What is Cloud Computing?

“the cloud” isn’t a fog of water droplets; it’s a vast collection of data.
Schools, businesses, healthcare facilities, and even governments are
moving their information to the cloud to safely store it and make it
accessible online.

But here’s a question for you to think about ...

Yes or no? If an organization puts something in the cloud, does that
mean the data is off its premises somewhere?

So, what is cloud computing?

How it works
How does it work?
Here’s the short answer: cloud computing stores and processes
information over the Internet instead of on a computer's hard drive.
Why do this? Because by sharing online computing resources rather
than relying on local storage and computers, the cloud can accomplish
two things:

1. It can store and process much larger amounts of information a lot

faster.
2. It can deliver results to any device that can log onto the Internet,
not just one phone, tablet, computer, or set of local terminals.
You work with cloud services every day, whenever you access providers
or services, such as Netflix, Dropbox, Microsoft Office Online, iTunes,
the list goes on and on ....
As long as a service doesn’t require you to be physically close to the
storage hardware, it can deliver information to you from the cloud.
Deposit a check through your phone? Upload a photo for your friends?
You’re in the cloud!
Make no mistake. The data still gets stored in hardware. But that
hardware might have left the building. It can take two forms:

1. A physical server is a hard drive or memory bank devoted to one

group of users or one type of data.
2. A virtual server is a single slice of that pie: a software-controlled
region on a physical server whose other regions are shared by
other users. Because that sharing divides one physical server into
a number of virtual servers, it’s called virtualization.
Cloud services take three forms:
We all know the terms public, private, and hybrid, but they have
special meanings when applied to cloud services.

Public clouds share storage and computing space

Public clouds are owned and operated by companies that offer their
customers rapid access to affordable computing resources. This is the
classic cloud computing model, in which small businesses and
individuals like you can access a lot of computing power over the
Internet. It’s easy to scale when users need more power or storage.
Because many users are working inside one large bank of information
but their data must be kept separate and secure, this kind of cloud is
organized by what’s called multi-tenant architecture.

Private clouds protect a single entity’s information

A private cloud is operated for a single organization. It can be hosted
and managed either by that organization or by a provider, and its
servers can reside either inside or outside the organization itself. Of
course, this privacy also means that as a private cloud’s data expands,
the organization has to install more and more private servers.
Organizations prefer a private cloud if they need tight control over
where their data is being held, how it is organized, and how it is
protected. Private clouds can be very secure—but they are expensive!

Hybrid clouds divide their storage into private slices

What if a business needs the low cost and scalability of a public cloud,
but also needs a secure environment for product development or
confidential data? These organizations wind up spreading their
workloads across data centers, private clouds, and public clouds—
thereby creating hybrid clouds.
A hybrid cloud mixes public and private resources. It’s a bit of this and a
bit of that, with some data in a public cloud, and some in a private
cloud, provided by multiple vendors who offer different levels of cloud
usage. A hybrid cloud’s combination of physical and virtual servers
allows organizations to rent what they need, on demand, helping them
control costs while providing some flexibility.
IBM has long believed that most enterprises need a hybrid cloud. We
have shown leadership in helping clients on their cloud journey, no
matter their starting point: private cloud, public cloud, or various kinds
of hybrid connections between them.

Cloud “as a service”

Three service models
Cloud computing—at your service!
Any traditional service can be delivered through the cloud. This concept
is called anything as a service, or XaaS.
Let’s compare the three most popular service models of cloud
computing: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS),
and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Here’s a diagram that shows you
the kinds of tools and data that fit into each model.

Click each section to learn more about the three service models.

Software as a service (SaaS)

With SaaS, software and data both reside online. Users can log in on
a browser from almost any kind of device on almost any operating
system, enter what they need, and out pops their result. Since their
organization doesn’t need special software to use SaaS, it doesn’t have
to buy applications. Instead it pays for yearly or per-user subscriptions
to the service.
You can visualize SaaS as someone else’s kitchen. You go online and
place your order. They provide the recipe, cook the food, and deliver it
to you.
When you hear SaaS, think of uses like email or online shopping.

Platform as a service (PaaS)

 With PaaS, a vendor provides only the platform—meaning the
infrastructure, operating systems, storage, and much of the code. The
user’s organization manages the application’s resources and the data.
(For more on the infrastructure, refer to the next section.)
You can visualize PaaS as someone else’s kitchen. But you provide the
raw food and the recipe, and you do the cooking.
When you hear PaaS, think of containers, databases, runtime, and
integration.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

Companies turn to IaaS when they want to build their own

applications from the ground up, or move existing applications from a
data center into the organization to cut down on IT costs. With IaaS, a
vendor provides the infrastructure and architecture like hardware,
software, servers, and storage, and also handles expensive support
systems like backup, security, and maintenance. This leaves the
organization’s computing architecture on the web so that teams in
different locations can work together, while keeping application
development inside the company’s own online structure.
You can think of IaaS as your own kitchen, where you provide the
recipe and do the cooking, but someone else maintains your appliances
and manages your utilities.
When you hear IaaS, think of computing, storage, and networking
resources.
There’s buzz around multicloud!
Multicloud is the use of more than one public cloud. It lets a company
choose different services from different public clouds. For example, the
company might mix several public IaaS environments like IBM Cloud,
Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure, so they’re not locked into
one cloud provider. Multicloud requires careful planning! Organizations
considering it must look for a provider whose architecture can scale
and integrate with the company’s existing systems.
What does this look like? A company might use separate cloud
providers for infrastructure (IaaS) and software (SaaS) services, or even
use several infrastructure (IaaS) providers. That company might use
different infrastructure providers for different workloads, balance a
single workload load across several providers, or use a single workload
on one provider that’s backed upon another.
Clouds and premises, what’s the difference?
Often people talk about private and public cloud and confuse it with
premises. For example, they might think that public cloud is off
premises (true), while private cloud is always on premises (false).
Off premises is a solution that runs on hardware in a different location
than the end users. That’s because most cloud vendors run their own
data centers off premises from the organizations whose data they
store. Their customers’ system administrators have the same access to
the data as they would on premises.
On premises is a solution installed and hosted in-house, usually
supported by a third party. Often the on-premises private cloud, also
known as an “internal cloud,” is hosted inside an organization’s own
data center. It can be easier to protect and maintain, but more limited
in size and harder to scale up as the organization grows.
Some cloud vendors offer a hybrid solution. This means they allow
companies to mix on premises at the company’s data center with off
premises at the vendor’s data center. This can be helpful if a company’s
business comes in bursts. The company can depend on its own data
center most of the time, but expand onto the vendor’s data center
when the load is high.
Here’s what confuses people: an organization can have a private cloud
either on premises or off premises. Take a moment to work through
the following graphic to see how a company might have both PaaS and
IaaS capabilities:

Cloud computing terminology

Know the lingo

The terminology surrounding cloud computing can be

overwhelming, and a lot to keep up with. Here are some of the top
terms and acronyms covering key cloud computing concepts.
Click each term for a brief definition.

Cloud

In cloud computing, “cloud” is used as a metaphor for the Internet, so

the phrase cloud computing means a type of Internet-based
computing.

Cloud services

Cloud services are applications, services, or resources made available to

users on demand through the Internet such as:

 Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

 Platform as a service (PaaS)
 Software as a service (SaaS)
 Data storage
 Clusters

A computer cluster is a collection of interconnected stand-alone

computers or servers that can work together as a single, integrated
computing resource.

Containers

A container is a “wrapper” that allows software to travel between

operating environments. Containers create a unique virtual instance of
an operating system (OS) that separates an application from others in
the same environment. Containers can run separate instances of an
application within a single, shared OS.

Hybrid cloud

A hybrid cloud is a combination of traditional IT and public or private

clouds (or both) that remain separate, but are bound together
by technology that makes the data or application portable.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

IaaS delivers computer infrastructure on an outsourced basis to support

a company’s operations. It includes servers, network, operating
systems, and storage, through virtualization technology which doesn’t
require that the company physically maintain or manage it. Its cloud
servers typically include a dashboard or an application programming
interface (API) that gives the company control of the entire
infrastructure.
Startups and small companies may prefer IaaS to avoid spending time
and money buying and creating hardware and software such as servers,
storage, or networking resources.
When you hear IaaS, think of computing, storage, and networking
resources.

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open-source platform for managing containerized

workloads and services.

Multicloud

Multicloud is the use of more than one public cloud, a strategy that
allows enterprises to choose specific services from a combination of
public IaaS clouds such as IBM Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and
Microsoft Azure. This enables companies to avoid locking in to any one
cloud provider.

On premises versus off premises

On premises refers to a solution installed and hosted in-house. Private

cloud is hosted in a company’s own data center.
A solution that is hosted on dedicated hardware that happens to be in a
different physical location is referred to as off premises.
 Platform as a service (PaaS)

PaaS provides cloud components for software programs. PaaS delivers

a framework for developers that they can use to create customized
applications. The platform typically includes an operating system, a
programming language execution environment, a database, and a web
server.
When you hear PaaS, think of development tools, database
management, and business analytics.

Private cloud

A private cloud is an on-premises or off-premises cloud infrastructure

operated solely for one organization. It may be managed by
that organization or by a third party.

Public cloud

A public cloud is available to the general public or a large industry

group, owned and managed by an organization selling cloud services.

Software as a service (SaaS)

SaaS refers to a model of software deployment where online software

is provided as a service to customers.
When you hear SaaS, think of hosted subscription applications or web
email, Google apps, or Dropbox.
 Virtualization

Virtualization is the creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of

something such as a server, a desktop, a storage device, an operating
system, or network resources.

Virtual machine

A virtual machine (VM) is a software program or operating system that

behaves like a separate computer that can run applications and
programs.

Workload

A workload is a discrete capability or amount of work to be run in the

cloud, such as serving up a website.

 An on-premises private cloud (2 and 3 in the graphic)

 An off-premises private cloud (4 and 5)
 A public cloud (6 and 7)