Cloud computing is massively scalable, provides a superior user experience, and is characterized by new, internet-driven economics
Information technology is like an invisible layer that increasingly touches every aspect of our lives and the dependence on it is growing faster than ever. Another baby it has delivered to make planet smarter and, ready to set a trend is cloud computing.
Cloud computing is the most vague topic, rather is one of those topics that often educes a mixed reaction in the tech world. Businesses see it as a strong cost savings at a time, still many IT people have their doubts, expressing worries over the security, safety, and reliability of farming out data and services to cloud provider. With its due share of hullabaloo, it Cloud comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT's existing capabilities.
It’s a new generation of computing that utilizes distant servers for data storage and management, allowing the device to use smaller and more efficient chips that consume less energy than standard computers. Cloud computing allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. This technology allows for much more efficient computing by centralizing storage, memory, processing and bandwidth.
A simple example of cloud computing is Yahoo email or Gmail etc. People don’t need software or a server to use them. All a consumer would need is just an internet connection and you can start sending emails. The server and email management software is all on the cloud (Internet) and is totally managed by the cloud service provider Yahoo , Google etc. The consumer gets to use the software alone and enjoy the benefits.
The term cloud computing probably comes from (at least partly) the use of a cloud image to represent the Internet or some large networked environment. It is a technology used to access services offered on the Internet cloud. Everything an informatics system has to offer is provided as a service, so users can access these services available on the “Internet cloud” without having any previous know-how (or at least not as an expert) on managing the resources involved.
The term "cloud computing" encompasses many areas of tech, including software as a service, a software distribution method pioneered by Salesforce.com about a decade ago. It also includes newer avenues such as hardware as a service, a way to order storage and server capacity on demand from Amazon and others.
Cloud computing is broken down into three segments: "sevices," "platforms," and "infrastructure." Each segment serves a different purpose and offers different products for businesses and individuals around the world.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service like Amazon Web Services provides virtual server instances with unique IP addresses and blocks of storage on demand. Customers use the provider's application program interface (API) to start, stop, access and configure their virtual servers and storage. In the enterprise, cloud computing allows a company to pay for only as much capacity as is needed, and bring more online as soon as required. Because this pay-for-what-you-use model resembles the way electricity, fuel and water are consumed; it's sometimes referred to as utility computing.
Platform-as-a-service in the cloud is defined as a set of software and product development tools hosted on the provider's infrastructure. Developers create applications on the provider's platform over the Internet. PaaS providers may use APIs, website portals or gateway software installed on the customer's computer. Force.com, (an outgrowth of Salesforce.com) and GoogleApps are examples of PaaS. Developers need to know that currently, there are not standards for interoperability or data portability in the cloud. Some providers will not allow software created by their customers to be moved off the provider's platform.
In the software-as-a-service cloud model, the vendor supplies the hardware infrastructure, the software product and interacts with the user through a front-end portal. SaaS is a very broad market. Services can be anything from Web-based email to inventory control and database processing. Because the service provider hosts both the application and the data, the end user is free to use the service from anywhere.
The major issue slowing cloud computing growth is security. No matter how many security management tools are released or assurances of reliability are made, complications with data privacy and data protection continue to plague the market. Privacy is another matter. If a client can log in from any location to access data and applications, it's possible the client's privacy could be compromised. Cloud computing companies will need to find ways to protect client privacy. One way is to use authentication techniques such as user names and passwords. Another is to employ an authorization format -- each user can access only the data and applications relevant to his or her job.
Cloud computing is considered to be a paradigm shift in the computing industry. The shift would affect companies a few different sub-industries including software companies, internet service providers and hardware manufacturers. Companies in each of these industries will face significant change if cloud computing is to be the next step for the industry. While it is relatively easy to see how the main software and internet companies will be affected by such a shift, how companies in the internet and hardware will be affected is slightly more difficult, because if companies switch to using streamlined computer systems, they'll have fewer IT needs. Some industry experts believe that the need for IT jobs will migrate to the back end of the cloud computing system.
Cloud computing really is accessing resources and services needed to perform functions with dynamically changing needs. An application or service developer requests access from the cloud rather than a specific endpoint or named resource. What goes on in the cloud manages multiple infrastructures across multiple organizations and consists of one or more frameworks overlaid on top of the infrastructures tying them together. Frameworks provide mechanisms for self-healing, self monitoring, resource registration and discovery, service level agreement definitions, automatic reconfiguration
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