What is cloud computing?

Everyone is talking about “the cloud”. But what does it mean?

Business applications are moving to the cloud. It’s not just a fad — the shift from
traditional software models to the Internet has steadily gained momentum over the last 10
years. Looking ahead, the next decade of cloud computing promises new ways to
collaborate everywhere through mobile devices.

Traditional business applications have always been very complicated and expensive. The
amount and variety of hardware and software required to run them are daunting. You
need a whole team of experts to install, configure, test, run, secure, and update them.

Cloud computing is a technology that uses the internet and central remote servers to
maintain data and applications. Cloud computing allows consumers and businesses to use
applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with
internet access. This technology allows for much more efficient computing by
centralizing storage, memory, processing and bandwidth. The name cloud computing was
inspired by the cloud symbol that's often used to represent the Internet in flowcharts and
diagrams.

A simple example of cloud computing is Yahoo email or Gmail etc. You don’t need
software or a server to use them. All a consumer would need is just an internet
connection and you can start sending emails. The server and email management software
is all on the cloud (internet) and is totally managed by the cloud service provider Yahoo,
Google etc. The consumer gets to use the software alone and enjoy the benefits. The
analogy is, “If you only need milk, would you buy a cow?”' All the users or consumers
need is to get the benefits of using the software or hardware of the computer like sending
emails. Just to get this benefit (milk) why should a consumer buy a (cow) software
/hardware?

A cloud can be private or public. A public cloud sells services to anyone on the Internet.
(Currently, Amazon Web Services is the largest public cloud provider). A private cloud is
a proprietary network or a data center that supplies hosted services to a limited number of
people. When a service provider uses public cloud resources to create their private cloud,
the result is called a virtual private cloud. Private or public, the goal of cloud computing
is to provide easy, scalable access to computing resources and IT services.

Cloud computing is revolutionizing business, but there is also a personal side to this
technology available for everyday use.
There are three categories of personal cloud computing: online storage, online desktop
and Web-based applications. Each of these categories free up resources, either in
processing power, as in the case of Web-based applications, or in the case of an Internet-
based desktop (known as webtop) any computer with an Internet connection can become
“our personal computer” via a Web browser.
1. Online Storage: Online storage gives users a place to store information that is
available to us wherever there is an Internet connection, or provide a safe and
secure place to back up our important information.
2. Web-Based Applications: Some companies offer a hosted software application
that you do not have to download and install on your computer, but rather a
service you subscribe to and, in a sense, rent.
3. Webtop: Its goal is to recreate the highly personalized setting of our own desktop
with an online version we can access anywhere we can connect to the Internet.
For example, when I am away from my desk, the webtop allows access to
information formally found only on the desktop of my own computer, such as
contacts, e-mail, and files.

Bibliography:

http://www.grid.org.il/?CategoryID=566
http://it.themarker.com/tmit/article/7143
http://he.wikipedia.org/
http://www.reader.co.il/