losses in network availability or incompatibility issues arise. If resulting in downtime, maintenance cycles should be noted as it could translate to lost time on the network or even lost data if not appropriately managed. Security remains a top concern for every organization working with large swathes of data. Entire corporations have faded into obscurity due to a lapse in security, a data breach, and private consumer data loss. Security and the levels to which it is provided are in the cloud service provider's hands when procuring IaaS (Avatara, n.d.). It is essential for the organization to work with the cloud service provider to ensure the level of security envisioned for their data meets to requirements of the organization.

Software as a Service (SaaS) allows customers to use the provider's applications running on cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible through the internet and web browser. SaaS enables a provider to offer IS application as a service to customers by hosting the IS application in their own IT infrastructure or infrastructure obtained as a service from an IaaS provider. In this case, customers only need minimal IT infrastructure for consuming the service. Customers only have limited user-specific configuration capability and do not manage or control the underlying infrastructure and application platform.

· Universal Access

· Vendor managed upgrades

· Pay per use

· Reliability

· Security

· No capital investments

· No maintenance overhead for user IT department

· Issues with data migration

· Lack of perceived control

· Standardized features

In the table below, a summary is provided of the key differences between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS as they pertain to customization, deployment, infrastructure, and limitations.

Table 1: Comparison Between IaaS, PaaS & SaaS

The figure below shows examples of what the organization architecture looks like in each service model (Ramamoorthy, 2018). The service model architecture defines the boundaries of the cloud service models, how and where particular services fit, and how the discrete service models align and interact (Tepe, 2020). In this figure, green indicates more control, and pink indicates less control in the service model architecture.

Figure 2: Service Models (Ramamoorthy, 2018)

A description is provided of how each of the three cloud service models are inter-related in the table below. This table shows each service model's capabilities, the resources delivered, and the requirements for hardware, software, and network components.

Table 2: Cloud Service Models (Tepe, 2020)

The following figure shows examples of organizations that deliver each of the Cloud Service Models (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS).

Figure 3: Service Model Architecture (Tepe, 2020)

* Reader Note: SaaS revenues include both SaaS Applications and SaaS System Infrastructure Software.

Studies have shown that its positive return on investment has justified the cost of implementing a cloud platform. Forrester Consulting did a detailed analysis of an Azure PaaS implementation showing the potential return on investment (ROI) that enterprises may realize by moving their application development and deployment to Azure PaaS (Rajkumar, 2017). The study found that a 466 percent return on investment was realized (Rajkumar, 2017). As well, IT administrative time was reduced by 80 percent (Rajkumar, 2017). Another positive outcome was a decrease in delivery times, with a 50 percent decrease in time-to-market delivery (Rajkumar, 2017). A summary of the findings justifying a positive return on investment is found

Figure 4: Cloud ROI (Rajkumar, 2017).

· Block Storage service

·  Microsoft

· .05 per-GB price for the Block Storage service; on the other hand, Amazon AWS charges users $0.045 per-GB (cloud.netapp.com,2020, Block Storage section, para.1)

Although there are many cloud computing companies in the market, Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS cloud services are selected to show the price comparison on their similar services. According to the cloud.netapp.com, the following are the services that are offered by Microsoft Azure and Amazon cloud services:

· On-Demand/Linux/ General purpose/4CPU/16 GB Memory

· Reserved 3 year/Linux/General Purpose/4 CPUs/16 GB Memory

· Object Storage service

· Block Storage service

The following are examples of the pricing models for cloud services from Microsoft Azure, and in the figure below, a comparison of the plans.

Microsoft Azure charges users $0.1670 / hour for the On-Demand/Linux/ General purpose/4CPU/16 GB Memory, whereas Amazon AWS charges users $0.1856 per hour (cloud.netapp.com,2020, on-Demand section, para.1).

Microsoft Azure charges users $0.0701 per hour for the Reserved 3 year/Linux/General Purpose/4 CPUs/16 GB Memory; in contrast, Amazon AWS charges users $0.0705 per hour (cloud.netapp.com,2020, Reserved 3-year section, para.1).

Microsoft Azure charges users $0.208 for Object Storage service, whereas Amazon AWS charges users $0.230 per-GB (cloud.netapp.com,2020, Object Storage section, para.1).

Microsoft Azure charges $ 0.05 per-GB price for the Block Storage service; on the other hand, Amazon AWS charges users $0.045 per-GB (cloud.netapp.com, 2020, Block Storage section, para.1).

Figure 5: AWS Price Comparison (Cloud netapp.com, 2020)

The recommendations outlined in this section address a cloud solution for an eCommerce portal for company eBay. A cloud computing enterprise system would help solve Company eBay's need for a consumer enabled web portal. Cloud Services should be part of the corporate strategic business plan, ensuring buy-in from the top down. If Company eBay's goal is to lowering technology costs, empower its users, enable self-service, and get out of individually maintaining IT infrastructure across many divisions, cloud computing is the answer. The cloud's value is in automating: in both IT and in management.

The creation of a web portal for eBay requires network resources that are invisible to the buyers and sellers that interact on eBay's e-commerce storefront. A cloud solution is the most optimal, with PaaS, the deployment model that most meets eBays needs. With PaaS, Group One can offer eBay tailored web-based interfaces to both buyers and sellers and allow for the types of data collection, storage, and analysis that the cloud makes possible. PaaS also integrates the capability to manage databases, of which there will potentially be many considering the number of sellers that eBay intends to host. A PaaS deployment model allows eBay to integrate inventory management and shipping systems into their e-commerce system while saving the costs of hiring network administrators with expertise in multiple operating system environments. The cloud service provider will manage the network and provide the development and test environment Group One requires to continue the maintenance and updating of eBay's web-based applications to provide the end-users with the best experience possible.

Microsoft Azure is a leading cloud services provider. The Azure website states, "Microsoft successfully figured out how to transform traditional businesses to use the cloud and artificial intelligence. Turn ideas into solutions with more than 100 services to build, deploy, and manage applications in the cloud, on-premises, and at the edge, using the tools and frameworks of your choice" (Microsoft, n.d.).

A platform of this caliber is exactly what Company eBay needs.

With a cloud deployment, Company eBay can utilize the cloud's elasticity and scalability to take advantage of the high-availability and cost-effective benefits of the cloud. Moreover, Company eBay requires varying amounts of computing power due to varying workloads from the different entities. A PaaS service model will meet computing power needs, which are always in high demand. The functionally of PaaS will give Company eBay the flexibility to handle and provide many alternatives to manage cloud resources in its eCommerce web portal delivery.

Company eBay seeks a web portal ecommerce technology transformation. This report details the dynamic change required to achieve a proactive, resilient, and scalable solution in the delivery of an ecommerce web portal. Group One concludes that it is necessary to evolve the company into an enterprise that will manage data and resources in the cloud. Cloud migration is key to enabling the enterprise to consolidate and share critical resources to facilitate user access and meet the corporation and consumer goals. Company eBay cloud directive will lead to a digital culture transition towards being an agile, innovative, and customer-focused organization. Group One has made informed data-driven decisions that will enable Company eBay to build an executable and secure cloud platform, while optimizing technology and processes to deliver its objective of an ecommerce web platform. The networks and infrastructure will align with organization requirements to enable a timely, relevant, and trusted ecommerce web solution delivered via the cloud to Company eBay.