What is Cloud Computing?
"Cloud Computing", by definition, refers to the on-demand delivery of IT resources
and applications via the Internet with pay-as-you-go pricing.
The Basics
Whether you are running applications that share photos to millions of mobile users
or you're supporting the critical operations of your business, the "cloud" provides
rapid access to flexible and low cost IT resources. With cloud computing, you don'
need to make large upfront investments in hardware and spend a lot of time on the
heavy lifting of managing that hardware. Instead, you can provision exactly the
right type and size of computing resources you need to power your newest bright
idea or operate your IT department. You can access as many resources as you need,
almost instantly, and only pay for what you use.
How Does it Work?
Cloud Computing provides a simple way to access servers, storage, databases and
a broad set of application services over the Internet. Cloud Computing providers
such as Amazon Web Services own and maintain the network-connected hardware required
for these application services, while you provision and use what you need via a
web application.
Six Advantages and Benefits of Cloud Computing
01.Trade capital expense for variable expense
Instead of having to invest heavily in data centers and servers before you know
how you’re going to use them, you can only pay when you consume computing resources,
and only pay for how much you consume.
02.Benefit from massive economies of scale
By using cloud computing, you can achieve a lower variable cost than you can get
on your own. Because usage from hundreds of thousands of customers are aggregated
in the cloud, providers such as Amazon Web Services can achieve higher economies
of scale which translates into lower pay as you go prices.
03.Stop guessing capacity
Eliminate guessing on your infrastructure capacity needs. When you make a capacity
decision prior to deploying an application, you often either end up sitting on expensive
idle resources or dealing with limited capacity. With Cloud Computing, these problems
go away. You can access as much or as little as you need, and scale up and down
as required with only a few minutes notice.
04.Increase speed and agility
In a cloud computing environment, new IT resources are only ever a click away, which
means you reduce the time it takes to make those resources available to your developers
from weeks to just minutes. This results in a dramatic increase in agility for the
organization, since the cost and time it takes to experiment and develop is significantly
lower.
05.Stop spending money on running and maintaining data centers
Focus on projects that differentiate your business, not the infrastructure. Cloud
computing lets you focus on your own customers, rather than on the heavy lifting
of racking, stacking and powering servers.
06.Go global in minutes
Easily deploy your application in multiple regions around the world with just a
few clicks. This means you can provide a lower latency and better experience for
your customers simply and at minimal cost.
Cloud computing has three main types that are commonly referred to as
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
Selecting the right type of cloud computing for your needs can help you strike the
right balance of control and the avoidance of undifferentiated heavy lifting.