Cloud Computing Unit-1

Different Computing Paradigms:


Over the years different computing paradigms have been developed and used. In fact
different computing paradigms have existed before the cloud computing paradigm. Let us
take a look at all the computing paradigms below.
1. Distributed Computing :
Distributed computing is defined as a type of computing where multiple computer systems
work on a single problem. Here all the computer systems are linked together and the problem
is divided into sub-problems where each part is solved by different computer systems.
The goal of distributed computing is to increase the performance and efficiency of the system
and ensure fault tolerance.
In the below diagram, each processor has its own local memory and all the processors
communicate with each other over a network.

2. Parallel Computing:
Parallel computing is defined as a type of computing where multiple computer systems are
used simultaneously. Here a problem is broken into sub-problems and then further broken
down into instructions. These instructions from each sub-problem are executed concurrently
on different processors.
Here in the below diagram you can see how the parallel computing system consists of
multiple processors that communicate with each other and perform multiple tasks over a
shared memory simultaneously.
The goal of parallel computing is to save time and provide concurrency.

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

3. Cluster Computing:
A cluster is a group of independent computers that work together to perform the tasks given.
Cluster computing is defined as a type of computing that consists of two or more independent
computers, referred to as nodes, that work together to execute tasks as a single machine.
The goal of cluster computing is to increase the performance, scalability and simplicity of the
system.
As you can see in the below diagram, all the nodes, (irrespective of whether they are a parent
node or child node), act as a single entity to perform the tasks.

4. Grid Computing:
Grid computing is defined as a type of computing where it is constitutes a network of
computers that work together to perform tasks that may be difficult for a single machine to
handle. All the computers on that network work under the same umbrella and are termed as a
virtual super computer.
The tasks they work on is of either high computing power and consist of large data sets.
All communication between the computer systems in grid computing is done on the ―data
grid‖.
The goal of grid computing is to solve more high computational problems in less time and
improve productivity.

By: Preetham Paul Socrates P Assistant Professor SDC

Cloud Computing Unit-1

5.Utility Computing:
Utility computing is defined as the type of computing where the service provider provides the
needed resources and services to the customer and charges them depending on the usage of
these resources as per requirement and demand, but not of a fixed rate.
Utility computing involves the renting of resources such as hardware, software, etc.
depending on the demand and the requirement.
The goal of utility computing is to increase the usage of resources and be more cost-efficient.

6. Edge Computing:
Edge computing is defined as the type of computing that is focused on decreasing the long
distance communication between the client and the server. This is done by running fewer
processes in the cloud and moving these processes onto a user’s computer, IoT device or edge
device/server.
The goal of edge computing is to bring computation to the network’s edge which in turn
builds less gap and results in better and closer interaction.

7. Fog Computing:
Fog computing is defined as the type of computing that acts a computational structure
between the cloud and the data producing devices. It is also called as ―fogging‖.
This structure enables users to allocate resources, data, applications in locations at a closer
range within each other.
The goal of fog computing is to improve the overall network efficiency and performance.

By: Preetham Paul Socrates P Assistant Professor SDC

Cloud Computing Unit-1

8. Cloud Computing:
Cloud is defined as the usage of someone else’s server to host, process or store data.
Cloud computing is defined as the type of computing where it is the delivery of on-demand
computing services over the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. It is widely distributed,
network-based and used for storage.
There type of cloud are public, private, hybrid and community and some cloud providers are
Google cloud, AWS, Microsoft Azure and IBM cloud.

Comparison of various Computing Technologies:

 Virtualization
 Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
 Grid Computing
 Utility Computing

1. Virtualization

Virtualization is the process of creating a virtual environment to run multiple

applications and operating systems on the same server. The virtual environment can be
anything, such as a single instance or a combination of many operating systems, storage
devices, network application servers, and other environments.

The concept of Virtualization in cloud computing increases the use of virtual

machines. A virtual machine is a software computer or software program that not only works
as a physical computer but can also function as a physical machine and perform tasks such as
running applications or programs as per the user's demand.

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

Types of Virtualization

 Hardware virtualization
 Server virtualization
 Storage virtualization
 Operating system virtualization
 Data Virtualization

2. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) allows organizations to access on-

demand cloud-based computing solutions according to the change of business needs. It can
work without or with cloud computing. The advantages of using SOA is that it is easy to
maintain, platform independent, and highly scalable.

There are the following applications of Service-Oriented Architecture -

 It is used in the healthcare industry.

 It is used to create many mobile applications and games.
 In the air force, SOA infrastructure is used to deploy situational awareness systems.

The service-oriented architecture is shown below:

3. Grid Computing

Grid computing is also known as distributed computing. It is a processor

architecture that combines various different computing resources from multiple locations to
achieve a common goal. In grid computing, the grid is connected by parallel nodes to form a
computer cluster. These computer clusters are in different sizes and can run on any operating
system.

Grid computing contains the following three types of machines -

1. Control Node: It is a group of server which administrates the whole network.

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

2. Provider: It is a computer which contributes its resources in the network resource

pool.
3. User: It is a computer which uses the resources on the network.

Mainly, grid computing is used in the ATMs, back-end infrastructures, and marketing
research.

4. Utility Computing

Utility computing is the most trending IT service model. It provides on-demand

computing resources (computation, storage, and programming services via API) and
infrastructure based on the pay per use method. It minimizes the associated costs and
maximizes the efficient use of resources. The advantage of utility computing is that it
reduced the IT cost, provides greater flexibility, and easier to manage.

Large organizations such as Google and Amazon established their own utility
services for computing storage and application.

By: Preetham Paul Socrates P Assistant Professor SDC

Cloud Computing Unit-1

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet. These services
include:

Servers, Storage, Databases, Networking, Software, Analytics, Intelligence.

Cloud computing is also known as Internet-based computing. It allows users to access data
and programs on remote servers instead of their computer's hard drive or local server.

Cloud computing offers:

 Faster innovation
 Flexible resources
 Economies of scale

Cloud computing eliminates the need for users to manage physical resources themselves.
Users only pay for what they use.

There are four cloud deployment models: Public, Private, Community, Hybrid.

Each deployment model is defined by the location of the environment's infrastructure.

Amazon - Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of IT resources over the Internet with
pay-as-you-go pricing.

Microsoft - Simply put, cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including

servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over internet

Google - Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computing resources (such as

storage and infrastructure), as services over the internet.

IBM - Cloud computing is on-demand access, via the internet, to computing resources—
applications, servers (physical servers and virtual servers), data storage,

History of Cloud Computing:

 Before Computing was come into existence, client Server Architecture was used where
all the data and control of client resides in Server side. If a single user want to access
some data, firstly user need to connect to the server and after that user will get
appropriate access. But it has many disadvantages. So, After Client Server computing,
Distributed Computing was come into existence, in this type of computing all
computers are networked together with the help of this, user can share their resources
when needed. It also has certain limitations. So in order to remove limitations faced in
distributed system, cloud computing was emerged.

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

 During 1961, John MacCharty delivered his speech at MIT that ―Computing Can be
sold as a Utility, like Water and Electricity.‖ According to John MacCharty it was a
brilliant idea. But people at that time don’t want to adopt this technology. They thought
the technology they are using efficient enough for them. So, this concept of computing
was not appreciated much so and very less will research on it. But as the time fleet the
technology caught the idea after few years this idea is implemented. So, this is
implemented by Salesforce.com in 1999.

 This company started delivering an enterprise application over the internet and this way
the boom of Cloud Computing was started.

 In 2002, Amazon started Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon will provide storage,
computation over the internet. In 2006 Amazon will launch Elastic Compute Cloud
Commercial Service which is open for Everybody to use.

 After that in 2009, Google Play also started providing Cloud Computing Enterprise
Application as other companies will see the emergence of cloud Computing they also
started providing their cloud services. Thus, in 2009, Microsoft launch Microsoft Azure
and after that other companies like Alibaba, IBM, Oracle, HP also introduces their
Cloud Services. In today the Cloud Computing become very popular and important
skill.

Advantages :
 It is easier to get backup in cloud.
 It allows us easy and quick access stored information anywhere and anytime.
 It allows us to access data via mobile.
 It reduces both hardware ad Software cost, and it is easily maintainable.
 One of the biggest advantage of Cloud Computing is Database Security.
Disadvantages :
 It requires good internet connection.
 User have limited control on the data.

By: Preetham Paul Socrates P Assistant Professor SDC

Cloud Computing Unit-1

Cloud Computing Features:

1. On-demand self-service

AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and other public cloud platforms make resources
available to users at the click of a button or API call. With data centers all over the world,
these vendors have vast amounts of compute and storage assets at the ready. This represents a
radical departure for IT teams accustomed to an on-premises procurement process that can
take months to complete.

Cloud computing's characteristic of self-service provisioning goes hand in hand with on-
demand computing capabilities. Instead of waiting for new servers to be delivered to a private
data center, developers can select the resources and tools they need -- typically through a
cloud provider's self-service portal -- and build right away. An admin sets policies to limit
what IT and development teams can run, but within those guardrails, employees have the
freedom to build, test and deploy apps as they see fit.

2. Resource pooling

Public cloud providers rely on multi-tenant architectures to accommodate more users at the
same time. Customers' workloads are abstracted from the hardware and underlying software,
which serve multiple customers on the same host. Cloud providers increasingly rely on
custom hardware and abstraction layers to improve security and speed users' access to
resources.

3. Scalability and rapid elasticity

Resource pooling enables scalability for cloud providers and users, letting them add or
remove compute, storage, networking and other assets as needed. This helps enterprise IT
teams optimize their cloud-hosted workloads and avoid end-user bottlenecks. Clouds can
scale vertically or horizontally, and service providers offer automation software to handle
dynamic scaling for users.

Traditional on-premises architectures can't scale as easily. Typically, enterprises have to

purchase servers and other infrastructure assets to plan for peak capacity. Those extra
resources sit idle during lulls in activity.

4. Pay-per-use pricing

This cloud computing characteristic shifts IT spending from Capex to Opex as providers offer
per-second billing. This model achieves economies of scale through reducing costs on a large
scale and seeing an increase in efficiency. Though this can generally be seen as a positive, IT
teams must be careful since their resource needs likely aren't static. VMs should be right-
sized, turned off while not in use, or scaled down as conditions dictate. Otherwise,
organizations waste money and can end up with sticker shock when the monthly bill arrives.

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

This pricing model was once the only way to pay for cloud. But vendors have since added
various pricing plans that provide cheaper costs in exchange for longer-term commitments.
This model is cost effective since customers only pay for what they use.

5. Measured service

Measuring cloud service usage is useful for both a cloud provider and its customers. The
provider and the customer monitor and report on the use of resources and services, such as
VMs, storage, processing and bandwidth. That data is used to calculate the customer's
consumption of cloud resources and feeds into the pay-per-use model. The cloud provider,
meanwhile, can better understand how customers utilize its resources and potentially improve
the infrastructure and cloud computing services offered

6. Resiliency and availability

Cloud providers use several techniques to guard against downtime, such as minimizing
regional dependencies to avoid single points of failure. Users can also extend their workloads
across availability zones, which have redundant networks connecting multiple data centers in
relatively close proximity. Some higher-level services automatically distribute workloads
across availability zones.

7. Security

While many enterprises balked at migrating workloads because of security fears, those
concerns have largely subsided, partly due to the benefits of the above characteristics of
cloud computing. Cloud vendors employ some of the best security experts in the world and
are generally better equipped to handle threats than most in-house IT teams. In fact, some of
the biggest financial firms in the world say the cloud is a security asset.

However, this doesn't absolve users of their duties. Public cloud providers follow the shared-
responsibility model. They tend to the security of the platform, and users handle their own
apps that sit on top. Failure to fully grasp those delineations has led to high-profile exposures
of sensitive corporate data in the past.

8. Broad network access

A big part of the cloud's utility is its ubiquity. Data can be uploaded and accessed from
anywhere with an internet connection. Users can work from any location. The cloud is an
attractive option for most enterprises that have a mix of operating systems, platforms and
devices.

To preserve that broad network access, cloud providers monitor and ensure various metrics
that reflect how customers access cloud resources and data: latency, access time, data
throughput, etc. These factor into quality-of-service requirements and service-level
agreements.

By: Preetham Paul Socrates P Assistant Professor SDC

Cloud Computing Unit-1

Cloud Computing Applications:

1. Art Applications

Cloud computing offers various art applications for quickly and easily design attractive cards,
booklets, and images. Some most commonly used cloud art applications are given below:

 Moo
Moo is one of the best cloud art applications. It is used for designing and printing
business cards, postcards, and mini cards.
 Vistaprint
Vistaprint allows us to easily design various printed marketing products such as
business cards, Postcards, Booklets, and wedding invitations cards.
 Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe creative cloud is made for designers, artists, filmmakers, and other creative
professionals. It is a suite of apps which includes PhotoShop image editing
programming, Illustrator, InDesign, TypeKit, Dreamweaver, XD, and Audition.

2. Business Applications

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

Business applications are based on cloud service providers. Today, every organization
requires the cloud business application to grow their business. It also ensures that business
applications are 24*7 available to users.

There are the following business applications of cloud computing -

 MailChimp
MailChimp is an email publishing platform which provides various options to design,
send, and save templates for emails.
 Salesforce
Salesforce platform provides tools for sales, service, marketing, e-commerce, and
more. It also provides a cloud development platform.
 Chatter
Chatter helps us to share important information about the organization in real time.
 Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a collaboration platform which provides communication, management, and
social collaboration tools.
 Paypal
Paypal offers the simplest and easiest online payment mode using a secure internet
account. Paypal accepts the payment through debit cards, credit cards, and also from
Paypal account holders.
 Slack
Slack stands for Searchable Log of all Conversation and Knowledge. It provides a
user-friendly interface that helps us to create public and private channels for
communication.

 Quickbooks
Quickbooks works on the terminology "Run Enterprise anytime, anywhere, on any
device." It provides online accounting solutions for the business. It allows more than
20 users to work simultaneously on the same system.

3. Data Storage and Backup Applications

Cloud computing allows us to store information (data, files, images, audios, and videos) on
the cloud and access this information using an internet connection. As the cloud provider is
responsible for providing security, so they offer various backup recovery application for
retrieving the lost data.

A list of data storage and backup applications in the cloud are given below –

 Box.com
Box provides an online environment for secure content management, workflow, and
collaboration. It allows us to store different files such as Excel, Word, PDF, and
images on the cloud. The main advantage of using box is that it provides drag & drop

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

service for files and easily integrates with Office 365, G Suite, Salesforce, and more
than 1400 tools.
 Mozy
Mozy provides powerful online backup solutions for our personal and business data.
It schedules automatically back up for each day at a specific time.
 Joukuu
Joukuu provides the simplest way to share and track cloud-based backup files. Many
users use joukuu to search files, folders, and collaborate on documents.
 Google G Suite
Google G Suite is one of the best cloud storage and backup application. It includes
Google Calendar, Docs, Forms, Google+, Hangouts, as well as cloud storage and
tools for managing cloud apps. The most popular app in the Google G Suite is Gmail.
Gmail offers free email services to users.

4. Education Applications

Cloud computing in the education sector becomes very popular. It offers various online
distance learning platforms and student information portals to the students. The advantage of
using cloud in the field of education is that it offers strong virtual classroom environments,
Ease of accessibility, secure data storage, scalability, greater reach for the students, and
minimal hardware requirements for the applications.

There are the following education applications offered by the cloud –

 Google Apps for Education

Google Apps for Education is the most widely used platform for free web-based
email, calendar, documents, and collaborative study.
 Chromebooks for Education
Chromebook for Education is one of the most important Google's projects. It is
designed for the purpose that it enhances education innovation.
 Tablets with Google Play for Education
It allows educators to quickly implement the latest technology solutions into the
classroom and make it available to their students.
 AWS in Education
AWS cloud provides an education-friendly environment to universities, community
colleges, and schools.

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

5. Entertainment Applications

Entertainment industries use a multi-cloud strategy to interact with the target audience. Cloud
computing offers various entertainment applications such as online games and video
conferencing.

 Online games
Today, cloud gaming becomes one of the most important entertainment media. It
offers various online games that run remotely from the cloud. The best cloud gaming
services are Shaow, GeForce Now, Vortex, Project xCloud, and PlayStation Now.
 Video Conferencing Apps
Video conferencing apps provides a simple and instant connected experience. It
allows us to communicate with our business partners, friends, and relatives using a
cloud-based video conferencing. The benefits of using video conferencing are that it
reduces cost, increases efficiency, and removes interoperability.

6. Management Applications

Cloud computing offers various cloud management tools which help admins to manage all
types of cloud activities, such as resource deployment, data integration, and disaster recovery.
These management tools also provide administrative control over the platforms, applications,
and infrastructure.

Some important management applications are –

 Toggl
Toggl helps users to track allocated time period for a particular project.
 Evernote
Evernote allows you to sync and save your recorded notes, typed notes, and other
notes in one convenient place. It is available for both free as well as a paid version.

It uses platforms like Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Browser, and Unix.

 Outright
Outright is used by management users for the purpose of accounts. It helps to track
income, expenses, profits, and losses in real-time environment.
 GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting provides Video Conferencing and online meeting apps, which allows
you to start a meeting with your business partners from anytime, anywhere using
mobile phones or tablets. Using GoToMeeting app, you can perform the tasks related
to the management such as join meetings in seconds, view presentations on the shared
screen, get alerts for upcoming meetings, etc.

By: Preetham Paul Socrates P Assistant Professor SDC

Cloud Computing Unit-1

7. Social Applications

Social cloud applications allow a large number of users to connect with each other using
social networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, etc.

There are the following cloud based social applications –

 Facebook
Facebook is a social networking website which allows active users to share files,
photos, videos, status, more to their friends, relatives, and business partners using the
cloud storage system. On Facebook, we will always get notifications when our friends
like and comment on the posts.
 Twitter
Twitter is a social networking site. It is a microblogging system. It allows users to
follow high profile celebrities, friends, relatives, and receive news. It sends and
receives short posts called tweets.
 Yammer
Yammer is the best team collaboration tool that allows a team of employees to chat,
share images, documents, and videos.

Trends in Cloud Computing:

1. AI and ML

One of the most trending technologies that are close to cloud computing is Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning. They are cost-effective technologies as they require high
computational power and storage for the collection of data and training. Major trends that
will grow in this sector in the upcoming years are self-automation, self-learning, personalized
cloud, high data security, and privacy. Many cloud service provider companies such as
Amazon, Google, IBM, etc are investing a lot in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Amazon’s AWS DeepLens camera and Google Lens are two such examples of their products
based on machine learning.

2. Data Security

When it comes to data security, no business or organization wants to compromise. Security of

the organization’s data is a top priority. Threats such as data leaks, data deletion, and
unauthorized amendments to the data need to be minimized. Certain steps can be taken to
minimize the losses and ensure high data security. Data breaches can be minimized with the
help of encryption and authentication. Data losses can be reduced with the help of backups,
reviewing privacy policies, and data recovery systems. Security testing will be done
thoroughly to detect any loopholes and patches. High-security measures should be taken
during storage and transfer of data. Cloud service providers secure the data with many
security protocols and data encryption algorithms.

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

3. Multi and Hybrid Cloud Deployment

The use of multi-cloud and hybrid solutions is increasing. Many organizations like banks,
insurance companies, etc are using hybrid cloud service that offers a combination of both
private and public clouds to store their data.

Now, businesses are dividing their workload among multiple cloud service providers to
control their data and resources as well as utilize the strength of each cloud service provider.
The use of multi-cloud minimizes the potential risks and failure points and provides cost-
effectiveness. In multi-cloud, you can choose a particular service of a particular cloud service
provider that meets your requirements instead of deploying your entire application on that
cloud. This will also ignite the cloud service providers to embed new services.

4. Low Code and No Code Cloud Solutions

Those days are gone when users need to write hundreds of lines of code to create applications
and solve real-world problems and have deep technical knowledge. Businesses can create
applications and make use of AI and its subdomains with low-code and no-code cloud
solutions. These solutions can help in the development of websites, apps, services, etc
without having any technical knowledge. This helps in reducing the time and cost involved to
create these solutions. These solutions increase product development speed and result in a
smaller number of errors. Tools such as Figma and Zoho enable users to design and develop
websites, apps, and services without any computing infrastructure and coding knowledge
involved.

5. Edge computing

Edge computing includes storage of data, data processing, and data analytics which is done
geographically nearer to the source. It means that the computation and storage of data are
brought closer to the source sensors and devices. It provides many benefits like reduced
latency, enhanced efficiency, increased privacy, security, and a high rate of data transmission.
It works in real-time and processes data that is not bounded by time. As the use of 5G is
increasing, it is easy to achieve fast processing and reduced latency. Also, many telecom and
IT organizations are uniting, resulting in the rise in edge computing. With the rise in IoT
devices, edge computing will play a huge role in providing real-time data and data analysis.

6. IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a trend that is becoming popular day by day. IoT involves the
use of many sensors that generate huge amounts of data which gets storage on cloud servers.
IoT makes use of many sensors, and actuators and performs analysis on the data collected to
yield results that will help in taking business decisions. It involves connectivity among
computers, networks, and servers. It can remotely collect data and communicate with the
devices.

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

IoT collects data from various sensors and devices and acts as an intermediator between
remote systems and smart device management. Smart connectivity plays a major role in
making IoT a trend in cloud computing.

7. Kubernetes and Docker

Kubernetes is an open-source orchestration platform where scaling, management, and

deployment of applications is done automatically. It provides automation to the cloud
network users. Organizations can choose a particular Kubernetes platform based on their
requirements.

Docker is a platform where developers can package applications and can deploy them
anywhere in the form of containers.

Kubernetes and Docker are among the trending and evolving technologies in cloud
computing. They are an open-source platform that manages services and workloads from a
single location while running applications from a single source. They provide scalability and
efficiency to many large-scale deployments. As the use of cloud computing services is
increasing, Kubernetes and Docker play a major role in managing cloud deployments of
cloud users and organizations.

8. Serverless architecture/computing

Serverless computing is a methodology that provides backend services on a per-user basis.

There is no need for developers to manage the servers while running their code. Code
execution is managed by the cloud service provider. Cloud users will pay as per the pay-as-
you-go format which means that users will only pay when their code runs instead for a fixed
server. There is no need to purchase the servers as a third party will manage the cost for you.
This will help in reducing infrastructure costs and will enhance scalability.

This trend can be automatically scaled as per its demand. Serverless architecture offers many
advantages such as no requirement for system administration, low cost and liability, easy
management of operations, and enhanced user experience even in case of no internet.

9. DevSecOps

Cloud computing provides many benefits to its customers in managing their data but along
with that, many security issues are sometimes faced by the users. Risks involving network
invasion, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, issues in virtualization, unauthorized use of data,
etc. This can be minimized with the help of DevSecOps.

DevSecOps is an integration of security with the ongoing development process. It embeds

many processes in its workflow to ensure secure task automation. Many cloud service
providers provide various tools and services to help businesses apply DevSecOps methods. It
will provide all the required security to provide a secure system to the users.

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Cloud Computing Unit-1

10. Disaster recovery and backup

Disaster recovery plays a crucial role in the restoration of critical data and systems in case of
any kind of disaster. Many organizations have faced huge losses of unsaved data due to
server crashes. With the help of cloud computing, a backup of critical data of businesses can
be stored to quickly recover from disruptions such as data loss, power outages, natural
disasters, cyberattacks, or hardware failures. For any organization, a strong disaster recovery
and backup plan with the help of cloud computing can save them from a huge loss. Many
enterprises keep electronic records and files and upload those documents on an external cloud
server automatically.

Leading Cloud Platform Service Providers:

The top 10 cloud service providers globally in 2023 are ranked in the following table, which
includes the number of regions and availability zones that each vendor possesses:

# Cloud Service Provider Regions Availability Zones

1 Amazon Web Services (AWS) 32 102

2 Microsoft Azure 62 120

3 Google Cloud Platform (GCP) 39 118

4 Alibaba Cloud 30 89

5 Oracle Cloud 46 56

6 IBM Cloud (Kyndryl) 10 30

7 Tencent Cloud 21 65

8 OVHcloud 17 37

9 DigitalOcean 9 15

10 Linode (Akamai) 20 20

1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing service of Amazon.com, is the largest
cloud service provider globally. From its data centers, the business provides over 200 fully
featured services including compute, storage, and database.

AWS currently has 32 regions and 102 availability zones in operation. These regions and
availability zones are located throughout the United States, AWS GovCloud (US), Americas,
Europe, Asia Pacific, as well as in the Middle East and Africa.

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2. Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Corporation’s Intelligent Cloud segment contains Azure, the second largest cloud
service provider globally. Through Microsoft Azure, the company delivers a consistent
hybrid cloud experience, developer productivity, artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, and
security & compliance.

Microsoft Azure presently has 62 regions and 120 availability zones in operation. These
regions and availability zones are distributed throughout the United States, Azure
Government, Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, as well as in the Middle East and Africa.

Over 200 physical Microsoft Azure data centers are located worldwide, which house
computer servers, each fitted-out with independent power, cooling, and networking. The
company connects this data center infrastructure with more than 175,000 miles of fiber lines
across 140 countries.

3. Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Google Cloud Platform (GCP), part of Alphabet Inc, is the third largest cloud service
provider globally, providing enterprise-ready cloud services. GCP enables developers to
build, test, and deploy applications on its distributed and scalable infrastructure, while
utilizing the service’s capabilities in security, data management, analytics, and artificial
intelligence (AI).

Google Cloud today has 39 regions and 118 availability zones in operation. These regions
and availability zones are situated throughout the United States, Americas, Europe, Asia
Pacific, as well as in the Middle East and Africa.

4. Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Group’s cloud computing unit, known as Alibaba Cloud, is the fourth largest cloud
service provider globally, the primary cloud vendor in Asia Pacific, and the largest cloud
service provider in China. Through Alibaba Cloud, the business offers cloud services,
including elastic computing, database, storage, network virtualization, large-scale computing,
security, management & application services, big data analytics, and machine learning.

Alibaba Cloud currently has 30 regions and 89 availability zones in operation. In Mainland
China, Alibaba is the dominant cloud service provider, with 15 regions across the country.
Outside of Mainland China, Alibaba Cloud operates in the United States, Europe, Asia
Pacific, and the Middle East.

5. Oracle Cloud

Oracle Corporation’s Cloud Services offerings include Oracle Cloud Software-as-a-Service

(SaaS) and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Through OCI, the company is a cloud service
provider, delivering infrastructure technologies as-a-service including compute, storage, and
networking services.

By: Preetham Paul Socrates P Assistant Professor SDC

Cloud Computing Unit-1

Oracle Cloud presently has 46 regions and 56 availability zones in operation. These regions
and availability zones are located throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle
East, & Africa (EMEA), Latin America, and Asia Pacific. In addition, Oracle Cloud offers
government cloud regions for the U.S. government, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and
UK government, as well as two Sovereign regions for customers across the European Union
(EU).

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) typically charges a prepaid fee that gradually decreases as
its OCI services are consumed by the customer over a defined time period. For the latest
quarter, Oracle’s Cloud Revenue, which includes IaaS and SaaS.

6. IBM Cloud (Kyndryl)

IBM spun off its managed infrastructure services business to Kyndryl, which now designs,
builds, and manages private, public, and multi-cloud environments for its customers.

Today, IBM Cloud (Kyndryl) has 10 regions and 30 availability zones in operation. These
regions and availability zones are distributed throughout the United States, Americas, Europe,
and Asia Pacific.

Kyndryl’s Cloud Services segment helps enterprises optimize their use of cloud service
providers by integrating services delivered from independent software vendors, public cloud
service providers, internal platforms, and technologies such as the internet of things (IoT). To
this end, Kyndryl has recently established new strategic relationships with both Microsoft
Azure and Google Cloud.

7. Tencent Cloud

Tencent Holdings’ cloud computing unit, known as Tencent Cloud, is the second largest
cloud service provider in China, behind Alibaba Cloud.

Currently, Tencent Cloud has 21 regions with 65 availability zones in operation. Including its
5 partner regions, the company offers a total of 26 regions and 70 availability zones. When
excluding its partner regions, Tencent Cloud has operations in Mainland China, the United
States, Canada, Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and
Thailand.

8. OVHcloud

OVHcloud is a Europe-focused cloud service provider offering solutions including bare metal
& hosted private cloud, public cloud, and web cloud services.

Presently, OVHcloud operates in 17 locations, comprising 37 data centers with 450,000

physical servers. These data centers are situated across 9 countries, namely France, Canada,
United States, Germany, Poland, United Kingdom, Australia, India, and Singapore.

By: Preetham Paul Socrates P Assistant Professor SDC

Cloud Computing Unit-1

OVHcloud offers domain names, web hosting plans, and cloud solutions to more than 1.6
million customers in over 140 countries. Of this total, approximately 800 of the company’s
customers are enterprises. In terms of value proposition, OVHcloud operates a low-cost
model and generally competes on price.

9. DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is a cloud service provider offering on-demand infrastructure and platform tools
to smaller customers including developers, start-ups, and small- and medium-sized businesses
(SMBs).

Today, DigitalOcean operates 9 regions across its 15 data centers. Specifically, the company
has data centers in the New York City and San Francisco metro markets, as well as in
Toronto, Canada; London, United Kingdom; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Frankfurt, Germany;
Bangalore, India; Singapore; and Sydney, Australia.

10. Linode (Akamai)

Linode, owned by Akamai Technologies, is a cloud computing platform and an

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider serving over 1 million customers worldwide.
Although Linode has traditionally catered to individual developers, Akamai aims to adapt its
services for enterprise customers. To do this, Akamai plans to develop new enterprise-grade
core and distributed sites and integrate them with its edge platform and private backbone.

Linode currently has 20 data center regions in operation, through which it provides compute
in the form of containers and virtual machines, as well as its storage services. The company’s
existing data centers are located in the following markets:

Who are the Small Cloud Service Providers?

While the top 10 cloud service providers capture approximately 77% of spending on cloud
infrastructure services, there is still a significant number of small vendors present in global
markets. For example, these cloud service providers include those targeting a certain niche,
such as small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) or ones that operate regionally, such as
in Europe or Asia Pacific. Below are examples of these small cloud service providers:
China: Baidu AI Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Kingsoft Cloud, JD Cloud, QingCloud, UCloud
Europe: Bleu (Orange and Capgemini), Hetzner, Leaseweb
Japan and Korea: Fujitsu, NTT, SoftBank, NAVER Cloud, KT Cloud
Private Cloud / Managed Services: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Rackspace, VMware
SaaS Partners: Salesforce, SAP
SMBs: Heroku, UpCloud, Vultr

By: Preetham Paul Socrates P Assistant Professor SDC