If you gather ten computer scientists and ask them what cloud computing means, you will probably get ten different answers. Of course, this does not mean that these ten professionals hardly understand cloud computing.
The main reason for the different answers is that the technology mentioned had gone far beyond the original concepts of what it was and what it is now.
Short story
At the beginning of the computer age, the first machines were huge central computers serving universities and industrial users. When minicomputers, computers and servers have been developed, computing has become a must-have tool.
When computers became even smaller, the distribution of resources increased. Problems arose when users needed more computing power.
IT professionals have been working on clustering computers to balance resource loads. The cluster software ran programs and managed everything. However, complex operations became difficult and costly thereafter.
The concept of a computer network appeared in the early 1990s, in which users connect to a network, much like a connection to an electrical network. The service is almost identical and is payable on the basis of a measured public service.
New concept
As a concept, technology had gone far beyond its predecessors (grid computing, utility computing, virtualization, and clustering). Even if it covers the concepts of its precursors, cloud computing has its own meaning: connect software and data on the Internet (the metaphorical basis of the “cloud”) instead of being on your hard drive or your local network.
In the past, working with a PC required the purchase and installation of several software packages. With cloud technology, you can access programs and resources across the entire Internet as if they were on your own computer.
Virtualization
The success of cloud computing had just grown with the continued growth of virtualization, which allows one computer to act as if it were another, or to many others.
Server virtualization can support more applications than traditional computer grids. It also allows hosting of many types of middleware on virtual machines in the cloud.
Definition
Cloud technology is the new computing paradigm in which users are using the computing power of a vast network of resources, data and servers that “live” on the Internet. With him, these resources can be consulted on demand.
In addition, these resources are accessible to both experienced users (supercomputers of industrial customers) and individual customers using mobile devices (phones, laptops).
Some worries
One of the main concerns of cloud computing is where the data was stored. In addition, users and businesses must migrate their applications and data to a third party or other platform.
For large companies with large investments to manage, this remains one of the main obstacles to the adoption of these shared technologies. Other important concerns include security and privacy issues.
The future
Cloud computing has been popular for a long time, but companies have only recently begun to consider it as part of their IT strategy.
The good news is that informal surveys have now confirmed that cloud computing could shift from hype to use. It was after concerns about reliability and security were dispelled.