Cloud computing, a
hosted software service provider, is allowing companies gain a competitive
advantage over their competition by giving them resources that are less
expensive and cut down development time.
Cloud computing, however, is not a good fit for every organization. Companies who are considering using cloud
computing need to look at the legal and technical ramifications of doing
business with cloud computing. This
paper will explore the organizational, technical, and legal ramifications of
integrating cloud computing into a business.
New Developments
in IT
Cloud Computing is a technology that is gaining popularity with
many companies. Cloud computing is a
hosted computing service that is offered by cloud computing providers. The
users of cloud computing service are able offload the many of the traditional
IT tasks. These services can take the place of hardware, software, or data
entry staff. Companies are using cloud
computing to gain a strategic advantage over their competition. Properly deciding to use these services for
an organization requires that IT personnel know advantages and disadvantages of
cloud computing.
Services
There are many different
cloud computing services that are offered.
Although a website can exist entirely in the cloud, many companies are
taking an ala-carte approach to cloud computing. These companies find the services that meet a
particular IT need.
Database
SimpleDB by Amazon is the leader in the database cloud arena. SimpleDB is fast, cost effective, and is free
when used with other Amazon Services or used below one million requests per
month (Amazon, n.d.). While Amazon’s SimpleDB is low cost and fast
it does have limitations. There is
currently a limit of 5000 rows returned from a query. SimpleDB does automatically many of the tasks
data base administrators do such as backup and optimize queries. Companies that use SimpleDB find that they are
able to have a data storage solution without having to hire a database
administrator to manage the data.
Microsoft is beta testing its answer to Amazons SimpleDB with the
Azure platform (Microsoft, 2009). The Azure platform gives users a virtual
operating system in the cloud. This virtual server has access to a fully
relational database. Many companies that
do not want any limits on their databases will choose this option. Microsoft is currently giving this service
away for free until February 2010.
File Storage
Amazon's Cloudfront has gained notoriety by Internet startups that
choose to use their file storage cloud to house large amounts of user generated
content (Kho, 2009). Data stored on the Cloudfront can be shared
like images on a website or privately stored such as information backups.
Amazon to Cloudfront has become a popular choice among Internet
startups because it is able to scale instantly. For example, Animoto.com, a
small Internet company of 25,000 registered users, was featured on the home
page of Slashdot.com (Kho, 2009). Over a
three-day period increase the amount of registered users to 250,000. If they had housed all of their IT assets
in-house they could have needed up to 10 times the server capacity to stay
operational. Having unused excess
server capacity can be costly. Amazon’s
Cloudfront allows companies to scale there processors and network bandwidth
usage automatically. Animoto.com was
able to keep their website up and running during the spike in traffic.
Testing
Software testing is
an important part of developing software. There are many different types of software
testing companies. Many companies test
their software programmatically for bugs or perform a stress test of their
software.
Stress testing can be particularly difficult for website companies
because often need a large number of computers pinging the website at the same
time. Many companies do not have the
staff and machines necessary to perform a stress test effectively. Skytap is website testing cloud-based service
that can perform stress test on a website (Babcock, 2009). Skytap’s testing software integrates with
Microsoft’s Visual Studio, a software development platform, and allows company
testers to upload test instructions to the Skytap cloud. Skytap then uses their large bank of
computers to run their stress test.
Security
A company’s most
vulnerable part of their IT infrastructure is the internet (George, 2009). The internet has become an integral part of
modern business. Employees use web based
tools and website as part of their jobs.
Many companies have chosen to use antivirus products and spyware
software to help guard against security threats. Clouds are being offered that will secure company's
entire network through its enhanced security protocols. This allows companies to eliminate the need
to buy antivirus software and reduces the amount of computer updating the need
to do.
Computing
Microsoft is offering virtual computers through their Azure
platform (Microsoft, 2009). Companies
can upload their entire computing system to Azure’s platform. Users can specify the amount of memory and
processor speed of the servers they wish to use. This allows companies increase the amount of servers they can use
without needing to spend the resources purchasing their own server farm. Companies that require a large amount of
processing power such as scientists can use Microsoft platform to scale their
applications across many computers.
Human Work
Cloud computing is
being used to connect people together.
Amazon’s Mechanical Turk allows companies to use a web service to bid on
a type of work called human intelligence tasks (Rigby, 2007). These tasks include things such as writing a
review of products or doing data entry. Companies
can then audit records and track the usefulness of the people that are doing
work.
Many websites needing data reviews on products have found that
Amazon’s Mechanical Turk provides them a way of getting a large number of data
entry people to do simple tasks. Companies
like the Mechanical Turk solution because it is able to scale rapidly. Hundreds of man-hours worth of work can be done
in a single day. Companies using the
Mechanical Turk do not have to hire permanent employees or supply office space
and computers to temporary employees.
Mechanical Turk allows companies to walk away when the project is
completed.
Use Implications
There are many different kinds of services that are offered by
cloud computer vendors. This new way of
doing business can help companies reduce cost and speed up the time to market
of their products. The challenge of
modern business owners is to know what types of these services can help their
company and what could leave them vulnerable.
Although cloud computing offers many advantages over traditional IT
infrastructures it also requires a different set of skills. Cloud computing requires that IT
professionals have an understanding of the ramifications of working in the
cloud.
Cloud computing is not a good fit for every organization. Companies need to look at their needs and
compare them with the services that are being offered. Companies also need to look at the legal
ramifications of using services in the cloud.
Project Management
Project managers need understand the implications of working with
cloud computing. Cloud computing can
lock companies into service level agreements, software architectures, and
vendor limitations. Project managers who
are successful in developing projects in cloud computing environments need to
understand how to maximize the benefits of cloud computing and minimize the
risks.
Legal
When using cloud
computing project managers need to know the service level agreements. Service level agreements allow project
managers to ensure that the features that were promised would be delivered. Many cloud severs, for example, offer a
guarantee of a 99.9% uptime. The service
level agreement allows the company purchasing the cloud service a legal
guarantee that the services they paid for it will be delivered (Bean, 2009).
Companies
that are dealing with private information must be able to ensure that their
service provider is in legal compliance (Bean, 2009). Internal auditors may not be able to properly
review the information as mandated by law.
They are different laws that apply to data hosted on the cloud. If the police are looking for information
host on the cloud they can do so without a warrant (Bean, 2009). Information that is stored in a company's
private servers is protected. This lack
of control can be costly for organizations that wish to keep their information
private.
Contracts
In 2007 Carbinite
Inc, a cloud service provider, lost the data they stored for 7500 clients (Zielinski,
2009). Amazon's popular S3 went down
for eight hours at one time. Contracts
help companies recoup losses when disaster strikes. Carbinite, for example, paid customers for
their outage.
Legal contracts also help companies deal with the legal standing
of a company. A company that is using a
cloud that has its servers housed a different country may not have legal
standing in the country that the client resides in. If the client needs to sue they may have to
take it up with the legal magistrates of the country where the servers are
housed (Zielinski, 2009).
Many cloud providers have servers in multiple countries. This helps them scale on a global basis. Cloud service providers often place their
servers several countries mitigate the risk of natural disasters bringing down
their services. When a natural disaster
strikes in one area and the servers are brought off-line. A cloud service provider that operates in
different countries can continue to operate seamlessly when disaster strikes. Having its data sent to several countries
simultaneously, cloud computing can present companies with increased risk of
legal implications in each of these countries.
Updates
Updates of the cloud
servers are taken care of by the service provider (Smith, 2009). This can reduce the burden of server
maintenance on the purchaser of the cloud service. Many counties find they are able to reduce or
eliminate the need for IT staff because of the ease of operating within the
cloud.
Software updates issued by the cloud provider can be a different
situation. Many cloud providers issue new
updates to software they provide. This
can be problematic when dealing with hundreds of customers. A software update may break existing
customers systems. Many cloud computing providers
have dealt with this is by allowing the consumers of their product the ability
to tell them which version they are using.
Versioning of cloud services helps consumers target a particular service
version. Updates may add have new
features, however, upgrade the new version may require additional development
and testing resources. By allowing
companies to target versions cloud providers are making it possible for the
consumers of the cloud services the ability to upgrade services on their
timeline.
External factors such as new versions by cloud providers may not
be within the budget of project managers or within their SDLC plan. This could throw project plans off
track. For example, if a company was
developing a product depend on cloud computing and the new version came out
during the middle of their development they may need to start from the beginning
on some of their software developer plans.
Versioning allows them to target one stable implementation of the cloud
computing service.
Development
Cloud computing requires that developers have a different mindset
than traditional software developers to.
Software developers to use cloud computing must take a modular approach
to developing software. They must also
consider the different types of resources they'll be using as they develop
software that is dependent upon cloud computing resources.
Software as a
Service
The term software
as a service (SaaS) describes a subset of cloud computing. Software as a service entails offering a
program interface for a service that is hosted in the cloud (Gold, Night,
Mohan, & Munro, 2004). Companies
such as Google have offered their mapping SaaS for years. Users of SaaS can integrate this on-demand
software product as part of their system (Williams, 2009).
Modular Programming
Companies that are
consumers of cloud computing products are forced to develope their software
around the constraints of cloud computing (Luthria & Rabhi, 2009). Cloud computing forces software engineers to
use a modularized approach to building software. The software must be able to integrate cloud
services into their systems. This may
not be the ideal solution for many companies.
Making too many requests to a cloud, for example, could result in a slow
performing application. Software
developers may need to architect their software in a way that limits of the
impact at the cloud will have on their systems.
Many companies find that they are able to have a faster build time by
purchasing software components that are not cloud based. These help the software developers build
products faster and limit the impact of network latency.
SaaS’s use of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), a XML-based
cross-platform language, allows it to fit in with many companies service
oriented architecture approach to developing systems. In a service oriented architecture approach
developing systems parts of the whole application are broken up into components
and communicate via SOAP. This allows
many programs to use the same components.
Because SOAP is able to communicate with many languages on many
different offering systems cloud computing allows companies to develop software
on different operating systems and platforms that use the same cloud.
Latency
Sending information
from a client to the cloud involves SOAP.
The use of XML requires a larger amount of data to be sent across the
network (Conry-Murray, 2008). This can
slow systems down if they rely on a heavy amount of data to be sent. Sending data to remote servers halfway across
the world can also reduce the speed of the software being built. Software with latency issues can appear to
freeze out while the software waits for the information to come across the
network. Websites that have latency
issues can appear to load very slowly.
When developing programs that use clouds as part of their
architecture. Developers need to be
aware of the amount traffic they're sending in the limitations of their
internal network. Products are developed
on the company's intranet that our bandwidth heavy can have an impact on other
systems that use the intranet.
Management
Unlike many of the modern advancements in technology cloud
computing did not spring up from one persons idea. Cloud computing has evolved slowly to meet
the needs of businesses. Cloud computing
is a product that has been able to meet the needs of business, management and
developers (Snyder, 2008). In today's competitive business environment
IT managers have embraced cloud computing as a way of cutting costs, reducing
time to market, and using a platform that encourages growth. Companies are using cloud computing reduce
cost and free up capital. For example, SAP
Aktiengesellschaft, a large SAP software company is reducing the cost of
traditional licincing fees associated with SAP by giving their clients to
choice to use a cloud service from them rather than buy SAP on top of the
software they provide (McGrath
& MacMillan, 2009).
Cost
Cost is one of the
major factors in IT management choosing to use cloud computing (Denne, 2007).
Cloud computing uses a pay-as-you-go billing system (McGrath &
MacMillan, 2009). There is no startup
costs with cloud computing. This can be
a very distinct advantage over traditional development methods. Companies have traditionally needed to spend
a large amount of money on infrastructure before the software is deployed. Companies need to buy severs, software
licenses, secured server facilities, and server maintenance personnel to start
their companies. With cloud computing
companies pay for only what they use.
Many cloud providers give some of their services away for free for
companies who only use a small amount of bandwidth (Amazon n.d.). This is ideal for startups that have not
launched their product yet.
Capital
expenditures make it difficult to start new companies or new projects. Many companies require lengthy budget
approval processes to buy new software. Cloud
computing provides a solution for this problem for many companies. Systems that are housed in the cloud require
only operational expenditures because of their pay-as-you-go payment plan. This is making it possible for management to
skip the budget approval process and make IT decisions that are important to
their business.
Many
cloud computing companies such as Amazon and have a minimum threshold of
requests before they start charging.
Amazon's simple DB does not charge until the application uses 25 machine
hours or reaches a gigabyte of either storage or data transfer (Amazon
n.d.). This allows startup websites to
develop their website without incurring any costs. This also allows many small projects or
hobbyist to build systems at no cost at all.
Many
IT managers like the fact that there are many providers for the same types of
systems. If, for example, a company
finds a lower cost provider for the same service they can switch. Because virtually all cloud services use SOAP
switching between providers is not difficult.
Organizational
Strategy
Many CEOs like
utility that cloud computing allows them (Luthria & Rabhi, 2009). Cloud computing modular structured approach to
help IT management to form an organizational strategy based on modular assets
that they already possess. Modularity of
cloud computing allows companies to grow more rapidly because they do not have
to reinvent their software and architecture for every project.
Cloud computing also allows companies to maintain a smaller IT
staff. This can change the primary role
of IT in many organizations from maintenance to development. This in turn can help companies grow
faster. Companies with less IT staff are
able to be more flexible with their systems.
Companies that use cloud computing find that they do not have to wait
for budget approval before implementing new systems that require servers.
Companies who wish to use cloud computing successfully must be
able to live within the confines of the services being offered. For many companies that wish to grow their
features of a product control of the development process may be a large
factor. Cloud computing only provides a
limited resource. The business stake holders
do not own the cloud service. They have
no real ability to have the service provider add features (Antonopoulos, 2009).
Organizational
Structure
Large maintenance staffs are often not required on companies that
use cloud computing (Luthria & Rabhi, 2009). These companies can use their savings to hire
a larger development team and produce the solution even sooner. This shift the types of IT people a company
needs can often mean they are able to produce products even faster by shifting
the personnel in the IT department from maintenance to development.
Organizations that use cloud computing need to hire people who
understand the legal implications of using cloud computing. Organizations may also need to have lawyers
review service level agreements and other documents pertaining to the services
that are they provide. They may also need to hire project managers who
understand the limitations that cloud computing puts on the development
team. Finally, they may need to hire
developers who program in a language that is supported by cloud typical cloud
providers.
Future Growth
A survey published in December 2008 found that 90% of companies
are planning to grow their use of SaaS (O’Sullivan, 2009). Service oriented architecture is becoming the
de-facto software development methodology for many companies. SaaS a standardized SOAP communication
protocol making it a good fit for future growth.
Many companies are using SOAP’s low overhead and cross-platform
ability to develop systems that are compatible with newer devices such as smart
phones and home gaming consoles. In the
future there could be many different types of systems with varying levels of
capacity that would all need to use similar software. More than any system of available today cloud
computing allows companies to care for growth.
Cloud providers and clients are finding ways of communicating
other that SOAP. Some cloud companies
are providing JSON support which allows web browsers to communicate directly
with the cloud (Udell, 2006). Companies are making software that allows
people to use the cloud without using SOAP. Bucket Explorer is a software product that
allows anyone to put file on Amazon’s S3 with a simple user interface (Charmbal, n.d.).
Scalability
Cloud computing on-demand model allows companies to use only the
amount of services that they need (O’Sullivan, 2009). Many cloud computing service providers offer
a free account for development purposes.
A company can use a very inexpensive or free portion of a server while
they are in development and then scale up as needed.
Scalability can be a large problem for organizations. Increasing the amount of servers may require
new electoral lines be put in, new ventilation and air-conditioning systems be
installed, additional space be rented to house the equipment, additional server
licenses, and the cost of the equipment itself . Adding additional servers to a project can be
a very costly and time-consuming task. The
cloud computing pay-as-you-go system does not require any upfront costs. In most cases the cloud automatically
increases the amount of servers when it detects an additional load and placed
on the cloud. The customer is then built
for what they use.
Internet-based companies find that they have highly fluctuating
server loads. These companies can easily
receive 10 times the traffic on a normal day when they are featured on an
Internet news sites. For a company to be
able to accommodate spikes in traffic without cloud computing would mean they
would need to have 10 times the amount of capacity than they would use on a
typical day. During a typical day most
of their servers would be unused. Having
large quantities of unused servers can be a cost burden for many Internet
companies.
Maintenance
With cloud computing server maintenance is part of the service (O’Sullivan,
2009). Companies that use cloud computing
and not have to worry about upgrades and obsolete computers and operating
systems. Cloud providers free their
subscribers from having to support their servers.
As most cloud services support older versions of their products
companies who do not want to perform upgrades on their existing software have
no reason to. There is no reason to
perform software maintenance unless a company wishes to upgrade their existing
system. This allows companies to make
changes on their time schedule.
Business Perspective
From a business perspective cloud computing makes a good deal of
sense. It allows companies to quickly develop
a system that is secure and can be easily integrated with system both internal
and external to their company.
Fast to Market
Cloud computing componentized modular approach allows companies to
develop software faster. This can give
companies a competitive advantage.
Companies who are able to deliver new software and software upgrades are
more able to meet the needs of their customers.
The ability to deliver new products to market faster has been very
desirable to web site companies. In
these types of companies there are usually several companies that compete with
the each other for users.
Mash-up
Products that are
available on the cloud can be shared with business partners. A service that has been combined with another
to create an additional product is called a mash-up (Fichter & Wisniewski,
2009). Business people are realizing
the advantage of using mash-up technology.
Google for example, offers it’s mapping software for free on the
Internet. CrimeReports.com, for example,
gets data from Google maps and the publicly available information on crimes to
create a report for a given area.
Companies are able to provide part of their web software as a
service. Other companies can use these
software products but usually are required to have a link back to the company
that provided the service. This has
allowed many ecommerce companies to sell their products on other websites.
Security
Security is a major
concern for many companies. Cloud
computing can present a risk to security by having data that is readily
available through the Internet without fire walls. Data is usually locked
behind a lengthy username and access key.
In a company if a person who has access to the companies databases leave
the company can simply remove that person’s access. If, on the other hand, the company wishes to
restrict a person from the cloud they would have to change the username and
password for the cloud. This would mean
that every system that is accessing the cloud would not be able to communicate
with it. Software developers need to
have a way of storing cloud passwords in a way that allows them to be changed
across all their systems in a moment’s notice.
Platform Agnostic
In a traditional software development environment software is
built for one specific operating system and software package. For example, if the software is built using
SQL Server and the F# programming language than the software would only be
available to companies that used Microsoft Windows operating system. Cloud computing, however, with its SOAP data
transfer protocols allows software to that is developed on one operating system
to be used by others. Cloud service
providers often have easy ways for developers to port their service to systems
such as smart phones. Many cloud
providers provide software plug-ins for popular programming languages. Companies who find that they are able to use
a popular programming language are able to develop software even faster using
cloud computing.
Conclusion
Cloud computing is finding its way into many businesses. Cloud computing provides a strategic
advantage over traditional software development methods. From a developer point of view computing
provides a quick way to develop systems that are powerful, scalable and have
had some level of bug testing. From a
project management point of view about computing aids in the design process
because it has an easily quantifiable set of services. These services help guide the project manager
break the project into small tasks.
Having a cloud system that has been used by many people allows companies
to reduce the amount of testers needed for project. IT managers like cloud computing because it
reduces the cost of software development and also reduces the amount staff they
need to buy and maintain servers.
Business people like cloud computing because it is readily
scalable. With its service on-demand
computing is able to grow with the company and is able to meet the company's
needs when they see spikes in traffic.
This can reduce the threat of downtime in critical peak times.
Cloud computing is not without its risks, however. Cloud computing can increase the risk of data
being leaked. Cloud computing can be
network intensive. A company that is
rely on cloud computing must make sure that there networks are able to handle
the traffic.
Companies using cloud computing should understand legal
implications when choosing a service provider.
Unlike internal software if there is a problem with a cloud computing
service is outside the organization the company must rely on the cloud provider
to fix its issue. The company’s contract
determines what is owed them by the service provider. The country must also willing to sue the
service provider if they not living up to their contract. Companies need to understand the risks of
down time by a service provider.
Cloud computing is not a panacea and is not the right solution for
every company. Companies that use cloud
services cannot control the development of the services offered by cloud
providers. If the user of a cloud service
needs new features added, they would have to wait for the cloud provider to
develop it (Babcock, 2009). When looking at cloud computing a couple he
must weigh the pros and cons of using each service. Cloud computing provides strategic advantages
over traditional software development for many companies. While cloud computing is a great solution for
many industries such as the web industry it may also be a poor solution for
companies that needs a more secure environment.
When deciding upon cloud computing IT professionals should compare the
risks and rewards of developing using cloud computing.
References
Antonopoulos, A. (2009).
Cloud security through control vs. ownership. Network World, 26(29),
18. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global.
Apicella, M. (2006). The
new NAS: fast cheap & scalable. InfoWorld,
28(5), 31-34. Retrieved November
11, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global.
Babcock, B. (2009).
Startup teams with HP on cloud-based testing. InformationWeek, 1234,
17. Retrieved November 11, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Babcock, C. (2009,
October). Platform as a service. InformationWeek,
1243, 18-20, 22-23. Retrieved
November 11, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Bean, L. (2009). Cloud
computing: What internal auditors need to know.
Internal Auditing, 24(5), 34-38. Retrieved November 12,
2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Campbell-Kelly, M. (2001).
Not only Microsoft: The maturing of the personal computer software industry,
1982-1995. Business History Review:
Special Issue: Computers and Communications Networks, 75(1), 103-145. Retrieved November 10, 2009 from ABI/INFORM
Global.
Conry-Murray, A. (2008).
Startup city. InformationWeek, 1212(), 12. Retrieved November 9,
2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Denne, M. (2007). Pricing
utility computing services. International
Journal of Web Services Research, 4(114-127),
114-127. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Fichter, D., &
Wisniewski, J. (2009). They grow up so fast: Mashups in the enterprise. Online, 33(3), 54-58. Retrieved November 11, 2009 from ABI/INFORM
Global.
George, R. (2009). Cloudy,
with chance of pain.. InformationWeek,
1244, 31-32. Retrieved November
11, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Gold, N., Night, C.,
Mohan, A., & Munro, M. (2004). Understanding service-oriented software. IEEE Software, (21), 71-77.
Retrieved November 11, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Kho, N. (2009). Content in
the Cloud. EContent, 32(2), 26-30. Retrieved November 11,
2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Luthria, H., & Rabhi,
F. (2009). Service oriented computing in practice – An agenda for research into
the factors influencing the organizational adoption of service oriented architectures.
Journal of Theoretical and Applied
Electronic Commerce Research, 4(1),
39-56. Retrieved November 4, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
McGrath, R., &
MacMillan, I. (2009). How to rethink your business during uncertainty. MIT Sloan Management Review, 50(50), 25-30. Retrieved November
11, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
O’Sullivan, D. (2009). The
Internet cloud with a silver lining. The
British Journal of Administrative Management: manager, 20-21. Retrieved
November 11, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Ria, S., & Chukwua, P.
(2009). Security in a cloud. Internal
Auditor, 66(4), 21-23.
Retrieved November 4, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Rigby, R. (2007). The billion-man
research team managing labor: Companies offering work to online communities are
reaping the benefits of ’crowdsourcing’, writes Rhymer Rigby. Financial Times, 12. Retrieved
November 11, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Smith, R. (2009).
Computing in the cloud. Research
Technology Management, 52(5),
65-68. Retrieved November 3, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Snyder, B. (2008, April
1). Cloud computing: not just pie in the sky; goodbye big data centers, hello
applications running in the cloud? Behind the hype around cloud computing, CIOs
are figuring out when and how to use cloud options wisely. CIO, 21(12), 23-25. Retrieved November
25, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Udell, J. (2006,
September). Amazon.com’s rent-a-grid. InfoWorld,
28(36), 38. Retrieved November
24, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Williams, S. (2009).
Web-based technology. Professional Safety,
58, 8. Retrieved November 11,
2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
Zielinski, D. (2009). Be clear
on cloud computing contracts. HRMagazine,
54(11), 63-65. Retrieved November
11, 2009 from ABI/INFORM Global.
No comments:
Post a Comment