24/04/2025

The Institute of Finance

Management
Faculty of Computing and
Mathematics
PROGRAMMS
BBF BAC BSP BAS BTX BIRM BEF

Module Name:
Business Computer Applications
1

CLOUD COMPUTING
AND
DATA REPRESENTATION

Lecture 3
2

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Computer
Data
Representation

Data Representation

 All computers are digital, meaning they

recognize two discrete states: ON and OFF
 This is due to the two states of electrical
switches
 Two digits, 0 and 1, represent OFF and ON
respectively, which is the basis for the binary
system.
 These 1s and 0s are referred to as inary
digits or shortened to Bits

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Data Representation..
• A Bit is the smallest unit of data the
computer can process.
• A byte is 8 bits grouped together as a
unit, totally 256 unique combinations.
• Unicode is a 16-bit coding scheme that
has the capacity of representing more
than 65,000 characters.

Memory Storage Capacity

A byte is in fact one row of the
RAM memory
◦ 1 byte = 8 bits
◦ 2 bytes (8x2) = 16 bits
◦ 4 bytes (8x4) = 32 bits
◦ 8 bytes (8x8) = 64 bits

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Memory Storage Capacity

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Cloud Computing

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Brief, Cloud Computing

 A technology that enables users to access
computing resources over the internet
on-demand, such as
◦ servers, storage, databases, software, and
other services, without the need for physical
hardware or infrastructure.
 It allows organizations and individuals to
run applications and store data in a
scalable and cost-effective manner,
without having to invest in their own
hardware, software, or infrastructure

Basic Concepts
The services and models working behind
the scene making the cloud computing
feasible and accessible to end users.
Models for cloud computing:
1. Deployment Models
2. Service Models

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1. Deployment Models
Deployment models define the type of
access to the cloud, i.e., how the cloud
is located? Cloud can have any of the
four types of access:
 Public,
 Private,
 Hybrid and Community.

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Public, Private, Hybrid and

Community Cloud
 Public Cloud: Accessible to the general public.
Public cloud may be less secure because of its
openness, e.g., e-mail.
 Private Cloud: accessible within an
organization. It offers increased security because
of its private nature.
 Community Cloud: Accessible by group of
organizations.
 Hybrid Cloud : Mixture of public and private
cloud. However, the critical activities are
performed using private cloud while the non-
critical activities are performed using public
cloud.
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2: Service Models
Models on which the Cloud Computing
is based. These can be categorized into
three basic service models as listed
below:
1. Software as a Service (SaaS)
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
3. Infrastructure as a Service
(IaaS)

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Brief, Cloud Computing..

 Cloud computing providers offer different
types of services (SPI) as cloud computing
models such as ; SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS.

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

 This model provides users with access to software
applications hosted on the cloud.
 Users can access the software through a web browser or
a client application, and the cloud provider manages all
aspects of the application, including infrastructure, security,
and maintenance.

SaaS-examples
 Zoom- video conferencing software for online meeting,
webinars, and virtual events
 Salesforce, -Customer Relationship Management (CRM)-
allows businesses to manage customer interactions, track
leads and opportunities and analyze sales data.
 Microsoft Office 365, -productivity tools such as email,
calendar, document creation and collaboration tools such as
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more….

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SaaS-examples
 Dropbox, -A cloud-based file-sharing and storage service that
allows users to store, share and collaborate on documents,
images, and other files.
 Slack –a messaging and collaboration platform that allows
teams to communicate, share files, and work together on
projects.
 Google Workspace –a suite of productivity tools including Gmail, Google
Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and more.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

 This model provides users with a platform on
which they can develop, test, and deploy their
applications without having to manage the
underlying infrastructure.
◦ The cloud provider manages the operating system,
middleware, runtime environment, and other resources
required for application development. Example Heroku,
Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure

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Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

 This model provides users with virtualized
computing resources such as servers, storage, and
networking.
◦ Users can deploy and manage their own operating systems,
applications, and data on the cloud infrastructure, while the
cloud provider manages the underlying hardware and
infrastructure.
◦ Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud
Platform, DigitalOcean, IBM Cloud, et.c

Understanding Cloud Storage

 Allows sharing, file, documents, pictures,
Music, Contacts.

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Storing and Sharing Files and

Other Online Content
 The Networked Storage Media or Cloud storage is
used to store documents, either as a backup drive
or as your primary source of file storage.
 Cloud storage is a form of web-based data storage
or networked data storage where data files are
stored on multiple virtual servers.
 Cloud computing isn’t just about accessing
applications over the web.
 You can use the cloud to store and share your
favourite websites.
 By putting your favourites online, you can share
them with all your friends—no email or instant
messaging necessary.

Networked Storage Media (NAS)

 Multiple work stations talk
to one unit that stores
information and data.
 Data is not saved to the
computer drive, but to a
network drive.
 Can retrieve the data
stored to the network
from any of the connected
workstations.
Networked
storage Media

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Advantages of Networked Storage

media
 Offers faster data
access and easier
administration
 A simple
configuration
 Data manageability
 Lower costs

Cloud Storage
 Accessibility
◦ Create an Account –
User name and password
 Content lives with the
account in the cloud
 Log onto any computer
with Wi-Fi/ internet
connection to find your
cloud contents

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Downloads for storage

 Download a cloud based app to a computer you
own.
 The app lives on your Computer
 Save files to the app
 When connected to the Internet it will sync with
the cloud
 The Cloud can be accessed from any Internet
connection

Save file as….

 Do “save as” to save
a file to your
computer and the
cloud.
 The syncing folders
makes data retrieval
easier
 Box and DropBox
require this
download to work

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Upload Documents
 Log-in to the online storage account
 Click upload a file
 Find the file on hard drive, network, or
external storage
 Upload to cloud storage

Main Categories of Cloud Storage

 There are two main categories of
Cloud Storage services.
 Can be either:
 Private cloud
 Public cloud
 Private clouds are accessible only to
company employees
 Public clouds provide service to any
paying customer

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Public Clouds Storage

 Public clouds provide service to any paying
customer, examples
◦ Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service): Store
arbitrary datasets, pay per GB-month stored.
◦ Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): Upload
and run arbitrary OS images, pay per CPU hour
used.
◦ Google cloud: Similar pricing as above.
◦ Google App Engine/Compute Engine: Develop
applications within their app engine framework,
upload data that will be imported into their
format, and run.

Many Cloud Providers

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
–EC2: Elastic Compute Cloud
–S3: Simple Storage Service
–EBS: Elastic Block Storage
 Microsoft Azure
 Google Cloud/Compute
Engine/AppEngine
 Salesforce, Gigaspaces, 10gen,
Datastax, Oracle, VMWare, Clouder 30

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Benefits Cloud Storage

 Saving Large Files
 Multiple file types – Photos, videos,
presentations, docs
 Back-up of stored files to
cloud
 Share Files easily
 Access from devices –remote work
made easy
 Nothing to forget (thumb drive, cd)
 Project collaboration

Advantages Cloud Storage

 Can be less expensive compared to buying
software and hardware
 Can be used from any computer or device
with an Internet connection
 The device does not need as large of an
internal storage system
 Compatible with most computers and
operating systems
 Updates occur across the service
 Storage for a lifetime
 Keep your file encrypted

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Disadvantages of Cloud Storage

 Security Issues or
 Variation in costs
vulnerability to
 Lack of support and
attacks Technical issues
 Terms of Service or  Varied performance
vendor agreement
 Internet connectivity
 Privacy Policies
 Downtime
 Limited control

Why Use Cloud Storage?

Primary benefits to cloud storage
 Scalability - When you rent cloud storage space, you can opt to use as
much or as little space as you need. It’s easy to and increase your storage
space if you suddenly have larger storage needs.
 Reliability - Imagine your company’s server goes down, you know how
important it is to have access to backup data. You still have the peace of
mind that your data is duplicated on multiple servers.
 Lower costs - How much do you pay per terabyte of storage? Even with
hard disk prices coming down, it’s still cheaper to use the virtual servers in
the cloud. Cloud storage services can offer lower storage rates because
they efficiently use the server spaces they have.

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Why Use Cloud Storage?

 Security
 Data centralization
 Mobility
 Unlimited storage capacity
 High degree of collaboration
 Backup and restore
 Quick deployment

Risks of Storing Data in the Clouds

Some risk associated with using cloud storage
services includes:
 Reliability - What do you do when your cloud service provider
has technical problems and either goes offline (which means you
can’t access your data) or actually loses stored data?
 Security - While all cloud storage providers hype how secure their
systems are, there still exists the possibility that high-tech thieves
could break into the system and view, edit or steal your sensitive
data.
 User error - Not all reliability security issues originate with the
cloud storage provider. A simple mistake may expose your data to
unauthorized users, password slip or permanently delete data you
don’t want to delete.
 Access problems - Accessing Cloud Stored data depends to an
Internet connection, you’re in big trouble if that connection goes
down—either on your end or with your cloud storage provider.

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Any Question

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