CLOUD COMPUTING: AN INSIDE GUIDE

The idea of cloud computing hits on the delivery of computing services like servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics and intelligence over the Internet. The cloud model enables convenient, ubiquitous, on-demand access to shared pools of configurable computing resources, providing economies of scale that allow large infrastructure set-up and maintenance costs to be spread across many customers.

The concept of centralized computing power started emerging in the 1960s with large mainframes accessed through dumb terminals. As networking infrastructure and web browsers improved accessibility in the 1990s, the application service provider model allowed software to be run on remote servers and accessed by businesses through subscriptions. AWS launching cloud services in 2006 marked the emergence of cloud computing as we now know it.

There are generally considered to be three main types of cloud computing models: 1) Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providing foundational cloud computing infrastructure components such as virtual machines, servers, networking, and storage that customers can deploy with any platform or application 2) Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering a development and deployment environment in the cloud where customers use preconfigured toolsets provided by the cloud vendor 3) Software as a Service (SaaS) delivering vendor applications over the cloud allowing customers to access software remotely rather than installing and maintaining it locally.

Main drivers of cloud adoption include flexibility, scalability and reliability. Workloads can be deployed and adjusted as needed to account for fluctuating business demands. Cloud spending also shifts from involving large upfront capital investments in on-premise infrastructure to becoming an ongoing operating expense as a subscription utility. Maintaining security, addressing latency requirements and avoiding vendor lock-in remain primary challenges. Still over 90% of businesses now use some form of cloud computing and the market continues seeing over 15% annual growth with no signs of slowing.