Technology is rapidly growing and you should get accustomed to its new wave of change. Among the new ideas on the IT, the horizon is Cloud Computing. You use cloud computing without even knowing yet and still have no idea what it entails. Cloud computing keeps the world going.
If you have used an online service to either send an email, watch movies, edit documents play games or store files and documents, you should know that cloud computing is at the frontier of it all. Cloud computing is not yet a decade old and you have to move with its wave as have numerous organizations done globally.
What is cloud computing?
Simply put, cloud computing is delivery over the internet ‘cloud’ of computing services such as databases, storage, networking, software and analytics and many more. When you access pools of shared system resources and other higher level services which have been rapidly provided with little management effort over the internet, it is all in the backyard of cloud computing.
Despite you being a huge benefactor of cloud computing, it cannot work without your intervention. This is because as a public utility, it relies on sharing of resources to achieve both coherence and most importantly, economies of scale.
How cloud computing works
Depending on a provider, you should expect cloud services to work slightly differently. Some cloud computing services are designed with friendly, browser-based dashboards. These will be a huge help for you if you are an IT professional or developer. With these, you can order resources and manage your account at the same time.
Other cloud computing services are designed with REST, APIs and Command-Line Interface (CLI). This version will give you multiple developer options.
Characteristics of cloud computing
For a broader outlook on cloud computing, these key characteristics are the ones you should look out for.
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An IT monitored performance
Cloud computing services are monitored by IT experts specifically from the service providers. Also look out for loosely coupled architectures that are consistent therefore built using web services as the system interface.
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Resource pooling
This is the provider’s action of computing resources to be able to serve multiple customers. In order to accommodate multiple clients, cloud computing uses a multi-tenant model. The multi-tenant model will comprise of different virtual and physical resources which are dynamically assigned and reassigned according to your demands.
Resource poling gives you a feeling of location independence. This is because you have no knowledge of the exactness of the provided resource.
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Productivity
Cloud computing is all about productivity. This allows you and other users work on data simultaneously rather than waiting for it to be saved and emailed. Eventually, this saves your time because it does not bring up any need to re-enter information when fields are matched.
Productivity, however, relies on reliability. Your constant use of multiple redundant sites is what sells cloud computing. This is why well-designed cloud computing is normally your resolve for business continuity and disaster recovery.
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4. Scalability and elasticity
Cloud computing blends with the new generation because of its ability to provide for your resources on a self-service basis and in real time. This elasticity and scalability are profound for profit margins. Demand will determine whether to scale up when usage by users increases or scale down when your use of resources is minimal or none at all.
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Security
Ponzi schemes are on the rise and security related risks are a huge cloud computing priority. You may realize that data is centralized and its resources, although self-service, have an increased security focus. This is major to avoid the rise of complaints about the loss of data as the result of lack of security for stored kernels.
Cloud computing security is better than other traditional systems. Usually, service providers can dedicate resources to solving security issues. This is to save you the trouble of tackling it yourself yet lacking technical skills.
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An increase in your agility
Cloud computing increases your flexibility even for organizations. It boosts your agility by increasing your flexibility with its re-provisioning services, adding and expanding its technological infrastructure resources. You do not have to worry about costs because cost reductions are claimed by the service providers.
The cost-reduction factor of cloud computing is the most efficient because it reduces barriers to entry. The fact that you can be able to access system using a web browser regardless of your position also comes in handy. Moreover, maintenance of cloud computing applications is easier.
Uses of cloud computing
Tiny startups to multi-global organizations use cloud computing on daily basis. Cloud computing is cheap and its clientele ate latched onto it. Here are some of the things cloud computing can help you work out:
- Creation of new applications
- Creation of new services
- Store, backup, and recovery of data through cloud storage
- Host websites and blogs
- Improved service delivery; delivery of software/documents on demand
- Stream audio and video
From the uses of cloud computing named you to end up realizing that you have been using cloud computing without even realizing. It is a major shift from the traditional way of doing business not only because it will help you analyze data patterns and make predictions, it is fast and offers self-service.
Benefits of cloud computing
Cloud computing is a good agent of cost reduction. It saves you the trouble of buying hardware and software components and setting up and running data centers. The global scale that cloud computing has reached basically allows you to also scale elastically. This will help you deliver fast IT resources and in the right amount.
of cloud services
Cloud computing services are categories in three ways. Knowing these categories will help you in accomplishing your business achievements
- Platform as a service (PaaS) This group of cloud computing supplies on-demand surroundings for emerging, testing, delivery and the organization of software applications. It will help you generate web and mobile applications without nerve-wracking too much about set-ups.
- Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)
This is the most elementary classification of cloud computing services. With IaaS, you will be able to lease IT setup such as servers and virtual machines, storage, networks and operating systems form a cloud supplier. This is generally on a pay-as-you-go source.
- Software as a service (SaaS)
This is a technique of providing software presentations over the internet. Cloud providers host and accomplish the software applications, underlying infrastructure and also handle any repairs.
