Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing in simple terms can be described as the delivery of on-demand computing services-storage, networking, servers, softwares, databases, analytics and more- over the internet (“the cloud”). Technically, the Cloud Computing can be defined as the virtualization and central management of datacenter resources as software defined pools.

Organizations offer the computing services that are termed as cloud providers as well as they are typically charge for cloud computing services depend on the usage i.e. on a pay-for-use basis.

Advantages of Cloud Computing:

Cloud Computing is a big change from the conventional way business consider about IT resources. Cloud Computing offers many attractive features for the business as well as end user.

1. Cost- Cloud Computing eradicates the capital expenditure of purchasing hardware and software and setting up and operating on-site data centers, the IT experts for maintaining infrastructure, the rack of servers, the round the clock availability for electricity etc.
2. Speed- Most Cloud Computing services are self service and on demand in nature, so even huge volumes of computing resources can be provisioned in minutes, only with just a few mouse clicks, providing business a lot of flexibility and eliminates the pressure off the capacity planning
3. Global scale- The advantage of Cloud Computing services comprises the ability to scale elasticity. In Cloud Computing terms, that entails delivering the right amount of IT resources-for instance, more or less storage, computing power, bandwidth right when it is required and from the right geographical location.
4. Productivity- On-site data centers typically need a fair amount of “racking” and “stacking”- software patching, hardware setup, and other time consuming IT management tasks. Cloud Computing eliminates the need for many of these chores, so IT teams can spare more quality time on accomplishing more vital business goals.
5. Performance- The biggest Cloud Computing services operates on worldwide network of protected data centers, which are periodically updated to the latest versions of fast and efficient computing hardware. This provides many advantages over a single corporate data center along with less network latency from applications and generate economies of scale.
6. Reliability- Cloud Computing enables disaster recovery, data back up and business continuity tasks to be performed easily and also they are less expensive as data can be reflected at multiple redundant sites on the cloud provider network.

Applications of cloud computing:

Though the first Cloud Computing services started only a decade ago, now-a-days a large number of organizations – from small start-ups to huge global enterprises, government agencies to non-profits firms- are implementing the technology for enhancing their business. These are the few tasks that are made possible with the cloud:

• ·        Create new apps and services
• ·         Store, back up and recover data
• ·         Host websites and blogs
• ·         Stream audio and video
• ·         Deliver software on demand
• ·         Analyse data for patterns and make predictions

Ms. Nisha Wadhawan

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Management Studies