What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing, according to multiple sites, is the on-demand delivery of different IT services, servers, resources, applications etc. through the use of the internet. Everything is provided remotely through a data center that is managed by a cloud service provider (CSP). Cloud computing has several different models and types that make them useful for differnt purposes.

Is cloud computing a new technology? In other words, what are the unique technology features of cloud computing, if any?

Cloud computing, according to ZDNet, as a term has been around only since the early 2000s, however, as a concept or idea it has been around since approximately the 1960s when companies used to rent time on mainframes rather than buy one themselves. Some of the unique features of cloud computing are:

• On-demand Self-service and improving of agility and time to value in which you will not need to wait for days for a response from IT
• Broad Network Access is one of the essential computing characteristics that enables you to either use a public cloud using the internet or access a private cloud which can happen only if you're connected to a local area network.
• Resource Pooling, where multiple customers can share physical resources
• Lowers IT costs through offloading most of the costs and effort of purchasing, installing configuring and maintaining your own on-premise infrastructure (IBM website)
• Cost-effective method of accessing a wide range of resources and providing of elasticity where capacity can be scaled up or down according to traffic.

What are three major cloud service models?

The three major cloud service models are:

• Software as a Service (SaaS) which is application software hosted in the cloud and users access it via a web browser, desktop client or an API that integrates with a desktop or mobile operating system.
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) which provides on-demand access to fundamental computing resources, physical and virtual servers, networking and storage. Gives the ability to shrink and expand resources on a needed basis.
• Platform as a Service (Paas) which provides software developers with an on-demand platform hardware, software stack, infrastructure, tools etc.

Name at least 3 real-world domains where the application of cloud computing was (or can be) very enabling and effective

• business
• data storage
• entertainment

What is the economic/business model of cloud computing?

Cloud computing however mainly monetized by subscriptions, it uses the pay-as-you-go revenue model and hybrid models