Cloud computing, more commonly known and referred to as “the cloud”, is the delivery of on-demand computing resources. This includes everything from applications to data centers and over the internet on a pay-for-use basis. 

  • Elastic Resources: Easily and quickly scale up or down to meet your ever-changing demands
  • Metered Services: Only pay for what your business use.
  • Self-Service Access: Look for all the IT resources you need through self-service access.

Types of Cloud Computing

PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (PAAS)

Paas provides a cloud-based environment with everything a business needs to support a complete life cycle of developing, building, and delivering web-based (cloud) applications. Where all of it can be done without having to deal with the cost and complexity of acquiring and managing the underlying hardware, software, provisioning and hosting. 

Benefits of PaaS

  • Develop an application and be able to market it faster.
  • Deploy new web applications to the cloud quickly in a matter of minutes.
  • Reduced complexity with middleware as a service

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS provides businesses with computing resources which includes servers, networking, storage, and data-center space on a pay-per-use basis.

Benefits of IaaS

  • No need to purchase and invest on hardware.
  • Infrastructure scales on demand to support evolving and dynamic workloads.
  • On demand availability of flexible and innovative services.

SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE (SAAS)

Saas, also known as cloud-based applications, run on distant computers “in the cloud” which are owned and operated by others and that connect users’ computers via the internet and usually in a web browser. 

Benefits of SaaS

  • Simply sign up and immediately start using innovative apps.
  • Apps and data are easily accessible using any connected computer.
  • Since your data is stored in the cloud, there will be no data lost even if your computer broke.
  • SaaS is able to dynamically scale on your enterprise’s usage needs.

Cloud Computing Deployment Methods

PUBLIC CLOUD

Public clouds are owned and operated by businesses offering rapid access over a public network to affordable computing resources. By using public cloud services, there is no need for users to purchase hardware, software, or supporting infrastructure since all of which is owned and managed by providers. 

Key Aspects of Public Cloud

  • Gives access to innovative SaaS business apps for applications from customer resource management (CRM) to transaction management and data analytics.
  • Public cloud allows for flexible, scalable IaaS for storage and computing services at a moment’s notice.
  • With a public cloud, powerful PaaS for cloud-based application development and deployment is within reach.

PRIVATE CLOUD

A private cloud, on the other hand, is an infrastructure operated solely for a single organization whether managed internally or by a third party and hosted either internally or externally. Companies using private clouds can take advantage of the efficiencies it has to offer while providing more control of the resources as well as allowing clients to steer clear or multi-tenancy.

Key Aspects of Private Cloud

  • Private cloud provides self-service interface control services. This allows the IT staff to quickly provision, allocate, and deliver on-demand IT resources.
  • It facilitates highly automated management of resource pools for everything from computing capability to storage, analytics, and middleware.
  • Offers sophisticated security and governance designed for the business’ specific requirements.

HYBRID CLOUD

A hybrid cloud is a combination of a private cloud’s foundation and the strategic integration and use of public cloud services. Actually,  private cloud will not be able to exist in isolation from the rest of the company’s IT resources and the public cloud this is why most companies with private clouds evolve to managing workloads across data centers, private clouds, and public clouds creating hybrid clouds. 

Key Aspects of Hybrid Cloud

  • Hybrid cloud allows companies to keep and manage critical application as well as sensitive data within a traditional data center or private cloud.
  • With a hybrid cloud, your business can take advantage of public cloud resources like SaaS for the latest applications and IaaS for elastic virtual resources.
  • Facilitates data, apps, and services portability as well as more choices for deployment models.