Cloud Computing Takes to the Skies
By Sam PascuaIn recent years, IT professionals have become increasingly interested in cloud computing. Once a theoretical concept, cloud computing now has many practical applications and fascinating implications for businesses of all sizes.
What is Cloud Computing?
Through cloud computing, many businesses and organisations access shared computing resources to run applications that rely on remote servers and virtual data centres. Cloud computing offers a way for businesses to use their existing hardware, software, and other resources to run major applications without the heavy investment expenses that would traditionally have been needed to do so internally. Some of the physical components may be housed within the business’s office, but most are housed at a large data centre or offered through a service provider. Because businesses do not need to develop and house the applications internally, they are able to free up valuable resources for other endeavours. Rather than purchasing new equipment, businesses essentially rent the necessary resources from the API through cloud computing, paying only for what they use.
Today businesses are using both public and private clouds. Most public clouds, such as Google’s AppEngine and Amazon Web Services were designed with individual users in mind, but have many business applications. These clouds are best suited for small businesses and start-ups that don’t have the resources to invest in the requisite hardware for powerful in-house systems. However, because public clouds are limited by concerns about security and reliability, larger businesses tend to opt for private cloud computing.
In a private cloud environment, all the computing resources are encompassed within a single organisation, yet users throughout the organisation have distributed access to those applications. Private clouds are often used to create IT environments that work more like utilities, allowing users to access only those services they truly need while freeing up those services for other users when they aren’t in demand. However, creating applications that take advantage of all the best characteristics of cloud computing is challenging. Consequently, the cost of creating a private cloud is significant, so it is best suited for well-established businesses and organisations.
Advantages of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing has been made possible through the evolution of many related technologies, including hosting, SaaS (software as a service), utility computing, grid computing, and virtualisation. Yet cloud computing is greater than the sum of its parts, because it offers greater self-management, flexibility, and scalability than other technologies. In general, cloud-based applications demonstrate the following highly desirable characteristics, which offer significant benefits for businesses of all sizes.
- Cost-effective – Like utilities, cloud computing allows users to pay only for what they use, whether as a pay-per-use or as a subscription with unlimited access for a specific period of time.
- Flexible – Cloud computing is agile, distributing applications and related resources among multiple users with ease.
- Reliable – Because cloud-based applications are housed on multiple servers, there is an automatic built-in redundancy that improves reliability and fault tolerance.
- Scalable – Businesses can use cloud-based applications when they need them, easily scaling up or down to adapt to unpredictable, fluctuating workloads.
- Service-focused – Cloud applications are naturally suited for service-based applications that reach out to multiple users.
- Shared – The users of cloud-based applications are connected to the same underlying infrastructure, which keeps costs down, yet ensures that their data is secure.
The Growth of Cloud Computing
The rapid adoption of cloud computing is directly tied to its ability to meet businesses’ demands. In a highly competitive business environment, businesses seek applications that provide the necessary flexibility and agility to react more rapidly to the market than their competitors can. Through cloud computing, businesses can activate the specific resources they need precisely when they need them. Cloud computing also allows businesses to re-assign workloads to different parts of the business as needed by using their existing infrastructure, rather than engaging in the slow and expensive process of building up additional infrastructure as their business grows.
Most industry experts forecast that cloud computing will continue to shape the way that businesses operate in the future. They anticipate that the adoption of cloud computing environments will increase exponentially as additional application platforms become available, making it simpler and more cost-effective for IT professionals to create and manage important, mission-critical business applications.
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