I’m pretty sure that you must have heard the next term being used widely online in the last couple of years. i.e. Cloud Computing.

So let's walk into what cloud computing means.

And how does it work?

Let's describe it in simple terms:

You are using cloud computing already even all this time except you are living in a grotto someplace, and that grotto anyhow doesn't have an internet connection.

So let me explain this in as simple terms as possible:

Cloud computing implies that preferably of all the PC software and hardware you're using sitting on your laptop, or someplace inside your organization network, it's rendered for you as a service by other corporations and accessed over the Internet, usually in a uniquely seamless way. Exactly where the software and hardware are located and how it all works doesn't matter to you, the user—it's just scattered in the dark "cloud" that the Internet mirrors.

Cloud computing is a buzzword that implies various things to different people. For some, it's just another way of explaining information technology(IT) "outsourcing"; some use it to imply any computing service presented over a similar network or the Internet, and some explain it as any computer service that you bought and it lies outside your firewall. However we define cloud computing, there's no doubt it makes the most sense when we stop talking about abstract definitions and look at some simple, real examples—so let's do just that.

Examples like: VoIP (e.g., Skype, Google Voice), media services (e.g., Picassa, YouTube, Flickr), social applications (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), financial apps (e.g., Mint), and much more.

Google is a huge example of cloud computing:

Most of us use cloud computing all day long without realizing it.

What appears when you type and search anything on Google?

Have you ever considered it?

Does your computer or laptop go into all that data, distribute it out for you and represent all the appropriate results?

No, it doesn’t.

Unless you would wait much longer for simple results, and pages to show. A simple computer can’t run all those billions of sites in a portion of a second like Google does. Your computer or laptop only follows as a messenger to notify Google what you are searching for. Google's supercomputers do the rest of the work. Now that Google even has the feature of artificial intelligence which makes it even better.

The same concerns about Web-based email programs. Once upon a time, email was being used to send and receive using an application running on your Personal Computer (i.e. mail client). But then Web-based email services such as Hotmail, and Gmail came and took email off into the cloud. Now we're all used to it; emails can be stored and accessed via a server, immediately available from a Web browser, anywhere in the world, anytime you like with just an internet connection. Launching email into the cloud is supremely helpful for busy guys, who are frequently on the move.

Another modern example of cloud computing is to make documents over the popular Web-based service named Google Documents. Just log in to Google Docs and you can create a document, presentation, spreadsheet, etc. Alternatively, of typing your words into a traditional program like OpenOffice or Microsoft Word, running on your computer offline, you're now using related software running on your laptop at one of Google's universal data centres.

Like an email composed on Hotmail or Gmail, the document you create is stored remotely, on a Web server so that you can access it from any Internet-connected laptop or computer, wherever in the world, anytime you wish.

Do you know where it's stored?

No! Do you even bother where it's stored?

Again, no! It means you're outsourcing your computing requirements to a corporation like Google. They spend the cost of developing the software and maintaining it up-to-date, and they make back the money to do this via advertisement and other paid-for services.

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Types of Cloud Computing:

1. IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): IaaS is primarily when you purchase raw computing hardware to use over the internet, usually online storage, or servers. You can buy according to your requirements and pay as you go. The best and the most primary example of this type of cloud computing is purchasing web hosting for your website. You pay a monthly quarterly or annual amount to a cloud hosting provider for the storage on their servers and to have them serve up files for your site from those servers. Ever Data is another good example which gives these types of cloud services.
2. SaaS (Software as a Service): In the SaaS model, you use the complete software application that’s operating on somebody else’s servers. The perfect example of SaaS is Google Docs. As mentioned above, you can use it for generating and putting text documents, spreadsheets, presentations and so on.
3. PaaS (Platform as a Service): The PaaS model helps to build applications using web-based tools, and operates on systems software and hardware provided by another vendor. Let's, consider a circumstance where you develop your e-commerce site which includes the shopping cart, checkout, and payment mechanism running on a merchant’s server.

Now let’s look at the cloud deployment models.

Public cloud: This is where computing resources given by a cloud provider are used by various companies via the public Internet on a PAYG(pay as you go) model. Cloud providers ensure some separation of resources used by different organizations. It is known as multi-tenancy.

Private cloud: This is where cloud infrastructure is entirely controlled by an organization and managed either by the company itself or a third party and can be located off-site or on-site. Computing resources are behind the corporate firewall. And cloud computing can also secure your data using the private cloud.

Community cloud: In this, cloud infrastructure is owned and shared by multiple companies with a shared concern.

Hybrid cloud: It is the combination of all cloud models like Public and Private models combined with standardized or proprietary technology.

The benefits of using cloud computing are scalability, sustainability, agility, reliability, economies of scale, faster time to market and developing prototypes with enhanced efficiency.

Why do Companies Love the Cloud?

As you can see with all the examples and types mentioned above, you should start taking the cloud advantages and latest technologies without paying a small capital on software, infrastructure, and IT specialists. If you want to brush up more on why companies love the cloud, watch the video below.

Conclusion:

Cloud computing has created a vibration in the IT landscape. The cloud enactment rate is growing dramatically. It is a time for companies to think of cloud computing for turbulent business challenges ahead.

What are your thoughts?

Share them in the comments below.