Understanding Cloud Computing

Hosting services over the Internet is the main thing cloudcomputing is about. The cloud symbol that illustrates the Internet by way ofdiagrams and charts is where the name cloud computing originated from.

Basically, these services fall into three categories:Software-as-a-Service, Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service. Acloud service is different from traditional hosting. It can be sold by the houror minute. A user can buy the amount of service they want. The customer onlyneeds a personal computer and access to the Internet; the service is managedcompletely by the provider. Interest in cloud computing is due to importantintroductions in virtualization and improved access to high-speed Internet.

If the cloud is public it sells services to anyone on theInternet. For example, Amazon Web Services is a huge public cloud provider. Aprivate cloud provides hosted services to a limited amount of people. A virtualprivate network is the result of a service provider using a public cloud tocreate their private cloud. Whether the cloud is private or public, cloudcomputing provides access to computing and information technology services.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service like Amazon Web Servicesprovides virtual server instance to start, attain and assemble their virtualservers. Platform-as-a-Service in the cloud is a set of software tools hostedby the provider. In the software-as-a-service cloud model, the vendor providesthe hardware and the software product and acts with the user.

Cloud computing brings applications, storage services andspam filtering. Cloud computing is a way to add features or capabilitieswithout purchasing a lot of new computer equipment, training new staff orbuying licenses for new software.