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Cloud Computing is the latest buzzword in technology which promises to bring revolution in the way modern business operate. What makes cloud computing truly remarkable is the concept which empowers its customers to change their IT related capability and capacity ‘on demand’ without any long term investments. It represents paradigm shift by delivering business applications on the World Wide Web which can be accessed using a web browser while the data and software are stored on the servers. The users do not own the infrastructure needed for an application and they can directly access it on Internet using third party providers. The model used for cloud computing is analogous to the electric grid or the telecommunication system wherein you use an application and on the basis of your consumption make the payment to the service providers.
The concept of cloud computing is not new and we have been using it since the early days of Internet evolution. Thus any service provider on Internet like Yahoo! or MSN where a user just has to create an account to enjoy the benefits of the software can be an example of cloud computing. However as the concept of computing is gaining popularity the range of services being offered are expanding from simple storage services and spam filters to complete heavy applications. The rapid expansion in the software industry, economic crisis and easy accessibility to the Internet are some of the reasons that have made cloud computing a very popular concept. A Cloud computing model may be public, private or a hybrid of the two. While the public cloud computing model is available to anyone on the Internet, the private model is solely designed for a particular organization. The hybrid model uses the features of both private public and private models. For example, a company may opt to keep its crucial data on the private model and provide services like e-mail on a public cloud.
Some of the popular cloud computing services are:
● SaaS: In Software as a service model, the vendor provides a single web application to thousands of the users on the Internet who no longer have to bother about license and other formalities and may start using the application straight away.
● PaaS: In Platform as a Service model, the users can access the platform provided by the third party providers and use it to develop applications without having to worry about the hardware and installation details.
● IaaS: In Infrastructure as a Service model, the service providers equip the users with a virtual server instances and a unique IP address on demand. Thus the user needs to only for the services he uses.
Some of the apparent advantages of cloud computing are:
1. It provides users an opportunity to access the latest technology without necessitating changes in their infrastructure.
2. The capital expenditure required for the installation and hardware is greatly reduced and is converted into the operational cost.
3. The security becomes the responsibility of the third party service providers and is improved due to centralization of the services.
4. The applications can be accessed using a web browser from anywhere in the world, on any device.
Cloud Computing has faced criticism regarding privacy and obedience issues, fearing that the companies providing the cloud services might monitor and control the activities of their clients unethically. It has been despised as a mere marketing strategy by some analysts.
Despite the controversies associated Cloud Computing is regarded as the future of the IT industry, it is expected that in future a large number of cloud computing providers would integrate their services and give rise to a greater phenomenon, “Sky Computing”. Cloud Computing holds the key to standardization of IT services and can potentially change the way IT companies work forever.