WHY IS IT CALLED CLOUD COMPUTING?

WHY IS IT CALLED CLOUD COMPUTING?

Do you know that rather than keeping files on a proprietary hard drive or local storage device, cloud-based storage makes it possible to save them to a remote database? Cloud computing is the delivery of different services through the Internet. These resources include tools and applications like data storage, servers, databases, networking, and software.

A fundamental concept behind cloud computing is that the location of the service, and many of the details such as the hardware or operating system on which it is running, are largely irrelevant to the user. It's with this in mind that the metaphor of the cloud was borrowed from old telecoms network schematics, in which the public telephone network (and later the internet) was often represented as a cloud to denote that the just didn't matter, it was just a cloud of stuff. This is an over-simplification of course; for many customers, location of their services and data remains a key issue.

Cloud computing takes all the heavy lifting involved in crunching and processing data away from the device you carry around or sit and work at. It also moves all of that work to huge computer clusters far away in cyberspace. The Internet becomes the cloud, and voilà—your data, work, and applications are available from any device with which you can connect to the Internet, anywhere in the world.

CLOUD COMPUTING DEPLOYMENT MODELS
Cloud computing can be both public and private. Public cloud services provide their services over the Internet for a fee. Private cloud services, on the other hand, only provide services to a certain number of people. These services are a system of networks that supply hosted services. There is also a hybrid option, which combines elements of both the public and private services.

What is public cloud?
Public cloud is the classic cloud computing model, where users can access a large pool of computing power over the internet (whether that is IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS). One of the significant benefits here is the ability to rapidly scale a service. The cloud computing suppliers have vast amounts of computing power, which they share out between a large number of customers -- the 'multi-tenant' architecture.

What is private cloud?
Private cloud allows organizations to benefit from the some of the advantages of public cloud -- but without the concerns about relinquishing control over data and services, because it is tucked away behind the corporate firewall. Companies can control exactly where their data is being held and can build the infrastructure in a way they want.

What is hybrid cloud?
A hybrid cloud is a combination of public cloud services and an on-premises private cloud, with orchestration and automation between the two. Companies can run mission-critical workloads or sensitive applications on the private cloud and use the public cloud to handle workload bursts or spikes in demand. The main reasons for choosing hybrid cloud include disaster recovery planning and the desire to avoid hardware costs when expanding their existing data center. The goal of a hybrid cloud is to create a unified, automated, scalable environment that takes advantage of all that a public cloud infrastructure can provide, while still maintaining control over mission-critical data. while still maintaining control over mission-critical data.

CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICE MODELS

Cloud computing is offered in three different service models which each satisfy a unique set of business requirements. These three models are known as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a self-service model for managing remote data center infrastructures. IaaS provides virtualized computing resources over the Internet hosted by a third party such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or Google, Rackspace, and Cisco Metacloud. Instead of an organization purchasing hardware, companies purchase IaaS based on a consumption model. It is like buying electricity. You only pay for what you use. This model enables companies to add, delete or reconfigure IT infrastructure on-demand. Many IT organizations rely on IaaS because they are more familiar with IaaS, especially if they have years of experience with virtual environments or strict security and regulatory requirements that can only be met through IaaS.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Platform as a Service (PaaS) allows organizations to build, run and manage applications without the IT infrastructure. This makes it easier and faster to develop, test and deploy applications. Developers can focus on writing code and create applications without worrying about time-consuming IT infrastructure activities such as provisioning servers, storage and backup. PaaS brings more value to cloud. It can reduce your management overhead and lower your costs. Example includes; Windows Azure, Force.com, Google App Engine, and Apache Stratos. PaaS also makes it easier for you to innovate and scale your services on demand.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS)
SaaS is the superset of both, PaaS and IaaS as it offers the entire package from infrastructure, middleware, OS to applications deployed over the web, that can be seamlessly accessed, invariant to time, place and platform. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) such as; Google Workspace, Dropbox, Salesforce, Cisco WebEx, Concur, GoToMeeting, Zoom presents a comprehensive product that is run and administered by a cloud service provider/vendor. SaaS is a service in the cloud, extending an entire software suite in pay-per-use form. It is made accessible to the end-consumers over a ubiquitous network, i.e. the internet.

BENEFITS OF CLOUD COMPUTING
It has been stated that 94% of businesses have seen an improvement in security and 91% of businesses agreed that the cloud system has met up to their government compliance requirements.

Be it the public or the private sector, for dealing with any large applications, cloud computing has been the platform of choice. Especially in customer-facing ones which need to scale dynamically or change frequently.

Cost Savings
If you are worried about the price tag that would come with making the switch to cloud computing, you aren't alone 20% of organizations are concerned about the initial cost of implementing a cloud-based server. Cloud computing is probably the most cost efficient method to use, maintain, and upgrade your IT infrastructure. There are many pay-as-you-go packages and other scalable options available, which make it very reasonable for businesses of any size to switch from traditional on-premises hardware to the cloud.
Rather than shelling out large amounts of money on expensive server equipment, desktops, and licenses, followed by long hours of setup and maintenance – you can utilize cloud resources with many direct cost reductions and efficiency improvements.

Flexibility
Your business has only a finite amount of focus to divide between all of its responsibilities. If your current IT solutions are forcing you to commit too much of your attention to computer and data-storage issues, then you aren't going to be able to concentrate on reaching business goals and satisfying customers. On the other hand, by relying on an outside organization to take care of all IT hosting and infrastructure, you'll have more time to devote toward the aspects of your business that directly affect your bottom line.
The cloud offers businesses more flexibility overall versus hosting on a local server. And, if you need extra bandwidth, a cloud-based service can meet that demand instantly, rather than undergoing a complex (and expensive) update to your IT infrastructure. This improved freedom and flexibility can make a significant difference to the overall efficiency of your organization.

Security
There is always stress from the business owners which makes them protect their Data throughout the night. Well, with the advent of cloud-based technology this stress can be reduced. There are always arguments regarding the cloud-based platforms being at risk by the hackers. However, the heavy encryption of the data in the cloud reduces the risk of data being hacked.

Collaboration
The storage of the data in a cloud, it benefits the collaborating organizations as they are able to communicate easily rather than the traditional methods of communicating. People working on a project from different locations are highly benefited by cloud computing as they can get access to the same files. The cloud computing model can also be developed in a way for the secured sharing of records with the advisors or accountant.

Loss Prevention
Think about this, if your organization isn't investing in a cloud-computing solution, then all of your valuable data is inseparably tied to the office computers it resides in. This may not seem like a problem right? But the reality is that if your local hardware experiences a problem, you might end up permanently losing your data. This is a more common problem than you might realize computers can malfunction for many reasons, from viral infections, to age-related hardware deterioration, to simple user error. Or, despite the best of intentions, they can be misplaced or stolen (over 10,000 laptops are reported lost every week at major airports).
Imagine if you aren't on the cloud, you're at risk of losing all the information you had saved locally, oops! With a cloud-based server, however, all the information you've uploaded to the cloud remains safe and easily accessible from any computer with an internet connection, even if the computer you regularly use isn't working.

Wow! Thanks for taking your time to read through. Trust, you enjoyed every bit of information concerning cloud computing and it's services. Please, check my next post on cloud computing terminology and concepts.