What Is 'Cloud Computing'?

The name cloud computing comes from the cloud symbol that is often used in flowcharts for representing Internet. Cloud computing defines delivering of the hosted services over the Internet. These services are divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). This technology is completely focused on providing efficient and centralized computing services. An internet connection along with a central remote server is required in cloud computing in order to maintain data.

Let's have a detailed look on this topic. A cloud can be of two types: Private or Public. A public cloud sells services to anyone on the Internet. For example, Amazon Web Services is the largest public cloud provider. A private cloud, on the other hand, supplies hosted services to a limited number of people. Thus, the goal of cloud computing is to provide easy, scalable access to computing resources and IT services.

As the world is moving ahead towards the growing trend direction, it is very clear that cloud computing will soon be emerging as a big bang for software development companies and soon we will be able to see various providers of the service. This technology mainly covers various IT related services such as computing, storage, networking, system security, application and platform. These services are charged based on the usage.

Some of the future benefits of CC can be listed as:

  • Latest technologies will be provided in schools, colleges & universities at an affordable price.
  • Start-up business firms don't need to invest on IT infrastructure, instead they can run their business on the Cloud with an office at home.
  • Cloud computing even helps a small retailer to send SMS greetings to their customers.
  • Multimedia digital content can be distributed to various consumers through cloud at a lower price.

With the help of cloud computing many new areas will be discovered and your computing storage will be outsourced to a Cloud provider. Every Mobile application development company is also using these services to develop customized applications/products.

A simple example of cloud computing is Yahoo or Gmail web-based e-mail services. In order to use these services, we do not require any server or software. Just a simple requirement of internet connection is needed and we get access to our mailbox. We can read as well as send our messages and do many other activities depending upon the functionalities provided by the e-mail service provider. This clearly indicates that how reliable, robust, scalable the usage of cloud computing is. A company can lead to increase in its business sales with reduced costs by using this consumption based model of cloud computing. Without having the need of getting a software license or server installation, merely an internet connection can help get a performance based secured way to fulfill your requirement.