• What is Big Data? According to Oracle, The term “big data” refers to raw, perhaps unstructured, data that servers get in huge amounts and with great velocity.
• What is cloud computing? Cloud Computing is defined as the transition from a product to a service in terms of computing, as in the offering of computing services over the internet through servers. According to Microsoft Azure, the cluster of servers is oftenly referred to as “the cloud”, hence the term “cloud computing”.
• Is cloud computing a novel technology per se or an amalgamation of several traditional technologies? Just like in all domains in which an invetion was transformed into a product and then a product was transformed into a service, the idea of cloud computing as a service existed for a long time, before technology was able to support the theory. However, the last years were the first years in which cloud computing was used and built as a technology on a truly wide scale.
• What are the 3 major cloud computing service models?
1) SaaS (Software as a Service): In which a service provider offers software applications to customers over the internet.
2) PaaS (Platform as a Service): In which a service provider offers tools and platforms to develop software applications to customers over the internet.
3) IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): In which a service provider offers servers, storage locations and other computing services to customers over the internet.
• Name at least 3 real-life problems that cloud computing can help solve them.   Storing Big Data, Processing Big Data in real-time, Securing Big Data and processing sensitive data in a secure, yet fast way. Moreover, it allows for collaboration between machines, which represented the fundamental drawback in early programming.
• What is the economic/business model of cloud computing? The economic model of cloud computing is one that allows consumers to pay only for the services they use, which provides a cheap, yet reliable way of satisfying consumers’ needs. (OpenGrowth)
Resources: Big Data
Cloud Computing
Economics of Cloud Computing
Why is Big Data Important