Cloud-Based Computing for Product Lifecycle Management

At most companies, product development no longer involves the invention of new ideas within the traditionally large, vertically federated R&D department. Today, product development in medical manufacturing and devices is more likely to be achieved by involving networks of geographically dispersed organizations and consultants that offer the necessary talent and expertise to maximize a product’s competitive advantage and speed its time to market.

Medical device manufacturers—the smart ones—are rethinking their traditional approaches to innovation and seeking more collaborative forms of product development. Cloud computing accomplishes that by enabling collaboration through the use of a shared application or delivery of a service over the Internet that is hosted by a second party. Product lifecycle management (PLM) in a cloud employs the Internet to share applications and provide a comprehensive information infrastructure that coordinates all aspects of a product from initial concept to its eventual retirement.

Cloud Computing Defined

To delve into the topic of how PLM in the cloud supports medical device manufacturers, it is necessary to first define the landscape and more specifically define cloud computing. According to Wikipedia, cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices over a network (typically the Internet).

Cloud computing entrusts services (typically centralized) with a user’s data, software, and computation on a published application programming interface (API) over a network. It has considerable overlap with software as a service (SaaS).
End users access cloud-based applications through a web browser or a lightweight desktop or mobile app, whereas the business software and data are stored on servers at a remote location. Cloud application providers strive to give the same or better service and performance than if the software programs were installed locally on end-user computers.

At the foundation of cloud computing is the broader concept of infrastructure convergence (or converged infrastructure) and shared services. This type of data center environment allows medical device manufacturers to get their applications up and running faster, with easier manageability and less maintenance, and enables IT to more rapidly adjust IT resources (such as servers, storage, and networking) to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand.

Benefits

As cloud computing becomes more flexible and cost effective, PLM’s role in companies’ R&D processes is evolving. In addition to cloud, the integration of social networking capabilities and new methods for visually presenting rich product-related data to a wider spectrum of users are impacting next-generation PLM and helping to expand PLM’s reach throughout the supply chain. The changing of corporate culture toward cloud computing and the creation of cross-functional workflows that can support PLM will enable products to be brought to market in a faster, more cost-effective way.

“The cloud has the potential to cause a step change in the PLM applications business,” says Tony Christian, director at Cambashi, a global industry analyst and market research consulting firm. “In addition to the cost, scalability and availability benefits that accrue as with other major applications—provided that data security and communications reliability concerns can be addressed—cloud-based PLM deployments are likely to offer a compelling solution to the problems of reach and accessibility for participants of all sizes and levels of use in global product development networks and supply chains.

PwC principal technology leader Tom Degarmo puts it best. “Cloud computing accelerates innovation, improves time-to-market successes, and offers added flexibility within PLM applications,” he says. “Overall it can improve connections across a company’s network of suppliers, time zones and cultures. It enables an extendable enterprise.”

Is the Cloud Right for You?

The first step in deciding whether to incorporate your PLM in a cloud environment is to decide whether cloud computing is a good match for your business. Cloud computing can become an effective business tool if used properly. For instance, if the applications you need are available in the cloud, then your business can save quite a bit of money. You no longer need to worry about expensive hardware and software purchases; the expense can be replaced by a monthly subscription to the cloud applications you need. Why not leave security, backup, and bug fixes to the professionals and save some money in the process?

Cloud computing is in part the idea of transparency. Transparency meaning that we don’t care how something works, we only care how we work. If a software application allows us to increase our productivity, we don’t really care what’s going on behind the scenes. Cloud computing is the ultimate expression of this goal. When using a cloud application, we don’t know what type of hardware the server is running on or even where it is located. We don’t have to worry about backups, security, or tracking down bugs; all of these things are the provider’s concern. It doesn’t matter whether you use a PC or a Mac for cloud computing; all you need is a web browser and an Internet connection. Transparency helps achieve the ideal of the computer as a tool. Basically, with cloud computing your computer becomes an Internet appliance capable of achieving any task.

Cloud PLM Options

Once you have decided that you want to deploy your PLM in a cloud environment, the next step is to decide what cloud PLM option would work best for your organization.

There are four types of cloud strategies being deployed in PLM applications:

Hybrid clouds allow a private cloud to extend onto a public cloud for specific activities and on an as-needed basis. The benefit of a hybrid approach that incorporates a public cloud is that it provides extra performance scalability for the private cloud that would be in use.

Three Cloud Services Segments

There are also three segments of cloud-based technology, software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

SaaS, sometimes referred to as software on demand, deploys over the Internet and is made available to users when requested. It is usually served as a payment per usage or on a subscription basis. According to Forrester Research, SaaS is the oldest and most mature segment of cloud computing. Examples include salesforce.com, Netsuite, and Google Gmail.

PaaS is a combination of a development platform and solution stack that is delivered as a service on demand. Forrester Research describes it as an infrastructure that can be used to develop a new software app or extend existing ones without the initial cost of buying and implementing additional hardware and software. PaaS often can extend the capabilities of existing SaaS solutions. Examples include Force.com (from Salesforce.com); Google App Engine, and Microsoft Azure.

Lastly, IaaS provides an environment for running user-built virtualized systems, sometimes called platform virtualization environments. These environments encompass service, software, data-center and network equipment delivered as a single bundle. Examples of IaaS environments include Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), GoGrid, and Flexiscale.

Hybrid Cloud Deployment

Mevion Medical Systems Inc. (Littleton, MA), a radiation therapy company, has its workforce distributed throughout the globe and requires its business solutions to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week on all company-supported platforms (PC, Mac, Linux, Android, and IOS).

“To do this, Mevion is leveraging a hybrid cloud in order to be able to scale quickly and efficiently to distributed cloud data centers at far less cost than purchasing expensive equipment or renting or building out corporate data centers,” says Edward Quinn, IT manager for the company. “The IT department can leverage the advanced international infrastructure already in place by leading cloud computing companies and activate and pay only for the services that its business needs.”

Achieving agility is a key component to the company’s business plan. Cloud computing will allow Mevion to expand quickly while providing a wide range of systems. It also allows the company to decrease overall technology costs and provide a reliable, agile IT infrastructure.

A Single Computing Architecture

The Mevion hybrid cloud computing architecture uses both internal and external cloud components that will provide SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services. The architecture will support a distributed workforce using key security measures, integrate with the corporate data center to ensure data integrity, and scale across multiple external solutions to ensure reliability and uptime.

The Mevion IT department has begun deployment and will have a fully functioning cloud-based environment by the end of 2012. “IT has been researching this strategy since 2009, so it does not happen overnight,” Quinn says. “Our IT group needed to ensure that their hybrid cloud computing strategy would ensure data security, integrity, and reliability. Going forward, all business solutions must adhere to this architecture.”

“Our entire company will be on the Mevion hybrid cloud architecture, depending on the employee’s job function,” he says. “Today, all employees in the company utilize the Omnify Empower PLM Solution on a daily basis from their computers, smartphones, and tablets, both within the company network and through remote secured VPN connections.”

Organizations are starting to identify that they can benefit from including outside suppliers on their cloud. The elastic nature of cloud platforms makes it possible to scale up when needed, which can greatly extend simulation, visualization, and computation products. Mevion plans to enable access to the Omnify Empower PLM cloud to its external partners – creating a more collaborative and integrated approach, Quinn says.

Conclusion

Most industry analysts covering IT agree that the power and potential of cloud computing, when properly leveraged and deployed, can have a significant impact on PLM. PLM customers are evaluating how to run their PLM business seamlessly and securely connect them to cloud-based data sets.

Few are fully deployed today. Cloud-based PLM is still in the infancy stages of use, even if the technology has matured. It is still curing. However accessing data, processes, and business intelligence in the cloud from a PLM platform, if done correctly, could enable global companies to leverage critical information sources, maximize expert resources, and manage complex analytics—all from within their PLM system.

Companies will decide how to adopt the cloud, and don’t plan on it being a linear process. IT is trying to establish a running pathway to get existing software on the cloud in a very gradual way. It includes planning, pilots, and validation. The urgent business pains and short opportunity will provide an advantage for cloud providers to offer their services to companies at the time they are needed and with the right speed and right cost.

Eric Marks is the industry practice leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC; New York). He helps organizations innovate, reduce costs, manage risk and regulation, and leverage in-house capabilities. Prior to PwC, Marks worked with Deloitte Consulting, IBM Global Business Services, and Cambridge Technology Partners. Marks holds a bachelor of mathematics in computer science from the University of Waterloo and an MBA in strategic management and marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.