Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a method of provisioning computing resources, including both hardware and software, that relies on sharing those

resources rather than using local servers or personal devices to handle applications. The definition of cloud computing is often used to describe an array of related concepts. There are more uncertain as to what separates cloud computing related concepts such as utility computing, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and virtualization.

In theory, cloud computing is a way for IT departments to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly, without having to invest in new infrastructure, train new personnel or license new software. In the cloud computing model, workers log into a Web-based service that hosts all the programs the users need for their jobs, from e-mail to word processing to complex B

usiness Intelligence software. The service, and the hardware it runs on, is deployed, maintained and upgraded by another company, which generally offers service-level agreements (SLAs) to guarantee the service.

Examples of cloud computing include using Google App Engine to run your company’s e-mail services, contracting with Amazon Web Services to host your infrastructure, or contracting with Salesforce.com to provision your company’s customer relationship management (CRM) software.

The number of cloud computing vendors is growing rapidly, with a continual fresh crop of cloud computing start-ups. Indeed, because of the potential power and influence, the fierce struggle to dominate the cloud computing market is prompting titanic investments.

The vagary led Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chief executive officer, to famously say of cloud confusion, “The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we’ve redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do. I can’t think of anything that isn’t cloud computing with all of these announcements. The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women’s fashion. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?

“We’ll make cloud computing announcements. I’m not going to fight this thing. But I don’t understand what we would do differently in light of cloud.”

That hasn’t stopped analysts at research firm IDC from attempting to establish a more concrete definition. For those who continue to seek more useful terminology, IDC distinguishes between Cloud Services and Cloud Computing.

“When most people talk about “cloud computing,” they usually refer to online delivery and consumption models for business and consumer services,” said IDC’s Frank Gens. “These services include IT services—like software-as-a-service (SaaS) and storage or server capacity as a service—but also many, many “non-IT” business and consumer services.

“Indeed, the vast majority of these online services are not, in the mind of the user, IT or “computing” at all—they are about shopping, banking, selling, collaborating, communicating, being entertained, etc. In other words, most people using these services are not “computing,” they are living! These customers are not explicitly buying “cloud computing,” but “cloud services” that are enabled by cloud computing environments; cloud computing is hidden underneath the business or consumer service.”

So IDC’s definitional framework is as follows:

* Cloud services. Consumer and business products, services and solutions that are delivered and consumed in real time over the Internet

* Cloud computing. An emerging IT development, deployment and delivery model enabling real-time delivery of products, services and solutions over the Internet (i.e., enabling cloud services)

In other words cloud computing is the IT environment that encompasses the stack of IT and network products that enables the development, delivery and consumption of cloud services.