What is Cloud Computing?

4 min readJul 19, 2020

My very first thought of the cloud was the naturally occurring clouds that are in the sky or something related to weather. Then, later on, got to understand that the cloud was the internet.

Did you know that the cloud is the internet? Since the coming up of the internet, 50 years ago, the technological revolution started from achieving an interconnection to the entire world.
Today we look at the cloud, a platform that has brought about change to the world of computing and impacting every sector.

Introduction

Cloud computing has gained popularity over the past few years, with it being a topic of discussion among many.

What exactly is cloud computing? What is the cloud?

It is the delivery of computing services, including servers, databases, storage, software, networking, and special capabilities such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) over the internet. It offers faster innovation, the flexibility of resources, and the economy of scale.

Cloud computing aims at offering a faster innovation, flexible resources, and economy of scale.

Characteristics of Cloud computing

What makes up the cloud?

- Maintaining of cloud computing applications is easy, they do not need to be installed on each user’s computer but can be accessed from different locations
-Availability and Large Network access, cloud users can access systems using a web browser regardless of their location or what device they use.
-The cloud offers a platform where discussions can be done by multiple users working on the same data this increases the productivity thus the cloud is platform for productivity.
-Security, the cloud offers a secure site for data which improves can due to centralization of data.

Vivek Kundra a former federal CIO of the United States says that - “Cloud computing is often far more secure than traditional computing, because companies like Google and Amazon can attract and retain cyber-security personnel of a higher quality than many governmental agencies.”

-Multi-tenancy, this enables sharing of resources and costs across a large group of users.
-pay as you go. cloud computing offers a service where one pays for the services and the storage they utilize.

Types of cloud.

There are 3 kinds of clouds. Every cloud is designed differently based on the application of use. They include public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud.

Private cloud

The second type of is the private cloud. It refers to cloud computing resources used by a single business or organization. A private cloud is one in which the services and infrastructure are maintained on a private network. A private cloud may be managed internally or externally, with it being hosted internally or externally.

Public cloud

This first type of cloud is owned and operated by a third-party cloud service providers. They deliver computing resources, like servers and storage, over the Internet. Google cloud Microsoft Azure is an example of a public cloud. The hardware, software, and other supporting infrastructure are owned and managed by the cloud provider.

Hybrid cloud

The third and last kind of cloud is the Hybrid clouds. It is a combination of both the public and private clouds. They are bound together by technology that allows data and applications to be shared between them. Hybrid cloud gives your business a greater flexibility, more deployment options, and helps in optimization of the your existing infrastructure, security, and compliance.

Cloud services

Cloud is grouped into four services with each being interconnected to the other in one way or the other.

The cloud is a system of that comprises of function-as-a-service(serverless computing), software-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service.

Function-as-a-service (server-less computing)

This is a remote cloud service where the cloud provider runs the server, and dynamically manages the allocation of machine resources. FaaS allows a user to write and deploy code without worrying on the underlying infrastructure

Software-as-a-service(SaaS)

This is a software that runs on the cloud with the users with the users connecting through the internet by using a web browser this includes a service fee which is either monthly or annually. Hubspot is an example of a SaaS. SaaS is the most used kind of service.

Infrastructure-as-a-service(IaaS)

It involves a method for delivering everything from operating systems to servers and storage through IP-based connectivity as part of an on-demand service usually managed over the internet.

Platform-as-a-service(PaaS)

It provides a cloud-based platform where the user creates applications tests and deploy the software. PaaS is designated to make the working of a developer easy by creating an environment where the user does have to setup the services needed in the development of the applications or software.

Who are in the cloud business?

Cloud computing is the on-demand, the availability of a computer system resources, especially a data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Cloud describes data centers available to many users over the Internet. The major players in cloud computing are

Summary

Steve Jobs,once said that “I don’t need a hard disk in my computer if I can get to the server faster… carrying around these non-connected computers is byzantine by comparison.”

Cloud computing has come to change the mode of which we do business with the impact on Machine learning, Data Science, and Artificial intelligence. The cloud offers a platform that is changing the world of computing. The cloud aims at giving a flexible, efficient, and strategic value platform. With the cloud access and availability of data makes this technology limitless and efficient.

Though the issue of security seems to be a drawback to Cloud technology, the real problem is to gain the trust of the people and get them to trust using the cloud.

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