Blog 4 | Cloud Computing

What is Cloud Computing? Sounds like some weird meteorlogical event, where computers fly amongst the clouds. Sounds pretty dope. Sadly, this is not the case. I mean it’s still a pretty cool endeavor, but not as cool as computers floating up in the clouds. Maybe one day. The reality of cloud computing is still pretty nifty!

Cloud Computing is, by definition, the delivery of different IT services through the internet. These services include data storage, server instances, networking tools, and software.

Cloud Computing: How does it work?

It’s actually alot more simple than it seems to be. All the traditional infrastrucutre, is located in these huge server rooms. Well it’s more known as a Data Center. Huge plots of land allocated to provide the physical IT infrastructure for cloud services to be available to anyone.

Users, students, developers, small businesses, big bussinesses all access these tools and services, hosted by a cloud service provider, by paying for what they need and use. And as butchered as the previous sentence sounds, that is what makes cloud computing so popular! Its multiple services and scalability is what attracts the user base.

Cloud Computing: Service Types

Cloud computing services are broken down into three major categories: software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS).

Software as a Service | SaaS

There’s a very good chance that you might have unknowingly used a cloud service! SaaS is one of the more common cloud computing service types. The way this model is setup, it allows users to access a certain software through and application, or a web browser. This requires no sort of installation of software, saving precious disk space. Because this helps save money, it’s a big hit in the business world.

Platform as a Service | PaaS

This one goes out to all my developers out there! PaaS is a type of cloud service that prvides an environment to support web application development and deployment. It supports full project life cycle of applications, provides users the ability to build, test, manage, and deploy projects all in one place. The service also includes development tools, middleware and business intelligence solutions.

Infrastructure as a Service | IaaS

Ever wanted to start up a server while eating a slice of pizza? Click a few buttons, with a cloud service provider, and presto, server is up. Allowing you to eat your pizza in peace. IaaS provides basic IT infrastructure capabilities, on demand and on the go. Capabilities like servers, data storage, etc, are offered on almost all cloud service providers. IaaS gives fledgling business access to large platforms without the need for large onsite physical infrastructures.