What is cloud computing?

 

Cloud computing services provide common online business applications that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers. The service is accessible anywhere that provides access to network infrastructure.

 

Based on how the internet has been depicted in computer network diagrams and is an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it conceals, the term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet. This term was first academically used by Professor Ramnath K. Chellappa. He defined the term cloud as a computing paradigm where the boundaries of computing will be determined rationale rather than technical limits.

 

The different types of cloud computing are Public cloud, Hybrid cloud and private cloud.

 

In 1960, when John McCarthy opined that that "computation may someday be organized as a public utility” the underlying concept of cloud computing was stated. In early 1990s in order to refer to large Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, the term cloud came into commercial use. Just before the consumer-oriented Internet became popular, ill-fated startup General Magic launched a short-lived cloud computing product in 1995 in partnership with several telecommunications company partners such as AT&T.Around mid 21^st Century, the term clod computing started being used widely, besides the fact that most of the focus at that time was limited to SaaS.

 

After the dot-com bubble (which, like most computer networks, were using as little as 10% of their capacity at any one time just to leave room for occasional spikes) Amazon played a key role in the development of cloud computing by modernizing their data centers. In the present year Google, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM are the most popular users of cloud computing solutions followed by Sun and Ubuntu in the cloud.

 

Characteristics:-

 

1. Improving agility

2. Cost is greatly reducing.

3. Device and location independence

4. Multi-tenancy

5. Reliability

6. Scalability

7. Security

8. Sustainability

 

Criticism:-

 

Cloud computing has been criticized for limiting the freedom of users and making them dependent on the cloud computing provider. Many factors can temporarily disrupt access to the data, such as network outages, denial of service attacks against the service provider, and a major failure of the service provider infrastructure, even if data is securely stored in a cloud. Additional issues are raised around process (methods, functions, transactions, etc.) visibility and transportability given the more complex nature of cloud and web service systems.

 

Questions:-

1.Can a user blindly trust the personal security?

2.Will all the users of the system be affected if the central system fails for any reason?

3.What are the current developments being made related to cloud computing?

4.What are the advantages or disadvantages if cloud computing is open for all public?

links:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid201_gci1287881,00.html

http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means-031

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2007/tc20071116_379585.htm

http://web2.sys-con.com/node/658588

Revised Version:

What is cloud computing?

 Cloud computing services provide common online business applications that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers. The service is accessible anywhere that provides access to network infrastructure.

 Based on how the internet has been depicted in computer network diagrams and is an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it conceals, the term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet. This term was first academically used by Professor Ramnath K. Chellappa. He defined the term cloud as a computing paradigm where the boundaries of computing will be determined by economic rationale rather than technical limits.

 The different types of cloud computing are Public cloud, Hybrid cloud and Private cloud.

 In 1960, when John McCarthy opined that "computation may someday be organized as a public utility” the underlying concept of cloud computing was stated. In early 1990s in order to refer to large Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, the term cloud came into commercial use. Just before the consumer-oriented Internet became popular, ill-fated startup General Magic launched a short-lived cloud computing product in 1995 in partnership with several telecommunications company partners such as AT&T. Around mid 21^st Century, the term cloud computing started being used widely, besides the fact that most of the focus at that time was limited to SaaS.

 After the dot-com bubble (which, like most computer networks, were using as little as 10% of their capacity at any one time just to leave room for occasional spikes) Amazon played a key role in the development of cloud computing by modernizing their data centers. In the present year Google, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM are the most popular users of cloud computing solutions followed by Sun and Ubuntu in the cloud.

 Characteristics:

1. Improving agility

2. Cost is greatly reduced.

3. Device and location independence

4. Multi-tenancy

5. Reliability

6. Scalability

7. Security

8. Sustainability

 Criticism:

 Cloud computing has been criticized for limiting the freedom of users and making them dependent on the cloud computing provider. Many factors can temporarily disrupt access to the data, such as network outages, denial of service attacks against the service provider, and a major failure of the service provider infrastructure, even if data is securely stored in a cloud. Additional issues are raised around process (methods, functions, transactions, etc.), visibility, and transportability given the more complex nature of cloud and web service systems.