Cloud Computing
1. What is cloud computing?
By literal definition, cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer. – https://www.google.com
2. Is cloud computing a new technology per se? In other words, what are the unique technological features of cloud computing, if any?
Cloud computing has existed for a long time, since the 1960s. One key event that introduced cloud computing to the masses would be in 2004 when Gmail first released with a ‘whopping’ one free gigabyte of storage (doubled the next year) which compared to its competitors who only gave a few kilobytes.
The unique features and benefits of cloud computing go hand in hand. These positives include the ability to access files from anywhere in the world with Wi-Fi connection as well as it being easily scalable.
3. What are the three major cloud service models?
The main three are:
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) – Cloud provider gives customers full control of what type of cloud service they want and how it is configured
- PaaS (Platform as a Service) – Here a pre-made software service is provided and managed by the cloud provider for the customer
- SaaS (Software as a Service) – Allow customers to access the service online without needing any maintenance from the customer’s end
4. Name at least 3 real-world domains where the application of cloud computing was (or can be) very enabling and effective.
- Healthcare – Storing data of patients
- Finance – Allowing large scale deployment of servers for advanced protection of user information
- Education – Virtual Classrooms or storage such as Microsoft Teams or Google Classroom
5. What is the economic/business model of cloud computing?
Companies can be seen employing the subscription-based business models for cloud computing, for example Google Drive or AWS.
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