Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of different services through the Internet to
offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. These resources
include tools and applications like data storage, servers, databases, networking, and
software.
Speed
Most cloud computing services are provided self service and on demand, so even vast
amounts of computing resources can be provisioned in minutes, typically with just a few
mouse clicks, giving businesses a lot of flexibility and taking the pressure off capacity
planning.
Global scale
The benefits of cloud computing services include the ability to scale elastically. In cloud
speak, that means delivering the right amount of IT resources—for example, more or less
computing power, storage, bandwidth—right when they’re needed, and from the right
geographic location.
Performance
The biggest cloud computing services run on a worldwide network of secure datacenters,
which are regularly upgraded to the latest generation of fast and efficient computing
hardware. This offers several benefits over a single corporate datacenter, including reduced
network latency for applications and greater economies of scale.
Reliability
Cloud computing makes data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity easier and
less expensive because data can be mirrored at multiple redundant sites on the cloud
provider’s network.
Security
Many cloud providers offer a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls that strengthen
your security posture overall, helping protect your data, apps, and infrastructure from
potential threats.
Private cloud
A private cloud refers to cloud computing resources used exclusively by a single business or
organization. A private cloud can be physically located on the company’s on-site datacenter.
Some companies also pay third-party service providers to host their private cloud. A private
cloud is one in which the services and infrastructure are maintained on a private network.
Hybrid cloud
Hybrid clouds combine public and private clouds, bound together by technology that allows
data and applications to be shared between them. By allowing data and applications to move
between private and public clouds, a hybrid cloud gives your business greater flexibility,
more deployment options, and helps optimize your existing infrastructure, security, and
compliance.
IaaS
IaaS means a cloud service provider manages the infrastructure for you—the actual servers,
network, virtualization, and data storage—through an internet connection. The user has
access through an API or dashboard, and essentially rents the infrastructure. The user
manages things like the operating system, apps, and middleware while the provider takes
care of any hardware, networking, hard drives, data storage, and servers; and has the
responsibility of taking care of outages, repairs, and hardware issues. This is the typical
deployment model of cloud storage providers.
PaaS means the hardware and an application-software platform are provided and managed by
an outside cloud service provider, but the user handles the apps running on top of the
platform and the data the app relies on. Primarily for developers and programmers, PaaS
gives users a shared cloud platform for application development and management (an
important DevOps component) without having to build and maintain the infrastructure
usually associated with the process.
SaaS