Professor Hammoud: Cloud Computing

1. What is cloud computing?

In its essence, cloud computing refers to the delivery of services such as databases, software and intelligence over the internet. In this regard, the unique technology features of cloud computing involve its ability to be flexible and offer economies of scale.

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

Cloud computing eliminates the expense of capital from a hardware and software standpoint, and individuals need generally only pay for services they actually use. Not only does this reduce costs further, but it also leads to a higher level of efficiency for infrastructure and only needs to increase per need.

3. What are the three major cloud service models?

The three major cloud service models are infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). Here, the three cloud service models refer to the decreasing level of control over IT. With IaaS, this mainly refers to renting IT hardware such as virtual machines, servers, storage and operating systems through a pay-as-you-go basis from a cloud provider. In terms of PaaS, cloud providers supply applications and environments for developing, testing, managing and delivering software–focusing on the development of software without focusing on the infrastructure of storage or servers. With SaaS, cloud providers host and manage the software whilst controlling the underlying infrastructure and maintenance usually on the basis of subscriptions.

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

In terms of real-world domains of cloud computing, this can be broken into categories based on the three major cloud service models. In terms of IaaS, examples include IBM Cloud and Amazing Web Services. With PaaS, this can be seen with services such as Wasabi and SAP. Lastly, examples of SaaS would be the ubiquitous Google Docs and SoundCloud.

5. What is the economic/business model of cloud computing?

The economic/business model of cloud computing mainly refers to subscription-based services, where the alternative to that is often reliant on pay-as-you-go bases.