What Exactly Is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is a service paradigm that enables consumers of information technology (IT) to receive computing resources via the internet. Traditionally, an emblem resembling a cloud is used to represent the internet in network diagrams and flowcharts.
A cloud computing environment differs from a typical computing environment in five significant ways:
Self-service entails the customer’s ability to provision computing resources on demand. Network access entails provisioning and accessing resources via the internet. Resource Pools are groups of resources that work together to meet the demands of several clients. Elasticity means that resources can be swiftly provisioned or scaled down based on real-time demand. Measured Services: The customer can monitor and regulate resource utilisation.
Models of Cloud Deployment
Organizations have various options when it comes to deploying cloud computing models:
- Public clouds enable authorised subscribers to access resources.
- Private clouds limit resource access to a single group or organisation.
- Community clouds allow two or more organisations to share resources.
- Resources are offered by at least two cloud service providers in hybrid clouds.
Models of Cloud Delivery:
Organizations have various options for cloud computing delivery:
Software as a Service (SaaS)—Most consumers are familiar with this type of cloud service. When SaaS applications are employed in businesses, the cost of software ownership is reduced because technical staff is no longer required to install, administer, and support software.
SaaS apps can be obtained for free or on a subscription basis. Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft are among the top SaaS providers.
Platform as a Service (PaaS): The supplier controls software backend resources such as operating systems, middleware, and databases. PaaS services are used to increase developer productivity and decrease time to market. Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure are examples of Tier 1 vendors.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) enables users to virtually establish a data centre without investing in capacity planning, physical maintenance, or management. AWS Elastic Compute Cloud, Google Compute Engine, and Alibaba Elastic Compute Service are examples of Tier 1 suppliers.
Hufpost Describes Cloud Computing
Adoption of cloud computing has numerous advantages, but it also has drawbacks that must be addressed when analysing and determining when to use a cloud service.
Some view cloud computing as an overused buzzword that has been exaggerated by marketing departments. One prevalent criticism is that cloud computing cannot flourish because it requires enterprises to relinquish control over their data. A large regulated organisation, such as a bank, may be required to keep data in the US. While this is not an insurmountable problem, it does highlight the type of data sovereignty difficulties that certain businesses are experiencing with cloud computing.
The Evolution of Cloud Computing
- Cloud computing is not a novel notion. Researchers hypothesised as early as 1960 that computers would become a utility service similar to water, telecommunications, or electricity.
- Simultaneously, IBM assisted in the development of ways to logically segment their mainframe systems so that they could serve numerous clients inside the same corporation. Each client viewed mainframe resources as though they were the single user, even if they shared them with other users.
- By the late 1980s, businesses realised that instead of purchasing or leasing an expensive Big Iron mainframe, they could buy a number of very affordable personal computers (PCs) and network them together to act as if they were one machine.
- The core of cloud computing is the concept of using the internet to connect several distant computer systems so that they can collaborate on a single task.
- The following are milestones for using cloud computing in business:
- Salesforce pioneered the concept of distributing enterprise software over the internet in 1999.
- Amazon Web Services and the pay-per-use business model were introduced in 2006.
- Google announced App Engine as a Platform as a Service in 2008. (PaaS).
- Alibaba constructed its first data centre in 2009.
- Microsoft Azure was released in 2010.
- Rackspace Hosting and NASA debuted OpenStack in 2010.
- The Oracle Cloud was announced in 2012.
- HP unveiled the HP Converged Cloud in 2012.
- VMware introduced vCloud Hybrid Services in 2013.
- Gartner expects that cloud spending will exceed $500 billion by the end of 2022.
- SaaS remains the most important market sector for public cloud services.
