What is Cloud Computing - Introduction to Cloud Computing

Technology has contributed a lot to revolutionize the world. It has brought advancement in our lifestyle and working style. One such most significant reforms are cloud computing that has made data handling easier without worrying about the space allocation and hassles of resource transportation.

Are you excited to know what is cloud computing?  If the answer is yes, then, to get in-depth information on Cloud computing technology. go through the whole article once to enrich your knowledge.

Cloud computing has become a popular phrase on the internet. It is a fantastic and cost-effective way of processing and managing data from anywhere over the internet.

Introduction to Cloud Computing - Table of Contents

• What is Cloud Computing?
• Businesses Opting for Cloud Computing
• Types of Cloud Computing
• Cloud Computing Services
• What is Virtualization?
• Cloud Computing Architecture
• Advantages & Disadvantages
• Security and Privacy Issues
• Cloud Computing Service Providers

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What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is a platform that allows people to access and share data in a secure and scalable way; it just requires an internet connection. In other words, Cloud computing can also be thought of as internet-based computing where services such as servers, storage, and applications are delivered to the company's computers and other devices through the internet.

Why are Businesses Opting for Cloud Computing?

Whether large or small, businesses have to spend a considerable amount on maintaining and processing their data which requires a storage hub and IT support. However, not every business is financially ready to pay for IT infrastructure and backup support services. They find Cloud Computing as a cheaper solution because it decreases the hardware and software demand.

[ Related Article: Cloud Computing Market Overview ]

Types of Cloud Computing

There are 4 types of Cloud Computing that every user can subscribe to as per his/her business needs and demands. Let us know them one by one.

1. Public Cloud

From the name itself, we get the idea that cloud computing is accessible to everybody. It is basically used for B2C or B2B types of interactions where either governments or big organizations handle computing resources. 

2. Private Cloud

In a private cloud, all the computing resources and services are deployed and dedicated to a single organization. Here, the computing resources are owned and governed by the same organization. Also, Some organizations pay third-party cloud service providers to host and maintain their private cloud. 

3. Hybrid Cloud

In simple words, a hybrid cloud is a combination of public and private clouds. Here, the resources of private and public clouds are shared to make data handling more flexible and provide better services than ever before.

4. Community Cloud

In a community cloud, resources are shared between several organizations belonging to a specific community having similar needs. This service is preferred by a group of people having common or similar interests.

You can choose any one of them to meet your business-critical features. Go through the comparative table given below that tells you the specificity of each type of cloud deployment model.

	PUBLIC	PRIVATE	COMMUNITY	HYBRID
Cost-Effectiveness	Cheapest	Most expensive	Shared cost	Cheaper than private
Ease of setup and use	Easy	Requires IT proficiency	Requires IT proficiency	Requires IT proficiency
Data security and privacy	Low	High	Comparative high	High
Reliability	Vulnerable	High	Comparative  high	High
Scalability and flexibility	High	High	Fixed Capacity	High
Data Control	Close to none	High	High	High

What are Cloud Computing Services?

Cloud computing services are categorized into 3 parts. Clients can opt for any of them as per their business needs and demands. Let us know what are they one by one

Types of Cloud Services: IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

It is a basic category of cloud computing services that help in handling data over the internet. In this IaaS, customers are provided with infrastructures such as server space, bandwidth, network connections, load balancers, and IP addresses. By opting for this service, users will not have to worry about buying and maintaining components such as hard drives, network connections, etc.

2. Platform as a Service (Paas)

PaaS provides an environment that facilitates developers to build and create applications and services. It keeps on updating and adding new features to the software and application along with providing storage, networking, testing, collaborating, maintaining, and deploying applications. 

3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

It is a cloud service where online software licensing and access are given to the clients rather than installing it on their individual computers. Cloud computing service providers host on-demand applications and avail themselves to customers over the internet. Through SaaS, organizations do not have to install and run applications in their own data centers. This helps clients to get rid of the costs of hardware acquisition and maintenance.

[ Related Article: Types of Cloud Computing]

What is Virtualization in Cloud Computing?

Virtualization is the process of partitioning a single physical server into multiple virtual servers. Every cloud computing service provider has a single physical server but has multiple customers, so they need to divide it into several servers as assign it to clients as per their requirements. In cloud computing, three types of virtualization are done to provide better and faster service, and they are as follows:

• Network Virtualization: It is the process of splitting up the available network bandwidth into independent channels that can be assigned to one of the clients.
• Storage Virtualization: It is the pooling of physical storage spaces from several network storage devices into a virtual single storage device that is managed by the service providers from a central console.
• Server Virtualization: It is the process of masking server resources like processors, operating systems, RAM, etc., from server users to increase resource sharing and reduce the complexity of computation from users.

Cloud Computing Architecture

Cloud computing architecture has two parts - front end and back end. Let us know what are these parts consist of and what is their importance is.

1. Front End

• The front end is the user or client end.
• It consists of interfaces and applications necessary to access the Cloud Computing system.

2. Back End

• The back end is the cloud section of the system.
• It comprises all the resources such as huge data storage, deployment models, servers, virtual machines, security mechanisms, services, etc. needed to give Cloud computing services.

[ Related Article: AWS Architecture ]

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing?

With everything, pros and cons are attached and so as to cloud computing. Let us see what the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing are. It is worth opting for some services whose cons under weigh the pros. Despite security issues, people are operating their business on cloud platforms because cost-saving, disaster recovery are bigger and more valuable as compared to associated risks.

Advantages of Cloud Computing

• Accessibility - Cloud computing has made it possible to access files from anywhere with an Internet connection to avoid time zone and geographic location issues.
• Cost savings - It is one of the best and cost-effective options to keep your data securely. You can choose the required storage option as per your business requirement, such as if you want just to store the data or also want to perform some operation on it.
• Disaster Recovery - We cannot afford to lose our data, and for that sake, everyone should invest in an emergency backup plan by taking cloud storage help.
• Scalability - With cloud storage, a user needs to pay only for the storage he/she requires. In case your business experiences growth, you will have to extend your pay amount corresponding to the increased storage needs.
• Productivity - To process and organize data, IT teams have to take care of hardware setup, software patching, and various other IT management chores. Cloud computing platforms really make you free from all this work and let you concentrate more on important business goals.
• Performance - Cloud computing services run on secure and regularly upgraded data centers with the latest computing hardware to reduce the network latency and greater economies for sale. 
• Security - Cloud computing service providers strengthen their client's security by offering a broad set of policies and technologies that protect data and infrastructure from a potential threat.

Disadvantages of Cloud Computing

• Internet connectivity - Cloud computing is totally based on internet connectivity. To maintain consistency in your work, you need to have good internet connectivity. Sometimes, even the best servers may go down, which will stop your work until the internet connection returns.
• Ongoing Costs - There is some bandwidth allowance for every service. Once you cross that bandwidth, you may have to pay extra charges for that. Similarly, as your business grows and demands more resources and storage, expenditure also increases.
• Security - Remember, when you are storing your sensitive data on the cloud, you are trusting a third party. Therefore, better to be informed from starting that cloud storage service is secure, but what if getting hacked or lost.

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Security and Privacy Issues in Cloud Computing

Though cloud computing is one of the best options for data processing and management, there are some security and privacy issues related to it. It has eliminated various financial risks that used to happen while handling the business digitally. Below we have mentioned the security and privacy concerns of cloud computing.

• Data breaches: As massive data is stored on the cloud, there are chances that hackers may target it. Hackers may attack data and breach confidentiality, which will produce severe damage.
• Shared technology: shared dangers: In cloud computing, we may share resources with many other clients which can lead to a situation where all clients can be in danger due to one of the group members. 
• Hacked APIs and UIs: APIs and UIs are the backbones between cloud computing connections and clients. If cloud computing service providers do not adequately handle them, we may lose our data.

[ Related Page: Top Cloud Computing Tools ]

List of Cloud Computing Service Providers

There are many cloud computing service providers in the market. You can choose any one of them as per your business needs and requirements. Below, we have mentioned some of the top cloud service vendors.

Top 15 Cloud Computing Service Providers

• Amazon Web Service (AWS)
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud Platform
• IBM Cloud Services
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Kamatera
• SAP
• Navisite
• Dropbox
• VMware
• Rackspace
• Red Hat
• Salesforce
• Oracle Cloud
• Verizon Cloud.

Conclusion

Cloud computing is a fantastic platform that offers servers, storage, and applications helpful for managing the business in a secure way from anywhere in the world. It requires a good internet connection to offer highly secure, cost-effective, and scalable resources. 

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