Cloud Computing 101

Everything you wanted to know about cloud computing, but were afraid to ask.

Anyone with even a passing exposure to corporate IT can’t escape the term. Cloud computing – it’s everywhere!

But what, exactly is cloud computing?

The answer, not surprisingly, depends on who you ask. And that means you’ll get lots of definitions – but few straight answers.

Sometimes, it seems like it might be easier to say what cloud computing is not because the lines have blurred between cloud computing and a wide variety of Internet-based services.

In its simplest form, cloud computing is the delivery of IT services (compute, network, storage, applications) on an as-a-service basis via the network.

In its simplest form, cloud computing is the delivery of IT services (compute, network, storage, applications) on an as-a-service basis via the network.

What does that mean?

Another good question. There are many flavors of cloud computing, including Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a -Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Desktop-as-a-Service(DaaS), and even Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS). Note the common ending: “as a service.”

Whether we’re talking about server infrastructure, virtual desktops, storage, or applications – they are all delivered in a pay-as-you-go service model from a central, professionally managed data center. The physical infrastructure backing these services becomes much more like a utility than a per-user or per-client construct. As Nicholas Carr discusses in his book “The Big Switch”, it’s analogous to the evolution of power delivery from onsite power production to central power plants with a distribution grid. In the cloud computing world, the large shared data center infrastructure (servers, network, and storage) is the power plant, and the Internet is the distribution grid.

How did cloud computing come about?

Cloud computing really isn’t all that different as a concept than mainframes from decades ago. Mainframes were deployed into large “computing centers” and were accessed by remote terminals. Today, the underlying technologies are all different, but the concept is still the same. Over the past two decades, the raw horsepower available in modern x86 CPUs has followed Moore’s Law and doubled approximately every 18 months.

Similarly, network and storage capacities have also increased at roughly the same pace. The Web/Internet provided the impetus for applications to change from “thick client” models to a model where the service is delivered on the Web via the browser. In addition, high-speed connectivity to businesses as well as to consumers is becoming ubiquitous. Finally, breakthrough virtualization technologies – both software and hardware – have matured considerably. These key factors – advances in hardware, software, network and application models have all come together to enable this new era of cloud computing.

How is cloud different than traditional methods of creating, sharing and storing information?

There are, in fact, many similarities between cloud and traditional computing architectures. This is one reason why adoption has been so rapid. Of course, there are also significant differences. Information in both models is generally produced and consumed by the end user – the people or systems accessing the services in question. As Cloud technologies mature, though, another emerging concept is that of “Big Data.”

Our computing infrastructures – cloud and traditional alike – are capturing massive volumes of granular data: every phone call, sales transaction, every tweet, Facebook post, and mouse click. Traditional computing methods simply cannot deal with that sort of volume and velocity today. Driven by the “Bring Your Own Device” phenomenon, more workers are using their smartphones and tablets that are “always on” the network, making them increasingly dependent on having their data available – at any time, on any device (phone, tablet, home computer, etc.), from any location. That’s a scenario that’s tailor-made for the cloud, which provides the speed, ubiquity, and security that businesses require.

Why is Cloud computing superior to traditional methods?

In the relatively short time since cloud computing has emerged, it has already undergone a series of changes in the perception of the value it brings. Initially, cloud computing was primarily perceived as an opportunity for IT cost reduction through shared resources and the “pay-as-you-go” model – and that value is real, legitimate and enduring.

But perhaps more interesting is that the cloud is elastic. The elasticity allows consumers of cloud services to scale up or down, based on their needs at any given time. This enables you to control your computing environment as needed to address seasonal or unexpected increases in demand – such as holiday retail shopping or quarter-end processing requirements, for example. Cloud lets you handle these spikes – planned and unplanned – without any capital investments.

Finally, and perhaps the most important characteristic enabled by cloud computing is agility. In today’s rapidly changing climate, businesses need to remain agile. Slow-moving traditional IT processes are insufficient to meet these needs. Just a few years ago, cost was the primary driver leading businesses to cloud adoption, but today that driver is agility.

If you’re evaluating enterprise cloud services, learn more in our white paper Extracting the Full Value of the Cloud that uses real-world client experiences to examine the business impact of the cloud.