Cloud computing is the “on-demand availability of computing resources (such as storage and infrastructure), as services over the internet” (Google). Essentially, we can have access to these resources on the internet without having to own or manage some physical resources, and this is especially useful for many individuals and businesses. The services cloud computing provides include data storage, computing power, networking capabilities, software, application development tools, AI-powered tools, etc. Without realizing it, cloud computing may have played a role in our everyday lives, including using Google Drive as storage, playing online video games, etc. These services use cloud computing due to its effectiveness in storing data for Google Drive and online games (for instance), computing powers to run multiple games at once, etc., as opposed to having a physical server or facility that the owners need to have and maintain, which goes to show the benefit of cloud computing.

Cloud computing has existed for a while, and I would not say that it is a rather new technology. However, there exist some breakthroughs for future trends in cloud computing, including the integration of AI and ML for self-automation, self-learning, security, and personalization.

The three major models of cloud computing include Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS):

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): This is the on-demand access to cloud-hosted physical and virtual servers, storage, and networking. This serves as a backend IT infrastructure for multiple applications and workloads within the cloud. It allows people to store all the data that some might need inside servers that are always up and available to use.

2. Platform as a Service (PaaS): This is the on-demand access to a complete and always usable cloud-hosted platform for developing, running, maintaining, and managing applications. This helps you become more efficient because you will have no worries about capacity planning, maintenance, testing, or any heavy things that are required in running an application.

3. Software as a Service (SaaS): This is the on-demand access to always usable cloud-hosted applications that you can use with subscriptions instead of purchasing it once and having to install said applications or software. This means that by paying a certain amount of money per given time, you can have access to these applications that are always ready-to-use without having to install them. These software include Netflix, Google Workspace, Adobe, Dropbox, etc.

1. Education: With cloud computing in education, students can have access to interactive online learning environments with the implementation of e-learning. These include Google Classroom for assignments, Google Workspace for communication with other peers and collaboration, etc. While these may cover the assignments part of learning, the interactive part lies in cloud computing’s ability to hold video conferences using software like zoom, etc.

2. Entertainment: With cloud computing in entertainment, users have access to wide range of entertainment choices. These choices include online video games, streaming services like YouTube or Twitch, music streaming platforms, online video games, and many more. These services can be used on practically any device, including phones, laptops, TVs, etc.

3. Healthcare: With cloud computing in healthcare, it is possible to store healthcare records in the cloud and easily access them online. In addition to this, cloud computing also allows patients to make appointments easily, receive reminders and notifications, diagnoses of medical history from accessible healthcare records, etc.

The most prevalent business model for cloud computing is using “pay-as-you-go” pricing. This means that there is a subscription to these services that you have to pay if and only if you need these services at a given time. This business model is very effective since you don’t have to pay once and install it when there might be an occasion where you don’t need to use it, rendering the services useless for a certain period of time.