What is Cloud Computing: introduction, types, advantages (2023)

Nowadays, every successful organization is present on the Internet, for which they need a data center, regardless of size. Traditionaldata centeris on-premises, which means that all its functions are performed at a physical location within the company's office space. A data center can be a few computers under a desk, a climate-controlled room filled with blade servers, or an entire building. It is managed by an internal IT team employed and paid by the company that owns the data center.

Now imagine that when you want to create a simple website or digitize entire business processes, in addition to building applications, you also have to create a data center for the organization. This means that you will have to buy hardware (servers), software and its licenses, create a network, build an infrastructure and hire a team of experts to manage or maintain this data center. Before setting up a data center, you need to estimate how many servers you need; there will be chances of having too much or too little gear.

What if you didn't have to worry about setting up your own data center and just focused on building applications? This is where cloud computing comes into play. Now let's consider what Cloud Computing is with examples in this article. Also, you can go toCloud computing trainingto get a deeper knowledge ofCloud computing.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing is the delivery of computing services such as servers, data storage, databases, networking, software, analytics and intelligence over the Internet ("the cloud") to offer flexible resources, faster innovation and economies of scale. Put simply, instead of owning data centers, organizations can lease access to other people's infrastructure such as storage, computer servers, and databases fromCloud computingservice providers and pay only for the resources they use.

You only need to pay for the cloud services you use, which helps reduce your operational costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale your applications according to your business needs.

Who Uses Cloud Computing?

Organizations of different types, sizes and industries use the cloud for a wide variety of use cases, such as building user-facing web applications, data backup, sending email/SMS notifications, virtual workplaces, software development and testing, big data analytics, and disaster recovery. For example, telecommunications companies use cloud services to connect with their customers by sending different types of communication. Financial services companies use the cloud to detect and prevent fraud in real time.

How does cloud computing work?

To understand how cloud computing works, let's break it down into two parts - the front end and the back end. The front end consists of the client's computer or computer network. The front end consists of the client's computer or computer network. The background consists of the various computers, servers and storage systems that make up the cloud. They are interconnected by a network, usually the Internet. The front end is the computer user or client side. The back end is the 'cloud' part of the system.

Cloud computing deployment models

Deployment models specify different cloud types. Each organization has different needs, they must determine which cloud deployment model will suit them. There are mainly three cloud deployment models:

1. Public cloud

A public cloud is a collection of hardware, networking, storage, services, applications, and interfaces owned and operated by a third party for use by other companies or individuals. You access these services and manage your account using a web browser. These commercial service providers create a highly scalable data center that hides the details of the underlying infrastructure from consumers.

2. Private cloud

A private cloud is a collection of hardware, networking, storage, services, applications, and interfaces owned and managed by an organization for use by its employees, partners, or customers. A private cloud can be created and managed by a third party for the exclusive use of a single enterprise. A private cloud is a highly controlled environment that is not open for public use. It's basically just another way of running an on-site data center.

3. Hybrid cloud

Hybrid cloud is a combination of private cloud combined with usagepublic cloudservices where two cloud environments work together to solve business problems. By allowing data and applications to move between private and public clouds, the hybrid cloud gives your business more flexibility, more deployment options and helps optimize your existing infrastructure, security and compliance.

The goal is to create a hybrid cloud environment that can combine services and data from different cloud models to create a unified, automated and well-managed computing environment.

Types of cloud services

Cloud computing services are divided into three classes, according to the level of abstraction provided and the provider's service model:

1. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS in cloud computing)

The capability provided to the consumer is the provision of processing, storage, networks and other core computing resources. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying instrumentcloud infrastructurebut has control over operating systems, storage and installed applications; and possibly limited control of selected network components (eg, host firewall).

2. Platform as a service (PaaS in cloud computing)

The capability provided to the user is the deployment on the Cloud infrastructure of applications created or acquired by users using programming languages, libraries, services and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying Cloud infrastructure including the network, servers, operating systems or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possible configuration settings for the application hosting environment.

3. Software as a service (SaaS in cloud computing)

The capability provided to the consumer is their applications running on the Cloud infrastructure. The ability provided to the user is to use the provider's applications running on the Cloud infrastructure. Applications can be accessed from different client devices through a thin client interface, such as a web browser (eg web-based email), or a programmatic interface.

The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure, including the network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even the capabilities of individual applications, except for limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Examples and use cases of cloud computing

If you use an Internet service to send email, edit documents, watch movies or TV (like Netflix), listen to music, play games, or store images and other files, you're probably part of the cloud ecosystem, as Cloud Computing makes it all possible behind the scenes. There are many use cases of Cloud Computing and few are mentioned below:

1. Testing and Development

IT companies use cloud services for their software development environment. DevOps teams can quickly launch development, test, and production environments. This includes automated provisioning of physical and virtual machines.

2. Big Data Analytics

There is a vast amount of data collected every day from cloud applications, IoT devices and the users who interact with them. Cloud Computing enables an organization to leverage the computing power of Cloud Computing.

3. Cloud storage

Cloud storage allows files to be automatically saved to the cloud and then accessed, stored and retrieved from any device with an internet connection. Instead of maintaining data centers for storage, organizations can pay only for the cloud storage they use without having to worry about the day-to-day maintenance of the storage infrastructure.

Advantages of cloud computing

There are several advantages of using cloud computing over the traditional way. Below are a few benefits:

1. Cost savings

You only pay for the services you use; this eliminates the capital costs of purchasing hardware, software, data center setup and operating costs.

2. Fast elasticity

Cloud service providers aggregate a large number of resources from their data centers and make them readily available. A service provider can easily expand its services to a large scale to cope with the rapid increase in service demands.

3. Global benchmark

With the cloud, you can expand your business to new geographies and deploy applications globally within minutes. Many cloud providers provide services in many countries, and placing applications closer to end users reduces latency and therefore improves user experience.

4. Reliability

Cloud services provide high availability with their robust infrastructure. You can easily backup data, disaster recovery, which makes business continuity easier and cheaper because data can be mirrored across different geographical locations on the cloud service provider's network.

5. Speed

Cloud computing services are mostly self-service and on-demand. You can easily provision any number of resources within minutes, giving businesses great flexibility to scale their applications at the right time and in the right location.

Disadvantages of Cloud Computing

Although there are many advantages of Cloud Computing, there are also a few disadvantages that you need to be aware of, such as:

1. Security and privacy

Although cloud service providers implement the best security standards and industry certifications, storing data and important files with external service providers always opens up risks. Any discussion involving data must address security and privacy, especially when it comes to managing sensitive data. You need to understand your cloud provider's shared responsibility model. You will still be responsible for what happens within your network and in your product.

2. Vulnerability to attack

In Cloud Computing, every component is online, which exposes potential vulnerabilities. Even the best teams suffer serious attacks and security breaches from time to time.

3. Limited control

Cloud services run on remote servers owned and operated by cloud service providers, making it difficult for companies to have a level of control over cloud infrastructure.

The future of cloud computing and new technologies

Many companies are already using Cloud services to develop their business and create a global presence. Due to its advantages, Cloud Computing will be the most common deployment model for companies in the future. The future of Cloud Computing is bright and will provide benefits to both the host and the customer. There are many technologies emerging with cloud computing, such as:

1. Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things is one of the leading technologies, coming with constant innovations in real-time data analytics and cloud computing. We can easily do this with the help of Cloud Computing.

2. Serverless computing

Serverless architecture is the next evolution of monolithic application architecture after service-oriented architecture and microservice architecture.

3. Artificial intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence is a next-generation technology solution set to present the world of technology in a different light. However, building AI applications is complex for many companies because it requires machines with high computing power. Companies are looking to cloud solutions for machine learning and other deep learning tools. Due to its vast computing and storage options, cloud-based AI is becoming the most sought-after solution for companies of any size in realizing their AI endeavors.

Architecture of cloud computing

Architecture is how different components are combined to create a cloud system, which every employee of an organization can use for data-related operations. Speaking of cloud computing architecture, virtualization technology gathers various resources and software components in one place, calling it a cloud. There are different components in cloud architecture:

• The front-end device from which the user accesses the network.
• A backend platform is like a server that stores information that can be accessed by the user.
• The delivery model that decides how the network will work and how the user will be able to access the data.
• A trusted network where information will be stored and shared.

Bringing all these components together forms a cloud platform that the organization and its employees can use. This system helps users in many ways. First, it reduces the risk of data theft because online servers are much more secure than physical ones. Second, it enables remote working for everyone as there will be no problem with sharing data.

Different architectures

Although no two cloud models are alike, the fundamentals of several models are similar. Therefore, the organization can use the model that it thinks will meet their expectations, make changes and enjoy all the benefits that this virtual data storage and sharing platform offers.

Cloud Computing versus traditional IT infrastructure

Below are the differences between cloud computing and traditional IT infrastructure:

Conclusion

One of manyadvantages of cloud computingare to reduce time to market for applications that must scale dynamically. Cloud computing brings many advantages in terms of cost, agility, scalability, resilience and more. Considering these advantages, many organizations use cloud services to create highly scalable and resilient applications.

The future with cloud services looks very bright with endless opportunities to explore and the survival of businesses depends on being able to adapt to new changes. So, take advantage of Cloud Computing and start your ownKnowledgeHut Cloud Computing obuka.