All You Need To Know About Cloud Computing

The term "Cloud Computing" is quite often used in technology circles these days. Hundreds of businesses from around the world have invested in this concept to take their companies forward. This article takes a brief look at the basics of this technology of the future.

1. Definition

The "cloud" in cloud computing is a metaphor representing the Internet. To understand the concept better, it can be rephrased as Internet-based computing. In this concept, computing resources – such as applications, servers and data centers – are shared over the Internet instead of being deployed on local servers. This arrangement is done on a pay-for-use model.

2. Origin

The idea behind cloud computing has been around for more than 50 years.

There was a time when huge mainframe machines were considered the future of technology. In a concept known as time sharing, major corporations made use of these mainframe machines and shared its computing resources with other firms on a payment basis. Multiple businesses made use of one mainframe from different locations. Thus, the foundation for the concept of cloud computing was born.

So how did the word “cloud” get associated with this kind of computing? Clouds were used as a symbol to depict the Internet for more than two decades. The term “cloud computing” was first used in an internal document released by Compaq way back in 1996.

3. How Cloud Computing Works

Cloud computing deploys hundreds of networks of servers performing millions of data processing jobs between them. It’s like a large IT infrastructure network connecting thousands of systems to provide cost-effective data storage and data manipulation.

Earlier, this kind of computing was achieved with the use of supercomputers and were restricted to research and military organizations.

4. Types Of Cloud Computing Networks

• Public Cloud A public cloud is made accessible to public by a service provider in charge or hosting and maintaining the cloud infrastructure. Popular providers of public clouds include Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Customers find this model economical since the infrastructure is shared by thousands of other users.

The infrastructure can be enjoyed on an on-demand basis by paying for the services you seek.

• Private Cloud A private cloud is an infrastructure restricted and access strictly within an organization. A major advantage offered by private clouds over public ones is superior security. Private clouds are run internally by the IT team or under the supervision of a third-party vendor.

• Community Cloud A community cloud materializes when several organizations come together to set up a common cloud that is run and maintained by the participating organizations. These organizations have common goals that can be achieved by similar architecture.

• Hybrid Cloud A hybrid cloud offers the best from public, community and private ones. For example, an organization working with a private cloud can expand by seeking the resources offered by a public cloud. This arrangement is often sought to handle unforeseen spikes in workload within the organization.

5. Types Of Cloud Computing Services

• Software as a service (SaaS) SaaS represents cloud-based applications that run on cloud infrastructure that’s operated by a 3rd party vendor. Access to SaaS services is through a web browser.

• Platform as a service (PaaS) PaaS represents a cloud-based architecture that provides you with the technical resources to build cloud-based applications for your organization. A PaaS customer does not have to worry about the cost of purchasing and managing the hardware and software associated with such a network.

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) IaaS provides firms with cloud computing resources such as servers and data centre space on a pay-per-use basis.