You might remember, in pre-computer days, important information was stored in papers. Now, after the introduction of computers, PCs are used to store data. Then with an increase in the amount of data, many hard disks and servers came into existence.
However, there are certain limitations for hard disks and servers. Humans need more significant solutions to the problem of huge data. There’s a need for proper storage that can store and process the data more easily. And, this is when cloud computing is used. Let’s first see what is Cloud computing.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud Computing is using systems to help computers store, manage, and process information. This system stores the data on the cloud i.e. on the internet instead of the local computer and lets you work with it.
The term has two words “cloud” and “computing”. “Cloud” basically means “internet” and “Computing” means “Infrastructures and systems”.
The companies that provide the above-mentioned services are called cloud providers. There are various cloud providers in the market and some of the best ones from them are Amazon web services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google cloud platform. Now that you know what is cloud computing, let’s see what are the benefits of using cloud computing.
Benefits of cloud computing
The concept of cloud computing offers a bunch of benefits that are driving businesses towards this service.A few of the benefits of cloud computing are mentioned below:
Cost
There are number of expenses lined up for organizations in terms of servers like hardware, software, infrastructure, 24/7 electricity for cooling down the servers, and many employees from the IT field to maintain that. All these expenses are fixed. All these above-mentioned expenses can be eliminated with the introduction of cloud computing. Also, the variable expense that you’ve to pay for the selected service is much lower than all the normal expenses.
Security
Numerous cloud service providers provide a wide range of policies, and technologies, that improve your entire security position and safeguard your data, applications, and infrastructure against potential attacks. Additionally, all data stored in the cloud is secured and encoded to safeguard the data.
Flexibility
Employees can be more adaptable in their work habits thanks to cloud computing. For instance, you can access data when traveling to and from work, at home, or while on vacation (assuming you have an internet connection). You can quickly and simply connect to your system if you require access to your data when you are off-site.
Automatic updates
The service that you select may include the cost for all the automatic updates for the IT requirements. Depending on the cloud computing service provider you choose, the most recent technology will be continually added to your system.
Scalability
Your company can swiftly adjust its operations and storage requirements to fit your demands, giving you flexibility as they evolve. The benefit of the cloud is that it gives the organization to focus on management rather than operations.
After getting an idea of what is cloud computing, let’s see the types of cloud computing services.
Types of cloud computing services
Most cloud computing services fall into three different categories Iaas, Paas, and Saas. Let’s see them in detail:
Infrastructure as a service (Iaas)
The most common type of cloud computing is Iaas. It provides the infrastructure of servers, networks, storage devices, and operating systems. Iaas eliminates the need for hardware devices in an organization and provides the benefits of flexibility and scalability. The type is based on pay as you use basis and therefore, is adequate for small or medium-sized business owners.
Platform as a service (Paas)
As depicted with the name, the Paas service provides a platform to companies with databases, programming languages, frameworks, etc. It also provides various additional tools that are needed to develop, and test the applications.
This type of cloud service helps the users to focus on the development of apps and not on the backend and infrastructure management.
Software as a service (Saas)
Saas, often termed as On-Demand software, provides various services to their customers like business services, document management, mailing service, social networks, and much more.
The Saas service is easy to buy for a monthly or annual subscription fee, and also is low maintenance in nature. The important feature of this service is that it is multidevice operational, i.e it can be operated and accessed on desktops, tablets, laptops, etc. These were types of cloud computing services, now, Let’s see four types of cloud from which an organization can select from.
Types of Cloud
Public cloud
The public cloud is used for storing and using the information on the internet which is open to all. The price of this service is based on pay according to the usage basis. This type of cloud service is recommended for small businesses that can start without huge investments and get their IT needs satisfied.
The public cloud is not meant for a single consumer but rather is built for multiple clients. This cloud is of lower cost compared to other types but is less secure as it is shared publicly.
Private cloud
Private cloud services are used by an individual organization or company. This type of service is also known as the internal cloud or corporate cloud. Here the datacentres of the organizations are built internally.
The advantage of using this type of service is that it provides high speed and connectivity along with good security. The organization or company that hires this service has full control of the cloud as it is managed by it only. The operation area gets limited in this type of organization.
Hybrid cloud
As the name suggests, a Hybrid cloud is a combination of both public as well private clouds. The level of security is balanced in the Hybrid cloud as the services that run on the private cloud can be accessed by the company users and the services that run on the public cloud can be accessed by anyone.
This type of cloud is a good way to reduce the risk for security reasons. But, sometimes, managing and maintaining the hybrid cloud is difficult as it has more than one type of service.
Community Cloud
A community cloud is a service that is provided to more than one organization. The community cloud is worked upon and maintained by multiple companies.
The security feature is surely more than the public cloud but less than the private one. In case of less collaboration among the organization, this type of cloud will fail.
Who is using Cloud computing
As mentioned earlier in the article, Cloud computing provides many benefits like cost-effectiveness, flexibility, high security, good scalability, etc. Due to such benefits, many companies have already switched to cloud computing, some of them are mentioned below:
Netflix
Netflix is an entertainment streaming platform that operates worldwide. It provides a platform to the audience where they can find films, latest releases, new series, and much more. Now, what’s the reason behind such a successful company?
Netflix uses AWS i.e. Amazon web service cloud platform to provide service to millions of users.
Coca-Cola
You guys might already know Coca-Cola is one of the few companies that dominate the drinks & beverages sector. The company shifted towards the cloud platform in the early phase. It is believed that this helped the company to save 40% of the tasks.
Coca-Cola also hires the cloud service from AWS which helps the company to improve its efficiency and performance.
Pinterest is a well-known social media app and is using cloud-based services since its early days. The platform collects data from all around the world on the web. Due to cloud computing, the app can handle huge amounts of traffic on daily basis.
Kroger
Kroger is an American retail company that is now changing the experience of grocery shopping. The core data of the company is stored in a private cloud, and, the company continues to develop & test the cloud capabilities further.
The company, Kroger, is known for not only delivering what their consumer needs but also providing the products they didn’t know they needed.
Gameloft
Gameloft is a gaming company that provides online gaming services to users. It is a France-based company. As it depicts, the type of service the company provides needs a strong server to run the operations smoothly.
The company experienced heavy traffic and the maintenance of the platform and servers got costly and difficult. The company soon shifted the gaming servers to the cloud platform and soon the consumers got a better gaming experience.
We hope, the above examples got you cleared with the growing use of the concept and who is using cloud computing.
Conclusion
With all this information in the article on what is cloud computing, you must already know that concept is going to experience a boom in the coming years. The above-mentioned companies have already shifted to cloud platforms and many more organizations and businesses are looking forward to adapting to cloud services.
With everything being connected to the internet, the cloud is the best option for you. The concept opens the door to jobs, platforms, and upgradation for everyone. With this, it is safe to say that now is the best time to get familiar with the concept.
FAQs
Q1. What is meant by cloud computing?
Cloud Computing is using systems to help computers store, manage, and process information. This system stores the data on the cloud i.e. on the internet instead of the local computer and lets you work with it.
Q2. What are the 4 types of cloud computing?
The four types of cloud computing are public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and community cloud.
Q3. What is cloud computing used for?
Cloud computing is used for file sharing, storage, and security. It is used for software development, virtual desktop, etc.
Q4. What is an example of cloud computing?
The easiest example of cloud computing is Google drive. The data we store in our Google drive is stored remotely and thus is an example of cloud computing.
Q5. What is a cloud in simple terms?
Cloud in simple terms is a provision of a variety of services to make the company’s work faster, more flexible, and more scalable. The services included are storage servers, networks, databases, software, etc.
