Cloud Computing An Overview
Cloud Computing An Overview
Cloud Computing An Overview
-------------------------------------------------------Technical Paper
Author:
Amit Sarawgi
Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Service Models......................................................................................6
6.
Deployment Models...............................................................................7
7.
Benefits................................................................................................8
8.
Challenges............................................................................................9
9.
Conclusion..........................................................................................10
10.
References.......................................................................................10
11.
Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing resources over the Internet.
So instead of keeping the data on our own hard drive or updating applications as
our needs, we use a service over the Internet, at another location, to store our
information or use the applications hosted by it.
It allows individuals and businesses to use software and hardware that are
managed by third parties at remote locations. The cloud computing model allows
access to information and computer resources from anywhere that a network
connection is available. It provides a shared pool of resources, including data
storage space, networks, computer processing power, and specialized corporate
and user applications.
Cloud computing gets its name as a metaphor for the internet. Typically the
internet is represented in network diagrams as a cloud. The cloud icon represents
all that other stuff that makes the network work. Its kind of like etc. for the
rest of the solution map.
Google: Has a private cloud that it uses for delivering many different
services to its users, including:
Apple iCloud: Some of the services includes like Mail, Contacts, Calendar,
Find My iPhone, Find my friends and iWork. Moreover "iTunes in the Cloud"
is a service which stores all your music, movies, apps and other iTunes
purchases on the Cloud so any Apple device can get them already.
Windows Live Sky drive: Microsoft joins the Cloud Computing party with
Windows Live SkyDrive. With SkyDrive you can store up to 25 GB of your
files for free. SkyDrive also enables you to create and edit your MS Office
documents with the same simplicity as MS Office desktop version.
Dropbox: Dropbox was one of the first services to provide online storage.
Today its one of the most popular service for storing your files on the
cloud. Dropbox has a client application for almost all the platforms
including Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, etc. The desktop version of
Dropbox syncs your local files and the files stored on the Dropbox cloud.
So that if you put a file in the local Dropbox folder, it will be automatically
synced with the cloud version.
Amazon: Amazon was one of the first companies to take cloud computing
initiatives and now has many cloud services for all, like Amazon Cloud
Player - stores all your music online and allows you to play or download it
from anywhere. Besides that you can also store documents, photos etc.
Cloud computing has a variety of characteristics, with the main ones being:
5. Service Models
Once a cloud is established, how its cloud computing services are deployed in
terms of business models can differ depending on requirements. The primary
service models being deployed are commonly known as:
6. Deployment Models
7. Benefits
The following are some of the possible benefits for those who offer cloud
computing-based services and applications:
Cost Savings: Companies can reduce their capital expenditures and use
operational expenditures for increasing their computing capabilities. This is
a lower barrier to entry and also requires fewer in-house IT resources to
provide system support.
8. Challenges
Companies are increasingly aware of the business value that cloud computing
brings and are taking steps towards transition to the cloud. A smooth transition
entails a thorough understanding of the benefits as well as challenges involved.
Like any new technology, the adoption of cloud computing is not free from issues.
Some of the most important challenges are as follows:
10
low cost for smaller applications but can be significantly high for the dataintensive applications. Delivering intensive and complex data over the
network requires sufficient bandwidth.
All these challenges should not be considered as road blocks in the pursuit of
cloud computing. It is rather important to give serious consideration to these
issues and the possible ways out before adopting the technology.
9. Conclusion
Cloud computing is still struggling in its infancy, with positive and negative
comments made on its possible implementation for a large-sized enterprise. IT
technicians are spearheading the challenge, while academia is bit slower to react.
Several groups have recently been formed, such as the Cloud Security Alliance or
the Open Cloud Consortium, with the goal of exploring the possibilities offered by
cloud computing and to establish a common language among different providers.
In this boiling pot, cloud computing is facing several issues in gaining recognition
for its merits. Its security deficiencies and benefits need to be carefully weighed
before making a decision to implement it. However, the future looks less cloudy
as far as more people being attracted by the topic and pursuing research to
improve on its drawbacks.
10. References
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Amit Sarawgi is ISTQB Advance Level Certified Test Analyst, with 3+ years of
testing experience in different types of testing like SOA, End-to-End, OAT
(Operations Acceptance Testing). He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer
Science and Communication from Laxmi Niwas Mittal Institute of Information
Technology, Jaipur.