What is “cloud computing”?
These days, it seems like everything is happening “in the cloud”. But what exactly is this nebulous concept?
Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of computing services over the Internet via servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and more. It enables faster innovation, offers flexible resources, and provides economies of scale while allowing users to pay only for the services they use. This technology eliminates the need to buy and maintain physical data centres and servers, making it possible to access computing power, storage, and databases as cloud providers need. Cloud computing is available through various deployment models (public, private, hybrid) and service layers (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), providing users with remote, on-demand access to computing resources and data storage over the Internet.
According to a Dell report companies that invest in big data, cloud, mobility, and security enjoy up to 53% faster revenue growth than their competitors. But more than that, they are using this technology to more efficiently run their organisations, better serve their customers, and dramatically increase their overall profit margins.
Moving to the cloud. Running in the cloud. Stored in the cloud. Accessed from the cloud: these days is seems like everything is happening “in the cloud”. But what exactly is this nebulous concept?
The short answer is that it's somewhere at the other end of your internet connection – a place where you can access apps and services, and where your data can be stored securely. The cloud is a big deal for three reasons:
- It doesn't need any effort on your part to maintain or manage it.
- It's effectively infinite in size, so you don't need to worry about it running out of capacity.
- You can access cloud-based applications and services from anywhere – all you need is a device with an Internet connection.
That's important because there's a shift going on from office-based work to working on the move. This shift is reflected in computer hardware sales: in 2015 about 270 million desktop and laptop computers will be sold, compared to 325 million tablets and almost 2 billion smartphones.
That makes the cloud a very good place to run business software likecustomer relationship management (CRM)applications – software that users need to access reliably at any time, wherever they are, and on any device.
I don’t need a hard disk in my computer if I can get to the server faster… carrying around these non- connected computers is byzantine by comparison.
- Steve Jobs, 1997
