What is cloud?

The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the
past to represent the telephone network, and later to depict the Internet in computer network
diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents.
The term Cloud refers to a Network or Internet. In other words, we can say that Cloud is
something, which is present at remote location.
Cloud can provide services over network, i.e., on public networks or on private networks, i.e.,
WAN, LAN or VPN. Applications such as e-mail, web conferencing, customer relationship
management (CRM), all run in cloud.
Cloud servers are located in data centers all over the world.
By using cloud computing, users and companies don't have to manage physical servers
themselves or run software applications on their own machines.
Top cloud providers can keep your data safe and consistently accessible.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially
database storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user
Cloud Computing refers to manipulating, configuring, and accessing the applications online. It
offers online data storage, infrastructure and application.
In addition, the platform provides on demand services, that are always on, anywhere, anytime
and anyplace.
Cloud computing is an emerging computing technology that uses the internet and central
remote servers to maintain data and application
Cloud Computing is both a combination of software and hardware based computing resources
delivered as a network service.
The working of the cloud is very easy as they have the large availability of space in which we
can store the information. The infrastructure is very fast as the transmission of data is quick.
An example of a Cloud Computing provider is Google's Gmail. Gmail users can access files and
applications hosted by Google via the internet from any device.
How Cloud Computing Works?
Cloud Computing works by providing permission to the user to upload and download
the information which stores. We can access the data from anywhere. A user will get
the initial amount of storage at a very low price.

Cloud Computing can be divided into two systems. One is front-end and the other is
back-end. The two ends connect to each other with the help of an internet
connection.
The backend of the cloud is the system and the front end is a computer user or client. The front
end of the system has the application, which is used to access the cloud system.
Distributed Computing:
In distributed computing, a problem is divided into many tasks, each of which is solved by one
or more computers, which communicate with each other via message passing.
Distributed Computing is actually a distributed system which solves a large task by breaking it
into several tasks where each task is computed in the individual computer of this distributed
system.
All these computers are connected with each other to complete a task. Distributed computing
is a model in which components of a software system are shared among multiple computers to
improve efficiency and performance.
Cloud providers use the distributed model to enable lower latency and provide better
performance for cloud services.
Distributed computing is mostly used to solve the complex computational problems that cannot
be resolved by a single computer within a reasonable time.
A distributed computer system consists of multiple software components that are on multiple
computers, but run as a single system. The computers that are in a distributed system can be
physically close together and connected by a local network, or they can be geographically
distant and connected by a wide area network.
Distributed computing allows different users or computers to share information.
Distributed computing can allow an application on one machine to leverage processing power,
memory, or storage on another machine. Some applications, such as word processing, might
not benefit from distribution at all.
The Emergence of Cloud Computing :
Utility computing can be defined as the provision of computational and storage resources as a metered
service, similar to those provided by a traditional public utility company

Some people think cloud computing is the next big thing in the world of IT. Others believe it is just
another variation of the utility computing model that has been repackaged in this decade as something
new and cool.

As we said previously, the term the cloud is often used as a metaphor for the Internet and has become a
familiar cliché. However, when “the cloud” is combined with “computing,” it causes a lot of confusion.

The basic concept underlying cloud computing, that is, accessing computing resources as a
utility, was proposed as early as 1960s (Parkhill 1966).
Google and Microsoft have also played a pivotal role in the emergence of the cloud
computing market by offering cloud-based services somewhat similar to Amazon’s.
The Global Nature of Cloud
The very nature of any Cloud – natural or computing, is Global.
Since the very nature of cloud computing is abstraction, many technological implementation
functions that are common in traditional client/server environments will change or dissolve all
together.
The cloud sees no borders and thus has made the world a much smaller place. The Internet is global in
scope but respects only established communication paths. People from everywhere now have access to
other people from anywhere else.

Globalization of computing assets may be the biggest contribution the cloud has made to date. For this
reason, the cloud is the subject of many complex geopolitical issues. Cloud vendors must satisfy myriad
regulatory concerns in order to deliver cloud services to a global market

Cloud computing is still in its infancy. There is a hodge-podge of providers, both large and small,
delivering a wide variety of cloud-based services. For example, there are full-blown applications, support
services, mail-filtering services, storage services, etc.

The globalization benefits of cloud computing, together with other benefits such as
virtualization and scalability, enabled fast growth and adaption of the cloud computing
technology by various organizations.
Cloud computing is still in its infancy.

Load balancing refers to efficiently distributing incoming network traffic across a group of
backend servers, also known as a server farm or server pool. ... In this manner, a load
balancer performs the following functions: Distributes client requests or network load efficiently
across multiple servers.

Cloud load balancing is the process of distributing workloads and computing resources in
a cloud computing environment. Load balancing allows enterprises to manage application or
workload demands by allocating resources among multiple computers, networks or servers.
Cloud-Based Service Offerings
Cloud computing may be viewed as a resource available as a service for virtual data centers, but cloud
computing and virtual data centers are not the same. For example, consider Amazon’s S3 Storage
Service. This is a data storage service designed for use across the Internet (i.e., the cloud). It is designed
to make web-scale computing easier for developers. According to Amazon:

Amazon S3 provides a simple web services interface that can be used to store and retrieve
any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. It gives any developer access to
the same highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon
uses to run its own global network of web sites. The service aims to maximize benefits of scale
and to pass those benefits on to developers.

Amazon.com has played a vital role in the development of cloud computing. By providing access to its
systems for third-party users on a utility computing basis, via Amazon Web Services, introduced in 2002,
a revolution of sorts began. This approach modernized a style of computing whereby IT-related
capabilities could be provided “as a service” to users.
Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services.

 SaaS
SaaS is a type of cloud computing that delivers applications through a browser to thousands of
customers using a multiuser architecture. The focus for SaaS is on the end user as opposed to
managed services (described below). For the customer, there are no up-front investment costs in
servers or software licensing.

For the service provider, with just one product to maintain, costs are relatively low compared to the
costs incurred with a conventional hosting model. Salesforce.com3 is by far the best-known
example of SaaS computing among enterprise applications.

SaaS is also commonly used for enterprise resource planning and human resource applications.
Another example is Google Apps, which provides online access via a web browser to the most
common office and business applications used today, all the while keeping the software and user
data stored on Google servers.

Microsoft Office 365, Workday are also the examples of SaaS.

 PaaS
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is yet another variation of SaaS. Sometimes referred to simply as
web services in the cloud, PaaS is closely related to SaaS but delivers a platform from which to
work rather than an application to work with.
 These service providers offer application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable developers
to exploit functionality over the Internet, rather than delivering full-blown applications.

An example of this model is the Google App Engine. According to Google, “Google App Engine
makes it easy to build an application that runs reliably, even under heavy load and with large
amounts of data. The Google App Engine environment includes the following features

1) Dynamic web serving, with full support for common web technologies
2) Automatic scaling and load balancing
3) A fully featured local development environment that simulates Google App Engine on your
computer

Currently, Google App Engine applications are implemented using the Python programming
language. The runtime environment includes the full Python language and most of the Python
standard library.

Benefits of Cloud Model

1) Profitable
Using cloud computing proves to be highly cost-efficient as companies could all together forgo
the cost associated with purchasing and maintaining storage drive’s, software and servers on
their own. Instead of making use of cloud provided services such as storage or software over
the internet by paying only for the services one uses and requires. This pay on-demand system
makes the whole process much more profitable on a larger scale.
2) Highly Scalable
One could easily upgrade or downgrade the required services as per one’s need. For example,
one might need more space for executing certain applications when compared to other
applications
3) Easily Accessible & Mobile
One of the biggest advantages clouds has to offer is its accessibility, which is being able to
access it from anywhere remotely as long as one is connected to the internet.

4) Security
In today’s world securing data is a major concern among most organizations out there.

5) Productivity
A lot of organization’s loose out a lot of time, revenue and productivity due to downtime in
their services. Downtime in services may be caused due to security patches, version upgrades,
etc.

6) Teamwork
Cloud computing makes working as a team much easier. This is because team members can
now view, share and contribute across easily accessible cloud platforms.

7) Access to the Latest Software