What Exactly is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of IT resources over the Internet with pay-as-you-go pricing. It refers to servers that are accessed over the Internet, and the software and databases that run on those servers. Cloud services can be accessed remotely over the Internet, providing users with access to applications, servers (physical and virtual), data storage, and other computing resources.

In recent years, cloud computing has emerged as the go-to option for businesses looking to expand their infrastructure or experiment with new technologies thanks to its superiority in delivering enterprise applications.

Applications and systems may be deployed rapidly and scaled up or down as needed thanks to cloud computing, which is an abstraction of computation, storage, and network infrastructure.

One of the most significant features of cloud computing is the ability for users to access their resources independently. All that is required of users is to complete out a short online form.

The vast majority of cloud users access their services through a public cloud that is hosted on the internet.

The cloud service providers host these services in their massive off-site data centers. The most widespread kind of cloud computing is SaaS (software as a service).

It distributes pre-made programs to the web browsers of customers that pay per user or per seat.

Software as a service platforms include the widely used Salesforce, Google Docs, and Microsoft Teams. The next step is IaaS, or infrastructure as a service.

The provider makes available a sizable virtualized compute, storage, and network infrastructure on which clients may develop their own applications, usually with the help of API-accessible services provided by the provider.

When people casually refer to "the cloud," they usually imply a service like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure.

Each of these three has expanded to become a vast ecosystem offering a wide variety of services beyond those originally intended for use with the underlying infrastructure.

Tools for programmers, server-less computing, machine learning services and application programming interfaces, data warehousing, and tens of thousands of more services fall into this category.

SaaS and IaaS share a common advantage in their adaptability.

Without upgrading their gear or software, customers may immediately benefit from new features.

Depending on the situation, they can immediately raise or decrease the amount of resources they employ.

Characterizing Clouds

SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS are the three "service models" that were introduced for the cloud in 2011. (platform as a service).

The cloud-based PaaS provides users with a managed setting in which to create and deploy software.

Generally speaking, these three buckets have weathered the test of time, albeit most PaaS solutions today provide their services as components of IaaS ecosystems rather than as their own clouds.

There have been two notable shifts in evolution since NIST's original three-part definition.

One issue is the proliferation of SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS, each of which has numerous subcategories, some of which cross over into adjacent categories.

The other is the ever-increasing prevalence of API-accessible cloud services, especially in IaaS ecosystems.

Many cutting-edge innovations in technology now make their debut as cloud-based services.

For companies looking to get an edge in the marketplace, this is a major selling point for the product.

Software as a Service, or SaaS

With this approach to cloud computing, users can gain access to their data and programs via the internet via a web browser.

The majority of software developers today provide access to their wares via SaaS.

A couple of the most well-known SaaS business software include G Suite from Google and Office 365 from Microsoft.

The majority of commercial software, including Oracle's and SAP's flagship enterprise resource planning (ERP) suites, is offered in both software as a service (SaaS) and on-premises (on-prem) deployment models.

Typically, consumers of SaaS apps have access to a robust set of settings and a development environment that allows them to add or alter functionality by way of their own code.

Data can also be linked to localized programs with their help.

Photo by Austin Distel / Unsplash

Infrastructure as a Service, or IaaS

Infrastructure as a service clouds allow on-demand access to virtualized computing, storage, and networking resources over the internet.

Imagine a data center that is administered from afar, but with an added layer of software that simplifies access to all of the available resources for individual customers.

And yet, that's not all there is to learn. Most public IaaS providers offer a dizzying array of services, including developer tools, machine learning, application monitoring, and extremely scalable databases.

Amazon Web Services pioneered the IaaS market and remains industry-leading today. It is then followed by IBM Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, IBM Cloud, and the Microsoft Azure platform.

Platform as a Service, or PaaS

Developer-centric services and processes are what make up a PaaS.

By pooling resources, including development environments, test infrastructure, and application programming interfaces (APIs), they can cut down on time spent on app creation, testing, and release.

Heroku and Salesforce Platform (formerly known as Force.com) are two well-known examples of public cloud PaaS platforms.

Both Cloud Foundry and OpenShift from Red Hat can be deployed locally or through any of the popular public cloud providers.

Businesses can benefit from PaaS since it ensures developers have fast access to resources and can enforce standard procedures.

You may focus on using the services you need, while the operators handle the rest.

Develop your skills in the most demanding professions, like business intelligence, or in other areas of development.