Cloud computing - Research Paper Example

A cloud can either be public cloud (it is made available to public on a pay-as-you-use manner) or a private cloud (owned and operated by an organization) or a hybrid cloud (a combination of the two). Many consider cloud computing as a metaphor to Internet. Although the technology behind the concept is not new, the concept has seen development of many business models built around it in the recent past. Some of the companies building business around cloud computing are: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM, AppNexus and Apple.

The recent past has seen increase in significant number of cloud computing models. These categories defined the component of the IT system that is on the cloud. The three most popular categories of cloud computing currently in the market are: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Cloud Computing model where companies offer web-based access to storage and computing power. ). This model is also referred to as “Hardware as a Service”. Examples of services provided in an IaaS model include: CPU cycles, grids or clusters, virtualized servers, network equipment, or storage software.

The end-user has control over the operating systems, storage and deployed applications. Amazon is the first mover in providing such services: Amazon (Elastic Compute Cloud and Simple Storage Service). Platform as a Service (PaaS): Platform as a Service enables consumers to develop applications and tools and run them. The offering removes the consumer’s headache of maintaining the operating system, server hardware, load balancing and computing capacity. Microsoft’s Azure platform and Salesforce’s force.

com are example of such services. Software as a Service (SaaS): Software as a Service comprise of applications that are accessible from various devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser. These applications are generally developed and hosted by the SaaS vendor. This implies that no