What is Cloud Computing? - Definition from Techopedia

The Internet is one of the most powerful tools ever invented in the world. The tool is permeating all aspects of our lives. Governments, agencies, companies, and businesses have become dependent on the Internet in many ways. For instance, in businesses, Internet use is becoming a more integral part as it is used for a number of functions, including supply chain, advertising, and sales. In terms of technology, the world is becoming more technologically advanced. The information technology (IT) industry has witnessed a number of developments in terms of Software and hardware. One of the biggest developments or advances in the IT industry is the development of cloud computing. 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology define cloud computing as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storages, application, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction” (Mell & Grance, 2011). In simple terms, clouding computing is the provision of computing resources, such as applications, over the Internet. According to Hofferm George, & Valacich (2014), with the development of cloud computing, organizations do not have to invest in the hardware and software resources need in the organization to run as well as maintain the applications. 

Cloud Computing and Its History 

The technology of Cloud Computing 

Cloud computing is a collection of a number of IT services provided to organizations and businesses over a network. The services are usually provided on a lease basis and are mostly delivered by a third-party provider who owns the Infrastructure. With regard to the architecture of cloud computing, there are two basic models of cloud computing. These two models are the Cloud Service Model (CSM) and Cloud Deployment Model (CDM) (Bairagi & Bang, 2015). With regard to CSM, massively scalable IT-based capabilities are offered as service over the Internet to organizations or businesses. CSM is composed of three different levels of Infrastructure, namely, SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS (Bairagi & Bang, 2015). 

SaaS stands for Software as a Service and is available to organizations, companies, and businesses via the Internet. With this model, organizations, businesses, or other end users consume the software application services over the Internet by an on-demand basis (Bairagi & Bang, 2015). An example of a company that uses this model is Google. Gmail is SaaS provided by Google, and we are end-users. PaaS stands for platform as a service. In this model, the platform itself is given to end-users. Thus, the end-users have the ability to deploy their own Software in Cloud. More to this is that the consumers have the ability to deploy their coding and application in Cloud (Bairagi & Bang, 2015). For example, database servers, such as Oracle and Application Servers, such as Java, use this model, where the end-users may use to make their own applications to address certain needs (Bairagi & Bang, 2015). IaaS stands for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This model provides computing resources in many forms, such as “hardware, network, storage, operating system, and storage devices as on-demand service” (Bairagi & Bang, 2015). 

History of Cloud Computing 

The roots of cloud computing can be traced back to the 1960s with ideas such as "intergalactic computer network," a machine that can be accessed anywhere in the world, introduced by J.C.R Licklider of ARPANET in 1969 (Alzahrani, 2016). During that time, the concept of cloud did not exist. However, the advent of the Internet and networking led to the birth of an abstract path between different computer layers. But previously, in 1961, John McCarthy, floated the idea of “utility computing” (Alzahrani, 2016). 

In practice, cloud computing became mainstream when the IT industry and software companies, such as Salesforce.com, started to provide or started to pioneer the delivery of enterprise systems (Alzahrani, 2016). The company used a different approach to market its Software. More specifically, Salesforce.com offered a model where they charged through a monthly subscription model, a models better described as SaaS. This model made it possible to access Software at any place across the world. Although the companies did not offer actual Infrastructure, they became the proxies of cloud computing to their clients. 

The launch of Elastic Compute Cloud mostly referred to as EC2, is regarded as a vital milestone for modern cloud computing (Alzahrani, 2016). EC2 was developed in 2006 by Amazon and became the blueprint for IaaS (Alzahrani, 2016). This is because this model allowed end-users to hire computers, run applications using computers. In this model, the end-users pay for the resources utilized by the hour. However, it is worth to note that the consumers were required to be able to scale in size with virtually unlimited capacity. Other companies, such as Rackspace, Microsoft, and Google, entered the market with similar product offerings (Alzahrani, 2016). 

Uses of Cloud Computing 

For users, Cloud computing provides computer/mobile users the ability to store, manage, and manipulate system software and applications software that is hosted remotely via the Internet (Sharma, 2019). For service providers, Cloud computing is a new stream of offering service, while at the same time generating revenue from the products offered. In education, cloud computing is used in a number of ways. First, it helps institutions access the IT infrastructure, application services for students and teachers. Secondly, cloud computing in education will help reduce the cost of maintaining IT infrastructure. Lastly, cloud computing can help institutions expand as well as share the IT resources with their partners or other branches. 

In healthcare, cloud computing is used to monitor medical care, analyze medical data (Sharma, 2019). It also enables healthcare facilities to store and access chunks of medical data generated in their day to day activities. In daily life, cloud computing is used in many ways, including watching movies and live streaming. This is because the resources used are hosted on a cloud server. Cloud computing is also improving user experiences through automatic advertisement, product suggesting, notification, and promotional emails (Sharma, 2019). 

In IT enterprises, cloud computing is used in application deployment. The integration of blockchain with cloud computing services and enable as well as the use of artificial intelligence, makes IT enterprises capable of generating user pattern (Sharma, 2019). This helps IT enterprises determine the solutions that work best for the clients. 

Businesses use cloud computing to maximize their success opportunities. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and other companies are developing cloud-based IT infrastructure and applications for organizations, companies, and small businesses (Sharma, 2019). Cloud computing technology provides businesses the opportunity to lead products with data, AI, and big data analytics. The businesses achieve this through the use of either a private cloud or hybrid cloud storage. Lastly, cloud computing offers individuals and organizations the possibility of storing files and retrieving them from a web-enabled interface, disaster recovery, and data backup. 

Tangible and Intangible Costs and Benefits 

Costs 

Although cloud computing has many tangible and intangible benefits, it is also associated with several costs or risks. Some of the tangible and intangible costs related to cloud computing are (Shayan, Azarnik, Chuprat, Karamizadeh, & Alizadeh, 2013): 

Access: With regard to providers that are based upon multi-tenant service, it is very hard to secure and protect data. This is because it is critical to ensure the right persons access the data. In such cases, there is a need to have a mechanism to protect data against unauthorized data access. 

Long-term viability: A provider may incur loses, go bankrupt, and eventually exit the market or sell it to another company. This poses the risk of data security. 

Infrastructure: If the Infrastructure is not implemented well, it can result in irreparable effects on the vendor. This is very common when it comes to upgrading hardware and updating software. 

Integrity: During data transfer and storage, the corruption, damage, and destruction of data may occur. 

Benefits 

The various cloud computing models offer a wide range of tangible and intangible benefits. Some of the tangible benefits of cloud computing include (Shayan, Azarnik, Chuprat, Karamizadeh, & Alizadeh, 2013): 

Reduced IT costs: SaaS applications are run primarily by providers. This means that the providers assume maintenance and support costs associated with that hardware. The end users spend less on maintaining their own in-house equipment. 

Resilience: With Cloud computing, clients and end-users are no longer dependants on officer based hardware. This is because users have the ability to access the application via the Internet. 

Security: Providers understand that they generate income from ensuring your data is safe and free from attack. Thus, data centers are extremely secure. 

Flexibility: Cloud-based services are scalable as consumers only pay for the services they need. 

The intangible benefits associated with cloud computing include (Shayan, Azarnik, Chuprat, Karamizadeh, & Alizadeh, 2013): 

Improved customer service 

Improved customer engagement and 

Improved communication and collaboration between departments. 

Impacts of Cloud Computing 

Cloud computing is changing the world in a number of ways. Cloud computing has had a significant impact in many aspects of life, including social, education, development, and health. The likes of social media, including YouTube and Google, are changing the way people across the world are interacting. 

In the field of education, educational institutions have realized the significance of cloud technology. It is for these reasons that educational institutions are adopting the technology for a number of reasons, including (Ferkoun, 2013): 

The ability of the educational institution to leverage the storage cloud to store their files securely. 

To streamline subscription, class enrolments, and assignment tracking. 

To provide students a platform for accessing data, enrolling in online classes, and participate in group activities. 

With regard to development, cloud technology offers a lot of benefits, especially to developing nations. Instead of investing in costly Infrastructure, countries can now tap into data and applications available in the cloud. The use of cloud computing in the health care industry is also gaining pace. Health care facilities use cloud technology to manage non-soloed patient data and to reduce operational costs such as data storage. 

Conclusion 

Cloud computing is shaping the 21 st century. The technology is continuously being advanced, and companies are continuously adopting it. The advantages of cloud computing outweigh the disadvantages by far. The technology is cost-effective and convenient, and thus individuals and businesses ought to adopt it. 

References 

Alzahrani, H. (2016). A brief survey of cloud computing. Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 16 (3): Global Journal Inc. (USA). Online ISSN: 0975-4172. 

Bairangi, S., & Bang, A. (2015). Cloud computing: History, architecture, security issues. International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE), E-ISSN: 2348-5523), Special Issue. 

Ferkoun, M. (2013). How cloud computing is impacting everyday life. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.ibm.com/blogs/cloud-computing/2013/04/04/how-cloud-computing-is-impacting-everyday-life/ . Accessed December 14, 2019. 

Hofferm, J., George, J., & Valacich, J. (2014). Modern system analysis and design. 7 th ed. Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. 

Mell, P., & Grance, T. (2011). The NIST definition of cloud computing. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Special Publication 800-145. 

Sharma, V. (2019). Uses of cloud computing. [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.klientsolutech.com/powerful-uses-of-cloud-computing/ . Accessed December 14, 2019. 

Shayan, J., Azarnik, A., Chuprat, S., Karamizadeh, S., & Alizadeh, M. (2013). Identifying the benefits and risks associated with utilizing cloud computing. The International Journal of Soft Computing and Software Engineering, 3 (3): 416-421.