Mar 28, 2013

Cloud Computing for Dummies



Imagine this, you are a really amazing programmer and you are on a vacation in Hawaii. Suddenly, your phones rings with the tune you set for the last person you want to hear from on your vacation, your boss. He says that it’s an emergency and that a very big problem has come up with that critical software you made for the client.  It will only take a few hours for you to fix it but for that you have to cancel your vacation and go back all the way to India. What do you do? Well, until a few years ago you had no option but to do just that.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

Introducing the cloud, the solution that saved your vacation. Now all you have to do is log on to a computer anywhere and use a cloud computing system's interface software (which can also be a web browser) to access your office files and the software that you need. You complete the work and Walla, your vacation is saved and you, your boss and your client live happily ever after.

Now that you know that cloud can save your day, let me explain what it is and how it works.

Plain old definition: 

                                             "Using a network of remote servers located on the internet to store, manage and process data, rather than a local server."
(source: Wikipedia.com)

Simple explanation: 

Instead of buying expensive machines to install software, save data and do your computing. You can simply buy less expensive machines and avail the service of a cloud computing service provider and have them install the software at their end and let them do all the hard work. All that you need to do is use their interface software to access all the software and data that you need over the internet. This interface software could also be a web browser.  There is less load on your systems, you don’t have to buy multiple licenses and you don’t have to invest in expensive machines. It’s a win-win situation.

Let me give a simpler explanation. If you use services like Microsoft SkyDrive or Google Drive, you are already using cloud based service. They make the same data available to you no matter from where you log on.

Want an even simpler explanation? Ok, if you use any web based email, then you are using cloud computing service where the email software is running on the company's server and you are just using the browser as an interface for your e-mail requirements like sending and receiving email. The company's server does all the hard work.

A cloud system does not necessarily have to be over the internet. A company can have a company level cloud to centralise  all their requirements if they do not wish to avail a third party service. No more headaches of installing new software on a machine when new recruits arrive. However, it is not recommended if the company is new to cloud computing as it is again an area that requires expertise.

Now that we have demystified the fancy jargon called cloud computing. Let us see what are the different types of cloud computing service that are available.

Types of Cloud Computing services:

  • Infrastructure as a service:
    As the name implies, the cloud computing company provides physical or more often virtual machines as services(there are many more services but lets stick to these for simplicity's sake). In this kind of a system, the user maintains the software and the operating system on the virtual machine.
  • Platform as a service:
    Here, the cloud service provider may offer you an operating system on the cloud and other applications that can be installed on it for your work.
  • Software as a service:
    In this type of a cloud computing environment, you are provided access to software installed on the cloud. You usually access this software through the browser or a cloud company provided software.

This is by no means the complete list of services available on the cloud. As technology advances, many more services will become available on the cloud. 

What are the advantages? 

  • Anywhere, any time access to data and software. No more limitations with data portability.
  • Reduced hardware cost because companies would not need to buy powerful machines for their computing needs.
  • No need to buy software licenses every time a new employee joins the company. They just have to pay the cloud service provider a small fee to access the software. This fee could be usage based or time based.
  • It is much cheaper to use a cloud computing system's immense processing capability than build one of your own. 


Is there any disadvantage?


Not really, but there is an area of concern which should be looked at carefully before jumping into the cloud computing bandwagon. In a cloud computing environment, all your data will effectively be on the computers of the cloud computing company.  So before you select a provider make sure that they follow satisfactory security procedures.

Want a taste of the cloud?

Try the following services to get a taste of the cloud:

Cloud based storage: 
Cloud based Operating System:

 References:



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