There has been a lot of talk about the concept of cloud computing recently, as many businesses “move to the cloud”, adopting a set of new types of scalable technologies that have significantly enhanced the speed and quality of their online services, while also offering many other benefits, as well.
But What Is Cloud Computing Exactly?
Cloud services generally represent the delivery of hosting services (both hardware and software) through a network. The network is usually the internet itself, as represented by the term “cloud”. There are three main aspects that set them apart from regular hosting services:
- They are extremely flexible, being provided according to the needs of each user at any given time;
- Because the services are managed fully by the provider, the user will only need a computer or mobile device with internet access in order to use them;
- Cloud services are typically sold on demand, either by the minute or by the hour, depending on each individual user or company’s demands.
Currently Available Cloud Types and Models
There are three main cloud service types available, which, set apart from several others, are the most important categories offered by cloud computing providers: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).
Apart from these, other cloud service varieties may include storage-as-a-service, data-as-a-service, API-as-a service, security-as-a-service and more; each of these are specially designed to provide different types of products and architectures on demand, usually regardless of organizational or geographic factors.
A cloud can also be categorized as either private or public. Private clouds represent proprietary networks that supply services to a limited number of people, while public cloud services are typically offered by providers through the internet to any potential clients.
Clouds have become an extremely broad market recently. As a result of the further SOA innovations that are constantly under way, combined with an increased speed and quality of internet technologies, the interest in cloud services is likely to continue rising in the future.
Now that you know the basics of cloud computing, stay tuned for more in-depth info, as there many important details you need to learn about to understand the full potential of such a service.